Thursday 29 November 2018

Peter James and Lynda La Plante at Capital Crime


Peter James and Lynda La Plante have been announced as headline guests at Capital Crime 2019, which takes place at the Grand Connaught Rooms on the 26th – 28th September 2019.

We’re honoured to welcome Peter James and Lynda La Plante to Capital Crime. Revealing Capital Crime’s first guests is a special moment and it’s a privilege to be able to announce two of Britain’s best-loved authors.

Lynda La Plante is an international bestselling author who transformed TV crime with Prime Suspect. Her breakthrough series, Widows, has recently been adapted as a major motion picture.

Peter James has sold more than 19 million books in 37 languages. He has had 13 Sunday Times No. 1s and has won more than 40 awards for his work. His new book, Absolute Proof, has been described by fellow author Lee Child as ‘Sensational – the best what-if thriller since The Da Vinci Code.’

Lynda La Plante and Peter James will be appearing in conversation with noted writer, broadcaster and journalist Barry Forshaw.

We're thrilled that Lynda La Plante and Peter James will be appearing at Capital Crime. They have done so much for the crime and thriller genre and we can’t wait to hear the two of them in conversation.

Tickets for Capital Crime are available now at www.capitalcrime.org

Stay tuned for more great guest announcements soon.

See you at the festival.

David & Adam

Sunday 25 November 2018

Murder Under the Mistletoe

If your blood isn't cold enough this Christmas, we've got a cracker of an evening for you. This is Murder Under the Mistletoe 2018!

Join Heffers Bookshop for a convivial evening of festive drinks, readings by a selection of hand-picked crime authors and lots of book buying. It's also the perfect opportunity to browse our shelves and find Christmas presents for the book lovers in your life! Authors taking part include Quentin Bates, Rachael Blok, Alison Bruce, Dominick Donald, Stephen Done, Mick Finlay, Elizabeth Haynes, Susi Holliday, Christina Koning, Anna Mazzola, JS Monroe, WC Ryan, William Shaw and MB Vincent.


Date:- 6 December 2019
Time:- 18:30 to 20:00
Place:- Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge, CB2 1TY

For more information about tickets see here.

Saturday 24 November 2018

Books to Look Forward to From Hodder & Stoughton and Mulholland Books


January 2019

Cold Bones is by David Mark.  It's the coldest winter in Hull for years.  When McAvoy is told by a concerned stranger that an elderly woman hasn't been seen for a few days, he goes to check on her - only to find her in the bath, encased in ice: the heating off; the windows open; the whole house frozen over.  It could be a macabre accident, but McAvoy senses murder. Someone watched her die.  As he starts to uncover the victim's story and her connections to a lost fishing trawler, his boss Trish is half a world away, investigating a mysterious death in Iceland. Hull and Iceland have traditionally been united by fishing - in this case, they are linked by a secret concealed for half a century, and a series of brutal killings that have never been connected.  Until now - when the secrets of the dead have returned to prey on the living.

Battle Sight Zero is by Gerald Seymour.  The Kalashnikov AK47. A weapon with a unique image. A symbol of freedom fighters and terrorists across the globe. Undercover officer Andy Knight has infiltrated an extremist group intent on bringing the rifle to Britain - something MI5 have been struggling for years to prevent.  He befriends Zeinab, the young Muslim student from Yorkshire who is at the centre of the plot. All Zeinab needs to do is travel to the impoverished high-rise estates of Marseilles and bring one rifle home on a test run. Then many more will follow - and with them would come killing on an horrendous scale.  Zeinab is both passionate and attractive, and though Andy knows that the golden rule of undercover work is not to get emotionally attached to the target, sometimes rules are impossible to follow.

Last Man Standing is by Stephen Leather. Friendships forged in the heat of combat can be stronger than anything.  So when SAS trooper Matt Standing is told that the former Navy SEAL who saved his life is in trouble, he doesn't hesitate to go to his aid - even if that means flying half way around the world to Los Angeles.  Navy SEAL-turned-bodyguard Bobby-Ray Barnes has been accused of killing the man he was supposed to be protecting. Three other bodyguards were also killed and now Bobby-Ray is on the run.  The dead client was a Russian oligarch with connections to the Kremlin. But who wanted him dead? And if Bobby-Ray wasn't the killer, who carried out the assassination and why is Bobby-Ray being framed? Standing is the only man who can answer those questions - providing he can stay alive long enough.

How can you get lost in a city that never sleeps?  Nineteen-year-old Titus 'Crisp' Crespo is a smart kid on his way to a bright future. But on the eve of his high school graduation, a chance encounter with a cop who can't see beyond the colour of his skin puts everything in jeopardy.  When he doesn't return home two nights later his mother knows something is wrong. Seeking answers, she turns to Detective Lex Cole, who starts to follow his traces: a bad decision, a trip into a dangerous part of the city; blood...  As Crisp heads into trouble and discovers the New York he's lived alongside for years but never really seen, Lex, a day later, must find out what happened last night - before it's too late.  Last Night is by Karen Ellis.

February 2019

When a body is found in a church in the far north of Norway, the trail leads to an offshore oil rig. Searching the rooms of one of the rig workers, detective Kirsten Nigaard finds a pile of photos taken with a long-lens camera. The subject of the photos is Martin Servaz. And someone has been watching him.  Signs suggest the killer is none other than Julian Hirtmann, a serial murderer on the run. Martin, after all, has a long and painful history with Hirtmann. Now it seems he has struck again.  Their one clue is in amongst the photos. A picture of a young boy in a beautiful Austrian village, and on the back of it, the name 'Gustav'. Martin and Kirsten set off on the trail and soon find themselves in a terrifying cat-and-mouse chase, not knowing who is chasing whom, and which of them might pay the ultimate price.  Night is by Bernard Minier.

The Stranger Inside is by Laura Benedict.  There's a stranger in your house. And he knows your biggest secret.  When Kimber Hannon returns home from a work trip, she's ready to kick back and relax on the sofa. But on reaching the front door, she is shocked to discover that her key no longer works and there's a man in the bedroom window.  Kimber calls the police, but the intruder tells them he's renting the house. Her neighbour corroborates his story and it is Kimber who is forced to leave. But before she does, the stranger whispers 'I was there. I saw what you did.'  These words reveal a connection to Kimber's distant past, and dark secrets she'd long ago left buried. Her trespasser isn't after anything as simple as her money or her home. He wants to move into her carefully orchestrated life - and destroy it.

Trigger is by David Swinson.  Frank Marr was a good cop, until his burgeoning addictions forced him into retirement from the Washington D.C. police. Now, he's barely eking out a living as a private investigator.  Ostracized by his family after a botched case that led to the death of his cousin, Frank is now clean. He passes the time by robbing the houses of local dealers, taking their cash and flushing their drugs down the toilet. But when an old friend from the police needs his help, Frank is drawn back into the world of dirty cops and suspicious drug busts.  Never one to play by the rules, Frank recruits a young man he nearly executed years before. Together, detective and criminal charge headfirst into the D.C. drug wars. Neither may make it out.

Red Strike is by Chris Ryan.  A former Russian spy goes on the run after an attempt to poison him.  Now he’s gone to ground, and M!6 went to get old of him before the Russians do.  When a retired British general learns about this he reports back to his Russian paymasters.  They decide the former spy must be killed before he is found and spills his guts to Mi6.  Series hero John Porter and John Bald must work together to track down the spy and expose the general before it’s too late and Russia reconquers the Baltic states.

March 2019

Missing Person is by Sarah Lotz.  They are a group of misfits who go online for fun. Their hobby is giving names to the missing dead. But a killer is online with them, and his game is in deadly earnest . . .  Shaun Ryan's brother, Teddy, died in 1989. Only he didn't. Looking through his grievously ill mother's personal effects, Shaun finds a postcard that Teddy posted from New York, dated October 22nd 1990. And in his mother's family Bible is a picture of an adult Teddy. Could Teddy somehow be alive? And how do you find someone who has never been declared missing and who vanished nearly thirty years ago?  Missing-linc.com are an oddball assortment of geeks and obsessives whose macabre hobby is matching unidentified bodies with missing people. Ellie Caines' first and biggest case was The Boy in the Dress, a corpse found not ten miles from where she lived in Minnesota, two years after Teddy's postcard. Her obsession nearly broke her marriage and she left the group - but when the Ryan's enquiry is passed onto her she knows they have likely matched the missing Teddy with that decades-old corpse. And that she will be sucked back into the old nightmare, where the dead are more real than the living.

What if you found out that you'd been married to a stranger?  Nuala and James had the perfect relationship.  They were young and in love, and so Nuala didn't question why James told her to never contact his family or to visit the small Somerset town he was from.  But now James is dead, and Nuala needs to know what he was keeping from her all of those years.  Nuala is on her way to a town full of her husband’s secrets. And she is about to discover that sometimes secrets are better left buried.  Never Go There is by Rebecca Tinnelly.

Joshua is convinced there's a family curse. It's taken his loved ones, robbed him of his eyesight, and now his father has been killed chasing down a murderer.  His dad's last wish seems like a blessing: the chance for Joshua to see. But as Joshua navigates the world of sight, he realises he is seeing things through his father's eyes. Dark things; things he never knew.  His father was living a secret life. And there are consequences coming for Joshua - along with a killer drawing closer and closer...  A Killer Harvest is by Paul Cleave.

Hap and Leonard are an unlikely pair - Hap, a self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard - a tough-as-nails Black, gay, Vietnam vet and Republican - but they're the closest friend either of them has in the world.  After years of crime-solving companionship, something's changed: Hap, recently married to their P.I. boss, Brett, is now a family man. Amidst the worst flood East Texas has seen in years, the two run across a woman who's had her tongue nearly cut out, pursued by a heavily armed pair of goons. Though she can't talk much, on account of the tongue, it turns out the girl survived a mob hit, and the boss has come to clean up the mess.  On a chase that blows even the East Texas swampgrass back, Hap and Leonard must save the girl, and vanquish her foes, before the foes get them first. With a new case to solve, and a brand-new challenge to their relationship, will Hap and Leonard's friendship survive? Will Hap and Leonard survive?  The Elephant of Surprise is by Joe R Lansdale.

April 2019

A Capital Death is by Lindsey Davis.  A tragic accident . . . or was it?  Emperor Domitian has been awarded (or rather, has demanded) yet another Triumph to celebrate two so-called victories. Preparations are going smoothly until one of the men overseeing arrangements for the celebration accidentally falls to his death from a cliff on the symbolic Capitoline Hill.  But Flavia Albia suspects there's more to the incident than meets the eye, as there are plenty of people who would have been delighted to be rid of the overseer. He was an abusive swine who couldn't organise a booze-up in a winery and was caught up in a number of scams, including one surrounding the supply of imperial purple dye and a family of shellfish-boilers.  As Flavia finds herself drawn into a theatrical world of carnival floats, musicians, incense and sacrificial beasts, can she see to the heart of the matter and catch those responsible for the unpopular man's untimely death?

Life as a private investigator is non-stop for Ravi Chandra Singh and his gleefully amoral colleagues at the Golden Sentinels Agency.  Ravi is getting used to his visions of Hindu gods, but the cases are as crazy as ever. There's the actress who hires them to track down the source of a sex tape she never made, the party in a rock star's mansion that gets way out of control, and the terrorist leader who goes missing in London before he can hand himself in.  But soon Ravi finds himself in worse trouble than he could ever have imagined when his boss' secret plan to make himself a player on the world stage blows up in everyone's face.  The future of Golden Sentinels hangs in the balance in the madcap, exhilarating conclusion to the Ravi PI series.  Her Fugitive Heart is by Adi Tantimedhl. 

You can't keep the secret.  You can't tell the truth.  You can't escape the past...  Marianne was seventeen when she fled her home, her family, her boyfriend Jesse and the body they buried.  Now, forced to return, she can feel the past closing around her. And Jesse, who never forgave her for leaving, is finally threatening to expose the truth.  Marianne will do anything to protect the life she's built; the husband and daughter who must never know. Even if it means turning to her worst enemy...  But Marianne may not know the whole story - and she isn't the only one with secrets they'd kill to keep.  Stone Mothers is by Erin Kelly

A Book of Bones is by John Connolly.  He is our best hope.  He is our last hope.  On a lonely moor in the northeast of England, the body of a young woman is discovered near the site of a vanished church. In the south, a girl lies buried beneath a Saxon mound. To the southeast, the ruins of a priory hide a human skull.  Each is a sacrifice, a summons.  And something in the darkness has heard the call.  But another is coming: Parker the hunter, the avenger. From the forests of Maine to the deserts of the Mexican border, from the canals of Amsterdam to the streets of London, he will track those who would cast this world into darkness. Parker fears no evil.  But evil fears him . .

The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows the terrified victim begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number 2...  Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim - but even so, who could have hated her enough to kill?  Then another teenager goes missing, and more clips are sent. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. And the killer is not done yet.  A brilliantly suspenseful story about the dark side of social media, The Absolution is by Yrsa Sigurdardottir and will make you wonder what you should have said sorry for...

June 2019

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The Fifth Doctrine is by Karen Robards.  With her back against the wall, everything's on the line for Bianca St. Ives. She's either going to save the world-or die trying.  It took one hell of an effort for the authorities to finally get the jump on master manipulator Bianca St. Ives, but now that they have, it's far from the capture she expected.  Instead of taking her in, there's an offer on the table, a one-shot deal that would allow Bianca to walk away scot-free as if they'd never found her. And all she has to do is run one last mission-the kind she might never return from. But if Bianca wants to go back to her normal life in Savannah, it's not like she has a choice . . .


Tara Beckley is a college senior assigned to chaperone a visiting engineer to a conference. On the road, she is the victim of a brutal accident that kills the engineer but leaves Tara in a vegetative state - or, at least, so her doctors think.  Really, Tara is the prisoner of locked-in syndrome, fully alert, but unable to move a muscle. Trapped in her body, she discovers that someone powerful wants her dead. But why? And what can she do, lying in a hospital bed, to stop them?  Meanwhile, Abby Kaplan, an insurance investigator, is assigned to Tara's case. A former stunt driver, Abby has returned to Maine after a disaster in Hollywood left a beloved actor dead and her own reputation - and nerves - shattered. She has nothing left to give to the case, but she can tell there's more to the accident than meets the eye.  When Abby starts asking questions, things spin out of control fast, leaving her boss murdered, Abby on the run, and an enigmatic young hit man on her heels.  If She Wakes is by Michael Koryta.

July 2019

This is Gomorrah is by Tom Chatfield.  The Dark Web is everywhere - and those who know where to look, and who to ask, can find anything. Drugs, guns, porn, ideologies, lives and deaths are all up for sale . . . and everything must go.  Set in the technological underbelly of the 21st century, this conspiracy thriller follows elite hacker Azi Bello on a journey of
discovery into the dark marketplace known as Gomorrah, within which the world's worst people trade lives and influence. Taking the reader between London, Berlin, Athens and Los Angeles, as well as into terrorist-controlled Syrian cities, THIS IS GOMORRAH explores what it means to win, and to lose, at the global game of ideology and power.  A loner, charmer, idealist and connoisseur of other people's mistakes, Azi's life is spun around by a mysterious approach from a young Muslim woman called Munira, and before long his carefully crafted privacy comes crashing down. Munira is at her wits' end, a fellow hacker whose cousin has been recruited by terrorists, and who has unearthed a terrible conspiracy in her struggle to bring him home. She needs Azi's help and connections to track him down.  But can she be trusted? Can Azi trust anyone when identities can be changed with just a few clicks. . ?