Forthcoming Books from Penguin Random House (Incl Century)

January 

The Woman on the Ledge is by Ruth Mancini. A woman falls to her death from a London bank's twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace. You're arrested for her murder. You tell the police that you only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you talked her down. You've got nothing to do with tragedy. You're clearly being framed. So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn't seem to believe you. It soon becomes obvious that you're keeping secrets. But who are you trying to protect? And why?

One happy couple. Two divided families. A wedding party to die for. On the private island of Castle Fiore - surrounded by the glittering waters of Lake Garda - the illustrious Heywood family gathers begrudgingly for their son Laurence's wedding to Italian influencer Eva Bianchi. But as the ceremony begins, a blood-curdling scream brings the proceedings to a devastating halt. With the wedding guests trapped as they await the police, old secrets come to light and family rivalries threaten to bubble over. Everyone is desperate to know...Who is the killer? Murder on Lake Garda is by Tom Hindle.

Holmes, Marple and Poe is by James Patterson & Brian Sitts. Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and Auguste Poe run the most in-demand private investigation agency in New York City. The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes - from a priceless art theft and a decades-old unsolved murder, to mysterious disappearances that expose corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power. But it's not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods - and untraceable pasts - attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI. After all, it's no surprise that there's a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Margaret and Poe?

February 2024

The List of Suspicious Things is by Jennie Godfrey. Yorkshire, 1979. Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family down South. Because of the murders. Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn't an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv's mum stopped talking. Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all? So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don't. But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families - and between each other - than they ever thought possible. What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

The 24th Hour is by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Trouble is never far away . . . The Women’s Murder Club is out celebrating an engagement at San Francisco’s finest restaurant when a blood-curdling scream interrupts the festivities. They soon discover a young woman who has been the victim of a violent assault. Sergeant Lindsay Boxer makes an arrest. Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano takes the case. But assigning blame is made impossible due to the victim’s chaotic version of events – and the shocking reason behind her ever-changing memory. As Yuki argues the toughest case of her career, Lindsay must chase down a high-society killer whose target practice may leave the Women’s Murder Club short a bridesmaid . . . or two.

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of Lagos and a glamorous group of friends. She left London and a troubled family past behind to become part of a community of expat wives. But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her aunt Claudine flies to Nigeria to take matters into her own hands. As she digs into her niece's life, she uncovers a hidden truth. But the more she finds out about Nicole, the more Claudine's own buried history threatens to come to light. The Lagos Wife is by Vanessa Walters.

The Ghost Orchid is by Jonathan Kellerman. Some secrets are worth killing for. In an upscale Bel Air property, two lovers are found dead in a swimming pool. The man is the playboy heir to a business empire, and the woman is his even wealthier married neighbour. An illicit affair is the perfect motive. But the house is untouched - no forced entry, no forensic evidence - and so LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis and asks psychologist Alex Delaware to help unpick the case. It quickly becomes clear that both victims had troubled pasts. Now Alex and Milo must confront LA's darkest side as they unravel a trail of deadly secrets . . .

How do you catch a killer who leaves no trace? In New York City, a sniper dubbed 'The Longshot Killer' is taking out impossible targets. Nothing links the victims - except the brutal circumstances of their deaths. Detective Michael Bennett quickly develops a profile of the killer. Great with a gun. Probably ex-military. A profile that his new partner, Rob Trilling, fits to a terrifying degree. With Trilling taking ever more suspicious absences from duty, Bennett must find out the truth - before the Longshot Killer strikes again. Crosshairs is by James Patterson and James O Born.

March 2024

Prima Facie is by Suzie Miller. ‘This is not life. This is law.’ Tessa Ensler is a brilliant barrister who's forged her career in criminal defence through sheer determination. Since her days at Cambridge, she’s carefully disguised her working class roots in a male-dominated world where who you know is just as important as what you know. Driven by her belief in the right to a fair trial and a taste for victory, there’s nothing Tessa loves more than the thrill of getting her clients acquitted. It seems like Tessa has it made when she is approached for a new job and nominated for the most prestigious award in her field. But when a date with a charismatic colleague goes horribly wrong, Tessa finds that the rules she’s always played by might not protect her, forcing her to question everything she's ever believed in.

A remote tropical island. Countless dangerous secrets. No way to call help. Missing persons specialist Frankie Elkin is on an isolated island off the coast of Hawaii. Her mission: to find Lani, the missing sister of a Death Row serial killer known as the Beautiful Butcher who is awaiting execution in just three weeks’ time. According to the Beautiful Butcher’s sources, Lani is being held captive by her millionaire ex-boyfriend on the island. The only way to gain access is for Frankie to go undercover. But can Frankie really trust the word of a serial killer? Plus, this island is no paradise with deadly creatures and suspicious co-workers at every turn, and an incoming tropical storm about to cut her off from the outside world. Could this be Frankie Elkin’s most dangerous case yet? Still See You Everywhere is by Lisa Gardner.

No1 Lawyer is by James Patterson and Nancy Allen. Stafford Lee Penney is the best defence lawyer in Mississippi - he's never lost a case. Until now. Hot on the heels of his latest courtroom victory, his wife is brutally murdered. Devastated, Stafford Lee spirals into a losing streak that forces him to abandon his once brilliant career. But his wife's killer is still on the loose and they seem determined to frame Stafford Lee for their crimes. Rising from rock bottom, he makes a bold return to court - to defend himself in the biggest murder trial this town has ever seen. Stafford Lee must crack the toughest case of his career. And this time, it's personal.

April 2024

A Beginner's Fuide to Breaking and Entering is by Andrew Hunter-Murray. Property might be theft. But the housing market is murder. My name is Al. I live in wealthy people's second homes while their real owners are away. I don't rob them, I don't damage anything... I'm more an unofficial house-sitter than an actual criminal. Life is good. Or it was - until last night, when my friends and I broke into the wrong place, on the wrong day, and someone wound up dead. And now... now we’re in a great deal of trouble. Featuring crooked houses, dodgy coppers and a lot of lockpicking, A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering is a gripping thriller about what it's like to be young, skilled, unemployed - and on the run.

Richmond, London. Six attractive houses are tucked away in an exclusive and very upmarket gated community: Riverside Close. Surrounded by flowers and shrubbery, they're sealed off from the busy main road and the realities of urban life. At weekends, with the gate locked, the residents enjoy the sound of birdsong, the whirr of mowers, the occasional snatch of opera through an open window. Everyone knows each other. Everyone gets on. That is, until the Kenworthies arrive. With their four big gas-guzzling cars, their noisy children and their plans to build a swimming pool in their garden, they quickly offend every one of their neighbours. When Charles Kenworthy is found dead on his porch, the bolt of a crossbow through his chest, Daniel Hawthorne is called in. But how do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive? Close to Death is by Anthony Horowitz.

Private Monaco is by James Patterson and Adam Hamdy. The clock is ticking. To save her life you must take another. When Jack Morgan is invited to the luxurious Monaco coast to set up a new Private office, it seems like the perfect opportunity to relax in an iconic destination. But the vacation is quickly cut short when Jack's partner Justine is abducted. The kidnappers send Jack clear instructions - and a gun. If he wants to see the woman he loves again, he must take a life in exchange for hers. Jack soon becomes entangled in a dangerous conspiracy that will come to a head at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hours from disaster, Jack must find Justine and her kidnappers - and put a stop to whatever they have planned next.

May 2024

London, 1833. Doctress Hester Reeves has been offered a life-changing commission. But it comes at a price. She must leave behind her husband and their canal-side home in Kings Cross and move to Tall Trees – a dark and foreboding house in Fitzrovia. If Hester can cure the ailing health of its owner, Gervaise Cherville, she will receive payment that will bring her everything she could dream of. But on arriving at Tall Trees, Hester quickly discovers that an even bigger task awaits her. Now she must unearth secrets that have lain hidden for decades – including one that will leave Hester’s own life forever changed…House of Shades is by Lianne Dillsworth.

'Where is Greg Downing?' Sports Agent Myron Bolitar is in his new office on the top of a skyscraper in New York when two FBI agents ask him this very question. The man they refer to is a top basketball player and Myron's former client and old rival. Greg's DNA, they tell him, has been found at the scene of a high-profile double-murder, and he is now their main suspect. It can't be Greg, Myron tells the two agents: the reason he is Myron's 'former' client is because Greg is dead. He died three years ago of a heart attack. Myron went to his funeral and gave the eulogy. So how can a man who's already dead be wanted for murder? But the closer Myron and his sidekick Win get to the truth about Greg Downing, the more dangerous their world becomes. Secrets, lies, and a murderous conspiracy lie at the heart of Think Twice by Harlan Coben.

June 2024

The Switch is by Lily Samson. Two couples. Elena and Adam are housesitting in Wimbledon and are instantly seduced by their new upscale surroundings. Sophia and Finn are their beautiful, enigmatic neighbours who invite them into their world. One twisted game. When Sophia proposes a wicked game to Elena whereby they will swap partners in secret, it's not long before Elena starts to experience a sexual awakening that blossoms into an illicit love affair. But Sophia's plans are far more complex and dangerous than Elena could ever have imagined.. Who will survive.

When coroner-turned-private investigator Clay Edison is approached to work on a fraud case, he uncovers more than he bargained before: a decades-old scheme targeting the vulnerable. His investigation leads him to a strange town in the remote California wilderness where the residents don't care much for outsiders. They certainly don't like Clay asking questions. And they'll do just about anything to keep him quiet. . .The Lost Coast is by Jonathan and Jessie Kellerman.

The Suspect is b Rob Rinder. When the UK's favourite breakfast TV presenter dies live on air in front of millions of viewers, the nation is left devastated.  More devastated still when it becomes clear that her death was not an accident. The evidence points to one culprit: celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks. But junior barrister Adam Green is about to discover that the case is not as open-and-shut as it first seemed. And although her angelic persona would suggest otherwise, she was not short of enemies in the glittery TV world . . . Can Adam uncover the truth?

It was when the dog chased me down the driveway that I knew I wanted to write… Robert Gold

I should probably take a step back from there – just as I did with the giant dog (I remember it as giant-sized anyway) that was pursuing me (a fairly naïve English kid in their first real job) down a sweeping driveway in northern Virginia at the home of a former Attorney General of the United States.

The first job I remember ever wanting to do when I grew up was to become a football manager (I’d already realised I’d never be a footballer, so this seemed like a decent second choice.) It didn’t take too long for it to dawn on me that this wasn’t exactly an uncompetitive career either.

The other thing I remember clearly from my childhood is that I was by far the worst speller in my class at school. I have vivid memories of a school spelling exam at primary school, when the teacher announced to the whole class that everyone had achieved over fifty percent – I was doing cartwheels in my mind as for me fifty percent was like winning a gold medal – only to follow up with “except for Robert.” Nicely humiliated, I decided there and then never to let somebody else tell me I can’t do something. I’m sure that attitude helped me throughout my career – that, and spellcheck. 

But it was still many years before I settled on the ambition to write. After university, I went into journalism (like my protagonist, Ben) and I ended up working as an intern at CNN in Washington DC. At the start of the Clinton administration, the revolution in digital media was still a year or two away and all our work was done on videotape and in editing booths. I was the bag carrier at the bottom of the journalistic pile, but it was an amazing experience and it felt like I was living in the centre of political world (and I guess in a way I was).

One of the early controversies to hit President Clinton was the Nannygate scandal, when it was revealed his nominee for Attorney General had employed an illegal alien as part of her childcare arrangements. Determined to demonstrate the double standards by which the nominee was being judged, the producer I was working for despatched me and another intern to doorstep the homes of former Attorney General’s to try to question them (or more likely their staff) on their employment records. Residential addresses in hand, we headed into some of the wealthiest parts of northern Virginia, knocking on doors.

And that was when we came into contact with the giant dog. We safely made it back into our car but I was pumped with adrenaline. I knew uncovering stories, and find interesting ways to tell them, was what excited me most. 

But for various reasons, a glittering career in journalism did not follow for me and instead I ended up making my way in the world of publishing. Interaction with many great authors followed, often leaving me with the inspiration (but not always the time) to sit down and write. At first I wrote a couple of stage plays (my childhood habit of picking the hardest route to success has never left me) and then, after a number of years working in publishing, I wrote a full novel which still lives in my desk’s bottom drawer.

It was when James Patterson launched his short book Bookshots series that I saw my first real opportunity. I pitched a series idea to him, and I was fortunate enough that he liked it. I co-authored three Bookshots with him and it was soon after that that a friendly editor said to me I should take the chance to write my own novel. 

I thought back to my time at CNN and decided to create an investigative journalist as my lead character. Although Ben Harper is in no way based on me, I think he does fulfil my frustrated journalistic ambitions. I loved writing Ben’s story as the great thing about having a journalist as a lead character is he can get pulled in all kinds of directions. TWELVE SECRETS tells his story but also those of all the people around his as he gets drawn into both present day and historic crimes. 

And he definitely has a slightly devil-may-care attitude to life. He would very happily walk up to the front door of the former Attorney General of the United Sates to ask if they were employing any illegal aliens – and in Ben’s case he would be happy to ask a whole lot more.

Twelve Secrets by Robert Gold (Little Brown) Out Now.

Ben Harper's life changed for ever the day his older brother Nick was murdered by two classmates. It was a crime that shocked the nation and catapulted Ben's family and their idyllic hometown, Haddley, into the spotlight. Twenty years on, Ben is one of the best true crime journalists in the country and happily settled back in Haddley, thanks to the support of its close-knit community. But when a fresh murder case shines new light on his brother's death and throws suspicion on those closest to him, Ben's world is turned upside down once more. He's about to discover that Haddley is a town full of secrets. No one is as they seem. Everyone has something to hide. And someone will go to any length to keep the truth buried...

You can follow him on Twitter @books_gold 

Books to Look Forward to From Cornerstone Books

 July 2021

Freddy Otash is the man in the know and the man to know in '50s L.A. He operates with two simple rules - he'll do anything but commit murder and he'll never work with the commies. Freddy is an ex-L.A. cop on the skids. He snuffed a cop killer in cold blood - and it got to him bad.So Chief William H. Parker canned him. Now he's a sleazoid private eye, a shakedown artist, a pimp - and, most notably, the head strongarm goon for Confidential Magazine. Confidential presaged the idiot internet - and delivered the dirt, the dish, the insidious ink and the scurrilous skank on the feckless foibles of misanthropic movie stars, sex-soiled socialites and potzo politicians. Freaky Freddy outs them all! In Widespread Panic by James Ellroy, we traverse the depths of '50s L.A. and dig on the inner workings of Confidential. You'll go to Burt Lancaster's lushly appointed torture den; you'll groove overhyped legend James Dean as Freddy's chief stooge; you'll be there for Freddy's ring-a-ding rendezvous with Liz Taylor; you'll be front and centre as Freddy anoints himself the 'Tattle Tyrant Who Held Hollywood Hostage'.

Afraid of The Light is by Douglas Kennedy. Brendan has always lived a careful, constrained life. A salesman who never liked the work, he's a man who has stayed in his marriage and his faith because it was what was expected of him. But now, having lost his job after corporate downsizing and on the cusp of sixty, he finds himself scrambling to somehow stay afloat in the only Los Angeles work on offer to a man his age - driving for Uber. When one of his rides, a retired professor named Elise, asks to be dropped off outside an abortion clinic where she now volunteers, Brendan finds himself literally driving right into the virulent epicentre of one of the major issues of our time, engulfing his life in the process.

We will take on any case, solve any crime, uncover any secret. We are Private. And we're the best. In Afghanistan, an experienced pilot is shot down during a covert mission. The man survives the crash, but is pursued into the mountains by Russian operatives. In New York, a wealthy businessman hires Jack Morgan to track down his daughter, who has gone missing along with her two children. But it is more than a missing persons case, the daughter has been linked to the murder of two men. Jack finds the missing daughter and discovers that she is being pursed, and killed two of her pursers in her escape. Jack takes the woman and her children into his protection, but now he is harbouring a wanted murderer. As Jack discovers more of the backstory of this woman and her children, he realises the only way to clear her name is for him to head to Afghanistan, and face the traumatic memories of his own time there serving as a US Marine many years ago. Private Rogue is by James Patterson and Adam Hamdy.

The Night She Disappeared is by Lisa Jewell. Mum, there's some people here from college, they asked me back to theirs. Just for an hour or so. Is that OK? Midsummer 2017: teenage mum Tallulah heads out on a date, leaving her baby son at home with her mother, Kim. At 11pm she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30am Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home. Friends tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a pool party at a house in the woods nearby called Dark Place Tallulah never returns. 2018: walking in the woods behind the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started as a head-teacher, Sophie sees a sign nailed to a fence. A sign that says: Dig here ...A cold case. An abandoned mansion. A family hiding a terrible secret.

The Shadow is by James Patterson and Brian Sittis. Only two people know Lamont Cranston's secret identity as the Shadow, a vigilante of justice: his greatest love, Margo Lane, and his fiercest enemy, Shiwan Khan. Then Khan ambushes the couple, who find the slimmest chance of survival . . . in the uncertain future. A century and a half later, Lamont awakens in a world both unknown and strangely familiar. The first person he meets is Maddy Gomes, a teenager with her own mysterious secrets, including a more than passing awareness of the legend of the Shadow. Most disturbing, Khan's power continues to be felt over New York and its people. No one in this new world understands the dangers of stopping him better than Lamont Cranston. He also knows he's the only one who stands a chance. Lamont must prove that the Shadow is more than just a legend. 

August 2021

The Noise is by James Patterson and J D Barker. Young sisters, Sophie and Tennant Riggin, are the only two people to withstand a massive explosion that destroys their community, located in the shadow of Oregon's Mt. Hood. A team of elite government investigators are sent to research the fallout and the girls - why did only they survive? - but with conflicting objectives. For Dr Martha Chan, a psychologist who analyses large-scale medical emergencies: study them. For Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Fraser, a career military leader with an inherent mistrust of civilians: contain them. But as the disturbance replicates across the Pacific Northwest, it threatens to topple the chain of command. Dr Chan and Lieutenant Colonel Fraser are caught between the perpetrators of the threat - and those who have the power to resist.

I couldn't see the sea from my bedroom but I could hear the waves breaking in the distance. They reminded me that I was on a tiny island. And I was trapped. There has never been a murder on Alderney. It's a tiny island, just three miles long and a mile and a half wide. The perfect location for a brand new literary festival. Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne has been invited to talk about his new book. The writer, Anthony Horowitz, travels with him. Very soon they discover that not all is as it should be. Alderney is in turmoil over a planned power line that will cut through it, desecrating a war cemetery and turning neighbour against neighbour. The visiting authors - including a blind medium, a French performance poet and a celebrity chef - seem to be harbouring any number of unpleasant secrets. When the festival's wealthy sponsor is found brutally killed, Alderney goes into lockdown and Hawthorne knows that he doesn't have to look too far for suspects. There's no escape. The killer is still on the island. And there's about to be a second death... A Line to Kill is by Anthony Horowitz.

September 2021

Jailhouse Lawyer is by James patterson and Nancy Allen. Justice in a small town can be hard to come by - especially when the judges, jailers and jury all know each other. In picture-perfect Erva, Alabama, the most serious crimes are misdemeanours. Speeding tickets. Shoplifting. Contempt of court. Then why is the jail so crowded? And why are so few prisoners released? There's only one place to learn the truth behind these incriminating secrets. Sometimes the best education a lawyer can get is a short stretch of hard time.

When a wealthy man is found murdered in his hilltop home, Deputy Coroner Clay Edison is shocked to discover a link to his own brother Luke on the scene. Luke is fresh out of prison and struggling to stay on the straight and narrow. But surely he's not a killer? When Luke goes missing, the case becomes even more fraught for Clay. He knows that the conflict between family and the truth could take him down the wrong path. Is his brother capable of murder? Or could he be a victim too? As wildfires and blackouts sweep through the state of California, the truth will only get harder to find. The Burning is by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman.

October 2021

The Fifth Girl is by Georgia Fancett. When DC Rawls decided to take some time off work for his mental health, he thought he would need just a few days. However, it's been months since that terrible night and Rawls still hasn't returned to the Somerset Police Dept. He can't seem to shake the feeling that he might never be the same again. But when a schoolgirl disappears and the police link her case to the disappearances of three other girls in Bath, it sends the media into a frenzy that places Rawls and his team at the heart of the storm. Rawls isn't sure that he's ready to work on a case that hits so close to home, but he knows he can't have any more blood on his hands. He has to find out the truth before it's too late. Who is behind these abductions? And which girl will be taken next?

November 2021

Fear No Evil is by James Patterson. Alex Cross and John Sampson, longtime friends and partners at DC Metro PD, are about to leave on a much-anticipated trip into the wilderness when they're called to a murder scene in the middle of Washington, DC. Instead of heading out to the mountains - or joining his wife, Bree, in Paris on her first assignment for an elite private security firm - Cross teams up with Sampson and FBI agent Ned Mahoney, unaware of the threats that may be closing in on the entire Cross family. M, the elusive killer who's been stalking Cross for years, has resurfaced and is targeting federal agents. Since the two last confronted one another, M has become even harder to identify and nearly impossible to catch. As the trail takes them across the country, Cross and Sampson are drawn into a showdown that tests their partnership - and their will to survive. 

Books to Look Forward to from Cornerstone

October 2020 

Three Women Disappear is by James Patterson and Shan Serafin. Three women are on the run, wanted for the murder of a high-ranking mobster in this stunning new stand-alone from the world's bestselling thriller writer James Patterson. Sarah, his personal chef, Anna, his wife, Serena, his maid Mob accountant Anthony Costello has a talent for manipulating both numbers and people. When he's found murdered in his own home, the three people who had most reason to want him dead are missing. Detective Sean Walsh, whose personal connection to the case makes his desire to solve it even stronger, is short on leads to track down the three missing women. But even if he finds them alive, can they be trusted?

November 2020

A scandalous double homicide opens the psychological case files on Alex Cross . . . When a glamorous socialite and high school principal are found murdered, lying half naked in a car, the shocking double homicide dominates tabloid headlines. Kay Willingham was a well-known philanthropist and ex-wife of the US vice president. Randall Christopher was a respected educator with political ambitions, as well as a wife and family. Alex Cross knew both victims well. Especially Kay, who had been his patient once. And maybe more. Cross is left grieving, questioning who would want them dead, and why. While Cross's former Metro Homicide partner John Sampson tracks Christopher's final movements, Cross and FBI Special Agent Ned Mahoney travel to Alabama to investigate Kay's past. They discover that although Kay had many enemies, none of them had a full motive. In a world of trouble, corruption, and secrets, Cross is left facing a desperate choice between breaking a trust and losing his way . . Deadly Cross is by James Patterson.

December 2020

At the wedding of the century, a brazen kidnapper steals the star of the show... Erin Easton's wedding in one of New York's biggest venues may have a TV crew documenting every extravagant detail, but when the bride disappears from the reception, it's no diva turn. Her dressing room is empty except for a blood-spattered wedding dress. Detective Kylie MacDonald of NYPD Red, already at the scene as a plus-one, brings in her partner, Detective Zach Jordan, to search for the missing bride. Unable to rule anything out, every A-list celebrity on the guest list has to be considered either a target of suspicion . . . or a target. NYPD Red 6 is by James Patterson & Marshall Karp.

January 2021

I Know What I Saw is by S K Sharp. She remembers everything. She understands nothing. Only a handful of people in the world have a truly perfect memory. Nicola is one of them. It's more of a curse than a blessing - every moment of sadness, embarrassment and unhappiness is burned into her mind forever - so she plays it down, and tries to live a quiet life. But a body has been found, a discovery that threatens to tear her community apart - and reopen old wounds from decades ago. Nicola was a child, but she remembers the night with perfect clarity. Despite that, she never discovered the truth of what happened. Now she must use her unique memory to solve the murder, or watch the man she loved be wrongly convicted of the crime...

Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman with more regrets than belongings who spends her life doing what no one else will: searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking. A new case brings Frankie to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own. And she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing will be her … Before She Disappeared is by Lisa Gardner.

Maximum Ride lost her fight to save the world. But from the ashes of the old world, a phoenix has risen... she calls herself Hawk. Hawk doesn't know her real name. She doesn't know who her parents were, or where they went. The only thing she remembers is that they told to wait on a street corner until they came back for her. That was ten years ago. The day that she finally gives up waiting is the moment her life changes for ever. Because the promise becomes reality: someone is coming for her. But it's not a rescue. It's an execution. Hawk is by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnett.

Your Neighbour's Wife is by Tony Parsons. Tara Carver seems to have the perfect life. A loving mother and wife, and a business woman who runs her own company, she's the sort of person you'd want to live next door to, who might even become your best friend.But what sort of person is she really? Because in one night of madness, on a work trip far from home, she puts all this at risk. And suddenly her dream life becomes a living nightmare when the married man she spent one night with tells her he wants a serious relationship with her. And that he won't leave her or her precious family alone until she agrees. There seems to be only one way out. And it involves murder …

February 2021

The Russian is by James Patterson and James O'Born. As Detective Michael Bennett's wedding day approaches, a killer has a vow of his own to fulfil... Weeks before NYPD Detective Michael Bennett is to marry his long-time love, Mary Catherine, an assassin announces their presence in the city with a string of murders. All of the victims are young women. And each has been killed in a manner as precise as it was gruesome. Tasked with working alongside the FBI, Bennett uncovers multiple cold-case homicides across the country that fit the same distinctive pattern. Bennett promises Mary Catherine that the case won't affect their upcoming wedding. But, as he struggles to connect the killings, Bennett may be walking into a deadly trap.                                                

Serpentine is by Jonathan Kellerman. Ellie Barker is a self-made millionaire by the age of forty, and is obsessed with reopening the coldest of cases: the decades-old death of the mother she never knew. She hires LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis to help. Twenty-five years ago Ellie's mother was found with a bullet in her head in a torched Cadillac that has overturned on infamously treacherous Mulholland Drive. No physical evidence, no witnesses, no apparent motive. And a slew of detectives have already worked the job and failed. This is a case that calls for the insight of brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. And as he and Sturgis begin digging, the mist begins to lift. There are too many coincidences. Facts turn out to be anything but. And as they soon discover, very real threats are lurking in the present...

If I Fall is by Merilyn Davies. We were told to meet at a rooftop bar. Four friends, bound by one terrible secret. No one knew why we were there. Then we saw a woman, watched as she fell from the edge and plunged to her death. The police think it's suicide, but I know better. Someone is sending a message. Now they're coming for us.

March 2021

Lindsay Boxer has sworn to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. As Lindsay prepares to celebrate her own daughter's birthday, she clashes with rising Chief Charlie Clapper over a family case. When a distraught mother pleads with Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas to investigate the disappearance of her daughter, Linda, and baby granddaughter, Lorrie, Cindy immediately loops in SFPD. But Linda's schoolteacher husband, Lucas Burke, tells a conflicting story that paints Linda as a wayward wife, not a missing person. And there's reason to believe he may be telling the truth. While M.E. Claire Washburn harbours theories that run counter to the police investigation of the Burke case, ADA Yuki Castellano sizes Lucas up as a textbook domestic offender - until he puts forward a theory of his own that unexpectedly connects the dots on a constellation of copycat killings. If what Lucas tells law enforcement has even a grain of truth, there isn't a woman in the state of California who's safe from the reach of such an unspeakable threat. 21^st Birthday – Women's Murder Club is by James Patterson.

Win is by Harlan Coben. Over twenty years ago, heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors, and the items stolen from her family were never recovered. Until now. On New York's Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead not only on Patricia's kidnapping but also on another FBI cold case - with the suitcase and painting both pointing them towards one man. Windsor Horne Lockwood III - or Win as his few friends call him - doesn't know how his suitcase and his family's stolen painting ended up in this dead man's apartment. But he's interested - especially when the FBI tell him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism, and that he may still be at large. The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades. But Win has three things the FBI does not:: a personal connection to the case, a large fortune, and his own unique brand of justice …

June 2021

The President's Daugther is by President Bill Clinton and James Patterson.  There's a new administration in the White House. But it's the previous First Family who tops an international assassin's hit list. Michael Keating is a former Navy SEAL - and a former President of the United States, now relocated to rural New Hampshire after a brave but ill-fated military mission cost him his second term. All he wants is to sink into anonymity with his family (and his Secret Service detail). But when he's briefed on an imminent threat against his daughter, Keating's SEAL training may prove more essential than all the power, connections and political acumen he gained as President.

When Chrissie was eight, she killed a child. Fifteen years later, she has one of her own. I killed a little boy today. Held my hands around his throat, felt his blood pump hard against my thumbs. He wriggled and kicked and one of his knees caught me in the belly, a sharp lasso of pain. I roared. I squeezed. Sweat made it slippy between our skins but I didn't let go, pressed and pressed until my nails were white. It was easier than I thought it would be. Chrissie is eight years old, and she has just killed a two-year-old boy. Her playmates are tearful and their mothers are terrified, keeping them locked up indoors. Chrissie knows how to steal sweets from the shop without getting caught, the best hiding place for hide-and-seek, the perfect wall for handstands. Now she has a new secret. It gives her a fizzing, sherbet feeling in her belly. She doesn't get to feel power like this at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer. Fifteen years later, Julia is working in a fish and chip shop and trying to mother her five-year-old daughter, Molly. She is always worried - about affording food and school shoes, about what the other mothers think of her. Most of all she worries that the social services are about to take Molly away. That's when the phone calls begin. Julia is too afraid to answer, because it's clear the caller knows the truth - that Julia is Chrissie, living under the new name given to her when she was released from prison eight years before. Julia wants to give Molly the childhood she was denied, and that means leaving Chrissie in the past. But Chrissie doesn't want to be left. The First Day of Spring is by Nancy Tucker.

July 2021

Clay Edison 2 is by Jonathan Kellerman. Thirty-six hours is all it's taken for society to break down. It's Monday morning and the power has been out since Friday night. As deputy Coroner Clay Edison arrives at a large, gated house to investigate the sudden death of its wealthy owner in the mist of a city-wide blackout, he knows he has his work cut out for him...

Adam Handy - The truth is out there…isn’t it?

With studies suggesting that six out of ten Britons endorse at least one conspiracy theory, the chances are someone you know harbours doubts about the moon landings or believes Area 51 houses alien spacecraft. You don’t have to be a basement-dwelling tin-hat wearer to be a believer; the power of social media means previously underground or left-field whispers can quickly amass thousands of followers and go mainstream. 

But before we’re too quick to sneer at the more outlandish theories circulating on the Internet, it’s worth remembering that throughout history powerful people and organisations have been tempted to secretly manipulate events for their own advantage, be it the US government’s Prohibition-era use of toxic additives in industrial alcohol to deter drinkers, or Volkswagen’s decade-long conspiracy to conceal excess emissions from its diesel cars. 

For crime and thriller writers, the strange world of conspiracy theory can be a rich seam of inspiration because sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction…

Government Mind Control

The tin foil hat is a common conspiracy trope - and with good reason. During the 1950s and 60s, the CIA, in co-ordination with the US Army Biological Warfare Laboratories, tested procedures that could be used in interrogations to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The program, known as MK-ULTRA, used LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs, sensory deprivation and torture on Americans in top-secret experiments at 80 institutions, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies. Other abandoned projects included efforts to erase memory through sub-aural frequency blasts or to control minds through hypnosis. Many individuals never gave consent for these experiments, which have been implicated in deaths and long-term mental impairment. With many of the records destroyed on CIA orders in the 1970s, the full truth may now never be known. 

Corporate Cover-ups

Companies are no strangers to conspiracy when it comes to covering up transgressions that could impact profits. Perhaps one of the longest running cover-ups concerns the link between smoking and lung cancer, which was first proven in the 1950s. The tobacco lobby spent millions of dollars, however, seeking to bury, discredit and distort the research and it wasn’t until the late 1990s that big tobacco finally admitted there could be a link. More recent scandals include Volkswagen’s emissions-tests cheating, and it recently emerged that as far back as 1980 Exxon and Shell knew fossil fuels would release high levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, pushing up global temperatures. Who knows what other dirty secrets big business is hiding from us?

Medical Research

Some of the more harmful conspiracy theories currently circulating relate to medical research, whether it’s debunked claims that HIV is a government creation to control population or that vaccination programmes are responsible for autism. These claims are dangerous, leaving populations vulnerable to serious illness and death. Yet a mistrust of public health programs can be traced back to dark episodes in the past, when unethical experimentation on vulnerable populations left people sick, maimed or dead. 

Perhaps the most notorious and reprehensible of these is the Tuskegee syphilis scandal, which saw the cure for syphilis withheld from infected African-American sharecroppers in the rural South. The program ran from 1932 to 1972 and it’s estimated that more than 100 of the subjects died of tertiary syphilis as a result of not being treated with penicillin in direct contravention of federal law. President Bill Clinton made a public apology to the victims and their families in 1997, and the episode has cast a long shadow over public health programmes in the United States. 

False Flag Operations

Whenever there’s a terror attack or catastrophic accident, it doesn’t take long for shadowy forces on the Internet to claim a false flag attack, either staged by the government or some other group to win support for their aims. It doesn’t help that governments have a history of trying to manipulate public support, with the Gulf of Tonkin confrontation between the North Vietnamese and USS Maddox now widely thought to be a false flag exercise to deepen US engagement in the Vietnam War. The Pentagon of the 1960s certainly had form: Operation Northwoods, for example, envisaged fabricating acts of terrorism on US soil to trick the public into supporting a war against Cuba. President John F Kennedy pulled the plug on that one. 

For authors plotting dastardly conspiracies in their next book, sometimes it’s worth donning a tin-foil hat and exploring some of the murkier episodes of history…or the present. Conspiracies yet to revealed are almost certainly unfolding around us right now…

Black Thirteen by Adam Hamdy.

An exiled agent. A growing threat. A clandestine war.  The world is changing beyond recognition.  Radical extremists are rising and seek to enforce their ideology globally.  Governments, the military and intelligence agencies are being outmanoeuvred at every step. Borders are breaking down. Those in power are puppets.  The old rules are obsolete. To fight this war a new doctrine is needed.  In a world where nothing is at it seems, where trust is gone, one man will make the difference.  Meet Ex-MI6 agent and man in exile, Scott Pearce.  It’s time to burn the espionage rule book.  Watch Pearce light the fire.

Adam Hamdy’s conspiracy thriller, Black Thirteen, will be published by Pan Macmillan in November 2019. He is currently collaborating with James Patterson on a new book in the Private series, which is due to be published in 2020. He is the co-founder of Capital Crime, London’s new crime and thriller festival.

Inaugural Library Conference Makes Noise at Leading Festival

One of the UK’s leading literary festivals is hosting an inaugural Library Conference.

Up to 100 library professionals from across the country are invited to attend the one-day event to be held at the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival this July.

Keynote speakers include chief executive of Arts Council England, Darren Henley OBE. Also speaking is leading crime author and advocate for libraries, Ann Cleeves, whose Vera and Shetlands series were adapted for ITV and the BBC.

The conference takes place on Friday 19 July at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, during the 16th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival delivered by the arts charity, Harrogate International Festivals.

The festival has a long tradition of working with libraries as part of its year-round outreach and educational work. Ten years ago, the festival invited Ann Cleeves to become its first Reader-in-Residence. This year it will deliver its 11th annual Big Read, supported by the Arts Council, with current Reader in Residence, author Mari Hannah.

The Big Read aims to encourage crime fiction fans and entice reluctant readers, to read and discuss the same book and utilise their local library service. It takes place from June 3-14 in libraries across Yorkshire and the North East with 1,500 free copies of Michael Connelly’s The Black Echo donated by publisher, Orion.  Last year, The Big Read featured James Patterson’s Along Came A Spider.

James Patterson will make a rare UK appearance on the day of the Library Conference as Special Guest of the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. The American publishing giant has been the most-borrowed author of adult fiction in UK libraries for the past 11 years in a row.

James Patterson said: “I was thrilled that Along Came a Spider was chosen as the Big Read at last year’s festival and taken on the road by Mari Hannah to libraries across the North. I firmly believe that better readers become better thinkers, and libraries and book festivals play a key role in spreading the joy of reading."

The industry event will feature training on marketing and social media to attract new

audiences to libraries led by Stewart Bain. The former senior library assistant at Orkney Library was dubbed ‘Twitter’s favourite librarian’ by The Times. Bain’s posts on Twitter put Orkney Library on the map, attracting more than 28,000 followers and luring authors such as JK Rowling. He won Librarian of the Year in 2016.

Stewart Bain said: “Crime fiction is the most borrowed genre in libraries. It is accessible, popular and offers a gateway into reading, so hosting the Library Conference at the biggest festival for the genre is very exciting. Having a vocal ambassador like Ann Cleeves, a champion of libraries and their importance to our communities, is a real morale boost for those working in a sector that’s increasingly under pressure.”

 

Panels will also look at engagement in the modern world, and how libraries can engage with publishers and build relationships.

Beth Walker, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Harrogate International Festivals, said: “We’re passionate about promoting reading, and the importance of libraries within communities. One of the things we discovered with our work with libraries around the Big Read was how much pressure is on librarians to deliver so much with so few resources. Despite the enormous challenges at a time of brutal cuts in the last decade, library professionals have enormous passion for their vocation. We wanted to give them a platform that showed they were valued in the literary community, and to use learning from the conference to build on our outreach work to help support and safeguard their future.”

Attendees will be offered a free ticket to events on the Friday evening.

https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/big-read-library-conference/