Books to Look Forward to from John Murray

 February 2020

Searching for Sylvia Lee is by Jean Kwok.  It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother - and then vanishes.  Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn't rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.  But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it's Amy's turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister's movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy's complicated family - and herself - than she ever could have imagined.

May 2020

Aunti Poldi and the Handsome Antonio is by Mario Giordano.  All the beloved, irascible Aunti Poldi wanted from her sicilian retirement was time to enjoy sunshine, a free-flowing supply of wine, and a sultry romance with Chief Inspector Montana.  But then her idyll is rudely interrupted by the last person she wants to se on her doorstep - - John Owenya, detective inspector with the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Affairs, who is also her estranged, lying cheat of a husband.  Not only is John's sudden reappearance putting a kink in Poldi's dreamy love affair with Vito Montana, but his presence also comes with a plea for help - and unwanted clashes with Mafia.  Where is John's half-brother? What is the ten-million-dollar 'it' that John's brother was last seen with that has both the Sicilian and Tanzanian mobs in a frenzy? With only a postcard that has a phone number and a name, 'Handsome Antonio', on the back, Auntie Poldi hops begrudgingly (albeit with a great deal of gumption and panache) back into the saddle (in this case, an immaculate red Maserati Cabrio from the 80s with cream leather upholstery). The faster she finds Handsome Antonio, the sooner she can get John Owenya out of her hair and love-life. But the people Poldi discovers along the way may very well knock her immaculate wig askew.

June 2020

Killing Eve: Die for Me is by Luke Jennings. As Villanelle returns to face her childhood demons and the Russian winter, Eve finds herself on the run from The Twelve, who want her dead. As the action moves between London and St Petersburg, and Eve and Villanelle finally admit their mutual erotic obsession, the chess game approaches its lethal, unforgettable conclusion.

Books to Look Forward to from John Murray Press

January 2018

Wine and murder - nothing is more likely to rouse Auntie Poldi's love of the chase.  Still relishing the notoriety from her spectacular resolution of the Candela case, Poldi is alive to the faintest whiff of criminality.  What to others might seem a series of misfortunes - the water supply cut off, a poisoned dog - is clearly, to Poldi, an escalation: the Mafia have had her in their sights ever since she solved Valentino's murder.  Poldi has tasted blood. No one is above suspicion. And trouble will surely follow.  Auntie Poldi and the Fruits of the Lord is by Mario Giordano

February 2018

London Rules is by Mick Herron.  London Rules might not be written down, but everyone knows rule one. Cover your arse.  Regent's Park's First Desk, Claude Whelan, is learning this the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he's facing attack from all directions himself: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; from the PM's favourite Muslim, who's about to be elected mayor of the West Midlands, despite the dark secret he's hiding; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble.  Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks, and someone's trying to kill Roddy Ho.  Over at Slough House, the crew are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. But collectively, they're about to rediscover their greatest strength - that of making a bad situation much, much worse.  It's a good job Jackson Lamb knows the rules. Because those things aren't going to break themselves.

Books to look forward to John Murray

January 2017

Auntie Poldi can think of no finer place to wait for death than Sicily. All she asks is a sea view, fine wine (and plenty of it), and her family close around. When death instead takes her handsome young friend Valentino - and under mysterious circumstances at that - Poldi will not take it lying down. Perhaps it's in her blood (her father was a detective chief inspector); perhaps it's a diverting excuse to spend more time with men in uniform; or perhaps it's just the promise she makes to Valentino while holding his poor dead hand. But Auntie Poldi's hunting instincts have never felt more alive. Justice must be served - if it's the last thing she does ... Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions is by Mario Giordano.

February 2017

 

Spook Street is by Mick Herron.  Never outlive your ability to survive a fight. Twenty years retired, David Cartwright can still spot when the stoats are on his trail. Radioactive secrets and unfinished business go with the territory on Spook Street: he's always known there would be an accounting. And he's not as defenceless as they might think. Jackson Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day. He knows better than most that this is no vulnerable old man. 'Nasty old spook with blood on his hands' would be a more accurate description. 'The old bastard' has raised his grandson with a head full of guts and glory. But far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, River Cartwright is consigned to Lamb's team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House. So it's Lamb they call to identify the body when Cartwright's panic button raises the alarm at Service HQ. And Lamb who will do whatever he thinks necessary, to protect an agent in peril ...

March 2017

William Hoffer - handsome, refined, a little cold perhaps - is an established figure in London society. But Hoffer has secrets. He is vague about his Midwestern origins. The counsel he offers a Russian billionaire may extend to murkier topics than art investments. Then there is his Kensington flat, which is only rented, and the broader question of his money, which is running out. When a ghost from his past in Mexico surfaces, Hoffer is forced to revive brutal instincts for self-preservation ...  Hoffer is by Tim Glencross

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