Forthcoming Books from Headline Publishing.

 January 2024

Cover the Bones is by Chris Hammer. No one is ever innocent in paradise. A small town. A closely guarded secret, stretching back decades. And blood in the water. A body has washed up in an irrigation canal, the artery running through Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise on the border of the Outback. Stabbed through the heart, electrocuted and dumped under cover of night, there is no doubt that detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are dealing with a vicious homicide.  The victim is Athol Hasluck, member of one of the seven dynasties who have controlled every slice of bountiful land in this modern-day Eden for generations. But this is not an isolated incident. Someone is targeting the landed aristocracy of this quiet paradise in the desert. Secrets stretching back decades are rising to the surface at last - but the question remains, who stands to gain most from their demise?  Can Ivan and Nell track down a killer before the guilt at the heart of these seven families takes the entire town down with it?

Everything she is about to tell them is a lie... Evie Porter has everything a girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a picket fence, a fun group of friends.  The only catch: Evie Porter doesn't exist. First comes the identity. Once she's given a name and location by her employer, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it.Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. For Evie, this job feels different. Ryan has gotten under her skin and she's started to picture another kind of life for herself - one where her boss doesn't pull the strings.   But Evie can't make any mistakes. Because the one thing she's worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to - her real identity - just walked right into this town. A woman, who looks just like her, has stolen her name - and she wants more. As Evie's past begins to catch up with her, can she stay one step ahead to save her future? First Lie Wins is by Ashley Elston

In a harsh Alaskan landscape, four solitary are brought together by a desperate hunt to find a missing child. A blizzard rages in an isolated corner of Alaska. Few inhabitants live in this desolate place. Scattered across the vast, white expanse, they shelter in solitude from the tempest and the extreme cold. But amid this storm and far from home, a woman walks alone with the child. She stops for a moment to re-tie the laces of her boots filled with snow. Instants later she looks up and the child under her care has vanished. In desperation she searches for him, knowing that every minute that goes by in this snowstorm is a threat to both of their lives. Soon she is joined in the hunt by the other neighbours. And as the search intensifies to save the missing child from certain death, she too will become the object of pursuit. Blizzard is by Marie Vingtras.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is by Elle Cosimano. Finlay Donovan is ready to bite the bullet. She's done with her accidental life of crime. But first, there's the small matter of her debt to the Russian mob. Her task should be simple: locate a rogue hitman before the cops do. The catch? This killer might be a cop himself. From inside the citizens' police academy, run by distractingly hot Detective Nicholas Anthony, Finlay needs to sleuth out her target - and some fresh ideas for her new crime novel. Can she get to her edits and the hitman in time? She'll give it her best shot.

February 2024

Life Inside is by Linda Calvey. A chilling look into the brutality of life behind bars and what it's like to be locked away with some of the world's most dangerous criminals. Widely known in the criminal underworld as the 'Black Widow', Linda Calvey spent the first half of her life running with the UK's top gangsters, robbing banks and rubbing shoulders with the Kray twins. That is, until, in 1990, her lover Robbie Cook was murdered at point-blank, and she found herself falsely convicted. Linda was sent away for decades, and would go on to become Britain's longest-serving female prisoner. This is her story of life inside, and how she learnt to survive the many years she spent behind bars. Detailing the systems, characters and rules of prison life, as well as her encounters with notorious criminals Charles Bronson, Rose West and Myra Hindley, Linda gives a full account of her time locked up. Featuring stories of fights, riots, dodgy dealings and what happens when a prison officer gets taken hostage, this is a gritty and eye-opening look at prison life from a woman who has seen it all.

The question - For the last ten years, the small town of West Wilmer has been struggling to answer one question: on the night of the crash that killed his sister, why did it take Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help? If he'd called sooner, Phoebe might still be alive. The Secret - As the anniversary of Phoebe's death approaches, Grant is consumed by his memories and the secret that's been suffocating him for years. But he and Phoebe weren't the only ones in the car that night. Becca was there too - she's the only other person who knows what really happened. Or is she? The Truth - Everyone remembers Phoebe, but local girl June also lost someone that night. Her brother Wyatt has been missing for ten years and, now that her mother is dead, June has no one left - no family, no friends. Until someone appears at her door. Someone who knows what really happened that night. And they are ready to tell the truth. With a shocking twist that will leave you breathless, Twenty-Seven Minutes is by Ashley Tate and is a gripping story about what happens when grief becomes unbearable, dark secrets are unearthed, and the horrifying truth is revealed.

Mayday is by Grethe Bøe. Fighter pilot Ylva Norvahl has returned to her hometown, Bodø, in Norway's frozen north where tension is escalating across the border with Russia. NATO has launched the "Arctic Blizzard" excercise, mobilising 60,000 soldiers, many of them American. All it takes is one false move to trigger a major political crisis, or even a war. When her plane is forced down over Russian territory, Ylva and the veteran U.S. Major John Evans must race against time across a frozen landscape to avoid capture by the Russian Spetsnaz special forces in pursuit. Complicating their journey is Evans' involvement with an American military contractor Titans Security which has its own agenda across international frontiers. As the hunt closes in, Ylva uses her local Sami knowledge to survive in the excruciating cold, and her family history reveals dark secrets of its own in this geopolitical game of chess.

Bus driver Dave Kellock is a pillar of the community in Portobello, Edinburgh. But he's got a terrible secret. His past is dragged into the present when an unexpected passenger steps onto his bus: the woman he killed almost twenty years earlier. Dave's still reeling from the shock of it when police turn up at his door, accusing him of an entirely different crime. As he battles to track down a dead woman and maintain his hard-won reputation, Dave makes a terrifying realisation. Wherever he goes, someone is watching. In Her Shadow is by Emma Christie.

'Please take care of my baby. But don't try to find me. You'll put him in danger.' Profiler and therapist Kez Lanyon is shocked when she finds a baby on the backseat of her car, with an unsigned note asking her to take care of him. Kez has a pretty good idea who the mother is - Brandee, a popular social media star with a troubled background, who once lived in Kez's house. Brandee recently dropped out of the limelight and if the internet rumours are true, Kez knows Brandee's life is in danger. Kez is torn. Should she simply take care of the baby as she's been asked, or should she risk her whole family by using contacts from her previous job to save this young woman? Time is running out for Brandee. Can Kez find her before it's too late? Every Smile You Fake is by Dorothy Koomson. 

Four Our Sins is by James Oswald. The wages of sin is death. The partial collapse of a disused Edinburgh church reveals a dead body in the rubble, his head badly smashed by falling masonry. Soon identified as an old ex-con - Kenny Morgan - his death is put down to a heart attack and deemed non-suspicious. Tony McLean is approached by a notorious crime lord who suggests the police should be looking into Morgan's death more closely. Despite struggling with his recent retirement, he is reluctant to involve himself. But when a second man is found dead in another disused church, his forehead branded with a cross, this time it is clearly murder. There's a killer stalking the streets of Edinburgh. Is it time for McLean to get back to doing what he does best?

March 2024

A remote hotel, five guests, one murder. During a broiling heatwave, the inner circle of a high-profile charity attend a critical meeting at White Ash Ridge, a small hotel nestled in the Australian wilderness.  As the temperature rises, a body is found lying in the thick bush, bludgeoned to death.  One of the four remaining guests is a murderer - but who, and why, is a mystery. Detective Dana Russo knows the national spotlight will be sharply focused on the case. The charity was formed when the founders' teenage son was killed after intervening in a vicious assault - sparking public outrage and a damning verdict on the police investigation.  But under huge pressure and with few clues - plus suspects who instinctively distrust the police - how can Dana unravel the truth? White Ash Ridge is by S R White. 

There's blood on the water. No one is safe... 1999. A young Detective Constable Louise Mangan crosses the Thames one misty morning in pursuit of a killer. She finds a tranquil community on a leafy island close to Hampton Court Palace, but soon realises that all is not as it seems. There is something evil at play in this quiet suburb, and this junior detective's questions seem only to scratch the surface. Twenty years later, a horrific fire brings Detective Chief Superintendent Mangan back to that same island. Soon, she discovers that murder was just a drop in these dark waters. The river runs deep, and the tide is rising at last. Will the truth rise with it? Death on the Thames is by Alan Johnson. 

Blood Ties is by Veronica Llaca. Once upon a time, there was a woman the press called the Hyena-Woman. Infant Annihilator. Witch. Child-Chopper. Butcher of Little Angels. Monster. The Ogress of Colonia Roma. Julián and I called her Mother.  When the writer Ignacio Suárez is sent photographs of two murdered women, mirroring a passage of his very own detective novel, he drops everything to uncover who is responsible. What no-one suspects is that the origin of these crimes lies in the forgotten, real-life story of Felícitas Sánchez, the midwife turned child-killer who became known in the 1940s as "The Ogress of Colonia Roma". Diary entries and newspaper articles come together in this gripping tale to reveal how the woman called Felícitas, who grew up in a small community in La Huasteca, Mexico, became the infamous child trafficker and murderer in the country's capital, and how her long-ago crimes are linked to a wave of killings.

Cheater is by Karen Rose. Homicide Detective Kit McKittrick finds herself standing over a dead body in the Shady Oaks retirement centre. Frank Flynn has been stabbed and his room ransacked. Though he kept his background quiet at the centre, Kit recognises Frank from the San Diego Police Department. Had the former detective been following a trail that led to his murder? When the head of security is also found dead, it points to a conspiracy right at the heart of Shady Oaks. The one person who might be able to help uncover the truth is just who Kit has been avoiding: Dr Sam Reeves. As a volunteer at the centre and a friend of the victim, the forensic psychologist could be just what her case needs. But without access to CCTV of the day of the murder, how will Kit catch her killer? And can she do so before anyone else is put in danger?

April 2024

They say you can't always get what you want. But you can take it. Anna wants a fresh start. She doesn't believe she deserves it, but after three years behind bars she has finally paid her dues. Most of them, anyway. Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can't have, her alluring Oxford professor. He's married - not for the first time. Maybe she should be next in line? Marie the recluse has been locked up for too long. She's not ready to be free, but some rules are meant to be broken. Everyone wants a perfect life. But not everyone is prepared to take it. Unless someone decides to teach them a lesson. A Lesson in Cruelty is by Harriet Tyce.

A Plague of Serpents is by K J Maitland. London, 1608. Three years after the Gunpowder Treason, the King's enemies prepare to strike again. Daniel Pursglove is tasked by royal command with one final mission: he must infiltrate the Serpents - a secret group of Catholics plotting to kill the King - or risk his own execution. But other conspirators are circling, men who would blackmail Daniel for their own dark ends. In the Serpents' den, nothing is quite as it seems. And when Daniel spies a familiar face among their number, the game takes a dangerous turn. As plague returns to London, tensions reach breaking point. Can Daniel escape the web of treason in which he finds himself ensnared - or has his luck finally run out?

May 2024

Winter 1953. Beneath a pitch-black Leningrad sky, two bodies lie near the towering statue of Lenin outside the Finland Station. 'Nothing sinister, here, just a simple hit and run,' an officer in the MGB secret police assures militia detective Revol Rossel. Now he knows it's murder. Only recently released from a brutal Siberian labour camp and determined to find his missing sister at last, Rossel wants nothing to do with this new case. But his alcoholic, broken superior officer, Captain Liphukin, seizes upon it as his salvation – a last chance to be a true Soviet hero .Along with sharp-witted Sergeant Lidia Gerashvili, and Major Nikitin, the interrogator who once cut off Rossel's fingers, Rossel sets off on the trail of a murderer whose crimes surpass those of even the deranged tsar Ivan the Terrible. A trail leading to a dark, hidden episode in Bolshevik history filled with unspeakable horrors. There is only one eyewitness – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, whose giant right hand stretches out towards the frozen River Neva. Lenin, Rossel thinks, seems to be pointing at someone. But who? Man of Bones is by Ben Creed.

Faith is by Linda Calvey. Wakefield, 1964. Life is hardly rosy for Annie Wills – an unhappy upbringing and then married too young with husband Gary soon proving a lazy coward unable to hold down a job, his fists always ready to vent his anger on the world. The one shining star in Annie's life is her perfect little girl, Maria. When Gary foolishly ends up in debt to local crime family, the Waltons, the only way for Annie to keep a roof over their heads is to work at one of the Waltons' drinking clubs. There, for the sake of Maria, Annie does the unthinkable and keeps men happy, night after night. Maria grows into a stunning teenager who catches the eye of Fred Walton, volatile son of family boss, Ted. Despite Annie's desperate efforts to protect Maria from this seedy world, the young couple fall into a relationship and inevitably Maria falls pregnant. Fred is furious at the news, lashing out again and again with his hand, his ring with its secret razor tip leaving Maria with deep, livid scars criss-crossing one side of her beautiful face. Annie knows the marks on her daughter's face will never fade but they will be nothing compared to the trauma Maria will hold deep inside. Annie and Maria simply cannot stay in town. With Maria's face wrapped in bandages, they flee to London. Joyce, a fellow prostitute from the Walton's bar who has recently moved to Stepney, shows mother and daughter the only generosity and kindness they've ever known and helps them find a new life in the East End. But the secrets left behind in Wakefield fester. And while Annie and Maria may be finished with their hometown, the Waltons are far from finished with them.

June 2024

A young man has been murdered on the notorious Paradise estate in London. The police have their assumptions; out-of-work private investigator Dylan Kasper, more than familiar with the neighbourhood, has his own.  Kasper takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of the killing. He soon discovers the reason the boy was killed that the police will never find - or want to find. A highly incriminating piece of evidence tying an illegal production company to the government and police alike. But this is just the beginning. Kasper has made a name for himself getting under the skin of the most brutal killers in the capital. When those dearest to Kasper are suddenly thrust into view, he will have to make an impossible choice. Will the inhabitants of Paradise feel safe at last, if the price must be paid in blood? A Killing in Paradise is by Elliot F Sweeney.

Knock, Knock is by Michelle Yeahan. When a serial killer moves in next door to a say at home mum, he has no idea how much trouble he is in... After all there is no lengths she wouldn't go to. 

A ghost train, lost in Time, hurtles through the night... Two members of Team 236 are trapped on board. Not ideal under any circumstances but catastrophic when they're at each other's throats. Hot on their heels, but never quite able to catch up, can Lt Grint and his team overcome all obstacles in their way and save their fellow officers before the train disappears for good? Nor is TPHQ without its own problems as Matthew risks his sanity to track them through the Time Map. And a Mikey-experiment goes horribly wrong, exposing something better left concealed for all Time. What are the Time Police hiding?  And what will they do to keep their secret? Killing Time is by Jodi Taylor. 

Also published in June is an untitled Berlin thriller by Simon Scarrow. 

On becoming a real author by Alan Johnson

 

Alan Johnson is a former MP for Kingston Upon Hull West and Hessle. His memoirs have won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Specsavers National Book Awards "Autobiography of the Year”. The titles of his four memoirs all come from the titles of songs that the Beatles have either written or performed.

When I once told a book festival audience that I wanted to write fiction some wag responded by suggesting I write my Party’s next election manifesto. I was still an MP and thick-skinned enough to withstand the gentle humour of someone who’d paid good money to hear me talk about my four volumes of memoir.

The desire I’d expressed was genuine. Apart from the fact that I’d practically exhausted all the available material, I was sick of writing about myself. My memoirs had done well but I didn’t feel entitled to consider myself a proper author until I’d done the really difficult bit; developing plot and character.

I was already enamoured with the actual process of writing. Politics doesn’t involve much in the way of creativity and it’s practitioners rarely have the luxury of seeing an idea through to fruition. Former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, when asked by a journalist to identify the greatest threat to his administration, famously answered “events dear boy, events”.

I was always buffeted by events as a politician and to an even greater extent as a trade union leader before that, which is why I so valued the almost complete control that writing gave me. I say “almost complete” because, although I was solely responsible for the way I told my story, the story itself was preordained. I could describe the characters but not invent them; follow the plot but not create it. Writing fiction is much harder but infinitely more satisfying. Suddenly I was the dictator I’d so often wished I was in my previous life (although I’d have been a benign one - obviously).

So, I wanted to write fiction but why crime fiction? I’ve devoured a lot of mysteries, particularly in my formative years. It began with a battered paperback copy of a Georgette Heyer detective story that somehow found its way into my bedroom. It wasn’t very good. Heyer’s forte was, of course, the Regency novel but the book was good enough to encourage me to further explore the genre.

Before long I was taking my precious collection of ‘Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly’ magazines to the Popular Book Shop in Shepherds Bush to swap them for a bagful of paperbacks by inter-alia Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Ngaio Marsh, Leslie Charteris and Margery Allingham.

By the time the Beatles released their twelfth single in June 1966 I really did “wanna be a Paperback Writer” (but only if I failed in my bid to be a rock star). I was a sixteen years old shelf stacker at Tesco having left school the year before. In a way school stayed with me because my brilliant English teacher, Mr Carlen had given all his pupils a list of 40 books they should read. The actual list hasn’t survived but I remember Bleak House (with the wonderful Inspector Bucket) being on it along with Rogue Male and The Moonstone. Dickens, Geoffrey Household and Wilkie Collins wrote thrillers that seemed to escape narrow categorisation. They were just good books.

It wasn’t until about five years ago that I read my first Maigret, ‘Inquest on Bouvet’, a slim, green Penguin Crime paperback which could easily have been in that Popular Book Shop selection. Published in 1963 with the price (2’6 in old money) printed on the cover, I picked it up in another second hand bookshop whilst on holiday. Like almost all Maigret books it’s more novella than novel running to just 152 pages. I read it on the beach in one day and I’ve read about five Maigret’s a year since. All 75 are newly available, reprinted and retranslated, in a wonderful initiative by Penguin/Random House. It is Georges Simenon’s creation, rather than Conan-Doyle’s that I consider to be the greatest of all fictional detectives.

I hope ‘The Late Train to Gipsy Hill’ carries at least a modicum of what I learnt from so many great crime novels (although I also hope it’s not derivative of any). I’m not hoping for the Nobel Prize that Simenon so bitterly resented failing to win. I just wanted to write a book that is as pleasurable for it’s purchasers to read as it was for me to write.’

The Late Train to Gipsy Hill by Alan Johnson is published in hardback by Wildfire Books on 2nd September 2021 

Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches transfixed as a beautiful woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He's never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day. Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman who has beguiled him for so long, invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words 'HELP ME' scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass. From that moment, Gary's life is turned on its head. He finds himself on the run from the Russian mafia, the FSB and even the Metropolitan Police - all because of what because this mysterious young woman may have witnessed. In the race to find out the truth, Gary discovers that there is a lot more to her than meets the eye...

Books To Look Forward To From Headline Publishing

June 2021

Death on Stage is by Caroline Dunford. It is 1914 and war is underway. A group of French actors has become trapped in Britain and some of them are seeking political asylum, among these is a mathematician with whom Euphemia's friend, Mary, has been corresponding. He joined the troupe with the express intention of making it to Britain and to Mary before the war began. Euphemia's new commander sends her undercover to the theatre where the company is finishing its run, and he instructs Fitzroy to remain on medical leave. But Fitzroy has never been one to obey orders. Meanwhile, Euphemia's husband, Bertram, lies critically ill in hospital and Euphemia must employ all her strength to stay focussed on her mission. With actors and agents playing roles both on and off stage, the toughest challenge is knowing who to trust...

July 2021

Rogue Asset is by Andy McDermott. Alex Reeve was Operative 66. A former special ops soldier and one of the UK's deadliest weapons, he was a member of the secretive SC9 - an elite security service with a remit to neutralise the country's most dangerous enemies. Falsely accused of treason, Reeve was forced to hide in the shadows as the brutal assassins he once trained alongside sought to eliminate the 'rogue asset' at any cost. But tricked into revealing himself, Reeve is suddenly dragged into a lethal conspiracy involving the British state, shadowy Russian agents...and his own father. If there's one man who can survive...it is Operative 66.

Seven friends gather at a castle in the Scottish Borders. One last girls' weekend before Georgina's wedding. Near the castle, through a path in the woods, is a loch. After a few drinks, they head down to the water to take photos. The loch is wild, lonely, and stunningly beautiful. They set their camera to self-timer and take some group shots. Later, looking back at the pictures, they see something impossible.Behind them, eyes wide, a small, drenched boy emerges from the water. But none of them saw him, and nobody knows where he went. They're miles from the nearest town. How did he get there? Where did he go? As the weekend unravels and terrible secrets come to light, it soon becomes clear that their perfect weekend is turning into a perfect nightmare. They're desperate to leave - but someone won't let them. Down by the Water is by Elle Connel.

The Shetland Sea Murders is by Marsali Taylor. While onboard her last chartered sailing trip of the season, Cass Lynch is awoken in the middle of the night by a Mayday call to the Shetland coastguard. A fishing vessel has become trapped on the rocks off the coast of one of the islands. In the days that follow, there's both a shocking murder and a baffling death. On the surface there's no link, but when Cass becomes involved it is soon clear that her life is also in danger. Convinced that someone sinister is at work in these Shetland waters, Cass is determined to find and stop them. But uncovering the truth could prove to be deadly . .

I Know What You've Done is by Dorothy Koomson. What if all your neighbours' secrets landed in a diary on your doorstep? What if the woman who gave it to you was murdered by one of the people in the diary? What if the police asked if you knew anything? Would you hand over the book of secrets? Or ... would you try to find out what everyone had done?

Mother Midnight is by Paul Doherty. 1312. Sir Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the Secret Seal, has returned from the West Country to find Westminster in chaos. Edward II has fled in an attempt to protect his favourite from the wrath of his noblemen; and a royal clerk has been found dead, poisoned in a locked chamber. Drawn into a maze of murder both at Westminster and at the Convent of Saint Sulpice, where young novices have started to disappear, Corbett quickly establishes a connection between the two mysteries. As other killings follow, Corbett's investigation leads him to a high-class brothel and its sinister owner, Mother Midnight. Challenged to a duel and hunted by a guild of ruthless assassins, Corbett and his loyal henchmen, Ranulf and Chanson, face a sea of troubles. And Corbett must call upon his wit and ingenuity to halt the tide of disaster that threatens to engulf him.

A black father, a white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike Randolph left jail fifteen years ago, with not so much as a speeding ticket since. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. Ike is devastated to learn his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah's white husband, Derek. Though he never fully accepted his son, Ike is broken by his death. Derek's father Buddy Lee was as ashamed of Derek being gay as Derek was of his father's criminal past. But Buddy Lee - with seedy contacts deep in the underworld - needs to know who killed his only child. Desperate to do better by them in death than they did in life, two hardened ex-cons must confront their own prejudices about their sons - and each other - as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys. Razorblade Tears is by S A Cosby.

The Truth-Seekers Wife is by Anne Granger. It is Spring 1871 when Lizzie Ross accompanies her formidable Aunt Parry on a restorative trip to the south coast. Lizzie's husband, Ben, is kept busy at Scotland Yard and urges his wife to stay out of harm's way. But when Lizzie and her aunt are invited to dine with other guests at the home of wealthy landowner Sir Henry Meager, and he is found shot dead in his bed the next morning, no one feels safe. On Lizzie's last visit to the New Forest, another gruesome murder took place, and the superstitious locals now see her as a bad omen. But Lizzie suspects that Sir Henry had a number of bitter enemies, many of whom might have wanted him dead. And once Ben arrives to help with the investigation, he and Lizzie must work together to expose Sir Henry's darkest secrets and a ruthless killer intent on revenge...

The House of Death is by Peter Tremayne. Ireland. AD 672. The Feast of Beltaine is approaching and the seven senior princes of the kingdom of Muman are gathering at Cashel to discuss King Colgu's policies. Just days before the council meets, Brother Conchobhar, the keeper of the sacred sword, is found murdered. Sister Fidelma and her brother Colgu fear that the killer had been trying to steal the sword that symbolises the King's authority to rule. And as rumours begin to spread of an attempt to overthrow Colgu, news reaches Cashel that a plague ship has landed at a nearby port, bringing the deadly pestilence to its shores. Amid fear and panic, Fidelma, Eadulf and Enda must work together to catch a killer as the death toll starts to mount...

August 2021

Murder at the Seaview Hotel is by Glenda Young. In the charming Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, a murder is nothing to sing about... After the death of her husband Tom, Helen Dexter is contemplating her future as the now-sole proprietor of the Seaview Hotel. There's an offer from a hotel chain developer to consider, but also a booking from a group of twelve Elvis impersonators, a singing troupe called Twelvis. Tom loved Elvis and for Helen this is a sign that she should stay. But the series of mysterious events which follow, suggests that the developer is not going to give up easily. Then, shortly after Twelvis arrive, one of the group disappears. His body is found floating in a lake, with his blue suede shoes missing. Could the two be connected? With the reputation of the Seaview on the line, Helen isn't going to wait for the murderer to strike again. With her trusty greyhound Suki by her side, she decides to find out more about her guests and who wanted to make sure this Elvis never sang again.

I Shot the Devil is by Ruth McIver I used to think that I'd escaped Southport . . .Now I realised, Southport had been coming for me all this time. Erin Sloane was sixteen when high school senior Andre Villiers was murdered by his friends. They were her friends, too, led by the intense, charismatic Ricky Hell. Five people went into West Cypress Woods the night Andre was murdered. Only three came out. Ativan, alcohol and distance had dimmed Erin's memories of that time. But nearly twenty years later, an ageing father will bring her home. Now a journalist, she is asked to write a story about the Southport Three and the thrill-kill murder that electrified the country. Erin's investigation propels her closer and closer to a terrifying truth. And closer and closer to danger.

Death Comes to Bishops Well is by Anna Legat. When Sam Dee moves to the beautiful Wiltshire village of Bishops Well, he expects a quiet life of country walks and pub lunches. OK, so his new neighbour, Maggie Kaye, is a little peculiar, but she's very nice - and his old pal Richard Ruta lives just down the road. But when Richard throws one of his famous parties, things take a sinister turn. Sam, Maggie and the rest of the guests are dumbfounded when Richard falls down dead. A horrible tragedy - or a cunningly planned murder? With a village full of suspects - and plenty of dark secrets - just who exactly would want to bump off their host? Is there a connection to another mysterious death, nearly twenty years before? Armed with her local knowledge, Maggie - with Sam's reluctant but indispensable help - is soon on the case. But when the body count starts to rise, will sleepy Bishops Well ever be the same again?

A mother walks into the sea... and never comes back. Why? One perfect summer day, mother of two Alice walks into the sea . . . and never comes back. Her daughters - loyal but fragile Lily, and headstrong, long-absent Marietta - are forcibly reunited by her disappearance. Meanwhile, with retirement looming, DI Fox investigates cold cases long since forgotten. And there's one obsession he won't let go: the tragic death of an infant twenty years before. Can Lily and Marietta uncover what happened to their mother? Will Fox solve a mystery that has haunted him for decades? As their stories unexpectedly collide, long-buried secrets will change their lives in unimaginable ways. Mssing is by Erin Kinsley.

The Ex-Husband is by Karen Hamilton. Charlotte and Sam were partners. In life, and in crime. They never stole from anyone who couldn't afford it. Wealthy clients, luxury cruise ships. It was easy money, and harmless. At least, that's what Charlotte told herself, until the world caved in on her. But now, years after she tried to put that past life behind her, it comes rushing back when her estranged ex-husband Sam suddenly goes missing - and someone threatens to expose what they did. Desperate to escape whoever is tormenting her, Charlotte takes a job as events planner for an engagement party onboard a superyacht in the Caribbean. For a while, her plan seems to have worked, nothing but open ocean and clear skies ahead. Until it becomes clear that she's no longer a thousand miles away from harm. Because whoever is behind it all is onboard too. And now there's nowhere left to run.

The closer you get to the truth, the more dangerous it gets. FBI Agent Tom Hunter has been chasing down leads to find the brutal cult that damaged some of his closest friends. They managed to escape to tell their stories, but Eden's location has always remained a mystery.Liza Barkley is struggling with her feelings for Tom and wonders if their friendship can survive the secrets they've kept from one another. But they may be forced to confront the truth when a chance to help the investigation puts Liza directly in the line of fire. When the perpetrator of an attempted sniper attack on Liza and her friends is discovered to be one of the cult's leaders, DJ Belmont, it becomes clear that he is out to get revenge on the victims who escaped Eden's clutches.But there is one person who has always had control over DJ, and who no one outside of Eden has ever glimpsed: cult leader Pastor. When a serious injury forces Pastor to seek help outside the confines of the Eden, Tom and his team finally have a chance to bring the cult down. But DJ Belmont has his own plan, and is not going to stop until he gets what he wants... Say Goodbye is by Karen Rose.

The Night Singer is by Johanna Mo. You've no idea what you're dredging up. You're going to ruin everything. Hanna Duncker has returned to the remote island she spent her childhood on and to the past that saw her father convicted for murder. In a cruel twist of fate her new boss is the policeman who put him behind bars. On her first day on the job as the new detective, Hanna is called to a crime scene. The fifteen-year-old son of her former best friend has been found dead and Hanna is thrown into a complex investigation set to stir up old ghosts. Not everyone is happy to have the daughter of Lars Duncker back in town. Hanna soon realises that she will have to watch her back as she turns over every stone to find the person responsible...

Also published in August The Great Shroud by Vera Morris and Murder After Midnight by Lesley Cookman.

September 2021

The Last Train to Gipsy Hill is by Alan Johnson. Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches transfixed as a beautiful woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He's never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day.Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman who has beguiled him for so long, invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words 'HELP ME' scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass. From that moment, Gary's life is turned on its head. He finds himself on the run from the Russian mafia, the FSB and even the Metropolitan Police - all because of what because this mysterious young woman may have witnessed. In the race to find out the truth, Gary discovers that there is a lot more to her than meets the eye...

Daniel Pitt is defending an old college professor from Cambridge, who has been accused of plagiarism, when a series of brutal murders occurs on the streets of London. The rainy-day slasher, as the crazed killer becomes known, violently attacks his victims in the pouring rain and then removes one of their fingers before leaving the bodies. Daniel's dear friend Miriam fford Croft, newly qualified as a pathologist, is tasked with examining the bodies for clues and when Special Branch warn the police to stop investigating one of the victims, Daniel finds himself reluctantly drawn into this haunting mystery... Three Debts Paid is by Anne Perry.

Last Seen Alone is by Laura Griffin. When they face the most baffling missing person's case of their careers, a fiercely ambitious lawyer and a homicide detective have no one to turn to for help except each other.Up-and-coming attorney Leigh Larson fights for victims of sexual extortion, harassment, and online abuse. She is not afraid to go after the sleaziest targets to get payback for her clients. Leigh is laser-focused on her career - to the exclusion of everything else - until a seemingly routine case and a determined cop turn her world upside down. Austin homicide detective Brandon Reynolds is no stranger to midnight callouts. But when he gets summoned to an abandoned car on a desolate road, he quickly realizes he's dealing with an unusual crime scene. A pool of blood in the nearby woods suggests a brutal homicide. But where is the victim? The vehicle is registered to twenty-six-year-old Vanessa Adams. Searching the car, all Brandon finds is a smear of blood and a business card for Leigh Larson, attorney-at-law. Vanessa had hired Leigh just before her disappearance, but Leigh has no leads on who could have wanted her dead. Faced with bewildering evidence and shocking twists, Leigh and Brandon must work against the clock to chase down a ruthless criminal who is out for vengeance.

Ghosts of the West is by Alec Marsh. When daring journalist Sir Percival Harris gets wind of a curious crime in a sleepy English town, he ropes in his old friend Professor Ernest Drabble to help him investigate. The crime is a grave robbery, and as Drabble and Harris pry deeper, events take a mysterious turn when a theft at the British Museum is soon followed by a murder. The friends are soon involved in a tumultuous quest that takes them from the genteel streets of London to the wide plains of the United States. What exactly is at stake is not altogether clear - but if they don't act soon, the outcome could be a bloody conflict, one that will cross borders, continents and oceans...Meanwhile, can Drabble and Harris's friendship - which has endured near-death experiences on several continents, not to mention a boarding school duel - survive a crisis in the shape of the beautiful and enigmatic Dr Charlotte Moore?

Prisoner is by S R White. 24 Hours after leaving his cell he was dead. Can she find out why? When a man is found savagely 'crucified' amidst a murky swamp in northern Australia, detective Dana Russo and her team are called to a shocking scene. The victim is a convicted rapist, just released from prison, who years earlier committed an atrocious crime yards from where he was killed. Who murdered him - and why? With several potential leads, the investigation quickly becomes more complex, and sinister, than anyone imagined. And Dana realises she'll have to confront her own troubled past to understand the true motives of the killer...

October 2021

A Christmas Legacy is by Anne Perry. Gracie Tellman is preparing for Christmas with her husband and three young children when Millie Foster calls upon her. As a maid at Harcourt House, Millie is terrified that sinister goings-on, including the disappearance of food from the kitchens, will lead to her unfair dismissal, and she begs Gracie to investigate the situation. With the promise that she will be back in time for Christmas, Gracie takes Millie's place in the Harcourt household, never imagining the discovery she then makes. For the servants have been keeping a secret and their efforts are about to be rewarded in the most extraordinary way...

November 2021

Vine Street is by Domnic Nolan. SOHO, 1935. Sergeant Leon Geats's patch.A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code. The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats - a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay - knows the dark seams of the city. Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer - a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.

Also published in November Good Cop, Bad Cop by Simon Kernick and Deadline by Quintin Jardine.