Forthcoming Books from Simon & Schuster

 January 2025

Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner Joe Pike face a cryptic case and a terrifyingly unpredictable killer in this twisty, edge-of-your-seat thriller'. Traci Beller was only thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. Now a super-popular influencer with millions of followers, she finally has the money to hire a new detective to uncover the truth. And that detective is Elvis Cole. Taking on a ten-years-cold missing person case is almost always a losing game, though Elvis quickly picks up a lead in Rancha when he learns that an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter Anya might have a line on the missing man. But when he finds himself shadowed by a deadly gang of vicious criminals, the case flips on its head. Victims become predators, predators become prey, and when everyone is a victim, will it be possible to save them all? Calling on the help of his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, Elvis follows Tommy Beller's trail into the twisted, nightmarish depths of a monstrous evil, even as what he finds tests his loyalty to his clients, and to himself. But the truth must come out, no matter the cost. Elvis must face The Big Empty and see justice done. The Big Empty is by Robert Crais. 

She thinks it was murder. But if she can’t trust herself, can anyone else? Nancy North and her boyfriend Felix are making the move across London to Harlesden. A new flat, a new area, a new start. Because while Nancy is fine now, she wasn’t fine before. But settling into the new flat and meeting the new neighbours isn’t helped by Felix’s hovering concern. She is all right. She is sticking to her breathing exercises and doctor-prescribed help.  So, when their new neighbour Kira Mullan is found dead by suicide, Felix is understandably worried about Nancy’s frame of mind. But Nancy saw Kira the day before she died and she didn’t strike her as someone who was suicidal – she was upset and angry, yes, but was she upset and angry enough to take her own life?  Nancy is the only one convinced that there’s more to Kira’s death than has been discovered. But all the police and the neighbours see is a vulnerable woman who isn’t sure of what she saw, and might even be imagining things . . .  Is Nancy imagining things, or are there more questions that should be asked about the last days of Kira Mullan?   The Last Days of Kira Mullan is by Nicci French.

If you had the power between life and death, what would you do?  Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another – something she finds out the hard way when her best friend Ruth suffers a fatal head injury on a night out. Desperate to save her, Thea touches the arm of the man responsible when he comes to check if Ruth is all right. As Ruth comes to, the man quietly slumps to the ground, dead. Thea realises that she has a godlike power: but despite deciding to use her ability for good, she can’t help but sometimes use it for her own benefit. Boss annoying her at work? She can take some life from them and give it as a tip to her masseuse for a great job. Creating an ‘Ethical Guide to Murder’ helps Thea to focus her new-found skills. But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds that it isn’t as simple as she first thought. How can she really know who deserves to die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out? An Ethical Guide to Murder is by Jenny Morris.

The Collaborators by Michael Idov. A brilliant young intelligence officer and a troubled heiress stumble into a global conspiracy that pits present-day Russia against the CIA in this electrifying, globetrotting spy thriller. Combining realistic thrills with sophisticated spycraft and witty dialogue, The Collaborators delivers a gut-punch answer to the biggest geopolitical question of our time. How exactly did post-Soviet Russia turn down the wrong path? Criss-crossing the globe on the way to this shocking revelation are disaffected millennial CIA officer Ari Falk, thrown into a moral and professional crisis by the death of his best asset, and brash, troubled LA heiress Maya Chou, spiralling after the disappearance of her Russian American billionaire father. The duo’s adventures take us to both classic and surprising locales – from Berlin and Tangier to Latvia, Belarus and a semi-abandoned technopark outside Moscow.

February 2025

Little Red Death is by A K Benedict. DI Lyla Rondell is on the case of a lifetime. Tasked with investigating a series of perplexing deaths, the only lead she has is that each appears to be based on a different classic fairy tale. Far from the stuff of bedtime stories, the press is having a field day with what they have named the Grimm Ripper Murders. But as the bodies stack up, Lyla’s whole world is about to flip on its head. Because the killer’s bloody trail stretches deep into her own origin story, and when she discovers the truth, nothing will ever be the same again. Faced with the fact that everything she knows is fiction, Lyla will have to take a little creative license of her own if she’s going to turn the final page on the killings . . . 

March 2025

The final days of Adolf Hitler are shrouded in mystery. What really happened in that Berlin bunker? And what happened next?  When Parker loses his faith and drops out of the seminary, he finds himself back in london and looking for work. Unable to find anything more respectable, he accepts an offer to work as amanuensis to a man of dubious character called Robinson. Robinson lives in a big house in Kilburn where he earns a living as a collector of historical objects. He specialises in Russian icons, old newspapers and other items of more dubious provenance. One of Parker’s duties involves meeting people who have an interest in purchasing the kinds of artefacts in which robinson specializes. While carrying out his assignments, he comes to realise that his grandfather and Robinson’s  father both have controversial war records. In fact, the more immersed he becomes in Robinson’s world in fact, the more he comes to realise that he is the inheritor of a personal history that leads into the darkest corners of 20th century history. With a cast of corrupt police officers, the Russian Mafiosi, catholic priests, Second World War bomber pilots, David Bowie, Eric Burdon from The Animals, Eva Braun, Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler, Come In And Shut The Door is by Chris Petit.

In the glorious summer of 1914, Emily Grey, a young Cambridge undergraduate, is studying German in Heidelberg. While there she meets Hans, a philosopher with grey eyes and long lashes, who wins her heart and asks her to marry him. When the First World War intervenes, however, she is forced to return to England, leaving Hans behind to join the Imperial Navy. A year later, Emily is recruited to serve in a recently established government department. Commander Cumming, head of His Majesty’s newly-formed Secret Service — sometimes also known as MI6 — is keen to make use of Emily’s language skills. Assigned to interview an informer known as ‘The Dane’, she learns of a plot so audacious it has the potential to change the entire course of the war. At Rosyth in Scotland, the home of the British Grand Fleet, Emily must work undercover to locate the mole the heart of the British naval establishment. Who is the traitor known only by the codename ‘Heiffer’? And can she find him in time to prevent a military catastrophe that would spell disaster for the country she serves? No.2 Whitehall Court is by Alan Judd who has created a gripping thriller about the early days of MI6.

April 2025

The Other People is by C.B. Everett. And Then There Were None  meets The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Ten strangers. An old dark house. A killer picking them off one by one. And a missing girl who's running out of time. . . Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house, and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who – or what – is the Beast in the Cellar? Forget what you think you know. Because while you can trust yourself, can you really trust The Other People?

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock are back in a cutting-edge new thriller. The truth will always come out, but at what cost?  Fresh from successfully closing their first live case, the Future Policing Unit are called in to investigate when a headless, handless body is found on a Warwickshire farm. But as they work to identify the victim and their killer, the discovery of a second body begins to spark fears that The Aston Strangler is back. And as the stakes rise for the team, so do the tensions brewing within it. When DCS Kat Frank is accused of putting the wrong man behind bars all those years ago, AIDE Lock – the world's first AI Detective – pursues the truth about what happened with relentless logic. But Kat is determined to keep the past buried, and when she becomes the target of a shadowy figure looking for revenge, Lock is torn between his evidence-based algorithms and the judgement of his partner, with explosive results.   When everything hangs in the balance, it will all come down to just how much an AI machine can learn, and what happens when they do . . . Human Remains is by Jo Callaghan.

Carved in Blood is by Michael Bennett. It’s a chilly Auckland winter, but for Hana Westerman and her family, it is a time of excitement. Matariki is approaching – the small cluster of stars also known as the Seven Sisters is a sacred constellation in Māori culture, heralding a time of new beginnings. Hana’s daughter Addison is getting engaged and Hana’s new role within her community is going well. For once, life is good, peaceful.   But this Matariki brings unwelcome change. When Hana’s ex-husband Jaye, a high-flying Detective Inspector, is shot in what looks like a random hold-up, Hana offers her help to the senior police officer spearheading the investigation, DI Elisa Grey. With access to police intelligence, Hana makes a breakthrough that leads to a potential suspect with links to a Chinese organised-crime syndicate. But then Addison receives a phone call telling her that the police have the wrong man.  Was Jaye really just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or is his shooting related to something else – an old undercover case deep in his past?  

Bone of Contention is by Blake Mara. Louise and the Pack are back in another pawfully intriguing mystery . . .  When Yaz and her dog Hercules find a dead man on a bench along the canal with chicken bones lying around him, she immediately calls Louise – and the police. The case is odd: a chicken bone has been forcibly rammed down the victim’s throat, and the last person to see him was their friend – and Pack-mate – Claire. When the police take Claire into custody, the Pack mobilise, determined to find the real killer. The trail leads them to the new Cluckin’ Good Chicken shop, who not only have a gang that loiter outside, smoking weed and harassing passers-by, but have also managed to create issues with the locals. As the Pack's investigation into the chicken shop progresses, establishing links with organised crime that might possibly connect to the local council, Louise and her friends find themselves in mortal danger. Can the Pack sniff out the killer and get to the bones of the mystery? 

June 2025

Spring 1945. The war is nearly over, but the wounds are still fresh, and for​ the picturesque village of Larkwhistle in the New Forest, it’s a time of​ great change and great sorrow. ​ Jill Metcalfe receives the news of her brother Henry’s death from his friend, US Army Officer Jack Stafford. Henry had been on a mission in France and had discovered some vital information, but it was information he was unable to give to Jack before he was killed at the rendezvous point. Jack has come to the village in the hopes that Henry’s cryptic last note will lead to a clue to the traitor he was searching for. With Jill at his side, they begin to investigate. ​But someone doesn’t want them looking into what happened to Henry. And when a body is discovered, it seems like there might be more to this little village – and its inhabitants – than first meets the eye. ​Because the war might be over, but the killing hasn’t stopped. The New Forest Murders is by Matthew Sweet.

Hotel Ukraine is by Martin Cruz Smith. When Arkady Renko is charged with investigating the murder of Alexei Kazasky, the Deputy Minister of Defence, he knows he has to tread carefully. Alexei Kazasky is a high-profile politician and has a complicated relationship with Putin. This investigation clearly has Kremlin approval, but, as with everything in Russia, things are not always what they seem. Already preoccupied with his developing Parkinson’s, Arkady finds he has more to worry about. The war in Ukraine is gaining momentum, and his son Zhenya has become involved with the Black Army, a Russo-Ukrainian group of hacktivists. Moreover, as Arkady digs deeper into Kazasky’s murder, he realizes that the man’s death may have been more politically motivated than he first assumed. Now it seems that the people behind the killing have him firmly in their crosshairs – but this time Arkady’s life is not the only one on the line.

Books to Look Forward to From Simon and Schuster

 February 2021

Nighthawking is by Russ Thomas. Sheffield's beautiful Botanical Gardens - an oasis of peace in a world filled with sorrow, confusion and pain. And then, one morning, a body is found in the Gardens. A young woman, dead from a stab wound, buried in a quiet corner. Police quickly determine that the body's been there for months. It would have gone undiscovered for years - but someone just sneaked into the Gardens and dug it up. Who is the victim? Who killed her and hid her body? Who unburied her? And who laid two ancient Roman coins over her eyes? In his quest to find her murderer, DS Adam Tyler will find himself drawn into the secretive world of nighthawkers: treasure-hunters who operate under cover of darkness, seeking the lost and valuable... and willing to kill to keep what they find. That which was lost... will always be found again.

March 2021

Danger and dissent stalk the streets and taverns of Elizabethan England. The Queen's chief spymaster, Francis Walsingham, and his team of agents must maintain the highest levels of vigilance to ward off Catholic plots and the ever-present threat of invasion. One operative in particular - a young Cambridge undergraduate of humble origins, controversial beliefs and literary genius who goes by the name of Kit Marlowe - is relentless in his pursuit of intelligence for the Crown. When he is killed outside an inn in Deptford, his mysterious death becomes the subject of rumours and suspicion that are never satisfactorily resolved. Years later, Thomas Phelippes, a former colleague of Marlowe's and a man once much valued by Walsingham, finds himself imprisoned in the Tower. When he is visited by an emissary of the new king, however, it becomes clear that his long fall from favour may be reversed if he will furnish his monarch with every detail he is able to recall about his murdered friend's life and death. But just what is it that so fascinates King James about the famously mercurial playwright-spy, and does Phelippes know enough to secure his own redemption? A Fine Madness is by Alan Judd.

April 2021

Joe Goldberg is back. And he's going to start a family even if it kills him. Joe Goldberg is done with cities, done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now, he's saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cosy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe. He gets a job at the local library - he does know a thing or two about books - and that's where he meets her: Mary Kay DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won't meddle, he will not obsess. He'll win her the old fashioned way . . . by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand. Over time, they'll both heal their wounds and begin their happily ever after in this sleepy town. The trouble is . . . Mary Kay already has a life. She's a mother. She's a friend. She's . . . busy. True love can only triumph if both people are willing to make room for the real thing. Joe cleared his decks. He's ready. And hopefully, with his encouragement and undying support, Mary Kay will do the right thing and make room for him. You Love Me is by Caroline Kepnes.

So you want to read crime with a dose of black humour and strong, violent-when-necessary heroines? Do you like women who don’t take any sh*t? Then this book is definitely for you. Think Villanelle – but she’s on your side. Nikki Griffin, our bookseller-by-day, badass PI-by-night heroine, is back in One Got Away by S. A. Lelchuk.

Someone Who Isn't Me is by Danuta Kot. When everyone hides the truth, who do you turn to? Becca's had a hard time of it, but she has finally got her life together. She has a nice little flat, a steady job pulling pints, and she's even seeing someone new: Andy, who keeps his private life to himself but is always good for a laugh. And then Andy vanishes. When his body turns up on isolated Sunk Island, Becca learns Andy wasn't just another punter. He was a police officer, deep undercover, investigating a drugs ring that he believed operated out of Becca's pub. Staggered by the betrayal, Becca turns to the only person she thinks she can trust: her foster mum, Kay. But Kay has problems of her own. She's just moved into a short-term let in the hopes of finding some peace and quiet. But peace and quiet are hard to come by on Sunk Island . . . Before long, both women are drawn into a terrifying world of drugs, money and death.

Vanished is by James Delargy. Lorcan and Naiyana are desperate to move their young family far away from the hustle and bustle of modern city life. The abandoned town of Kallayee seems like the perfect getaway: no one has lived there for decades. It will be peaceful. Quiet. Secure. But life in Kallayee isn't quite as straightforward as they hope. Lights flicker at night. Car tracks appear in the dust even when the family hasn't driven anywhere. And six-year-old Dylan is certain he can hear strange sounds. Lorcan and Naiyana refuse to leave. No one can talk sense into them. And now, no one can talk to them at all. They've simply vanished.

The Bone Code is by Kathy Reichs. A storm has hit South Carolina, dredging up crimes of the past. En route to Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan receives a call from the Charleston coroner. During the storm, a medical waste container has washed up on the beach. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Chillingly, Tempe recognizes many details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she flies to Montreal to gather evidence and convince her boss Pierre LaManch to reopen the cold case. She also seeks the advice-and comfort-of her longtime beau Andrew Ryan.  Meanwhile, a storm of a different type gathers force in South Carolina. The citizens of Charleston are struck by capnocytophaga, a bacterium that, at its worst, can eat human flesh. Thousands panic and test themselves for a rare genetic mutation that may have rendered them vulnerable. Shockingly, Tempe eventually deduces not only that the victims in both grisly murder cases are related, but that the murders and the disease outbreak also have a common cause . . .

May 2021

Mia, a burgeoning actress, heads to LA where she meets Emily at an audition.  When Emily disappears, leaving behind her belongings, Mia decides to search for her. But LA is a world of falsity and hidden identities and Mia doesn't know who she can trust.  Her search for the truth soon becomes more complicated, and more dangerous, than she ever could have imagined, dragging her further into a world that can chew you up and spit you back out . . The Disappearing Act is by Catherine Steadman.

Get inside the mind of a real life bomb disposal expert. Left reeling from the disappearance of his daughter and ex-wife, staff sergeant dom riley is a haunted man. After spending months investigating, he has exhausted nearly all leads in his hunt for answers. As Riley decides to make one final push for the truth, it emerges that multiple bombs are on board a civilian cruise ship and he is sent in to neutralise the threat. The mission is perilous before it's even begun, requiring a low-altitude parachute jump, a manoeuvre he has only completed in training - but it's not the journey, nor the bombs themselves, that pose the real threat. In fact, in travelling halfway across the Atlantic, Riley will ultimately learn that the danger is much closer to home. Operation Black Key is by Kim Hughes. 

The Heights is by Louise Candlish. He thinks he's safe up there. But he'll never be safe from you. The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among the warehouses of Shad Thames, its roof terrace so discreet you wouldn't know it existed if you weren't standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that's when you see a man up there a man you'd recognize anywhere. He's older now and his appearance has subtly changed, but it's definitely him. Which makes no sense at all since you know he has been dead for over two years.You know this for a fact. Because you're the one who killed him.

Books to Look Forward to from Simon and Schuster

January 2019

She trusted them with her life.  When Anna arrives in the UK, she believes it's the start of a better life for her and her daughter. But what awaits her is more shocking than anything she could have ever imagined . . .She trusted them with her daughter.  DI Harry Powell is investigating a shooting, but the victim has been scared into silence. As Harry struggles to piece together what little information he has, he stumbles upon an operation that may put countless lives across the country at risk.  She was wrong.  As Anna's situation grows more dangerous by the day, Harry is forced to push his overstretched team to the limits to find answers. But for one of them, will it already be too late?  Lost Lives is by Lisa Cutts.

Winner Kills All is by R J Bailey.  Sam Wylde is hot on the heels of her ex-husband who has snatched her only daughter, Jess.  A former Personal Protection Officer, Sam was once the best in the business, and now those skills are about to be tested.  Because as she arrives in south east Asia, having tracked their movements to the seedy nightclub scene in Bali, Sam discovers that she too is being hunted.  When an enemy she thought long-dead appears, threatening to thwart her search for Jess, the stakes are raised and Sam must fight to stay one step ahead at all times.  Can she save the only person who truly matters to her before it’s too late?  Or will the vicious thug Sam thought that she’d killed finally take his revenge – and her daughter along with it?

March 2019

Brexit looms and Charles Thoroughgood, Chief of MI6, is forbidden for political reasons from spying on the EU. But when an EU official volunteers the EU's negotiating bottom lines to one of his officers, Charles has to report it.   Whitehall is eager for more but as the case develops Charles realises that it may not be quite what it appears. At the same time, he finds he has a family connection with a possible terrorist whom MI5 want checked out. In both cases, Charles is forced to become his own agent, seeking what he really does not want to find.  Accidental Agent is by Alan Judd.

April 2019

Wilbrook in Western Australia is a sleepy, remote town that sits on the edge of miles and miles of unexplored wilderness. It is home to Police Sergeant Chandler Jenkins, who is proud to run the town's small police station, a place used to dealing with domestic disputes and noise complaints.  All that changes on a scorching day when an injured man stumbles into Chandler's station. He's covered in dried blood. His name is Gabriel. He tells Chandler what he remembers.  He was drugged and driven to a cabin in the mountains and tied up in iron chains. The man who took him was called Heath. Heath told Gabriel he was going to be number 55. His 55th victim.   Heath is a serial killer.  As a manhunt is launched, a man who says he is Heath walks into the same station. He tells Chandler he was taken by a man named Gabriel. Gabriel told Heath he was going to be victim 55.  Gabriel is the serial killer.  Two suspects. Two identical stories. Which one is the truth?  55 is by James Delargy.

Kiss the Girls & Make Them Cry is by Mary Higgins Clark.  When talented journalist Penelope "Casey" Harrison starts to research a piece about the #MeToo movement that includes an incident in her own life that she has been trying to put out of her mind for years, she does not realise that the young man who drugged and assaulted her at a fraternity house party in college is now a wealthy, powerful industrialist on the eve of a merger which will make him a billionaire-and who will do anything, even murder, to cover his tracks.

May 2019

On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the Valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. But the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn't know.   The Arsonist is by Chloe Hooper and takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in Australia, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species - understanding its abuse will define our future. 

Every story one day comes to an end.'  As roommates, they met for the first time in college. Two of the brightest minds ever to graduate from Stamford Psychology University.  As adversaries, they met again in Quantico, Virginia. Robert Hunter had become the head of the LAPD's Ultra Violent Crimes Unit. Lucien Folter had become the most prolific and dangerous serial killer the FBI had ever encountered.  Now, after spending three and a half years locked in solitary confinement, Lucien has finally managed to break free. And he's angry.  For the past three and a half years, Lucien has thought of nothing else but vengeance.  The person responsible for locking him away has to pay, he has to suffer.  That person ... is Robert Hunter.  And now it is finally time to execute the plan.  Hunting Evil is by Chris Carter.

Death in a Desert Land is by Andrew Wilson.  Baghdad, 1928. Agatha leaves England for the far-flung destination, determined to investigate an unresolved mystery: two year ago, the explorer and the writer Gertrude Bell died there from a drugs overdose. At the time, the authorities believed that Bell had taken her own life, but a letter now unearthed reveals she was afraid someone wants to kill her...  In her letter, Bell suggests that if she were to die the best place to look for her murderer would be Ur, the archaeological sit in ancient Mesopotamia famous for its Great Death Pit.  But as Agatha stealthily begins to look into the death of Gertrude Bell, she soon discovers the mission is not without its risks. And she has to use all her skills to try and outwit a killer who is determined to stay hidden among the desert sands...

June 2019

Could you hate your neighbour enough to plot to kill him?  Until Darren Booth moves in at number 1, Lowland Way, the neighbourhood is a suburban paradise. But soon after his arrival, disputes over issues like loud music and parking rights escalate all too quickly to public rows and threats of violence.  Then, early one Saturday, a horrific crime shocks the street. As the police go house-to-house, the residents close ranks and everyone’s story is the same: Booth did it.  But there’s a problem. The police don't agree with them.  Those People is by Louise Candlish.

A Dangerous Man is by Robert Crais.  Joe Pike didn't expect to rescue a woman that day. When Isabel Roland, the lonely young teller at his bank, steps out of work on her way to lunch, Joe Pike witnesses her attempted abduction. Thanks to his quick thinking, the two men are arrested.   But the men soon make bail... and not long after, they're found murdered. The police suspect Pike and Isabel had a hand in it, especially when Izzy disappears. Convinced that she has been abducted again, Pike realises it is time to call on Elvis Cole to discover the truth.  And then all hell breaks loose. 

A man, wearing his daughter's wedding ring, is found in front of his fireplace, a bullet hole in his chest. A funeral director searches desperately for his brother - a man who doesn't seem to be missed. A woman struggles to protect her children and her life as her husband turns ever more dangerous.  Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht believe that these three cases are totally unrelated... until they uncover a connection between these three people that changes everything. Soon Bergman and Recht are pulled into an escalating series of events where old sins return to haunt all involved. And someone is leaving them taunting messages... but who, and why?  The Flood is by Kristina Ohlsson.

Books to Look Forward to From Simon & Schuster

January 2017

The Vanishing is by Sophia Tobin.  On top of the Yorkshire Moors, in an isolated spot carved out of a barren landscape, lies White Windows, a house of shadows and secrets. Here lives Marcus Twentyman, a hard-drinking but sensitive man, and his sister, the brisk widow, Hester. When runaway Annaleigh first meets the Twentymans, their offer of employment and lodgings seems a blessing. Only later does she discover the truth. But by then she is already in the middle of a web of darkness and intrigue, where murder seems the only possible means of escape...

 

You can run! Sam Wylde is a Close Protection Officer to the rich and powerful. In a world dominated by men, being a woman has been an advantage. And she is the best in the business at what she does. You can hide! She takes a job protecting the daughter of the Sharifs - Pakistani textile tycoons - but she realises that there is more to their organisation than meets the eye and suddenly she finds herself in danger. But only one person will keep you safe from harm! Now she is trapped underground, with no light, no signal and no escape. Dangerous men are coming to hurt her, and the young charge she is meant to be protecting. With time running out, can she channel everything she knows to keep them safe from harm...?  Safe From Harm is by R J Bailey.

Deep Blue is by Alan Judd. During a time of political disruption and rising anti-nuclear sentiment, MI5 discovers that an extremist fringe group, Action Against Austerity, appears to have links to an established political party while planning sabotage using something or someone called Deep Blue. Banned from investigating British political parties, the head of MI5 seeks advice from Charles Thoroughgood, his opposite number in MI6. Agreeing to help unofficially with the case, Charles must delve deep into his own past, to an unresolved Cold War case linked to his private life. Using the past as key to the present, he soon finds himself in a race against time to prevent a plot which is politically nuclear ...

February 2017

Kill the Father is by Sandrone Dazieri. When a woman is beheaded in a park outside Rome and her six-year-old son goes missing, the police unit assigned to the case sees an easy solution: they arrest the woman's husband and await his confession. But the Chief of Rome's Major Crimes unit doubts things are so simple. Secretly, he lures to the case two of Italy's top analytical minds: Deputy Captain Colomba Caselli, a fierce, warrior-like detective still reeling from having survived a bloody catastrophe, and Dante Torre, a man who spent his childhood trapped inside a concrete silo. Fed through the gloved hand of a masked kidnapper who called himself 'The Father', Dante emerged from his ordeal with crippling claustrophobia but, also, with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and hyper-observant capacities. All evidence suggests that 'The Father' is back and active after being dormant for decades. Indeed, he has left tell-tale signs that signal he's looking forward to a reunion with Dante. But when Columba and Dante begin following the ever-more-bizarre trail of clues, they grasp that what's really going on is darker than they ever imagined.

Francesca was widowed a year ago. Since then she has focused on her children, trying to soothe their grief as well as her own. Her husband and father never quite saw eye to eye but no one could have cared more for her in the past year than her close-knit family. Finally, she feels she might be ready to move on with life. Until she is contacted out of the blue by someone who says he must get information to her. That her husband's death wasn't what it seemed. And that her family know more than they say ...Who can Francesca trust? And what will happen to her if she puts her faith in the wrong person?  The Black Sheep is by Sophie McKenzie.

The Caller is by Chris Carter. After a tough week, Tanya Kaitlin is looking forward to a relaxing night in, but as she steps out of her shower, she hears her phone ring. The video call request comes from her best friend, Karen Ward. Tanya takes the call and the nightmare begins. Karen is gagged and bound to a chair in her own living room. If Tanya disconnects from the call, if she looks away from the camera, he will come after her next, the deep, raspy, demonic voice at the other end of the line promises her. As Hunter and Garcia investigate the threats, they are thrown into a rollercoaster of evil, chasing a predator who scouts the streets and social media networks for victims, taunting them with secret messages and feeding on their fear.

March 2017

The Last Night at Tremore Beach is by Mikel Santiago.  He'd seen the danger coming. And now it's here...When Peter Harper, a gifted musician whose career and personal life are in trouble, comes to northwest Ireland and rents a remote cottage on beautiful, windswept Tremore Beach, he thinks he has found a refuge, a tranquil place in a time of crisis. His only neighbours for miles around are a retired American couple, Leo and Marie Kogan, who sense his difficulties and take him under their wing. But there's something strange about the pair that he can't quite figure out. One night during one of the dramatic storms that pummel the coast, Peter is struck by lightning. Though he survives, he begins to experience a series of terrifying, lucid and bloody nightmares that frame him, the Kogans and his visiting children in mortal danger. The Harper family legend of second sight suddenly takes on a sinister twist. What if his horrifying visions came true, could tonight be his last...?

April 2017

From the author David Grann comes Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the birth of the FBI, a true-life murder story which became one of the newly-created FBI's first major homicide investigations. In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And this was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organisation's first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled it. In desperation, its young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. Together with the Osage he and his undercover team began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

Innocent or guilty Her time is running out ...The air is hazy and grey with gunpowder smoke. Everyone has been shot but me. I haven't got so much as a bruise ...Maja Norberg has spent nine months in jail awaiting trial for a shooting in her school. Among those killed were her boyfriend and her best friend. Now the time has come for her to enter the courtroom ...But is Maja a demonised victim - or cold-blooded killer?  Quicksand is by Malin Persson Giolito.

All by Myself Alone is by Mary Higgins Clark. Fleeing a disastrous and humiliating arrest of her husband-to-be on the eve of their wedding, Celia Kilbride, a gems and jewellery expert, hopes to escape from public attention by lecturing on a brand-new cruise ship - the Queen Charlotte. On board she meets eighty-six-year-old Lady Emily Haywood, "Lady Em," as she is known throughout the world. Immensely wealthy, Lady Em is the owner of a priceless emerald necklace that she intends to leave to the Smithsonian after the cruise. Three days out to sea Lady Em is found dead - and the necklace is missing. The list of suspects is large and growing. Celia sets out to find the killer, not realising that she has put herself in mortal danger before the ship reaches its final destination...

May 2017

'I wouldn't scream if I were you. Unless you want the whole world to learn about your husband and his mistress.' Agatha Christie, in London to visit her literary agent, boards a train, preoccupied and flustered in the knowledge that her husband Archie is having an affair. She feels a light touch on her back, causing her to lose her balance, then a sense of someone pulling her to safety from the rush of the incoming train. So begins a terrifying sequence of events. Her rescuer is no guardian angel; rather, he is a blackmailer of the most insidious, manipulative kind. Agatha must use every ounce of her cleverness and resourcefulness to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her genius for murder to kill on his behalf. A Talent for Murder is by Andrew Wilson.

June 2017

Defectors is by Joseph Kanon.  Moscow, 1961. Stalin has been dead for eight years. With the

launch of Sputnik, the Soviet Union's international prestige is at an all-time high. Former CIA agent Francis 'Frank' Weeks, the most notorious of the defectors to the Soviet Union, is about to publish his memoirs, and what he reveals is reportedly going to send shock waves through the West. Weeks' defection in the early 50s shook Washington to its core - his betrayal rippled through the State Department, prompting frantic searches for moles and forcing the resignation of Simon, Frank's brother and best friend. So when a Soviet agency approaches Simon, now a publisher in New York City, with a controversial proposition to publish his brother's memoirs, he finds the offer irresistible since it will finally give him the chance to learn why his brother chose to betray his country. But what he discovers in Moscow is far more than he ever imagined ...

How do you vindicate a deceased, self-proclaimed killer? A criminal lawyer in Stockholm, Martin Benner sees himself as a man who has it all. Then Bobby T barges into his office one day, demanding his help. Bobby says he's the brother of Sara Tell, a young woman dubbed 'Sara Texas' by the tabloids after she confessed to five brutal murders some time back - three in Sweden, and two in Texas. Six months ago, she shocked everyone when she escaped from pre-trial custody and leapt off a bridge to her death. But Bobby says she was innocent. He needs Martin's help to clear her name and to find Sara's son, Mio, who he says disappeared around the time of her death. As Martin and Lucy, the partner in his firm, delve deeper into the case, their pursuit of the truth takes them across the ocean to Texas, where the pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place. But before Martin can continue his investigation, he receives some devastating news that turns his world upside down...  Buried Lies is by Kristina Ohlsson.