Books to look forward to from Head of Zeus

January 2018

Eighteen Below is by Stefan Ahnhem.  ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY. The police chase a speeding car through the streets of Helsingborg. When they reach the quay, the driver keeps going, straight into the cold, dark water.  A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. The body recovered from the wreck is Peter Brise, a wealthy tech entrepreneur. Fabian Risk and his team are confident this is a suicide. Young, rich, successful, Brise just didn't know how to ask for help.  TURNS EVERTHING A LITTLE COLDER...   But then the autopsy reveals something unexpected. Brise was already dead when his car crashed. He'd been brutally murdered two months ago. His body was frozen in perfect condition, at eighteen degrees below zero...

Grace Ozmian, missing daughter of a tech billionaire has been found.  Most of her, anyway. Her head is still missing.  Lieutenant CDS Vincent D'Agosta knows his investigation will attract fierce media scrutiny, so he's delighted when his old acquaintance FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast is assigned to the case.  But neither man is prepared for what lies ahead. A diabolical presence is haunting New York City and Grace is only the first of many victims to be murdered... and decapitated.  As mass hysteria sweeps the city, it will take all of Pendergast's skill and strength to unmask this most dangerous foe - let alone survive to tell the tale.  City of Endless Night is by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

February 2018

Dead Men Whistling is by Graham Masterton.  A garda sergeant is found beheaded with an Irish tin whistle sticking out of his neck. He was due to give evidence at a major inquiry into police corruption. His murder sends a clear message to any future whistleblowers: only silence is safe.  The inquiry hinges on the arrest of one of Cork's most ruthless drug dealers. Though there was evidence to convict him, he walked free. DCI Katie Maguire is determined to expose the full truth.  But when another officer is murdered in the exact same way, Katie finds that murder is the best way to stop people talking.

Eight years a soldier, Peter Ash came home from Iraq and Afghanistan with only one souvenir: what he calls 'white static', a buzzing claustrophobia due to post-traumatic stress that has driven him to spend a year roaming the Pacific coast's mountains and forests, sleeping under the stars. But when a friend from the Marines commits suicide, Ash returns to civilization to help the man's widow and two young children. While repairing her dilapidated porch, he makes two unwelcome discoveries: The first is a dog, the meanest, ugliest dog he's ever laid eyes on, guarding a Samsonite suitcase; the second unwelcome surprise is the suitcase's contents - $400,000 in cash and four slabs of plastic explosive. Just what was his friend caught up in during his final days? Ash will find that the demons of war aren't easy to leave behind...  The Drifter is by Nick Petrie.

Like Lions is by Brian Panowich.  Clayton Burroughs is sheriff of Bull Mountain and one-time black sheep of the brutal and blood-steeped Burroughs clan. It's been a year since a rogue government agent systematically crippled the family's criminal empire that left two of the brothers dead, and Clayton, the youngest and only surviving member of the clan, broken and haunted by wounds that may never heal.  Now Bull Mountain is vulnerable, ripe for predators wanting to re-establish the flow of dope and money through the town. And the death of a boy belonging to a rival clan brings the wolves straight to Clayton's door.  The only good son born of a crooked tree, Clayton wants to bury his bloody family legacy for good. But he'll need to call on it if he wants to save his family, and his mountain, from the destruction that awaits.

March 2018

The Disappeared is by C J Box. The new State Governor, Colter Allen, needs a favour from Game Warden Joe Pickett. The British consulate is asking questions over in Denver: a rich English woman visiting a high-end guest ranch has gone missing. Joe has a habit of investigating outside the lines of the local law and Allen needs this done quietly. But Joe's inquiries soon uncover not one, but three missing women.  At the same time, with his friend Nate Romanowski, he's called to investigate a serious federal crime: the killing of several bald and golden eagles. The more questions Joe asks about each case, the clearer it becomes someone wants him to disappear.  And the answers, when they finally come, reveal a violently darker Wyoming that he ever imagined.

April 2018

In the Cage Where Your Saviors Hide is by Malcolm Mackay.  The independent kingdom of

Scotland flourished until the beginning of the last century. Its great trading port of Challaid, in the north west of the country, sent ships around the world and its merchants and bankers grew rich on their empire in Central America.  But Scotland is not what it was, and the docks of Challaid are almost silent. The huge infrastructure projects collapsed, like the dangerous railway tunnels under the city. And above ground the networks of power and corruption are all that survive of Challaid's glorious past.  Darian Ross is a young private investigator whose father, an ex cop, is in prison for murder. He takes on a case brought to him by a charismatic woman, Maeve Campbell. Her partner has been stabbed; the police are not very curious about the death of a man who laundered money for the city's criminals. Ross is drawn by his innate sense of justice and his fascination with Campbell into a world in which no-one can be trusted.

Queen's Jubilee, 1977: Cassie Baker sees her boyfriend kissing another girl at the village disco. Upset, she heads home alone and is never seen again. Millennium Eve, 1999: DCI Paul Mercer finds Cassie's remains in a field. Now he must prove the man who led him there is guilty. When Mercer's daughter asks Stella Darnell for help solving the murder, Stella see echoes of herself. Another detective's daughter. With her sidekick sleuth, Jack, Stella moves to Winchcombe, where DCI Mercer and his prime suspect have been playing cat and mouse for the past eighteen years...  The Death Chamber is by Lesley Thomson

May 2018

Ex-journalist Kay and her family are spending the summer in a rented farmhouse in Vermont. Kay is haunted by her traumatic past in Africa, and is struggling with her troubled marriage and the constraints of motherhood. Then her husband is called away unexpectedly on business and Kay finds herself alone with the children, obsessed by the idea that something terrible has happened to the owners of the house. The locals are reticent when she asks about their whereabouts; and she finds disturbing writing scrawled across one of the walls.  As she starts to investigate she becomes involved with a local man, Ben, whose life is complicated by his own violent past, his involvement in a drug-trafficking operation, and his desire to adopt an abused child.  Their two stories collide and intertwine, heading towards a dramatic denouement.  The Underneath is by Melanie Finn

The End of Days has been predicted for the last two thousand years. But now, without warning, it is upon us.  Braverman 'Bravo' Shaw, member of a secret Franciscan splinter sect, has survived a battle as old as time itself: the battle between good and evil. Working with his once-blind sister, Emma, and his confessor, Fra Leoni, Bravo went to war with the Fallen, Lucifer's advance guard and emerged with The Book of Deathly Things - Lucifer's first and last Testament.  Now, back in New York, the book's secrets have revealed themselves to Emma. With the testament stolen by Bravo, Emma realises the Fallen army will awaken fully. And come to claim what is theirs.  Four Dominions is by Eric Van Lustbader.

A young Czech girl, missing for eight days, is found abandoned in a deserted playground. She is so traumatised she cannot speak.  DCI Eve Clay is on her way to try and interview the victim, when another case is called in. Two Polish migrant workers have been found dead in their burnt out flat. But this is no normal house fire. The men's bodies were set alight, after the killer had clinically removed both of their hearts.  Then reports come in that the Czech girl's mother has disappeared.  Then Clay and her team receive an anonymous call. Someone else will die before the day ends.  Killing Time is by Mark Roberts.

June 2018

Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Nemsis is by Eric Van Lustbader.  Jason Bourne returns. He's fought against the NSA, black off-site cyber operations, a Somali terrorist organisation and been accused of treason against the US.  Now the Russians have planted a mole to uncover Bourne's secrets and launch cyber-warfare against the United States.  Meanwhile, Bourne's former colleague, Soroya Moore, needs his help. Six highly skilled field agents have disappeared, the body parts of three found in a national park in Georgia. Facing death and destruction in the shadows of civilisation, Bourne will battle his deadliest nemesis yet.

Death Notice is by Zhou Haohui.  Online, a vigilante announces their intention of meting out justice for unpunished crimes. Users are invited to submit names for judgement. Those found guilty will be sentenced. And there is just one punishment: death. Despite publishing the name of each victim and the date of execution - their death notice - the police are simply unable to stop the killer. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is assembled, comprising a criminal psychologist, a SWAT captain, an Online Surveillance Officer and Detective Luo Fei. As they pursue the killer, the SIT will be drawn ever deeper into dark and dangerous territory. What is the connection to a highly classified eighteen-year-old case that saw two similar 'death notice' murders? What is Detective Luo's personal connection to that case? And finally, what crimes might the members of the SIT guilty of? And what will they do to keep them secret?

Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

July 2017

Everybody knows about Sherlock Holmes, the unique literary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who has remained popular over the decades and is more appreciated than ever today. But what made this fictional character, dreamed up by a small-town English doctor back in the 1880s, into such a great success? This is the fascinating and exciting tale of the man and people who created the Holmes legend. It is also the tragic story of an author who tried to escape from his own invention and the inheritance that ruined a family dynasty. The book also charts the unexpected fortune and success of the actors, writers and readers who, over the decades, have recreated and renewed the idea of this most-famous of all detectives: from the gentleman amateur of the 1890s to the odd genius of Sherlock today. The Life and Death of Sherlock Holmes: Master Detective, Myth and Media Star is by Mattias Boström.

Paradise Valley is by C J Box.  For three years, Investigator Cassie Dewell has been hunting the serial killer known as The Lizard King. Twice she has come close to taking him, but now, working for the Bakken County, North Dakota sheriff's department, Cassie has set what she believes is the perfect trap. But the plan goes horribly wrong, and the blame falls on Cassie. Disgraced, she loses her job and, worse, is put under investigation. At the same time, Kyle Westergaard, a troubled kid whom Cassie has taken under her wing, has disappeared, telling everyone he is going on a long-planned adventure. Kyle's grandmother begs Cassie to find him and with nothing else to do, she agrees. But in the same way that two streams converge into a river, Kyle's disappearance may be more sinister than anyone suspects. Cassie's a lone wolf now - with no allies, no support, and only her own wits to rely on - and she will face a killer who is as ruthless as he is cunning. Can she do it alone?

Michael Tanner is heading home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong laptop from security. What he doesn't know is that the owner is US senator Susan Robbins, and her laptop contains top secret files that should never have been on there in the first place. And Senator Robbins is not the only one who wants the laptop back...Suddenly, Tanner is a hunted man. On the run, terrified for the safety of his family - he is in desperate need of a plan - but who can he trust?  The Switch is by Joseph Finder

August 2017

The Room by The Lake is by Emma Dibdin.  When Caitlin moved from London to New York, she thought she had left her problems behind: her alcoholic father, her dead mother, the pressure to succeed. But now, down to her last dollar in a foreign city, she is desperately lonely. Then she meets Jake. Handsome, smart, slightly damaged Jake. He lives off-grid, in a lakeside commune whose members practise regular exercise and frequent group therapy. Before long, Caitlin has settled into her idyllic new home. It looks like she has found the fresh start she longed for. But, as the commune tightens its grip on her freedom and her sanity, Caitlin realizes too late that she might become lost forever...

Madrid, 1982: The dictator is dead and Guzman is finally back in the capital. Years of bitter exile in the provinces doing the dirty work for the sinister Head of Military Intelligence have left their mark on the Comandante. He wants out. But he needs money first...and what better way to get it than blackmail? After all, he knows better than anyone where all the bodies are buried. Madrid, 2010: Forensic Investigator Ana Maria Galindez has been tracking Comandante Guzman by the trail of dead he left behind him: 15 tangled corpses in a disused mine, three skeletons in a sealed cellar in the Basque country. Guzman is the key to unlocking some of Spain's darkest secrets. But are there are those who will do anything keep the past buried. By threatening to disturb the dead, both Guzman and Galindez have placed themselves on the same lethal trajectory.  The Dead by Mark Oldfield.

September 2017

When I Wake Up is by Jessica Jarlvi.  'Why won't Mummy wake up?' When Anna, a much-loved teacher and mother of two, is left savagely beaten and in a coma, a police investigation is launched. News of the attack sends shock waves through her family and their small Swedish community. Anna seems to have had no enemies, so who wanted her dead? As loved-ones wait anxiously by her bedside, her husband Erik is determined to get to the bottom of the attack, and soon begins uncovering his wife's secret life, and a small town riven with desire, betrayal and jealousy. As the list of suspects grows longer, it soon becomes clear that only one person can reveal the truth, and she's lying silent in a hospital bed...

October 2017

Deadlier is 100 of the best crime stories written by women, selected and introduced by

Sophie Hannah. From Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier, to Val McDermid and Margaret Atwood, women writers have a long been tempted to criminal acts. Here, award-winning author Sophie Hannah brings together 100 of her favourite examples. Deadlier includes prize-winners, bestsellers and rising stars, so whether you take your crime cosy or hard-boiled, this big, beautiful anthology will keep you reading long into the night.

They say the girls were witches, but Beatrice Scarlet, the apothecary's daughter, knows they were victims...London, 1758: Beatrice Scarlet has returned to London and found work at St Mary Magdalene's Refuge for fallen women. Beatrice enjoys the work and her apothecary skills are much needed. The home cooperates with a network of wealthy factory owners across London, finding their charges steady work and hopes of rehabilitation. But when twelve girls sent to a factory in Clerkenwell disappear, Beatrice is uneasy. Their would-be benefactor claims they were witches, sacrificed by Satan for his demonic misdeeds. But Beatrice is sure something much darker than witchcraft is at play...  The Coven is by Graham Masterton.

Trust Me is by Zosia Wand.  Lizzie is twenty-seven, and she has a great relationship with her seventeen-year-old stepson, Sam, even though they could pass for brother and sister. When Sam becomes sullen and withdrawn, Lizzie starts to suspect that something sinister is going on at school. She thinks an older woman is grooming him, trying to turn him against his family. But nobody believes her - and then suspicion falls on Lizzie herself.

The Downside is by Mike Cooper.  In an age of cyber-crime, Finn is an old school thief: he's never stolen anything weighing less than five tons. Now, fresh out of prison and flat broke, he's got a line on his biggest job ever. Cracking the most heavily guarded private vault in North America? No problem. Hauling $50 million of precious metal out past guards, dozens of policemen and an armored SWAT battalion? Even easier. But navigating the betrayals of double-crossing partners, the machinations of a hedge-fund billionaire gone bad, and the ambiguous proposals of a woman with her own agenda? Finn has only begun to figure out the downside.

November 2017

Jenny Aaron was a government assassin, part of an elite unit tracking Germany's most dangerous criminals. She was one of the best, until a disastrous mission ended with her abandoning a wounded colleague and then going blind from her injuries. Now, five years later, she has learnt to navigate a darkened world, but is haunted by betraying her colleague. When she is called back to the force to trace a ruthless serial killer, she seizes the opportunity to solve the case and restore her honour. Strong-willed and fearless - but vulnerable too. In The Dark is by Andreas Pflüger.

Life's tough for a Gypsy cop in Budapest. The cops don't trust you because you're a Gypsy. Your fellow Gypsies, even your own family, shun you because you're a cop. The dead, however, don't care. So when Balthazar Kovacs, a detective in the city's murder squad, gets a mysterious message on his phone from a blocked number he gulps down the rest of his morning coffee, grabs his police ID and goes to work. The message has two parts: a photograph and an address. The photograph shows a man, in his early thirties, lying on his back with his eyes open, half-covered by a blue plastic sheet. The address is 26, Republic Square, the former Communist Party headquarters and once the most feared building in the country. But when Kovacs arrives at Republic Square, the body has gone...  District VIII is by Adam Lebor.

Undertow is by Anthony J Quinn.  The body of a dead police detective drifts ashore at Lough Neagh. What appears to be a simple case of suicide, takes on a more sinister tone when Detective Celcius Daly travels across the Irish border to the desolate village of Dreesh, a place where law and order have ground to a halt, and whose residents, ruined by a chain of bankruptcies, have fallen under the spell of a malevolent crime boss with powerful political connections to the IRA. Out of his jurisdiction, out of his claustrophobic cottage and out of his comfort zone, Daly is plunged into a shadowy border world of desperate informers, drunken ex-cops, freelance intelligence agents and violent smugglers. Doomed to be kept in the dark by two separate police forces working in parallel to each other along a border bracing itself for Brexit, Daly's dogged search for the truth soon sparks an outbreak of murderous violence.

Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

January 2017

The Ninth Grave is by Stefan Ahnhem. It is one of the worst winters Stockholm has ever seen. So when the Swedish Attorney General fails to arrive for a parliamentary debate, the media assume he got delayed by a blizzard. But then the wife of a Danish TV star is found murdered in her home – and suddenly it seems that the cases are connected. The Stockholm and Copenhagen police will do anything to avoid working together. But as the investigation starts to spiral out of control, the Danes and Swedes must end their feud and help each other… before more people die.

The Life and Death of Sherlock Holmes is by Mattias Boström. Everybody knows about Sherlock Holmes, the unique literary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But what made this fictional character, dreamed up by a small-town English doctor back in the 1880s, such a great success? This is the fascinating tale of the man and people who created the Holmes legend, charting the unexpected fortune of the actors, writers and readers who have recreated and renewed the idea of this most-famous of all detectives: from the gentleman amateur of the 1890s to the odd genius of Sherlock today.

February 2017

Five years ago, Rosa walked to the end of the pier in the dead of night. She looked into the swirling water, and jumped. She was a brilliant young Cambridge student who had just lost her father. Her death was tragic, but not unexpected. Was that what really happened? The coroner says it was. But Rosa's boyfriend Jar can't let go. He sees Rosa everywhere - a face on the train; a figure on the cliff. He is obsessed with proving that she is still alive. And then he gets an email. Find me, Jar. Find me, before they do...Is Rosa really dead? And, if she is, who is playing games with the ones she left behind?  Find Me is by J S Monroe.

 

Dead Girl Dancing is by Graham Masterton. In the middle of Cork, in the middle of the day, a fire blazes in a local dance studio. Thirteen women, all promising stars of Irish folk, die in the flames. Their young lives cut short by a tragic accident. But where others see tragedy, DCI Katie Maguire sees murder. This is not the first fire to sweep through Cork. And in one previous case, the victims were dead before the fire was started. As Katie Maguire investigates the strange, obsessive world of competitive Irish folk dancing, she must face her most chilling killer yet...

March 2017

Vicious Circle is by C J Box.  The plane circled in the dark. Down below, Joe Pickett could just make out a figure in the snow and timber, and then three other figures closing in. There was nothing he could do about it. Joe knew that he might be their next target. The Cates clan's history with the Picketts is about to come full circle. Viciously. Game warden Joe Pickett struck a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April was endangered. But it wasn't a killing blow, and he'd always wondered if there'd be a day of reckoning.

April 2017

January, 1987. In the depths of winter, only joggers and dog walkers brave the Thames towpath after dark. Until a young woman, Helen Honeysett, set off for a run from her riverside cottage and never came home. Her body has never been found. Twenty-nine years later, Helen's husband is still searching for answers. He's asked Stella, the detective's daughter, and Jack, a tube driver, to find out what happened all those years ago. But the five households on that desolate stretch of towpath refuse to give up their secrets. And as winter tightens its grip once more, Stella and Jack find themselves hunting for a killer whose trail has long gone cold...  The Dog Walker is by Lesley Thomson.

Beyond the Ice Limit is by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  Gideon Crew faces his most dangerous assignment yet. Five years ago, a mission to recover a gigantic meteorite - the largest ever discovered - ended in disaster. The tragedy revealed that the meteorite was, in fact, a complex organism from the deep reaches of space. Now, the alien organism has implanted itself in the sea bed - and it is growing. If it is not destroyed, the planet is doomed. But as Gideon and his colleagues soon discover, the 'meteorite' has a mind of its own - and it has no intention of going quietly...

May 2017

Day of the Dead is by Mark Roberts.  Vindici is a hero to many. He is also the nation's most dangerous criminal...The man who calls himself Vindici broke out of prison last year. Now he's filmed himself torturing and killing paedophiles in Liverpool's affluent suburbs. Half the city are celebrating: now the streets are safer for their children. But for DCI Eve Clay and her team at the Merseyside Police, it's a nightmare. Their job is to solve the crimes and lock up the killer - hard enough without being despised by the public they are trying to protect. And now, just when they think they've cracked the case, they receive a photo of Vindici, at a Day of The Dead parade in Mexico. So if Vindici is 5,000 miles away, who are they hunting in Liverpool? DCI Eve Clay must draw on all her cunning to unmask a killer who is somehow always one step ahead...

June 2017

Aurore connects Billy Angel, an RAF wireless operator selected for a covert mission to occupied France, with Helene Lafosse, a French woman keeping unusual company in her small family chateau in the depths of the Touraine. Helene has begun an affair with senior Abwehr Intelligence officer and in return he has turned a blind eye to the succession of Jews, refugees, resistance fighters and downed Allied airmen to whom she offers shelter. MI6 want to exploit their relationship and plant a false lead about the D-Day landings. It falls to Billy Angel to find his way to the Chateau de Neune where he must win Helene's confidence and share the tiny piece of the intelligence jigsaw that will only make sense to her German lover. Aurore is by Graham Hurley.

London, 1884: 125 Gower Street, the residence of Sidney Grice, London's foremost personal detective, and his ward March Middleton, is at peace. Midnight discussions between the great man and his charge have led to a harmony unseen in these hallowed halls since the great frog disaster of 1878. But harmony cannot last for long. A knock on the door brings mystery and murder once more to their home. A mystery that involves a Prussian Count, two damsels in distress, a Chinaman from Wales, a gangster looking for love and the shadowy ruin of a once-loved family home, Steep House... Dark Dawn Over Steep House by M R C Kasasian.

The Dark Isle is by Clare Carson.  Sam grew up in the shadow of the secret state. Her father was an undercover agent, full of tall stories about tradecraft and traitors. Then he died, killed in the line of duty. Now Sam has travelled to Hoy, in Orkney, to piece together the puzzle of his past. What she finds is a tiny island of dramatic skies, swooping birds, rugged sea stacks and just four hundred people. An island remote enough to shelter someone who doesn't want to be found. An island small enough to keep a secret...

Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

July 2016

Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbroke Lane is by Paul Thomas Murphy. In April 1871, a constable walking a beat near Greenwich found a girl dying in the mud - her face cruelly slashed and her brains protruding from her skull. The girl was Maria Jane Clouson, a maid for the respectable Pook family, and who was pregnant at the time of her death. When the blood-spattered clothes of the 20-year-old Edmund Pook, alleged father of the dead girl's unborn child, were discovered, the matter seemed open and shut. Yet there followed a remarkable legal odyssey full of unexpected twists as the police struggled to build a case. 

Meet Liz Lyon: respected TV producer, stressed-out executive, guilty single mother...woman of the hour. StoryWorld is the nation's favourite morning show, and producer Liz Lyon wants to keep it that way. Her job is to turn real-life stories into thrilling TV - and keep a lid on the scandals and backbiting that happen off-stage. But then simmering tensions erupt at the station, trapping Liz in a game of one-upmanship where she doesn't know the rules. As the power struggle intensifies, can Liz keep her cool and keep her job? Does she even want to? Woman of the Hour is by Jane Lythell.

August 2016

Any Minute Now is by Eric Van Lustbader. Red Rover, the blakest of black ops teams, is finished - betrayed on a mission to capture and interrogate a mysterious Saudi deep in Pakistan. One of the team was killed, the remaining two barely escaped alive. Now, the unit has been shut down and Greg Whitman and Felix Orteno are left adrift, wondering what went wrong. Into their midst comes Charlize Daou, a brilliant, wildly talented arms expert, who becomes the reason - and supplies the means - to resurrect their mission. Disobeying orders, they secretly set out to find the Saudi - the first step in a perilous journey that will lead them to the dark heart of a terrifying conspiracy that threatens to change the balance of power across the globe.

September 2016

The girl who teetered out of the doorway was exactly who they were looking for...It's

Hallowe'en, and the people of Cork are partying. At half past two in the morning, a girl with green hair and sad eyes stumbles out of a club. She never makes it home. DS Katie Maguire and her team are stretched to their limit. A gang of dognappers are terrorising the kennel owners of Cork. The city's drug trade is at an all-time high. Now they have a missing girl to find too - and all in the glare of the media spotlight. As Katie closes in on the truth, she realises that the three cases might be connected. And that with every second she spends investigating, the clock ticks on for the missing girl, trapped in a living death...  Living Death is by Graham Masterton.

The Borrowed is by Chan Ho-Kei.  Six interlocking stories. One spellbinding novel. The year is 2013, and Hong Kong's greatest detective is dying. For fifty years, Inspector Kwan quietly solved cases while the world changed around him. Now his partner Detective Lok has come to his deathbed for help with one final case. Where there is murder, there is humanity. This bold and intricate crime novel spans five decades of love, honour, race, class, jealousy and revenge in one of the most intriguing nations in the world. This is the story of a man who let justice shine in the space between black and white. This is the story of Hong Kong.

A controversial, right-wing, German politician is due to speak at the Oxford Union. Following a series of murders linked to a violent anarchist group, the city is on high alert. DCI Hanlon has been partnered with DI Huss to ensure the speech goes smoothly and put an end to the killing. The murders soon reveal a chilling alliance between the anarchists and European Jihadis. And when Hanlon traces the killer she soon realises that the truth has a terrible price. Is Hanlon willing to meet the cost?  An Incidental Death is by Alex Howard.

November 2016

Celcius Daly is investigating the abduction of a boy by a group of travellers already under investigation for smuggling and organised crime. As he digs into the child's background, he discovers a family secret linked to an unsolved crime during the Troubles - the disappearance of a young woman and her baby. Daly's investigation shakes loose some harrowing truths about the past treatment of travellers and the present day lawlessness of Northern Ireland's border country. Undergoing an internal investigation over his handling of the search for IRA spy Daniel Hegarty, Daly realises that he has much in common with the beleaguered and outcast travellers and soon finds himself entangled in a vigilante mission, discovering just how far a group of outsiders will go to find their own justice.  Trespass is by Anthony J Quinn

Jack the Ripper is edited by Otto Penzler.  The predatory ritual, the escalating savagery of the crimes, the grisly trophies taken from his victim's bodies, the games played with his pursuers, the cannibalism: Jack the Ripper's reign of terror in London's East End during the autumn of 1888 casts a long shadow. Many have murdered more, but few have killed so brutally and none have forged such an enduring legend. For a century and a quarter the Ripper's crimes have appalled and fascinated in equal measure, inspiring over one hundred theories about this prototypical serial killer's identity and spawning thousands of works of fiction. This collection is the ultimate exploration of the Ripper legend. It sifts through Jack's legacy, blending the true story (told via contemporary reports and a century's worth of the best analysis) with the best crime and horror fiction his depraved deeds have inspired.

UN covert negotiator, Yael Azoulay, has been sent to Reykjavik to broker a secret meeting between US President Freshwater and the Iranian president. Both parties want the violence to stop, but Yael soon realises that powerful enemies are pulling the strings. Enemies for whom peace means an end to their lucrative profit streams. The Reykjavik Assignment is by AdamLebor.

December 2016

Germany, October 1944: Dozens of cities lie in ruins. Enemy armies are at the gates. For the Thousand Year Reich, time is running out. Desperate to avoid the humiliation of unconditional surrender, German intelligence launch Operation Finisterre - a last-ditch plan to enable Hitler to deny the savage logic of a war on two fronts and bluff his way to the negotiating table. Success depends on two individuals: Stefan Portisch, a German naval officer washed ashore on the coast of Spain after the loss of his U-boat, and Hector Gomez, an ex-FBI detective, planted by Director J. Edgar Hoover in the middle of the most secret place on earth: the American atomic bomb complex. Both men will find themselves fighting for survival as Operation Finisterre plays itself out.  Finisterre is by Graham Hurley.

Road Rage is by Hanna Jameson. A new thriller set in the nowhereland between New York and LA. Eli and Ronnie are two British ex-cons on the road in America. Their mission is to find Trent, a guy who screwed them over and disappeared. But now, after forty hours driving through yellow desert, eating at lonely motels, what seemed real is no longer certain. Where did Trent stay? What did he do? Did he even exist at all? Leaving violent killings in their wake, Ronnie and Eli can do nothing except keep travelling. Now, trapped in a nightmarish road trip together, these two men must confront their own personal demons before they can come home.