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 Headline Publishers

A burned out L.A. detective….  A woman of mystery who is far more than she seems… a grotesque, ancient monster bent on a mission of retribution.  When these three collide, a new standard of suspense is born.  The legend of the Golem of Prague has endured through the ages, a creature fashioned by a sixteenth-century rabbi to protect his congregation, now lying dormant in the garret of a synagogue.  But the golem is dormant no longer.  Detective Jacob Lev wakes one morning dazed and confused.  He seems to have picked up a beautiful woman in a bar the night before, but he can’t remember anything about the encounter, and before he knows it, she has gone.  But the mystery pales in comparison to the one he is about to be called into solve.  Newly reassigned to a Special Project squad he didn’t even know existed, he’s sent to a murder scene far up in the hills of Hollywood Division.  There is no body, only an unidentified head lying on the floor of a house.  Seared into a kitchen counter nearby is a single word: the Hebrew for justice.  Detective Lev is about to embark on an odyssey – through Los Angeles, through many parts of the United States, through London and Prague, but most of all, through himself.  All that he has believed to be true will be upended – and not only his world, but also the world, itself, will be changed.  The Golem of Hollywood is by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman and is due to be published in September 2014.

Underwater archaeologist Jack Howard is back with a dangerous mission to uncover a shocking secret which could rewrite history...  In 1890, a British soldier emerges from the depths of a Cairo sewer.  He claims to have been trapped for years in an ancient underground complex, and swears that he stumbled upon an incredible collection of gold, treasure, and thousands upon thousands of jars filled with papyri.  Dismissed as a madman who has lost his mind in the desert, his story was lost to the world.  Until now...  When a colleague of Jack Howard's stumbles across the soldier's story, the mention of a 'blinding shaft of light' captures Jack's attention and resurrects the forgotten ramblings.  With the political situation in Egypt at boiling point, Jack and his team risk everything in a treacherous archaeological expedition to find the truth.  Their mission will take them across the globe, down to the darkest depths of the Red Sea, and back through Egyptian history to the bloody reign of Akhenaten, the Sun-Pharaoh - and keeper of a devastating secret...  Pyramid is by David Gibbins and is due to be published in November 2014.

The Roman Empire’s conquest of Britannia is under threat from within.  Prefect Cato and Centurion Marco must uncover a traitor to prevent unthinkable defeat.  A messenger on the streets of Rome has been intercepted and tortured, revealing a plot to sabotage the Roman army’s campaign against Caratacus, commander of Britannia’s native tribes.  A treacherous agent’s mission is to open a second front of attack against them and eliminate the two Roman soldiers who could stand in the way.  Unwarned, Cato and Marco are with the Roman army pursuing Caratacus and men through the mountains of Britannia.  Defeating Caratacus finally seems to be within their grasp.  But the plot against the two heroes threaten not only their military goals but also their lives. Brothers in Blood is by Simon Scarrow and is due to be published October 2014.

First you'll say you're sorry...then you'll say goodbye.  A family is wiped out after a burglary gone wrong.  An executive accused of embezzling kills himself and his loved ones.  A house fire claims the lives of all its inhabitants.  Three separate incidences with two common threads - a first wife who took her own life and a secret the victims took to their graves.  Stephanie Coburn has barely recovered from her sister's mysterious suicide before her brother-in-law and his new wife are murdered.  Stephanie never met the bride, has never even seen a clear photograph of her face.  But she knew her sister, and she knows something is desperately wrong...The police won't listen.  Her only ally is another victim's son.  Step by step, they must uncover a trail of a brutal vengeance and a killer who will never relent - and whose forgiveness can only be earned in death...  Tell Me You’re Sorry is by Kevin O’Brien and is due to be published in November 2014.

The Royalist is by S J Deas and is due to be published in September 2014.  A Royalist dragoon who fought against Parliament, he is currently awaiting execution at Newgate Prison.  Yet when he is lead away from Newgate with a sack over his head, it is not the gallows to which they take him, but to Oliver Cromwell himself.  Cromwell has heard of Falkland’s reputation as an investigator and now more than ever needs a man of conscience, His New Model Amy are wintering in Devon but mysterious deaths are sweeping the camp and, in return for his freedom, Falkland is despatched to undercover the truth.  With few friends and a slew of enemies, Falkland soon learns there is a dark demon at work, one who won’t go down without a fight.  But how can he protect the troops from such a monster and, more importantly, will be able to protect himself.

Faith Corcoran returns to Cincinnati, ostensibly to accept an inheritance of her family home from her recently deceased grandmother, and is immediately embroiled in a terrible accident as her car hits a young girl who claims to have been kidnapped.  Compelled to find out what happened to the girl, she starts investigating and before long comes into contact with FBI agent Deacon Novak (from Watch Your Back).  Watch the sparks fly as murder, passion and love all collide.  Closer Than You Think is by Karen Rose and is due to be published in November 2014

Mathew’s Tale is by Quintin Jardine and is due to be published in October 2014.  1818, Carluke, Lanarkshire.  Mathew Fleming returns home to Scotland following heroic service at the Battle of Waterloo.  After seven years away, he is a ghostly presence to those he left behind.  But Mathew is ambitious and soon becomes a man of influence in his county and beyond.  Yet through all his success, he still hides the loss of his one true love.  When a terrible act of murder occurs, Mathew must choose between the rule of blood and the rule of law.  And as a man of honour with a warrior's instincts, he embarks on a journey of vengeance that will test every sinew of his faith in mankind...

Hired to find the missing son of retired political activist Moira Doherty, Dan Starkey knows his new case is going to be challenging.  Billy 'the Bear' Doherty isn't an easy man to find - a criminal with a nasty drug habit; his mum is convinced he's been murdered.  But when Moira herself is killed, her body found floating in the waters under Londonderry's Peace Bridge, Dan finds himself in the middle of a deadly game of cat and mouse.  Already in unfamiliar territory, Starkey is quickly embroiled in the city's porn and drug fuelled underworld, where a new generation of gangster terrorist is intent on creating mayhem their predecessors could only dream of.  The Dead Pass is by Colin Bateman and is due to be published in September 2014.

Hannah and her family have been stalked across centuries.  Their hunter?  Jakab, a man who can change his appearance at will and hide behind the face of a beloved, poised to strike.  But now it seems Hannah and Jakab are linked by more than fear…they share a rare bloodline that is under threat of extinction unless Hannah is willing to make sacrifices that would once have led to her own death.  Should the prey ever trust the predator?  And is hope for future generations ever enough to wash away the deadly sins of the past. The Blood Legacy is by Stephen Lloyd Jones and is due to be published in November 2014.

A New York Christmas is by Anne Perry and is due to be published in October 2014.  Thomas Pitt's daughter Jemima, now a young woman, leads the cast of Anne Perry's enthralling festive mystery.  In New York, at the turn of the century, where new American money and old English aristocracy collide, a young bride's secret past could destroy her future.  Jemima, in America as a chaperone until her friend's wedding, is instead drawn into the crisis, and must decide whom to trust, and how to thread her way through the dangerous streets of this cold, brash new city.

Peter Boutrup is visiting his girlfriend's grave when her mother approaches him.  Her son, Magnus, has gone missing and she begs Peter to look for him.  The next day a young nun is pulled out of the moat at the convent in Djursland where Peter works as a carpenter.  She has been garrotted and Peter was the last person to see her alive.  At the same time during a dive in a mine, Kir Rojel finds a box of old bones.  They are human bones and the man has been garrotted.  But that was sixty years ago...While Peter is looking for Magnus, Detective Mark Bille Hansen is assigned to the case: he must link the bones in the box with the girl in the moat - and the hunt for the truth sends him to the place he least thought to go.  Dead Souls is by Elsebeth Egholm and is due to be published in November 2014.

Jake Buckman’s relationship with his sixteen-year-old son Ryan is not an easy one, so at the urging of his loving wife, Pam, Jake goes alone to pick up Ryan at their suburban movie theatre.　 On the way home, Ryan asks to drive on a deserted road, and Jake sees it as a chance to make a connection.  However, what starts as a father-son bonding opportunity instantly turns into a nightmare.  Tragedy strikes, and with Ryan’s entire future hanging in the balance, Jake is forced to make a split-second decision that plunges them both into a world of guilt and lies.  Without ever meaning to, Jake and Ryan find themselves living under the crushing weight of their secret, which threatens to tear their family to shreds and ruin them all.  Powerful and dramatic, Keep Quiet will have you debating what it means to be a parent and how far you can, and should, go to protect those you love.  Keep Quiet is by Lisa Scottoline and is due to be published in November 2014.

Also due to be published is The Good Life by Martina Cole in October 2014 and The Job by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg in November 2014.