Books to Look Forward to from Cornerstone

January 2018

Look For Me is by Lisa Gardner.  Detective DD Warren and Flora Dane are in a race against time to save a young girl's life - or bring her to justice. A family home has become a crime scene. Five people are involved: four of them have been savagely murdered; one - a sixteen-year-old girl - is missing. Was she lucky to have escaped? Or is her absence evidence of something sinister? Detective D. D. Warren is on the case, as is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane. Seeking different types of justice, they must make sense of the clues left behind by a young woman who, as victim or suspect, is silently pleading, Look for me.

March 2018

When terrorists use a drone to bring down a plane on one of London's busiest shopping centres, it ignites a chain of events that will draw in the innocent and the guilty alike. DC Max Wolfe of West End Central finds himself caught in the crossfire between a tech-savvy terrorist cell and a revenge-seeking, Bible-quoting murderer called Bad Moses. And when Max's ex-wife suddenly reappears to reclaim custody of his beloved daughter Scout, he finds himself fighting the greatest battle of all ...  Girl on Fire is by Tony Parsons

April 2018

When his estranged daughter Katherine suddenly appears on his doorstep, Elder knows that something is badly wrong. The breakdown of her relationship with a controversial artist has sent her into a self-destructive tailspin which culminates in murder. And as Elder struggles to protect Katherine and prove her innocence, the terrors of the past threaten them both once more.  Body and Soul is by John Harvey and is the final case in the Frank Elder series.

May 2018

Our Kind of Cruelty is by Araminta Hall. Mike knows that most of us travel through the world as one half of a whole, desperately searching for that missing person to make us complete. But he and Verity are different. They have found each other and nothing and no one will tear them apart. It doesn't matter that Verity is marrying another man. You see, Verity and Mike play a game together, a secret game they call 'the crave', the aim being to demonstrate what they both know: that Verity needs Mike, and only Mike. Verity's upcoming marriage is the biggest game she and Mike have ever played. And it's for the highest stakes. Except this time in order for Mike and Verity to be together someone has to die ....

June 2018

When her work on a high-profile missing child case exposes her fragile secret to the world, Charlie Cates is forced to flee the spotlight. On Hawai'i's Big Island, Charlie can escape the  past whilst gazing out at breath-taking sunsets and sparkling sea. But in spite of its beauty the island is harbouring a dark secret of its own, and people who will do anything to protect it. The more enchanted Charlie becomes by the island's mysteries, the bigger the threat she poses to its tranquillity. And the closer Charlie gets to uncovering the truth, the less likely it seems that she will ever leave the island alive... The Burning Island is by Hester Young.

Books to Look Forward to from Cornerstone

January 2017

Private Delhi is by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi.  Santosh Wagh quit his job as head of Private India after harrowing events in Mumbai almost got him killed. But Jack Morgan, global head of the world's finest investigation agency, needs him back. Jack is setting up a new office in Delhi, and Santosh is the only person he can trust. Still battling his demons, Santosh accepts, and it's not long before the agency takes on a case that could make or break them. Plastic barrels containing dissolved human remains have been found in the basement of a house in an upmarket area of South Delhi. But this isn't just any house, this property belongs to the state government. With the crime scene in lockdown and information suppressed by the authorities, delving too deep could make Santosh a target to be eliminated.

When the bones of a 21-year old woman who went missing without trace in Thailand in

1990, are discovered in the grounds of an old Catholic school in Buckinghamshire, an enduring mystery takes on a whole new twist. Her boyfriend at the time, and the man who reported her missing, Henry Forbes, now a middle-aged university lecturer, comes forward with his lawyer and tells DI Ray Mason of the Met's Homicide Command that he knows what happened to Kitty, and who killed her. So begins a hunt for the truth that will focus on a ruthless crime gang, a rich, dysfunctional family with a terrible past, and a highly ambitious man so cruel and ruthless that he must be brought down at any cost...  The Bone Field is by Simon Kernick.

The Book of Mirrors is by  E O Chirovici. How would you piece together a murder? Do you trust other people's memories? Do you trust your own? Should you? Princeton, 1987: renowned psychologist Professor Joseph Weider is brutally murdered. New York, twenty-five years later: literary agent Peter Katz receives a manuscript. Or is it a confession? Today: unearth the secrets of The Book of Mirrors and discover why your memory is the most dangerous weapon of all.

February 2017

When soon-to-be mother, Charlotte 'Charlie' Cates begins to have recurring dreams about harm coming to her unborn daughter, she starts to panic. Is her dream simply the product of an anxious mind, or is it a premonition, a message that she and her daughter are in danger? Before she can decipher what it means, Charlie learns that the mother who abandoned her as a toddler, is the victim of a double murder in Arizona. The other victim-a half-sister Charlie never knew she had-has left behind a child, a little girl who speaks to Charlie in her dreams. Convinced that she must help her orphaned niece, Charlie travels to Arizona, where she must confront her own painful ties to her mother ...and untangle a web of secrets that will reveal the truth of her own nightmare.  The Shimmering Road is by Hester Young.

March 2017

16th Seduction is by James Patterson.  Fifteen months ago, Detective Lindsay Boxer's life was perfect - she had a beautiful child and a doting husband, Joe, who helped her catch a ruthless criminal who'd detonated a bomb in downtown San Francisco, killing twelve people. But Joe isn't everything that Lindsay thought he was, and she's still reeling from his betrayal as a wave of mysterious, and possibly unnatural, heart attacks strikes seemingly unrelated victims across San Francisco. Now the bomber she and Joe captured is about to go on trial, and his defense raises damning questions about Lindsay and Joe's investigation. Not knowing whom to trust, and struggling to accept the truth about the man she thought she knew, Lindsay must connect the dots of a deadly conspiracy before a brilliant criminal puts her on trial.

April 2017

The Woman Who Fell Through the Ice is by Tony Parsons.  There is a fate worse than death. As dawn breaks on a snowy February morning, a refrigerated lorry is found parked in the heart of London's Chinatown. Inside twelve women, apparently illegal immigrants, are dead from hypothermia. But in the cab of the abandoned death truck, DC Max Wolfe of West End Central finds thirteen passports. Twelve dead women. Thirteen passports. The hunt for the missing woman will take Max Wolfe into the dark heart of the world of human smuggling, mass migration and 21st century slave markets. A world where the borders are coming down and the blackest forces in history are once again on the rise. As Max discovers the ultimate fate of the woman who fell through the ice, he is forced to ask the question that haunts our time. What would you do for a home?

The first body comes as a shock, the second brings horror, the third signals the beginning of a nightmare. The Cumbrian community is small, tight-knit, and settle. When it comes to crime, everyone knows the victims. And everyone knows the criminals. So when three bodies are found in close succession in this small farming community, the world holds its breath. This was fifteen years ago. Since then, there have been more deaths, and the town is no closer to finding the killer. Emilia Hellier is twenty five years old. She has grown up in the shadow of a serial killer, suffered the pain of her cousin's death, watching her father's hunt for him twist and change her family. Now she belongs to the same CID department. Now it's her turn to figure out who has cast such a shadow over their lives.  The Killer on the Wall is by Emma Kavanagh.

May 2017

How can you prove your innocence when you can't remember the crime? Being a cop runs in Billy Harney's family. The son of Chicago's Chief of Detectives whose twin sister, Patty, also followed in their father's footsteps, there's nothing Billy won't give up for the job, including his life. Left for dead alongside his tempestuous former partner and a hard-charging assistant district attorney out for blood, Billy miraculously survives. But he remembers nothing about the events leading up to the shootout. Charged with double murder and desperate to clear his name, Billy retraces his steps to get to the bottom of what happened. When he discovers the existence of a little black book that everyone who's anyone in Chicago will stop at nothing to get their hands on, Billy suspects it contains the truth that will either set him free...or confirm his worst fears.  The Black Book is by James Patterson and David Ellis.

  

June 2017

Dr Death is by James Patterson.  The next hand he deals you...may be your last. A serial killer is loose on the streets of Manhattan. His victims appear to be total strangers. The only clue that links the crimes is the playing card left behind at each scene that hints at the next target. The killer, known in the tabloids as The Dealer, is baiting the police into a deadly guessing game that has the city increasingly on edge. Following her instincts, the tenacious cop in charge of the case turns to an unlikely ally - Dylan Reinhart, a brilliant professor with a keen insight into the criminal mind whose book turned up in connection with the murders. As the tabloid frenzy over The Dealer reaches fever pitch, Dylan and Elizabeth must connect the clues to discover what the victims have in common before The Dealer runs through his entire deck.

Kingmaker: Kingdom Come is by Toby Clements.  1470 - The recent tensions between King Edward and his great ally the Earl of Warwick lie forgotten these past months, but even as winter tightens her grip on the land, the peace is shattered by a vicious attack on one of the King’s allies.  Long buried secrets are brought to the surface, and Thomas and Katherine must finally decide where their loyalties lie and choose between fight or flight, knowing either choice will incur a terrible price. From Lincoln to Bruges, from Barnet to the great battle at Tewkesbury, both must play their part in one of the most savage wars in history.  The Wars of the Roses...

An idyllic white, two-storey, beautiful house in Sweden. Inside, a family has been brutally murdered mother, father and two young children all shot in broad daylight. And the killer has got away. Sebastian Bergman has been brought in to solve the crime, but with no credible suspects, he is at a dead end. Until he discovers that there was a witness to the crime. A young girl who saw it all happen, and she has fled, in fear for her life. Bergman has to track the young girl down before it s too late. But the killer is chasing her too and he is determined to finish what he started.  The Silent Girl is by Michael Hjorth and Hans Rosenfeldt.

The Art of the Twist

Today’s guest blog is by Hester Young who holds a Master’s degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Before turning to writing full time, she worked as a teacher in Arizona and New Hampshire. The Gates of Evangeline is the first book in the Charlie Cates trilogy.  More information about Hester Young and her books can be found on her website.

I knew, when I first began the novel that became The Gates of Evangeline, that I would walk a twisty path. Those are the books I most love reading, after all: the kind that string me along into the wee hours of the morning with the promise of answers and the possibility of surprise.

And yet as I began to write, I also knew that clever plot twists, no matter how artfully done, do not in themselves make a book great. If plot is the only thing that keeps a reader engaged, then that reader will lose interest the moment he or she works out where things are going.

All savvy readers of crime fiction have been there. You pick up a book with a jacket that boasts of a startling ending and, as you immerse yourself, you perform a series of mental calculations. When you’ve read enough genre fiction, you notice all the breadcrumbs an author is laying out. You work out all the possible paths and narrow it down.

Sometimes the twists aren’t all that surprising. Sometimes you’re disappointed.

I read many mysteries and thrillers, but when I consider my favourite works, it’s not the element of the unexpected that ultimately makes me fall in love with a book. Tana French, one of my favourite authors, typically reveals the villain about 3/4 of the way through, and yet that final quarter of her book remains the most riveting. Why? Because of her dynamic and thought-provoking characters.  Gone Girl, similarly, would not be a masterpiece without the mesmerising Amy at its core.

For me, the best suspense comes from my relationship with the book’s characters. The heart of a great mystery lies not in what a character does but in why she does it.

The Gates of Evangeline centers around the thirty-year-old mystery of a missing child, but it is Charlie’s struggle to move forward after a devastating loss that really drives the story. It is her relationships with the other characters that create suspense.

In short, I tried to write the kind of book I love to read: a book about people, with a twist.

The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young

When grieving mother and New York journalist Charlie Cates begins to experience vivid

dreams about children after her only son passes away, she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet she soon realizes these are not the hallucinations of a bereaved mother. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees—if she can make sense of them.  The disturbing images lead her from her home in suburban New York City to small-town Louisiana, where she takes a commission to write a true-crime book based on the case of Gabriel Deveau, the young heir to a wealthy and infamous Southern family, whose kidnapping thirty years ago has never been solved. There she meets the Deveau family, none of whom are telling the full truth about the night Gabriel disappeared. And as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could have imagined.

The Gates of Evangeline is out now (£16.99 HB, Macmillan)

You can also find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @HesterAuthor

Books to Look Forward to from Cornerstone

England: October, 1463. The great slaughter of the battle of Towton is two years past, but England is still not at peace. The Northern Parts of the land remain in the hands of the Lancastrian king, while in the south, the princes of the house of York prepare for war. Uneasy alliances are forged and just as quickly broken: a friend one day might be your enemy the next, and through this land, pursued by the Church and the Law, a young man, Thomas, and a young woman, Katherine, must make their way, bearing proof of a secret both sides would kill to learn. Bent on revenge for a past outrage, Thomas and Katherine must turn their backs on their friends and journey to the mighty castle of Bamburgh, there to join a weakened king as he marshals his army to take up arms in one of the most savage civil wars in history: the Wars of the Roses.  Kingmaker: Broken Faith is by Toby Clements and is due to be published in July 2015.

Even for Private Investigations, the world's top detective agency, it's tough to find a man who doesn't exist...Craig Gisto has promised Eliza Moss that his elite team at Private Sydney will investigate the disappearance of her father. After all, as CEO of a high-profile research company, Eric Moss shouldn't be difficult to find. Except it's not just the man who's gone missing. Despite the most advanced technology at their disposal, they find every trace of him has vanished too. And they aren't the only ones on the hunt. Powerful figures want Moss to stay 'lost', while others just as ruthlessly want him found. Meanwhile, a routine background check becomes a frantic race to find a stolen baby and catch a brutal killer - a killer Private may well have sent straight to the victim's door...  Private Sydney is by James Patterson and Kathryn Fox and is due to be published in August 2015.

No. 7 Ocean Drive is a multimillion-dollar beachfront house in the Hamptons, but its beautiful exterior hides a horrific past. This house was the setting for a series of depraved killings that have never been solved. Neglected, empty and rumoured to be cursed, it's known as the Murder House, and locals keep their distance. Detective Jenna Murphy has moved to the area to escape her troubled past and rehabilitate a career on the rocks. But when a Hollywood power broker and his mistress are found dead in the abandoned Murder House, Jenna becomes involved in a case that at first seems open and shut, but reveals more secrets than she could possibly imagine. As more bodies surface and Jenna is drawn deeper into the dark history of No. 7, she must risk her own life to expose the truth – before the Murder House claims another victim.  Murder House is by James Patterson and David Ellis and is due to be published in September 2015.

Dark Corners is by Ruth Rendell and is due to be published in October 2015. When Carl sells a box of slimming pills to his close friend Stacey, inadvertently causing her death, he sets in train a sequence of catastrophic events which begin with subterfuge, extend to lies, and culminate in murder. In Rendell's dark and atmospheric tale of psychological suspense, we encounter mistaken identity, kidnap, blackmail, and a cast of characters who are so real that we come to know them better than we know ourselves. Infused with her distinctive blend of wry humour, acute observation and deep humanity. 

Every New Yorker's worst nightmare is about to become a reality. New York has seen more

than its fair share of horrific attacks, but the city is about to be shaken in a way it never has before. After two devastating catastrophes in quick succession, everyone is on edge. Detective Michael Bennett is assigned to the case and given the near impossible task of hunting down the shadowy terror group responsible. With troubles at home to contend with, Bennett has never been more at risk, or more alone, fighting the chaos all around him. Then a shocking assassination makes it clear that these inexplicable events are just the prelude to the biggest threat of all. Now Bennett is racing against the clock to save his beloved city - before the most destructive force he has ever faced tears it apart.  Alert is by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge and is due to be published in July 2015.

When Billy Ellison, the son of Washington, D.C.’s most influential African-American family, is found dead in the Potomac near a violent drug haven, veteran metro reporter Sully Carter knows it’s time to start asking some serious questions—no matter what the consequences. With the police unable to find a lead and pressure mounting for Sully to abandon the investigation, he has a hunch that there is more to the case than a drug deal gone bad or a tale of family misfortune. Digging deeper, Sully finds that the real story stretches far beyond Billy and into D.C.’s most prominent social circles. An alcoholic still haunted from his years as a war correspondent in Bosnia, Sully now must strike a dangerous

balance between D.C.’s two extremes—the city’s violent, desperate back streets and its highest corridors of power—while threatened by those who will stop at nothing to keep him from discovering the shocking truth. Murder DC is by Neely Tucker and is due to be published in July 2015.

The Gates of Evangeline is by Hester Young and is due to be published in August 2015. When grieving mother and New York journalist Charlie Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children after her only son passes away, she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet she soon realizes these are not the hallucinations of a bereaved mother. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees—if she can make sense of them. The disturbing images lead her from her home in suburban New York City to small-town Louisiana, where she takes a commission to write a true-crime book based on the case of Gabriel Deveau, the young heir to a wealthy and infamous Southern family, whose kidnapping thirty years ago has never been solved. There she meets the Deveau family, none of whom are telling the full truth about the night Gabriel disappeared. And as she uncovers long buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could have imagined.

Cross Justice is by James Patterson and is due to be published in November 2015. When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades. As he tries to prove his cousin's innocence in a town where everyone seems to be on the take, Cross unearths a family secret that forces him to question everything he's ever known. Chasing a ghost he believed was long dead, Cross gets pulled into a case that has local cops scratching their heads and needing his help: a grisly string of socialite murders. Now he's hot on the trail of both a brutal killer, and the truth about his own past – and the answers he finds might be fatal.

When forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan is approached by amateur detective Hazel 'Lucky' Strike, at first she is inclined to dismiss the woman's claims that she's matched a previously unidentified set of remains with a name. But as the words of a terrified young woman echo round her office from an audio recorder found near where the bones were discovered, something about the story won't let Tempe go. As Tempe investigates further she finds herself involved in a case more complicated and horrifying than she could ever have imagined.  Speaking in Bones is by Kathy Reichs and is due to be published in July 2015.