Forthcoming Crime Books From Little Brown (Incl, Constable, Sphere Books, Piatkus)

 January 2023

Bath's top detective, Peter Diamond, doesn't believe in jinxes. So when he's asked to investigate a top TV show plagued by a series of misfortunes, Diamond is unmoved. He's no fan of the show - which glorifies criminals and mocks the police - and the incidents were spread across six years. It's clear this is the press making a sensation out of nothing. So Diamond puts the junior member of his squad on the case. But when young officer Paul Gilbert goes on location with the TV unit and witnesses another near-death incident, Diamond is forced to take an interest. To make matters worse, the press get wind of his involvement and Diamond his under pressure from all quarters. But his troubles have scarcely started. Devastating traps and surprises make this the most baffling case of his entire career. Showstopper is by Peter Lovesey.

Age of Vice is by Deepit Kapoor. This is the age of vice, where pleasure and power are everything, and the family ties that bind can also kill. New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the kerb, and in the blink of an eye five people are dead. It's a rich man's car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. Nor can he foresee the dark drama that is about to unfold. Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family-loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all. In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals, and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who rises through the family's ranks. Sunny is the playboy heir who dreams of outshining his father, whatever the cost. And Neda is the curious journalist caught between morality and desire. Against a sweeping plot fueled by loss, pleasure, greed, yearning, violence, and revenge, will these characters' connections become a path to escape, or a trigger of further destruction? Equal parts crime thriller and family saga, transporting readers from the dusty villages of Uttar Pradesh to the urban energy of New Delhi, Age of Vice is an intoxicating novel of gangsters and lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption.

Remie Yorke has one shift left at the Mackinnon Hotel in the remote Scottish Highlands before she leaves for good. Then Storm Ezra hits. As temperatures plummet and phone lines go down, an injured man stumbles inside. PC Don Gaines was in a terrible accident on the mountain road. The only other survivor: the prisoner his team was transporting. When a second stranger arrives, Remie reluctantly lets him in from the blizzard. He, too, is hurt. He claims to be a police officer. His name is alsoDon Gaines. Someone is lying and, with no means of escape, Remie must work out who. If the cold doesn't kill her, one of these men will get there first . . . The Second Stranger is by Martin Griffin.

Encore In Death is by J D Robb. Eve Dallas is investigating the murder of a much-loved actor at a glittering party. The spotlight has never been brighter. Or deadlier... It was a glittering event full of A-listers, hosted by Eliza Lane and Brant Fitzhugh, the most glittering of all celebrity couples. Everyone had expected the party to be in the newspapers the next day but not because one of the hosts was murdered! As the crowd had gathered to watch Eliza sing, Fitzhugh had raised a final toast to his glamorous wife and fallen to the floor. Death by cyanide poisoning. It's time for Lt. Eve Dallas to make her entrance. From all accounts, Fitzhugh wasn't the kind of star who made enemies. Eliza, on the other hand, had many rivals, and a few of them could class as enemies. Since the champagne cocktail that killed Brant was originally intended for Eliza, could it be that she was the real target? With so many people at the party, Eve has her work cut out determining who could commit murder in the middle of a crowd. As one who's not fond of the spotlight, she dreads the media circus surrounding a case like this. All she wants is to figure out who's truly innocent, and who's only acting that way...

The Hither Green murder... William Benson knows what it's like to be accused of something you didn't do - the fear, the vulnerability and the nightmare of watching your life unravel. Now he speaks on behalf of those who have no voice, defending anyone who claims to be innocent. This time, it's Karmen Naylor, estranged daughter of a south London crime boss, fighting a murder charge and desperate to be believed. But Benson becomes trapped into a grudge match between two rival clans, endangering himself and those he loves. Tess de Vere is by Benson's side but she's keeping something from him. A stranger on the trail of a secret death squad operating in Northern Ireland during the Troubles brings a terrible secret into the heart of her own life. And he won't go away. Can Tess and Will find their way through all the secrets and the lies? Should justice always be served - and if so, at what cost? Fatal Proof is by John Fairfax.

The Private Lives of Spies is by Alexander McCall Smith. During WW2 there was a rumour that German spies were landing by parachute in Britain, dressed as nuns... Conradin Muller was an unusual spy. He was recruited in Hamburg in June 1943, much against his will, and sent on his first, and only, mission in late September that year. He failed to send a single report back to Germany, and when the War came to an end in May 1945, he fell to his knees and wept with relief. From a highly reluctant German spy who is drawn to an East Anglian nunnery as his only means of escape, to the strange tale of one of the Cambridge spy ring's adventures with a Russian dwarf, these are Alexander McCall Smith's intriguing and typically inventive stories from the world of espionage.

She lay so still, blue eyes shining, blonde hair fanned out, her mouth stuck forever open in a soundless scream… When Rachel Mullen is found dead by her only sister Beth, her body twisted in an arc of pain,Detective Lottie Parker knows that she has been murdered the minute she enters the bedroom. Lottie’s heart aches for Beth, all alone in the world, whose last memory of her sister will forever be the brutal way she was taken. And when Lottie finds a shard of glass placed in the young girl’s throat, she fears that Rachel may be just the first victim. The night before, Rachel had attended a party at a luxurious new restaurant in Ragmullin, and Lottie wastes no time in tracking down the other guests. But there are several things troubling her: Rachel’s handbag and keys are nowhere to be found, and no one at the party seems to have seen her leave. Just as Lottie thinks she’s onto something, her worst fears are confirmed: another woman is found murdered… with glass in her throat. The brilliant, young doctor wasn’t a guest at the party and Lottie is forced to question everything. Desperate to find proof of what really happened that night, Lottie gets close to the hostess of the party, whose two daughters were friends with Rachel. But Lottie’s hunt for the truth must be getting under the killer’s skin, because then her beloved fiancé, Boyd, goes missing. Can Lottie get in the mind of this twisted killer before it’s too late? Or will the man she loves be silenced forever? Silent Voices is by Patricia Gibney.

Questions for a Dead Man is by Alex Gray. . How do you solve a murder when all you have are questions? When a prominent MSP goes missing, DSI William Lorimer wastes no time in investigating. Robert Truesdale was fronting the controversial campaign to legalise drugs in Scotland, and his enemies were numerous. With every passing day, the chances of finding him alive grow slimmer. Then the worst happens. A car bomb explodes in a nearby village, and the blackened body pulled from the wreckage appears to be Truesdale's. Yet there are details that don't add up and soon Lorimer is questioning whether the victim was all he claimed to be. Lorimer calls on the assistance of his friend, PC Daniel Kohi, who has infiltrated a local gang as part of a police initiative to crack down on drug-related crime in Glasgow. As their investigation draws them into the dark heart of Glasgow's criminal underworld, Lorimer and Kohi discover that danger is everywhere and nobody is as they seem.

Death of a Traitor is by M C Beaton with R W Green. A missing person report is not usually something that Hamish Macbeth sees as cause for undue distress. Should a child or a vulnerable person vanish, it's an urgent matter that needs to be treated seriously, but in Macbeth's experience, most other people who go missing tend to turn up again before long. So when Kate Hibbert disappears after having last been seen struggling along the road with a heavy suitcase, he is convinced she has gone travelling and reluctantly goes through the motions of investigating. Interviewing those who were closest to her, Macbeth is perplexed by their apparent lack of concern but sees no reason to suspect foul play. When Hibbert does eventually resurface, however, a storm of lies, intrigue and scandal threatens Macbeth's tranquil village of Lochdubh. Torn between loyalty to his local community and his responsibilities as a police officer, he begins threading his way through a maze of deceit, quickly finding himself on the trail of a ruthless, treacherous murderer. If he catches the killer, peace can return to the village. If he fails, he will lose everything - his job, his home and the life he so loves in Lochdubh.

This is the story of a house. The cabin lies deep in the woods, where the trees are so dense it's easy to miss. On the outside it might look like it's crumbling, crawling with weeds, but on the inside it's warm and cosy. A fire crackles in the fireplace. Dinner simmers on the stove. Maya once saw this cabin as an idyllic place, like a cottage from a fairy tale, but now she knows the danger that lurks beneath. The summer she visited the cabin was the summer her best friend Aubrey died. Now, another woman from Maya's hometown has died in the same strange, unexplained way, and Maya believes only she can save the next innocent girl. Guided by her fractured memory and a mysterious, unfinished book by her late father, Maya returns home to face the house in the pines and the man who waits there - the man she's tried so hard to forget ... The House in the Pines is by Ana Reyes.

The Proof is in the Pudding is by Rosemary Shrager. Preparing a midwinter's feast for all hundred residents of the little Yorkshire village of Scrafton Busk is exactly the kind of challenge Prudence Bulstrode adores. A chance to show off her muffin-topped winter stew, lamb shank hotpot and Scarborough woof - and, of course, her famous figgy pudding - is just the thing to shake off the winter blues. But on the night of the feast, local vagabond Terry Chandler is found dead - his body entombed in the pristine snowman standing pride of place on the village green. Who could have wanted Chandler dead? Why would they stow his body in such strange circumstances? And what is the meaning of his last enigmatic message, directing his brother to Mystery Hills, a place of which no one has ever heard? Crime and cookery continue to collide as Prudence and her granddaughter Suki get drawn into another mystifying murder . . .

March 2023

Murder at Home is by David Wilson. The home is the place where murder most commonly occurs. In England and Wales, each year on average 75 per cent of female murder victims and 39 per cent of murdered men are killed at home. This gripping new title from the author of My Life with Murderers and A Plot to Kill explores the tragic prevalence of domestic murder and how, for so many victims, their own home is the place they are most in danger. David Wilson is the UK's leading criminologist and his knowledge of murder is unparalleled. By walking through each part of the house, he explains how each room's purpose has changed over time, the weapons they contain, and ultimately, how these things combine in murder. Delving into infamous as well as lesser-known true crime cases, this examination of the tragic, ordinary nature of murder is both a chilling read and a startling insight into the everyday impact of violence and how it can touch us all.

Eleven Liars is by Robert Gold. Journalist Ben Harper is on his way home when he sees the flames in the churchyard. The derelict community centre is on fire. And somebody is trapped inside. With Ben's help the person escapes, only to flee the scene before they can be identified. Now the small town of Haddley is abuzz with rumours. Was this an accident, or arson? Then a skeleton is found in the burnt-out foundations. And when the identity of the victim is revealed, Ben is confronted with a crime that is terrifyingly close to home. As he uncovers a web of deceit and destruction that goes back decades, Ben quickly learns that in this small town, everybody has something to hide.

April 2023

The Blind Spots is by Thomas Mullen. In a world where a global event has blinded every person on the planet, one detective seeks a murderer who should not, cannot, exist. Seven years ago, everyone in the world went blind in a matter of months. Technology helped people adjust to the new normal, creating a device that approximates vision, downloading visual data directly to people's brains. But what happens when someone finds a way to manipulate it and change what people see? Homicide detective Mark Owens has been on the force since before The Blinding. When a scientist is murdered, and the only witness insists the killer was blacked out of her vision, Owens doesn't believe her - until a similar murder happens in front of him. With suspects ranging from tech billionaires to anti-modernity cultists, Owens must conduct an investigation in which he can't even trust his own eyes...

Everyone has a past...Yours is coming to kill you. Alex and Morven have a pretty perfect marriage. Still madly in love after 10 years they have no secrets from each other and their life in London with daughter Poppy is... happy. Until one day it changes. Morven disappears, her car is found abandoned and the police come around to Alex's house to tell him things about his wife he never knew: her real name, her past life, the secrets she kept from him. And Alex realises he's been loving a lie. He needs answers... and on the shore of a dark and remote lake in Wales he learns that the tragic events which shaped the past now threaten to rip the present apart. I Know Who You Were is by Nick Curran.

May 2023

Cal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he's called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he is surprised at first to see that the victim appears to be a rather typical techie. But on closer inspection, he finds the victim is over seven feet tall. And even though he doesn't look a day over thirty, he is actually ninety years old. Clearly, he is a Titan - one of this dystopian, near-future society's genetically-altered elites. There are only a few thousand Titans worldwide, all thanks to Stefan Tonfamecasca's discovery of the controversial T7 genetic therapy, which elevated his family to near godlike status. A dead Titan is big news . . . a murdered Titan is unimaginable. But Titans are Cal's specialty. In fact, his ex-girlfriend, Athena, is a Titan. And not just any Titan - she's Stefan's daughter, heir to the Tonfamecasca empire. As Cal digs deeper into the murder investigation, he begins to unravel the complicated threads of what should have been a straightforward case, and it soon becomes clear he's on the trail of a crime whose roots run deep into the dark heart of the world.Titanium Noir is by Nick Harkaway and is a tightly woven, intricate tale of murder, betrayal, and vengeance.

The Last Dance is by Mark Billingham. Meet Detective Miller: unique, unconventional, and criminally underestimated... He's a detective, a dancer, he has no respect for authority - and he's the best hope Blackpool has for keeping criminals off the streets. Meet Detective Declan Miller. A double murder in a seaside hotel sees a grieving Miller return to work to solve what appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Just why were two completely unconnected men taken out? Despite a somewhat dubious relationship with both reality and his new partner, can the eccentric, offbeat Miller find answers where his colleagues have found only an impossible puzzle?

Identity is by Nora Roberts. Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighbourhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan's job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party--attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who'd been chatting her up at the bar--her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor. Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. "Luke" is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder. What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn't his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan's nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother's home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn't flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn't forgotten the one who got away.

Obsessed is by Liza North. Laura has a husband, children, a home in a city she loves. She thinks she can be happy, despite her past. If they only knew my secret. Until someone walks back into her life who she knows will shatter everything. Alexis was her first love. A love so exhilarating, it is impossible to resist. I know I should end it. But I can't. Then Alexis is found dead, and the police are knocking at Laura's door. They're asking her questions and she's telling them lies. I didn't kill him. I promise.

June 2023

In the hilarious new novel in the best-selling Detective Varg series, Ulf Varg will need to resolve both a sensitive crime and his own delicate dilemma in the hopes of preserving the peace. The Department of Sensitive Crimes is downsizing in light of a recent downturn of sensitive crime, and staff members are wondering who among them will be transferred elsewhere. As the bickering between colleagues intensifies, Ulf tries his best to stay above the fray. But when Anna, a longtime friend and coworker, appears to blame him for an old case that went sideways, it seems she may be putting her own job prospects above their friendship. In the midst of all this, Ulf embarks on an important inquiry: a man's cabin has mysteriously disappeared and Ulf is tasked with finding out what happened. How exactly does one steal a house? And, more to the point, how does one track down a stolen house? Meanwhile, a promising veterinary treatment for deafness in dogs has been announced, and Ulf's dog, Martin, might be the perfect patient. The Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf is by Alexander McCall Smith.

The Quiet Tennant is by Clémence Michallon. He took you and you have been his for five years. But you have been careful. Waiting for him to mess up. It has to be now. Aidan Thomas is a hardworking family man and a respected member of his community. He's also a kidnapper and serial killer who has murdered eight women. And there's a ninth, a woman he's renamed Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed where she fears for her life. When Aidan's wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Cecilia, are forced to move. Aidan brings Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a family friend who needs a place to stay. After five years of captivity, surely Rachel is too brainwashed to attempt to escape - and no-one in the town has any idea of the terrible secrets the seemingly perfect father and widower is hiding. Especially his daughter and the quiet, shy owner of the local family restaurant who has started to fall in love with him...

No Justice is by Kate Evans and is a new police procedural series set in Scarborough and following DC Donna Morris - middle-aged, seemingly ordinary - but hiding many secrets. . .Rape and organised crime sully even the pretty streets of the small Yorkshire town DC Donna Morris is beginning to think of as home. The National Crime Agency inevitably gets involved but their methods put more people in danger. Guns - though she used one once in anger and fear - are really not how Donna would prefer to nail the guilty. And there are some people who believe their actions are always justified. Then there are others who will never get justice. Can DC Donna Morris negotiate some kind of resolution while dealing with betrayal in her own life?

A dark, riveting thriller set in 1920s Hollywood about "the greatest horror movie ever made", the curse said to surround it, and a deadly search, decades later, for the single copy rumoured still to exist. 1927: Hollywood studio fixer Mary Rourke is called to the palatial home of "the most desirable woman in the world", silent movie actress Norma Carlton, star of The Devil's Playground. When Rourke finds Carlton dead, she wonders if the dark rumours she's heard are true: that The Devil's Playground really is a cursed production. But nothing in Hollywood is ever what it seems, and cynical fixer Rourke, more used to covering up the truth for studio bosses, finds herself seeking it out. 1967: Paul Conway, film historian and fervid silent movie aficionado, is on the trail of a tantalizing rumour: that a single copy of The Devil's Playground-a Holy Grail for film buffs that was supposedly cursed and lost to time-may exist. His search takes him deep into the Mojave Desert, to an isolated hotel that hasn't changed in forty years but harbours only one occupant-and a shocking secret. Separated by decades, both Rourke and Conway begin to suspect that the real Devil's Playground is in fact Hollywood itself. The Devil's Playground is by Craig Russell. 

The Good Ones is by Polly Stewart. On a hot August day, Lauren Ballard mysteriously vanished from her home, leaving signs of a violent struggle. Sixteen years on, still haunted by her friend's disappearance, Nicola Bennett returns to her hometown. For Nicola, Tyndall County has remained frozen in time. Everywhere she turns she's reminded of Lauren. Yet startlingly, her former friends and neighbours have all moved on. Nicola begins to trace over the events of that summer, hoping to discover a clue to Lauren's fate. Deep down she knows the answers are tucked in the hollows and valleys of this rural Virginia county. But as secrets come to light and the truth begins to unravel, will Nicola finally break free of the past - or lose herself completely in the questions she can never answer?

Five million reasons why Ben Koenig had to disappear. Only one to bring him back . . . Ben Koenig is a ghost. He doesn't exist any more. Six years ago it was Koenig who headed up the US Marshal's elite Special Ops group. They were the elite unit who hunted the bad guys – the really bad guys. They did this so no one else had to. Until the day Koenig disappeared. He told no one why and he left no forwarding address. For six years he became a grey man. Invisible. He drifted from town to town, state to state. He was untraceable. It was as if he had never been. But now Koenig's face is on every television screen in the country. Someone from his past is trying to find him and they don't care how they do it. In the burning heat of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a town called Gauntlet, and there are people in there who have a secret they'll do anything to protect. They've killed before and they will kill again. Only this time they've made a mistake. They've dismissed Koenig as just another drifter - but they're wrong. Because Koenig has a condition, a unique disorder that makes it impossible for him to experience fear. And now they're about to find out what a truly fearless man is capable of. Because Koenig's coming for them. And hell's coming with him . . . Fearless is by M W Craven.

Murder and the Moggies of Magpie Row is by Kate High. When Clarice Beech finds her friend Peter Ramsey dead in his kitchen, she believes he's succumbed to a fatal heart attack. Peter, who lived in one of the five cottages on Magpie Row in the Lincolnshire Wolds, was a keen supporter of stray cats - which made him very unpopular with the neighbours. And after Chris Morris, an alcoholic neighbour, disrupts Peter's funeral, insisting Peter was murdered - and he knows who the murderer is - Clarice discovers there's no shortage of possible suspects among the Magpie Row inhabitants. Who, behind Magpie Row's idyllic facade, might have had murder in mind? And, after his outburst at Peter's funeral, where is Chris? And is Clarice, with her mission to tend to Peter's strays, as well as uncover the truth about her friend's death, putting herself in danger's way?

Also due to be published in June is Red Metal 2 by Mark Greaney and Lieutenant Colonel Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV. USMC

Books to Look Forward to from Little Brown and Constable and Robinson

January 2017

The Dry is by Jane Harper. I just can't understand how someone like him could do something like that. Amid the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century, it hasn't rained in small country town Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son, is guilty. Policeman Aaron Falk returns to the town of his youth for the funeral of his childhood best friend, and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth. And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, secrets from his past and why he left home bubble to the surface as he questions the truth of his friend's crime.

The plague raging through London in 1665 has emptied the city. The only people left are those too poor to flee, or those who selflessly struggle to control the contagion and safeguard the capital's future. Amongst them, though, are those prepared to risk their health for money - those who sell dubious 'cures' and hawk food at wildly inflated prices. Also amongst them are those who hold in their hands the future of the city's most iconic building - St Paul's Cathedral. The handsome edifice is crumbling from decades of neglect and indecision, giving the current custodians a stark choice - repair or demolish. Both sides have fanatical adherents who have been fighting each other since the Civil Wars. Large sums of money have disappeared, major players have mysteriously vanished, and then a unidentified skeleton is discovered in another man's grave. A reluctant Chaloner returns to London to investigate, only to discover that someone is determined to thwart him by any means - by bullet, poison or bludgeon - and he fears he has very little time to identify the culprits before he becomes yet another victim in the battle for the Cathedral's future.  The Executioner of St Paul’s is by Susanna Gregory.

February 2017

Echoes in Death is by J D Robb.  New York at night. A young woman stumbles out on to a busy street – right in front of Lieutenant Eve Dallas and husband Roarke. Her name is Daphne Strazza, and she has been brutally assaulted. Confused and traumatised, she manages to tell them one thing. Her attacker wore a devil’s mask. As Eve investigates this shocking case, she soon discovers a disturbing pattern. Someone is preying on wealthy couples, subjecting them to a cruel and terrifying ordeal. Worse still, the attacks are escalating in violence and depraved theatricality. Eve and her team are now in a race against time to find the man behind the mask – before he strikes again. But for Eve, this case in particular has unsettling echoes of her own troubled past . . .

A Darkness Absolute - City of the Lost is by Kelley Armstrong.  When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. What she didn't expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers. Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff's deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who's been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it's an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that...before another victim goes missing.

In the dream, Belle was always the same age as when she died...Fourteen years ago, the final words Kennedy ever spoke to his sister were in anger. That day was September 11th 2001, and Belle died when her plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Since then, Kennedy has dedicated his life to airline security. He knows more about planes than the airport authority, a fact which doesn't go unnoticed by the CIA. After kidnapping him, Kennedy is inducted by the Agency into a programme called Red Carpet. Now Kennedy is a civilian asset, an ordinary man working with extraordinary people to stop the world collapsing around him, just as it did for his sister so many years before.  The Asset is by Shane Kuhn.

Cambridge Black is by Alison Bruce. A cold case waits to be solved ...and a killer waits in the wings. Amy was seven years old when her father was arrested for murder. His subsequent trial and conviction scarred her childhood and cast a shadow over her life until, twenty-two years later, new evidence suggests he was innocent and Amy sets out to clear his name. But Amy is not the only person troubled by the past. DC Gary Goodhew is haunted by the day his grandfather was murdered and is still searching for answers, determined to uncover the truth about his grandfather's death and find his killer. But, right now, someone is about to die. Someone who has secrets and who once kept quiet but is now living on borrowed time. Someone who will be murdered because disturbing the past has woken a killer.

Death of a Ghost is by M C Beaton.  There are many ruined castles in Scotland. One such lies outside the village of Drim. Hamish begins to hear reports that this castle is haunted and lights have been seen there at night, but he assumes it's some children or maybe the local lads going there to smoke pot, or, worse, inject themselves with drugs. Hamish says to his policeman, Charlie 'Clumsy' Carson, that they will both spend a night there. The keening wind explains the ghostly noises, but when Charlie falls through the floor, Hamish finds the body of a dead man propped up in a corner of the cellar. After Charlie is airlifted to the hospital, Chief Detective Inspector Blair arrives to investigate the body, but there is none to be found. Dismissed as a drunk making up stories, Hamish has to find and identify the body and its killer before the "ghost" can strike again.

Inspector Carlyle has a new partner in crime ...but for how long? When a fortune in uncut diamonds are nicked by a group of soldiers, Carlyle teams up with Captain Daniel Hunter of the Military Police to hunt them down. But Hunter has come up against this crew before and they are not going to let him stand in their way a second time. The investigation is turned upside down when Hunter's family are kidnapped by the gang. The inspector has to look on helplessly while the military policeman goes off on a personal mission of revenge. As events spiral horribly out of control, Carlyle faces a terrible choice: does he let Hunter take matters into his own hands or should he try and bring his new partner to justice?   All Kinds of Dead is by James Craig.

March 2017

Summary Justice is by John Fairfax. The last time Tess de Vere saw William Benson she was a law student on work experience. He was a twenty-one year old, led from the dock of the Old Bailey to begin a life sentence for murder. He'd said he was innocent. She'd believed him. Sixteen years later Tess overhears a couple of hacks mocking a newcomer to the London Bar, a no-hoper with a murder conviction, running his own show from an old fishmonger's in Spitalfields. That night she walks back into Benson's life. The price of his rehabilitation - and access to the Bar - is an admission of guilt to the killing of Paul Harbeton, whose family have vowed revenge. He's an outcast. The government wants to shut him down and no solicitor will instruct him. But he's subsidised by a mystery benefactor and a desperate woman has turned to him for help: Sarah Collingstone, mother of a child with special needs, accused of slaying her wealthy lover. It's a hopeless case and the murder trial, Benson's first, starts in four days. The evidence is overwhelming but like Benson long ago, she swears she's innocent. Tess joins the defence team, determined to help Benson survive. But as Benson follows the twists and turns in the courtroom, Tess embarks upon a secret investigation of her own, determined to uncover the truth behind the death of Paul Harbeton on a lonely night in Soho. True to life, fast-paced and absolutely compelling, Summary Justice introduces a new series of courtroom dramas featuring two maverick lawyers driven to fight injustice at any cost.

Still Dark is by Alex Gray.  New Year's Eve should be a time for celebrating. A chance to spend time with loved ones and look forward to the year ahead. For DSI William Lorimer, however, this New Year's Eve will be one that he will never forget. Called to a house after gunshots are reported, the carnage he finds there will have a powerful impact on his life - leaving him questioning his future with Police Scotland. Meanwhile, the man who eluded police capture during Lorimer's last investigation - the Quiet Release case involving the euthanasia of vulnerable patients - is back, and this time he's aligned with a powerful gangster from Glasgow's underworld. As Lorimer struggles to return to duty and stop this mystery killer once and for all, he discovers that there are forces high up within Police Scotland that are protecting the gangster that holds the key to finding the man they are looking for. Can Lorimer and his team get a killer off the streets for good before more innocent people die?

The Method is by Shannon Kirk.  They thought she was the victim, but they're the ones in

danger ...Imagine a helpless, pregnant 16-year-old who's just been yanked from the serenity of her home and shoved into a dirty van. Kidnapped ...Alone ...Terrified. Now forget her ...Picture instead a pregnant, 16-year-old, manipulative prodigy. She is shoved into a dirty van and, from the first moment of her kidnapping, feels a calm desire for two things: to save her unborn son and to exact merciless revenge. She is methodical - calculating - scientific in her plotting. Leaving nothing to chance, she waits ...for the perfect moment to strike. The Method is what happens when the victim is just as cold as the captors.

TV journalist Melanie Black wakes up one morning next to a man she doesn't recognise. It's not the first time - but he ignores her even though she's in his bed. Yet when his wife walks in with a cup of tea he greets her with a smile and to her horror, Melanie comes to realise that no one can see or her hear her - because she is dead. But has she woken up next to her murderer? And where is her body? Why is she an invisible and uninvited guest in a house she can't leave; is she tied to this man forever? Is Melanie being punished in some way, or being given a chance to make amends? As she begins to piece together the last days of her life and circumstances leading up to her own death it becomes clear she has to make a choice: bring her killer to justice, or wreak her own punishment out to the man who murdered her. Where She Went is by B E Jones.

Dark Asylum is by E S Thomson.  1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow’s inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness. To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city – from the depths of a notorious rookery, to the sordid rooms of London’s brothels, the gallows, the graveyard, the convict fleet and then back to the asylum. In a world where guilt and innocence, crime and atonement, madness and reason, are bounded by hypocrisy, ambition and betrayal, Jem and Will soon find themselves caught up in a web of dark secrets and hidden identities.

From his office on the Street of the Assassins, Nathan Sutherland, English Honorary Consul to Venice, assists unfortunate tourists as best he can. A steady but unexciting life that dramatically changes when he is offered a large sum of money to look after a small package containing a prayer book illustrated by the Venetian master Giovanni Bellini. Unknown to Nathan, from a palazzo on the Grand Canal twin brothers Domenico and Arcangelo Moro, motivated by nothing more than mutual hatred, have been playing out a complex game of art theft for twenty years. And now Nathan finds himself unwittingly drawn into their deadly business ...  The Venetian Game is by Philip Gwynne Jones.

April 2017

What if all your secrets were put online? Sam Morpeth is growing up way too fast, left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison and watching her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online, drawing her into a trap she may not escape alive. Who would you turn to? Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane has finally got his career back on track, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything. What would you be capable of? Thrown together by a common enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realise - and might be each other's only hope.  Want you Gone by Christopher Brookmyre.

A mysterious keepsake, a murdered bride, a legacy of secrets...One balmy June evening in 1881, Phoebe Stanbury stands before the guests at her engagement party: this is her moment, when she will join the renowned Raycraft family and ascend to polite society. As she takes her fiance's hand, a stranger brandishing a knife steps forward and ends the poor girl's life. Amid the tumult, he turns to her aristocratic groom and mouths: 'I promised I would save you.' The following morning, just a few miles away, timid young legal clerk William Lamb meets a reclusive client, whom he was never meant to meet. He finds the old man terrified and in desperate need of aid: William must keep safe a small casket of yellowing papers, and deliver an enigmatic message: The Finder knows. The Fourteenth Letter is by Claire Evans.

Time to Win is by Harry Brett.  When local crime boss Richard Goodwin is pulled from the river by his office it looks like suicide. But as his widow Tatiana feared, Rich collected enemies like poker chips, and half of Great Yarmouth's criminal fraternity would have had reason to kill him. Realising how little she knows about the man she married, Tatty seeks to uncover the truth about Rich's death and take over the reins of the family business, overseeing a waterfront casino deal Rich hoped would put Yarmouth on the map. Out of the shadows at last, it is Tatty's time now, and she isn't going to let Rich's brother, or anyone else, stand in her way. But an American has been in town asking the right people the wrong questions, more bodies turn up, along with a brutal new gang. The stakes have never been higher. With her family to protect, and a business to run, Tatty soon learns that power comes with a price.

Murder on the Pilgrim’s Way is by Julie Wassmer. Pearl receives a surprise present from her mother, Dolly - an early summer break at a riverside manor house that has been recently transformed into an exclusive hotel - the newly named Villa Pellegrini. Pellegrini - the Italian word for pilgrims - reflects the fact that the building lies on the old Pilgrims Way into Canterbury, and Pearl is looking forward to the break, not least because DCI Mike McGuire has been neglecting her due to his work. But when she discovers that she's actually booked in for a cookery course from the Italian celebrity chef, Nico Caruso, she begins to think again ...Pearl doesn't welcome instruction on cookery at the best of times, and certainly not from an arrogant chef like Caruso. She goes along, intent on challenging Caruso's egotism - and a long tradition of men dominating gastronomy - but soon finds herself distracted, not only by her enchanting surroundings but by the disparate selection of guests. She even begins to enjoy Caruso's attentions - and his cookery - until one of the guests goes missing and it becomes clear that murder is on the menu.

2004 The court case had been harrowing. The fifteen jurors sat in silence while the

prosecution produced evidence of how a man with obsessive sado-masochistic fantasies had turned into a killer. Fourteen of the jurors were repulsed. One man was secretly enthralled. A new world of possibility had opened up for him. 2014 When an actress is found dead, the ligature marks suggest that she had been involved in extreme sex games. When DIs Wheeler and Ross begin to investigate her death, they uncover not only an industry with varying degrees of regulation but also a sinister private club where some of Glasgow's elite pay handsomely to indulge their darkest fantasies. Club security is run by Paul Furlan, ex-army veteran and a former adversary of Wheeler. As Wheeler and Ross uncover the secrets and lies surrounding the club, they realise that their investigation is being blocked not just by Furlan but by some of Glasgow's most influential citizens. Meanwhile Skye Cooper, Scotland's latest indie-rock sensation is playing the final gig of his sell-out tour but his dreams of stardom are on a collision course with the obsession threatening to consume him. Torn is by Anne Randall.

Father Max Tudor’s former life as an MI5 agent has caught up with him, threatening his newfound happiness with Awena and baby son Owen. Realizing there is no escape from his past, Max, with his bishop’s tacit permission, has offered his services on an as-needed basis.  Max receives the call for help when the body of glamorous film star Margot Browne washes ashore. George tells Max his former colleague Patrice Logan, now heavily pregnant, has asked Five for help particularly, Max’s help.  It s a perfect closed circle murder since victim Margot must have been killed by one of the group of actors, stylists, scriptwriters, and second-tier royalty aboard. Patrice suspects the yacht’s owner, a playboy film director she’s been keeping tabs on for smuggling, but Max isn’t so sure. Max and DCI Cotton interview the suspects as they loll about one of the luxury hotels dotting the waterfront. Tipped by the playboy director, Max uncovers the truth about the star’s life and death. But would Margot kill or be killed to keep her lurid past in the past?  Max’s investigation uncovers a host of motives but only one killer: it seems Margot is not the only person on board with a secret they’d kill to keep.  Devils Breath is by G M Malliet.

The Killing Collection is by T F Muir, How well do you know the man you love? A woman's body is washed up on the rocks by the castle ruins in St Andrews with evidence of strangulation, and no ID. Two weeks into the case, and DCI Andy Gilchrist is no closer to identifying her. A call from another woman claiming to be the dead woman's friend could be his first break, but when Gilchrist turns up to interview her, she is missing. Three days later, her throttled corpse is found and the investigation intensifies. A local handyman's name repeatedly crops up in door-to-door interviews, a smooth character with the reputation of being a ladies' man, who seems to have no history beyond three years, the length of time he's been living in the East Neuk. But before Gilchrist can bring him in for questioning, he vanishes. As Gilchrist hunts for the missing suspect, he follows a trail of voyeurism and blackmail that stretches across the region ...and beyond.

Russian Roulette is by Sara Sheridan. Brighton 1956 When Mirabelle's on-off boyfriend, Superintendent Alan McGregor, is taken off a gruesome murder case because the key suspect is an old school friend, Mirabelle steps in to unravel the tangle of poisoned gin, call girls and high stakes gambling that surrounds the death. It isn't long before McGregor's integrity is called into question and Mirabelle finds herself doubting him. So when a wartime hero's body turns up on the Sussex Downs, she is glad that McGregor is caught up in a mystery of his own as Brighton's establishment closes ranks. Mirabelle is in a dangerous situation though and she doesn't have McGregor watching her back on this one. And when the dead man on the Downs turns out to have been a member of a deadly thrillseekers club, related to the earlier murder, Mirabelle is determined to uncover the truth and free the innocent people who are bearing the brunt of the cover up. As her relationship with McGregor reaches breaking point, she has to draw on all her wartime experience to stand up for what she believes in - even if it means their relationship may not survive.

May 2017

DI Nicola Tanner needs Tom Thorne s help. Her partner, Susan, has been brutally murdered and Tanner is convinced that it was a case of mistaken identity that she was the real target. The murderer s motive might have something to do with Tanner s recent work on a string of cold-case honor killings she believes to be related. Tanner is now on compassionate leave but insists on pursuing the case off the books and knows Thorne is just the man to jump into the fire with her. He agrees but quickly finds that working in such controversial territory is dangerous in more ways than one. And when a young couple goes missing, they have a chance to investigate a case that is anything but cold. Love Like Blood is by Mark Billingham.

Since We Fell is by Dennis Lehane.  Rachel’s husband Brian adores her. When she hit rock-bottom, he was there with her every step of the way as she slowly regains her confidence, and her sanity. But his mysterious behaviour forces her to probe for the truth about her beloved husband. How can she ever feel certain that she knew him? And was she ever right to trust him?

In many ways, Pearl Tao was a typical American child. She spent summer days at the pool, played softball and lingered at suburban barbecues in her home city of Washington, DC. Yet she is also an academic prodigy, with a university place sponsored by a secretive advanced technology corporation. Only now, aged nineteen, has she begun to understand the terrifying truth of what her role is to be. What her parents intend her to become. Pearl's only hope of escape lies with two British spies: one, Trish Patterson, sidelined in disgrace; the other, former journalist Philip Mangan, gone rogue and following a trail of corruption. Helping Pearl might be the most important and dangerous thing either will ever do.  The Spy’s Daughter is by Adam Brooks.

Bad Blood is by Brian McGilloway A young man is found in a riverside park, his head bashed in with a rock. The only clue to his identity is an admission stamp for the local gay club. DS Lucy Black is called in to investigate. As Lucy delves into the community, tensions begin to rise as the man's death draws the attention of the local Gay Rights group to a hate-speech Pastor who, days earlier, had advocated the stoning of gay people and who refuses to retract his statement. Things become further complicated with the emergence of a far right group targeting immigrants in a local working class estate. As their attacks escalate, Lucy and her boss, Tom Fleming, must also deal with the building power struggle between an old paramilitary commander and his deputy that threatens to further enflame an already volatile situation.

The City of Lies is by Michael Russell. Dublin 1940. An IRA attempt to capture the British diplomatic bag on its way from Ireland to England leaves two Guards dead on the streets of Dublin. Two days later a pitched battle between warring gangs erupts at one of Ireland's biggest race meetings. On Ireland's east coast the cremated bodies of a wealthy family of five are found in their shuttered, burned-out villa. Connections between these events become clear to Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie when he is despatched from Special Branch to investigate the seaside deaths, but he is soon treading on the toes of Ireland's burgeoning Intelligence industry - Irish, British and German, all playing against each other, all watching each other, and all plagued by rogue operators they can't quite control, as the certainty grows that Hitler is about to invade England. Meanwhile, in Berlin, a young Irish woman has been arrested for the murder of the German officer who was her lover. She faces a brutal execution by guillotine. The Irish ambassador can do nothing to help her, even though he is convinced the police know she is innocent. But when Stefan Gillespie is sent to Berlin, carrying new code books for the beleaguered embassy, there is an abrupt change of tune at police headquarters in the Alexanderplatz. The police now believe someone else in Berlin's tiny Irish community murdered the German officer, and they want Stefan to help them find the killer. But he soon discovers he is really working with the Gestapo, and they are not looking for a murderer at all ...The journey home will turn into a dangerous pursuit, where no one can be trusted and the information he carries puts his life at risk. Back in Ireland Stefan walks into another web of deceit, where truth is neither welcome nor convenient. The strangely connected events he was investigating before he went to Germany, now coloured by what he discovered there, have become 'unconnected'. No one wants them to be connected again, even if it means an innocent man hangs ...

June 2017

"From the first time I saw them together I knew it felt wrong. I didn't like the way he touched her or the self-conscious way he played with Molly and Luke. Joanne saw none of it of course. So I did it to prove to her that she was wrong. I did it for us." Cherry's instincts tell her that best friend Joanne's new boyfriend is bad news. Cherry fears for Joanne. Fears for Joanne's children. But Joanne won't listen because she's in love. So Cherry watches, and waits ...and then she makes a choice. But Cherry has a past, and secrets too. And is she really as good a friend to Joanne as she claims?  I Did it For Us is by Alison Bruce.

The Frangipani Tree Mystery is by Ovidia Yu and is set in 1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore where the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem far away. When the nanny looking after the Acting Governor's daughter dies suddenly, Mission-School-educated local girl SuLin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - takes her place. But then another murder at the residence occurs and it takes all SuLin's traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders - and escape with her own life.