Books to Look Forward to from Orion Publishing

January 2019

The New Iberia Blues is by James Lee Burke. Detective Dave Robicheaux first met Desmond

Cormier on the backstreets of New Orleans. He was a young pretender who dreamt of stardom whilst Robicheaux had his path all figured out.  Now, twenty-five years later, their roles have reversed. When Robicheaux knocks on Cormier's door, he sees a successful Hollywood director.  It seems dreams can come true. But so can nightmares.  A young woman has been crucified, wearing only a small chain on her ankle, and all the evidence points to Cormier. Robicheaux wants to believe his old friend wouldn't be capable of such a crime - but Cormier's silence is deafening.  And he isn't the only ghost from Robicheaux's past which comes back to haunt him...

I've been watching you DS Alice Parr. I saw you trying to save the poor young woman you found in the park. The woman I tried to kill. I've been waiting for you to find her family. To find someone who cares about her. But you can't can you? You've never had a case like this. I know everything about you. You know nothing about me. Even though I'm the man you're looking for. And you will never catch me...To Catch a Killer is by Emma Kavanagh.

Flavia de Luce, the twelve-year-old chemist and amateur detective is eager to turn professional. She and her father's valet, Dogger, have founded a detective agency, Arthur Dogger & Associates, and unexpectedly cut into their first case during the revelry at her sister Ophelia's wedding reception.  After an eventful ceremony with a missing best man and spontaneous ventriloquist act, spirits are high as Feely and her new husband head for the towering and beautifully iced wedding cake. But as Feely slices into the first piece, a scream rings out - the bridal cake contains a severed human finger.  Delighted, Flavia wraps the finger in a napkin and whisks it away to her chemical laboratory. By studying the embalmed skin, the indentation of a ring, and the slope of the fingernail, she'll not only be able to determine the identity of the victim - but also point a finger at a killer.  The Golden Tresses of the Dead is by Alan Bradley.

February 2019

Isaiah Quintabe - IQ for short - has never been more successful, or felt more alone. A series of high-profile wins in his hometown of East Long Beach have made him so notorious that he can hardly go to the corner store without being recognized. Dodson, once his sidekick, is now his full-fledged partner, hell-bent on giving IQ's PI business some real legitimacy: a Facebook page, and IQ's promise to stop accepting Christmas sweaters and carpet cleanings in exchange for PI services.  So when a young painter approaches IQ for help tracking down her missing mother, it's not just the case Isaiah's looking for, but the human connection. And when his new confidant turns out to be connected to a dangerous paramilitary operation, IQ falls victim to a threat even a genius can't see coming.  Waiting for Isaiah around every corner is Seb, the Oxford-educated African gangster who was responsible for the death of his brother, Marcus. Only, this time, Isaiah's not alone. Joined by a new love interest and his familiar band of accomplices, IQ is back - and the adventures are better than ever.  Wrecked is by Joe Ide.

NOW..  My name is Matthew McConnell. You've probably heard my story. I took five of my friends on a boat through the longest canal tunnel in England.  YOU... It takes two hours and twenty-six minutes to travel through that tunnel.  Six of us entered that tunnel but I was the only one to come out. DON'T...  It was pitch black in there - I don't know what happened to them. But I'm the only suspect.   And if I don't find out how they disappeared, I'll be sentenced to murder.  Now You See Me is by Chris McGeorge.

The Silent Patient is by Alex Michaelides.  I love him so totally, completely sometimes it threatens to overwhelm me.   Sometimes I think - No. I won't write about that.  ALICIA - Alicia Berenson writes a diary as a release, an outlet - and to prove to her beloved husband that everything is fine. She can't bear the thought of worrying Gabriel, or causing him pain.  Until, late one evening, Alicia shoots Gabriel five times and then never speaks another word.  THEO- Forensic psychotherapist Theo Faber is convinced he can successfully treat Alicia, where all others have failed.  Obsessed with investigating her crime, his discoveries suggest Alicia's silence goes far deeper than he first thought.  And if she speaks, would he want to hear the truth

March 2019

The Wrong Mother is by Michel Bussi.  I have several mothers.  It's a bit complicated for me.  Especially as they really don't like each other.  There's even one who's going to die.  Maybe it's a little bit my fault...  Maybe everything happened because of me.  Because I can't remember which one is the real one.  Malone, a child of four, starts to claim that his mother isn't his real mother. It seems impossible. His mother has birth certificates, photos of him as a child and even the paediatrician confirms this is her child. The school psychologist is the only one who believes him and he's in a race against time to find out the truth . . .

The Scandal is by Mari Hannah.  When an young man is found stabbed to death in a side street in Newcastle city centre in the run up to Christmas, it looks like a botched robbery to DCI David Stone. But when DS Frankie Oliver arrives at the crime scene, she gets more than she bargained for.  She IDs the victim as Herald court reporter, thirty-two-year old Chris Adams she's known since they were kids. With no eyewitnesses, the MIT are stumped. They discover that when Adams went out, never to return, he was working on a scoop that would make his name. But what was the story he was investigating? And who was trying to cover it up?  As detectives battle to solve the case, they uncover a link to a missing woman that turns the investigation on its head. The expose has put more than Adams' life in danger. And it's not over yet.

Three Bullets is by R J Ellory.  It was the shot heard around the world. On 22nd November 1963, John F. Kennedy's presidential motorcade rode through Dealey Plaza. He and his wife Jackie greeted the crowds on a glorious Friday afternoon in Dallas, Texas.  But what if it missed?  Mitch Newman is a photojournalist based out of Washington, D.C. His phone never rings. When it does, a voice he hasn't heard in years will tell him his former fiancée Jean has taken her own life.  When the truth is bigger than all the lies. Jean was an investigative reporter working the case of a lifetime. Somewhere in the shreds of her investigation is the truth behind her murder.  Who would believe it?  For Mitch, piecing together the clues will become a dangerous obsession: one that will lead him to the dark heart of his country - and into the crossfire of a conspiracy...

Shadows of Athens is by J M Alvey.  The Persian War is over and an unaccustomed decade of peace has come to ancient Athens. Philocles, an aspiring comic playwright, is making his living as a writer for hire; but this year is the highlight of his career - he has a play in the drama competition at the prestigious Dionysia Festival. The last thing he wants to find on his doorstep the day before is a body with its throat cut.  Just who is this dead man? Is it just a robbery gone wrong? With the play that could make his name on the horizon, Philocles must find out who this man is, why he has been murdered - and why the corpse was in his door way. He soon realises that he has been caught up in something far bigger than he could have imagined, and there are players in this game who don't want him looking any further...

In 1975, 15-year-old April Cooper and her 18-year-old boyfriend embark on a week-long killing spree. No-one knows if April was a willing accomplice or a victim herself, as the pair were apparently killed in a bloody shoot-out. In 2015, Robin Brennan’s parents have been involved in a shooting. Her father is dead, and her mother is in a critical state, with Robin desperate for her to wake. But when Jameson Malloy, the host of Closure – a true crime podcast investigating the San Gabriel Valley murder – shows up, Robin soon learns that her parents are maybe not who they say they are…  Never Look Back is by A L Gaylin.

Tell Me Everything is by Emma Rowley.  You know nothing about her.  But she knows everything about you. Olivia is the domestic goddess-turned-internet sensation who has won millions of followers by sharing her picture-perfect life online. And now she's releasing her tell-all autobiography.  Nicky is the ghost writer tasked with coaxing out the full story - including details of the tragic accident that blighted Olivia's golden childhood.  But, as she delves into Olivia's life, Nicky discovers cracks appearing in the glamorous facade. From money worries to Olivia's strained relationship with her handsome husband, the truth belies her perfect image.  As Olivia becomes increasingly hostile to the woman she's let into her life, Nicky becomes ever more relentless in her hunt for the truth.  Has Olivia really escaped the ghosts of her past - or will Nicky find there are more sinister reasons she wants to leave an old tragedy well alone?

Fugitive 13 is by Rob Sinclair. Aydin Torkal - aka Sleeper 13 - is on the run.  Hunted not only by the world's intelligence agencies, but also by the elite brotherhood of insurgents he betrayed, he has lived the past year like a ghost.  Until now.  MI6 agent Rachel Cox knows Aydin better than anyone. The only person who believes he is an ally in the on-going war on terror, not the enemy.  So when a coded message arrives from him, warning her not to trust her own colleagues, Rachel must choose between her career and the truth.  But as Aydin hunts down those who destroyed his childhood, the trail he follows will lead him closer to home than he ever expected.  He won't stop until he has his revenge.  He is FUGITIVE 13.

April 2019

No one will believe ... WHAT SHE SAW LAST NIGHT.  Jenny Bowen is going home. Boarding the Caledonian Sleeper, all she wants to do is forget about her upcoming divorce and relax on the ten-hour journey through the night.  In her search for her cabin, Jenny helps a panicked woman with a young girl she assumes to be her daughter. Then she finds her compartment and falls straight to sleep.  Waking in the night, Jenny discovers the woman dead in her cabin ... but there's no sign of the little girl. The train company have no record of a child being booked on the train, and CCTV shows the dead woman boarding alone.  The police don't believe Jenny, and soon she tries to put the incident out of her head and tells herself that everyone else is right: she must have imagined the little girl.  But deep down, she knows that isn't the truth.  What She Saw Last Night is by M J Cross.

The Sound of her Voice is by Nathan Blackwell.  Some murder cases you can't forget. No matter how hard you try.  For Detective Matt Buchanan it is the death of 14-Year old Samantha Coates. That innocent girl he just can't get out of his head.  He has probably been in the job too long. But when Buchanan pursues some fresh leads, it soon becomes clear he's on the trail of something big.  As he pieces the horrific crimes together, Buchanan finds the very foundations of everything he once believed in start to crumble. He's forced across that grey line that separates right and wrong - into places so dark, even he might not make it back . . .

In a dangerous alliance with troubled amateur sleuth Clementine Starke, DI Dominic Bell must hunt down a ruthless killer targeting a group of urban explorers who risk their lives exploring abandoned London locations. Can Starke and Bell identify the masked victims before it is too late?  A group of anonymous urban explorers stumble into a murderer's kill room in a derelict film studio. Terrified, they run, thinking they are safe as no one in the group knows their identities. When one of them is brutally murdered during an exploration of an abandoned underground station, they realise they are being hunted.  DI Dominic Bell and his team are investigating the series of murders but cannot find the connection between the victims. The only person who can help is Clementine Starke, who is researching adult thrill seekers as part of a university research project. However, Clementine is haunted by dark and violent obsessions, primarily her former relationship with DI Dominic Bell.  As the body count rises, Clementine Starke and DI Dominic Bell form an uneasy alliance to hunt the killer. But as they close in on their prey, and things turn personal, Clementine has to decide which side of the law she's really on.  You Die Next is by Stephanie Marland.

She's killed before. She'll kill again.  Senior police officer Florence Lovelady returns to Sabden to honour a promise made to dying Larry Glassbrook, a serial killer she put away for murder. Four child skeletons have been uncovered near a children's home, and Larry insists these are not ancient remains. Liberated by the news of her father Larry's death, Cassie Glassbrook is now free to revisit her hometown to win back the love of her childhood sweetheart. She'll stop at nothing to get him back.  As the two women return to the town that nearly took their lives thirty years ago, long-buried secrets are unearthed that could destroy them all.  The Poisoner is by Sharon Bolton.

May 2019

For Better and Worse is by Margot Hunt.  On their first date back in law school, Natalie and Will Clarke bonded over drinks, dinner and whether they could get away with murder. Now married, they'll put the latter to the test when an unchecked danger in their community places their son in jeopardy. Working as a criminal defence attorney, Nat refuses to rely on the broken legal system to keep her family safe. She knows that if you want justice...you have to get it yourself.  Shocked to discover Nat's taken matters into her own hands, Will has no choice but to dirty his, also. His family is in way too deep to back down now. He's just not sure he recognizes the woman he married. Nat's always been fiercely protective, but never this ruthless or calculating. With the police poking holes in their airtight plan, what will be the first to fall apart: their scandalous secret - or their marriage?

Tobias Winter has been assigned to the Abteilung KDA – the Department for Complex and Unspecific Matters. Despite the intriguing department name, as Winter explains, dealing with the strange and the supernatural is ‘actually 90% paperwork’. But this is a story about the other 10% of the job: the life-threatening danger part. This is a tale about the Queen of the Harvest, the October Man, and the little-known time the vineyard around Trier started to eat people . . . Winter may be PC Peter Grant’s German counterpart, but surviving this investigation is entirely down to him . . .  October Man is by Ben Aaronovitch.

Rebecca didn't know love was possible until she met Paul, a man with a past as dark as her own. Their demons drew them together, but twenty years later, the damage and secrets that ignited their love begin to consume their marriage.  When Paul catches the attention of the police after two women go missing, Rebecca discovers his elaborate plot to build a new life without her. And though Rebecca is quickly spiralling out of control, it doesn't stop her from coming up with her own devastating plan for revenge... they made a promise to each other, after all.  Til death do they part.  The Woman Inside is by E G Scott.

June 2019

Twisted is by Steve Cavanagh.  Who is JT LeBeau?  A bestselling crime writer, whose words have gripped the world.  The only mystery greater than his stories is his true identity.  One woman thinks she's found him - her husband has millions in the bank and a letter for the enigmatic author.  But the truth is far more TWISTED.

Jaded reporter Andrew and his photographer boyfriend, Carlos, are sick of telling just another story: from cartel massacres to corrupt politicians, sifting the dregs of Mexico's drug war, they think they've seen it all.  But when they find a body even the police are too scared to look at, what started out as just another reportage becomes the sort of story all reporters dream of.... until Carlos pushes for answers too fast, and winds up murdered, leaving Andrew grief-stricken and flailing for answers, justice, and revenge.  Caught in a web of dirty money that stretches from the boardrooms of the United States to the death squads of El Salvador, Andrew must decide whether to save himself - or find out who killed the man he loves, and destroyed the only home he's ever known.  Call Him Mine is by Tim MacGabhann.

Death in Avignon is by Serena Kent. When Penelope Kite attends the opening of an art exhibition on the arm of the gorgeous Mayor of St Merlot, Laurent Millias, it seems she is finally settling into life in Provence. But beneath the glamour, trouble is lurking. Shockwaves ripple when British expat artist, Roland Doncaster, collapses after choking on an olive.  A tragic accident? Or was he poisoned? Penelope is thrust once again into the middle of a murder investigation, but when she casts suspicion on one of the Mayor's friends, she finds herself out in the cold.  As winter draws in, Penelope must rely on the friendship of her local music group - including the dashing art dealer, Gilles de Bourdan - the support of the effervescent Frankie, and her own sleuthing instincts to untangle this mystery...

What happens when a private investigator ends up being the one uncovered?  Having lost everything after a failed marriage, Beverley Sanders now lodges in the basement flat of a house owned by her best friend Sophie and husband, Tim. With her former glittering marketing career in the gutter, she begins to do investigative work for other wronged women (gathering dirt on philanderers, bosses and exes).  Beverley takes on the case of Sophie's friend, Angela who is seeking to uncover grounds for divorce from her husband, Jerry, the shadow Science Minister, who is knee-deep in corruption, sleeping around and leeching off her money. She takes the case but soon discovers that she isn't the only one who doing the investigating, and Beverley has a secret history she doesn't want coming out...  Tightrope is by Marnie Riches.

Books to Look forward to from Orion Publishing

January 2018

Naomi Cottle finds missing children. When the police have given up their search and an investigation stalls, families call her. She possesses a rare, intuitive sense, born out of her own experience, that allows her to succeed when others have failed.  Young Madison Culver has been missing for three years. She vanished on a family trip to the mountainous forests of Oregon, where they'd gone to cut down a tree for Christmas. Soon after she disappeared, blizzards swept the region and the authorities presumed she died from exposure.  But Naomi knows that Madison isn't dead. As she relentlessly pursues the truth behind Madison's disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce defences that have protected her for so long. If she finds this child, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?  The Child Finder is by Rene Denfeld.

'Do you ever think there's maybe something that's gone wrong with the world?'  A man is found dead in one of the city's luxury homes. Homicide detective Ross Carver arrives at the scene when six FBI agents burst in and forcibly remove him from the premises.  Two days later...  Carver wakes in his bed to find Mia a neighbor he's hardly ever spoken to, reading aloud to him. He has no recollection of the crime scene, no memory of how he got home, and no idea that two days have passed. Carver knows nothing about this woman but as he struggles to piece together what happened to him, he soon realizes he's involved himself in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation.  And Mia just might know more than she's letting on…  The Night Market is by Jonathan Moore.

Robicheaux is by James Lee Burke.  Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, Detective Dave Robicheaux is fighting his demons to overcome his toughest case yet.  Powerful mob boss Tony Nemo has a Civil War sword he'd like to give to Levon Broussard, a popular local author whose books have been adapted into major Hollywood films. The sword's history can be traced back to Broussard's ancestors, and Tony figures it belongs to Levon. But Tony's intentions aren't so pure; he believes the gift will lead to a slice of Broussard's lucrative film adaptations.  Then there's Jimmy Nightengale, the young poster boy of New Orleans wealth and glamour. Jimmy's fond of Levon's work, and even fonder of his beautiful, enigmatic wife, Rowena. Tony thinks Jimmy can be a US Senator someday, and has the resources and clout to make it happen. There's something off about the relationship between these three men, and after a vicious assault, it's up to Robicheaux to uncover the truth.  Complicating matters is the sudden death of T.J. Dartez, the New Iberian local responsible for Robicheaux's wife's death, and all are looking to the detective as the murderer. Can Robicheaux clear his name before it's too late?

I'm guilty of many things.  Bethany Reston is happily married. But she's also having an affair with a famous client.  And no one can ever know.  But I'm innocent of murder.  When Bethany's lover is brutally murdered, she has to hide her grief from everyone.  But someone knows her secret. And then one day the threats begin.  With an ever-growing pile of evidence pointing to her as the murderer, the only way she can protect her secrets is to prove her innocence. And that means tracking down a killer.  The Guilty Wife is by Elle Croft.

You'd die for your family. But would you kill for them?  Family is everything.  So what if yours was being terrorised by a neighbour - a man who doesn't listen to reason, whose actions become more erratic and sinister with each passing day? And those you thought would help - the police, your lawyer - can't help you.  You become afraid to leave your family at home alone. But there's nothing more you can do to protect them.  Is there?  Fear is by Dirk Kurbjuweit

February 2018

Righteous is by Joe Ide. Super-smart sleuth Isaiah Quintabe - IQ to his friends - has built a mostly respectable life for himself, helping out friends and neighbours when he can and taking the occasional case to make ends meet. But there is one mystery that still haunts him almost ten years later - did his brother really die in a hit-and-run or was there more to the story behind his death?  IQ has been approached by his brother's former girlfriend Sarita, whose younger sister, an erratic DJ and gambling addict, has gone missing in Las Vegas - with a frightening loan shark, Chinese Triad gangsters, and her own deadbeat boyfriend hot on her tail. Accompanied once more by his fast-talking, don't-call-me-a-sidekick partner Dodson, IQ heads off for the casinos and massage parlours of Las Vegas. His quest takes an unexpected turn when he meets a criminal mastermind who knows something about the murky circumstances that surrounded his brother's death. But when Isaiah learns the truth, what will he do with it?

Sunny skies, sleep water...and a sinister corpse.  Flavia is enjoying the summer, spending her days punting along the river with her reluctant family. Languishing in boredom, she drags a slack hand in the water, and catches her fingers in the open mouth of a drowned corpse.  Brought to shore, the dead man is found to be dressed in blue silk with ribbons at the knee, and wearing a single red ballet slipper.  Flavia needs to put her super-sleuthing skills to the test to investigate the murder of three gossips in the local church, and to keep her sisters out of danger. But what could possibly connect the son of an executed killer, a far too canny police constable, a travelling circus, and the publican's mysteriously talented wife?  The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place is by Alan Bradley.

March 2018

King is a private detective, running his agency with the help of his daughter, Aja-Denise.  Broken by the brutality he suffered and committed while imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, his work and his daughter are the only lights in his solitary life.  When he receives a card in the mail from the woman who admits that she was paid to frame him all those years ago, King realizes that he has no choice but to take his own case.  Down the River unto the Sea is by Walter Mosley.  

'He was her child. The only one she'd ever have. It would kill her to learn that he was missing.'  Alex arrives home from holiday to find that her ten-year-old son Daniel has disappeared.  It's the first case together for Northumbria CID officers David Stone and Frankie Oliver.  Stone has returned to his roots with fifteen years' experience in the Met, whereas Oliver is local, a third generation copper with a lot to prove, and a secret that's holding her back.  But as the investigation unfolds, they realise the family's betrayal goes deeper than anyone suspected. This isn't just a missing persons case. Stone and Oliver are hunting a killer.  The Lost is by Mari Hannah.

A detective with no one to trust. A killer with nothing to lose.  18 months after the 'Ragdoll' murders, a body is found hanging from Brooklyn Bridge, the word 'BAIT' carved into the chest. In London a copycat killer strikes, branded with the word 'PUPPET', forcing DCI Emily Baxter into an uneasy partnership with the detectives on the case, Special Agents Rouche and Curtis.  Each time they trace a suspect, the killer is one step ahead. With the body count rising on both sides of the Atlantic, can they learn to trust each other and identify who is holding the strings before it is too late?  Hangman is by Daniel Cole.

This was meant to be the perfect honeymoon.  A five-star beach resort in Vietnam, with white sands, private villas and world-class cuisine.  A chance for newlyweds Amber and Ollie Graveney to recover from a tragedy that has left them on the verge of collapse.  Except things don't go as planned.  When Amber wakes up in hospital after a brutal attack, her husband is nowhere to be found.  Unable to come to terms with the police’s version of events, Amber returns to the scene of the crime.  She remembers that there was another couple during the night of the murder.  And the killer is still out there. The Other Couple is by Sarah J Naughton.

April 2018

It is summer 1989 and fifteen-year-old Clotilde is on holiday with her parents in Corsica. On a twisty mountain road, their car comes off at a curve and plunges into a ravine. Only Clotilde survives.  Twenty-seven years later, she returns to Corsica with her husband and their sulky teenage daughter. Clotilde wants the trip to do two things - to help exorcise her past, and to build a bridge between her and her daughter. But in the very place where she spent that summer all those years ago, she receives a letter. From her mother. As if she were still alive.  As fragments of memory come back, Clotilde begins to question the past. And yet it all seems impossible - she saw the corpses of her mother, her father, her brother. She has lived with their ghosts. But then who sent this letter - and why?  Time is the Assassin is by Michel Bussi.

They say I'm a murderer.   Six years ago, Kate Reynolds was found holding the body of her best friend; covered in blood, and clutching the knife that killed her.  I plead guilty. Kate has been in prison ever since, but now her sentence is up. She is being released.  But the truth is, I didn't do it.  There's only one person who can help: Private Investigator Madison Attallee, the first officer on the scene all those years ago.  But there's someone out there who doesn't want Kate digging up the past. Someone who is willing to keep the truth buried at any cost.  I, Witness is by Niki Mackay.

'What do you know about the Devil Mountain Killer?'  THEN Adeline Connor was the Devil Mountain Killer's final victim. After she was gunned down, the murderer disappeared and the killing spree ended.  NOW Carter Blake has been hired to do what he does best: to find someone. But this time he's hunting a dead girl - Adeline Connor's brother is convinced she's still alive.  But this town doesn't want an outsider digging up old business. And as Blake gets deeper into the case, it starts to become clear that the murders didn't ju st stop fifteen years ago.  The killer is on the hunt again.  Presumed Dead is by Mason Cross.

Devoted father or merciless killer?  His secrets are buried with him.  Florence Lovelady's career was made when she convicted coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook of a series of child murders 30 years ago. Like something from our worst nightmares the victims were buried...ALIVE.  Larry confessed to the crimes; it was an open and shut case. But now he's dead, and events from the past start to repeat themselves. Did she get it wrong all those years ago? Or is there something much darker at play?  The Craftsman is by Sharon Bolton.

May 2018

In the slums of Nairobi there is a place where the fires burn constantly and the stench of decay never fades. Dandora, the city's dumping ground, is filled with shadowy figures the world has left behind. Here too are rumours of the night runners - those said to be possessed by spirits, or the devil.  Detective Mollel understands what it means to be an outsider. Born in a Maasai village and forever at odds with the corrupt ranks of the city police, he is drawn to the case of a Fatima, a young girl who has gone missing in the slum. His search takes him deep into Nairobi's underworld, from rap clubs to voodoo healers, and to the lair of the self-styled overlord of Dandora. He learns that Fatima is not the first person to have disappeared, and to find out what has happened to her, Mollel must open his mind to things he cannot see...  Night Runners is by Richard Crompton.

THE SERIAL KILLER ISN'T ON TRIAL.  HE'S ON THE JURY...  They were Hollywood's

hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.  This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.  All the evidence points to Robert's guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the courtroom start to raise doubts in Eddie's mind.  What if there's more than one actor in the courtroom?  What if the killer isn't on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?  Thirteen is by Steve Cavanagh.

June 2018

My name is Kate.  I volunteer at a Missing Persons helpline - young people who have run away from home call me and I pass on messages to their loved ones, no questions asked.  I don't get many phone calls, and those I do are usually short and vague, or pranks.  But this morning a girl named Sophie called.  I'm supposed to contact her parents to let them know their child is safe.  The problem is, Sophie isn't safe.  And Sophie is my daughter.  Where the Missing Go is by Emma Rowley.

Sleeper 13 is by Rob Sinclair.  He was their weapon.  Now they're the target.  As a child he was smuggled to the Middle East from his London home, to be trained as one of the most elite insurgent soldiers of his generation.  For years he was forced to do things no child should do, for a cause he couldn't believe in.  But while his brothers were preparing to kill, he was looking for a way out.  Now, on the eve of the deadliest simultaneous terrorist attacks Europe has ever seen, he'll finally get his chance.  He will break free and hunt down those responsible for making him a monster.  He must draw on all his training, all of his deadly skills to survive.  He is Sleeper 13.

Eighteen years ago Martha said goodbye to best friend Juliet on a moonlit London towpath.  The next morning Juliet's bike was found abandoned at the waterside.  She was never seen again.  Nearly two decades later Martha is a TV celebrity, preparing to host a new crime show... and the first case will be that of missing student Juliet Sherman. After all these years Martha must reach out to old friends and try to piece together the final moments of Juliet's life.  But what happens when your perfect friends turn out to be perfect strangers...?  Beautiful Liars is by Isabel Ashdown.

July 2018

The morning after Sophie's mother was attacked and her nanny was murdered, the police found her father's car abandoned in a field above the Channel with bloodstains on its seats.  He has been missing ever since.  His friends insist on his innocence. Like Colin, they are wealthy and connected, and had the means to help him disappear.   Nearly thirty years later, Sophie infiltrates their circle to learn the truth about their and her father's secrets.  The Double Life is by Flynn Berry.

How do you solve a puzzle when there are no pieces?  When an attractive, well-dressed woman is found dying on a Chelsea street, it seems clear to DS Thea Walsh that this murder will be one that is wrapped up quickly.  The policing murder manual describes the golden hour, that window in time in which the most critical information can be gathered and they have the best start. The witness who found her reacted quickly and respected the crime scene.  And then there is the victim herself. She is wearing a wedding ring and has recently had a child, so someone will be looking for her. She is, to all intents and purposes, the perfect victim.  Until she isn't. Because what if your perfect victim has no name?  What if the woman that everyone should be looking for, can't be found?  A Perfect Victim is by Emma Kavanagh.

Lies Sleeping is by Ben Aaronovitch.  PC Peter Grant has a new case, and it’s going to take London by storm.  There’s a confrontation coming, and the Faceless Man may never be more dangerous than when he is cornered.

The Tattoo Thief is by Alison Belsham.  A policeman on his first murder case.  A tattoo artist with a deadly secret. And a twisted serial killer sharpening his blades to kill again...  When Brighton tattoo artist Marni Mullins discovers a flayed body, newly-promoted DI Francis Sullivan needs her help. There's a serial killer at large, slicing tattoos from his victims' bodies while they're still alive. Marni knows the tattooing world like the back of her hand, but has her own reasons to distrust the police. So when she identifies the killer's next target, will she tell Sullivan or go after the Tattoo Thief alone?