Forthcoming Books from Canongate and Severn House Books

 January 2024

To The Dogs is by Louise Welsh. Jim Brennan is flying high. Against all odds, he is a big man at the university, tipped for the head job and an office at the top of the ivory tower. He has a beautiful, accomplished wife and two healthy children. Jim drives an Audi, and his dog is a pedigree bichon frise. Not bad for the son of a hardman who grew up in a room and kitchen.  But for every person who's watched his progress and wanted to hitch a lift, there's someone else desperate to drag him back down. When his son Elliot is arrested on drugs charges, Jim is approached by men he thought he had left safely in his past. Their demands threaten his family, students and reputation. As the pressure mounts, Jim discovers he is more like his father than he thought. The question is, how far will Professor Jim Brennan go to save the life he built?

Court jester Will Somers is drawn into another gripping and entertaining mystery when malevolent forces strike again at the court of Henry VIII – and Anne Boleyn is the target. Greenwich, Palace of Placentia, April 1536. Queen Anne is in peril. In the mid of night, court jester Will Somers is summoned to an urgent assignation when she discovers a body in her chamber. The queen wants Will to find out who the man is and how he ended up there. Is someone trying to frame her for his murder? Anne has many enemies at court, and to make matters worse, Henry VIII is lining up his next conquest and suspects her of treason. Has the formidable Oliver Cromwell been whispering vile lies in the king’s ears, and could Anne be the target of a Catholic conspiracy? As further attacks plague the court, Will is determined to uncover the truth behind the plotting and devilry, but he will need to keep hold of all his wits to do so! The Twilight Queen is by Jeri Westerton.

A Crust to Die For is by T.C.. LoTempio. The Bon-Appetempting Pizza Bake-Off has the small town of Branson, Georgia buzzing. Not least its organizer, Southern Style’s food critic and blogger Tiffany Austin. But right before the finals one of the celebrity judges falls ill, and to Tiffany’s horror the magazine replace him with none other than handsome TV star and restaurateur Bartholomew Driscoll. Tiffany once gave his restaurant a poor review, and she’s convinced he’s only accepted the job to get revenge. She fully expects Driscoll will find a way to ruin the contest . . . but she definitely doesn’t expect to trip over his dead body backstage! Soon, it’s clear Tiffany wasn’t the only person who had less than positive feelings towards the sharp-tongued Driscoll. She’s surrounded by suspects – but which of the motley crew of contestants, family members and scorned friends and colleagues had the guts to commit murder? With the help of her BFF Hilary and annoyingly handsome detective Bartell, and with cat Lily and puppy Cooper as emotional support, Tiffany investigates, only to discover that revenge is indeed a dish best served cold . . .

The Nubian's Curse is by Barbara Hambly. December 1840. Surgeon turned piano-player Benjamin January is looking forward to a peaceful holiday with his family. But the arrival of an old friend brings unexpected news – and unexpected danger. Persephone Jondrette has found Arithmus: a Sudanese man with extraordinary mental abilities who January last saw in France, nearly fifteen years ago, during a ghost-hunting expedition to a haunted chateau. January and his friends survived the experience . . . but Arithmus’ benefactor, the British explorer Deverel Wishart, did not. He was discovered dead one morning, his face twisted in horror, and shortly afterwards Arithmus vanished, never to be seen again. Did Deverel succumb to the chateau’s ghosts – or did Arithmus murder him and run away? January is determined to uncover the truth about the tragic incident from his past, and clear his old friend’s name – but even he isn’t prepared for what happens next . . .

June, 1982. Lydia Wienewski’s dream has finally come true: Lydia’s Lakeside Cafe and Bakery, selling delicious Polish-American fare on the shore of Lake Erie, is now open and her fortunes are looking up. Even her old nemesis and tutor, the irascible Madame Delphine, has made time to sample Lydia’s delectable pierogi, with some of her students in tow. But when Lydia finds Madame Delphine dead in the water, her lakeside dream turns into a nightmare. Was it a bizarre suicide, or brutal murder? As Lydia and Grandma Mary investigate, they discover that there was more to Madame Delphine than meets the eye, and quickly find themselves drawn into an increasingly perilous situation! Can they uncover the truth about Madame Delphine’s untimely death? The Piergoli Peril is by Geri Krotow.

The Son's Secret is by Daryl Wood Gerber. Maggie Lawson is the smart, capable dean of a boutique college, but even the most confident mother has a weakness – her child. When Maggie can’t reach her college senior son, Aiden, to tell him that his father has been shot, she starts to panic. She texts. She calls. Is Aiden ghosting her, or have the dangerous stories Aiden’s father, her investigative journalist ex-husband, pursues finally brought trouble to her door? Maggie is sure that something is very wrong, but no one believes her. As dark events unfold, she must rely on her own investigative instincts to find Aiden. But when Maggie uncovers a devastating secret, she faces a race against time to save him.

February 2024

The Stranger in the Asylum is by Alys Clare. London, April 1882. When cool-headed Phyllida visits the World’s End Investigation Bureau to offer a curious case concerning her fiancé, proprietor Lily Raynor is intrigued – and privately excited. For accepting the case means taking an unexpected trip abroad, to France. Phyllida’s fiancé, Wilberforce, is currently in an asylum in Brittany, after a tragic incident which resulted in the death of his father. Did he kill him on purpose – or was it an accident? Wilberforce’s innocence looks increasingly in doubt when another murder happens at the asylum – and the evidence points to Wilberforce being the culprit. Phyllida fears for Wilberforce’s wellbeing, but she can’t marry a murderer! With the engagement hanging in the balance, Phyllida wants to know the truth before it’s too late. Lily and her assistant, Felix Wilbraham, journey to rural France to uncover the truth, but the case takes an unexpected turn when they discover that the accused man has escaped the asylum and is nowhere to be found. Soon the intrepid investigators are in over their heads with much greater and unexpected powers at play . . .

Danni has seen more in her 8 years on this planet than most people see in a lifetime. The sole survivor of a motorway pile-up which took her mother’s life, she is now safe and thriving with her adoptive family. Until the day the bad people come knocking. Forcing Danni to face the memories she has done such a good job forgetting . . . Josie’s quiet life is dismantled with a knock at the door. When she and her daughter are violently kidnapped, Josie must act fast to survive. Danni has very little memory of the day her mother died, but these people are hell bent on finding the money her mother stole before her death, and they think Danni knows more than she’s letting on. Grace arrives at her big sister’s house to find her partner Pete beaten and tied up and her sister and niece taken. Josie has been her protector her entire life – but now she needs to be the strong one. Enlisting the help of a friend with the combat experience and skills she needs, Grace will stop at nothing to get her family back home . . . The Girl in the Smoke is by Matt Hilton.

The Holy Terrors is by Simon R Green. Welcome to Spooky Time, the hit TV ghost-hunting show where the horror is scripted . . . and the ratings are declining rapidly. What better way to up the stakes – and boost the viewership – than by locking a select group of Z-list celebrities up for the night in The Most Haunted Hall in England™ and live-streaming the ‘terrifying’ results? Soon Alistair, a newly appointed Bishop, actress Diana, medium Leslie, comedian Toby and celebrity chef Indira are trapped inside Stonehaven town hall, along with June, the host and producer of the show. The group tries to settle in and put on a good show, but then strange things start happening in their hall of horrors. What is it about this place – and why is the TV crew outside not responding? Are they even on air? Logical Alistair attempts to keep the group’s fears at bay and rationalise the odd events, but there are things that just can’t be explained within reason . . . Can he stop a cold-blooded would-be killer – even if it’s come from beyond the grave?

When death becomes entertainment, every life has a price. And Cassie West is about to find out how much hers is worth . . . Ready Player One meets Black Mirror in this stunning speculative thriller set in a future world in which virtual reality isn’t just a game, it’s daily life.Welcome to Earth+. The year is 2037, and nearly all human interactions have migrated to the virtual world. Now, true crime fans don’t just listen to podcasts or watch documentaries – they participate in hyper-realistic simulations and hunt for clues to solve the most famous and gruesome crimes in history. Criminal entertainment is a multibillion-dollar industry, and at the forefront is Past Crimes: known by its millions of fans as the Disneyland of Death. Cassie West licenses crimes for V.I.C.E, spending long hours convincing grieving families to allow her to sell their tragedies to the highest bidder. Life is hard, and the cost of living high, but she and her husband Harris have never been happier. After years of trying, Cassie is finally pregnant. But leaving work late one evening, Cassie starts to worry. Harris isn’t responding to texts or calls. Even worse, dozens of emergency drones seem to be heading in the same direction as she is: straight to their home. What she finds there changes everything. Soon, Cassie finds herself in a fight for survival, becoming a target in both the real and virtual worlds. But it’s not just her own life at stake. If Cassie can’t uncover the truth of what happened to her husband, thousands more may die . . . Past Crimes is by Jason Pinter.

At Any Cost is by Jeffery Siger. Chief Inspector Kaldis is initially dismayed to be asked to investigate a series of suspicious forest fires that took place last summer. In Greece, forest fires are an inevitability, and he fears he and his team are being set up to take the political blame for this year’s blazes. He quickly becomes suspicious, though, that the forests were torched for profit – and for a project on a far grander scale than the usual low-level business corruption. There are whispers on the wind that shadowy foreign powers intend to establish a surreptitious mega-internet presence on the island of Syros, with the intent to weaponize the digital world to their own dark ends. Can Kaldis and his team stop the hostile foreign takeover of the idyllic island – or will the rise of the metaverse set not just Greece, but the whole world, on fire?

Two rival queens. History’s greatest playwright. And a deadly plot for the crown. London, 1600. With no legitimate heir to Queen Elizabeth’s throne, and no clear successor, England finds itself in a supremely perilous moment. When spymaster Anthony Bacon commands esteemed playwright William Shakespeare to write a play on the poisonous history of Queen Elizabeth and the rival monarch she executed, Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, Will knows that Elizabeth’s one-time favorite, the powerful Earl of Essex, will use the play to try to seize her throne. Must Will be ensnared in a ruthless plot fated to tumble his country into civil war? Or can he navigate a treacherous path through the dark warrens of London and the tortuous world of Elizabethan politics to save his family, his country, and his Queen? The Sister Queen's is by Justin Scott.

March 2024

Crime-fiction librarian – and reluctant amateur sleuth – Ray Ambler gets mixed up in murder once again when he’s called to appraise a mystery-novel collection at an exclusive New York college. An invitation from a prestigious liberal arts college to buy their mystery-novel collection comes as a welcome surprise for Raymond Ambler, crime-fiction curator at New York City’s prestigious 42nd Street Library. But his pleasure quickly turns sour when the collection’s curator – Ambler’s friend Sam Abernathy – tells him he plans to fight the acquisition tooth and nail. The collection would make a fine addition to his holdings, but Ambler’s not looking for drama. It’s a shame, then, that drama’s looking for him. Just a couple of weeks later, one of Abernathy’s colleagues is shot dead from the library’s roof, and all signs point to the crime-loving professor as the perpetrator of the violent act. Why would Abernathy kill – and was it for his collection, for college politics, or for some dark secret yet to be revealed? Ambler’s not sure his old friend’s a killer, but he is sure he wants justice – for both the living and the dead. Working with his son John, he launches into an investigation at the college library, and it’s not long before he discovers missing manuscripts, explosive secrets and scandals amongst the faculty staff . . . and a cunning killer who’ll stop at nothing to cover up their crimes. Murder at the College Library is by Con Lehane.

Circles of Death is by Marcia Talley. Hannah Ives is staying at her idyllic vacation cottage in Elizabethtown with her husband, Paul, and is thrilled when she bumps into the young woman who used to babysit her grandchildren, Noel Sinclair, at a local supermarket. But when Noel pays a visit to the cottage, she unwittingly draws Hannah’s attention to some seriously ill eagles in her neighbour’s cornfield. Could these magnificent birds have been poisoned? As Hannah investigates, Noel uncovers some shocking news of her own when she and her sister receive the results of their DNA tests. As Hannah tries to work out who is tormenting the birds while delving into Noel’s family tree, the last thing she expects is a deadly connection between the two . . .

Leeds, October 1824. Thief-taker Simon Westow’s job seems straightforward. Captain Holcomb’s maid, Sophie, has stolen important papers that could ruin the family’s reputation, and he’s desperate for their return. But the case very quickly takes a murderous turn, and it becomes clear the papers are hiding a host of sins . . . During the search, Simon’s assistant, Jane, hears a horrific tale: men are snatching young girls from small towns for use by the rich. Those who are unwanted are tossed on to the streets of Leeds to survive among the homeless. With the help of an unlikely, deadly new companion, Jane will do everything to discover who’s responsible and make them pay. Can Simon and Jane recover Holcomb’s letters and get justice for the stolen girls? It becomes a battle that might result in them losing everything . . . including their lives. The Scream of Sins is by Chris Nickson

A serial killer, dormant for years, reawakens after viewing a Netflix docuseries depicting his string of homicides. The killer is not happy with his portrayal and no one in the cast and crew is safe! Siblings Cory and Crystal Pratt are still trying to get their lives together after a tragic accident which killed their parents years ago. The only thing that distracts them now is their jobs. With Crystal working as a newly minted detective at the Chicago Police Department and Cory owning a dog training academy with two human remains detection dogs of his own, their professional paths cross every now and then. Crime, and especially murder, in Chicago is nothing new, but when a string of killings happen that seem to be connected to a Netflix docuseries and its cast and crew, Cory and Crystal are called in to stop the number of bodies from piling any higher. But when the siblings start poking around the killer’s business, the killer sets their sights on the pair . . . and particularly on Cory and his dogs! Will they be able to escape the fury of the serial killer or become the newest victims? The Dead Years is by Jeffrey B Burton.

Knife Skills is by Wendy Church. Sagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie’s, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job. Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morzov, not only offers her Louie’s job, but also the position as his personal chef. Sagarine agrees, and while she knows she’s playing with fire, the chance to turn out extraordinary food at both the restaurant and for Morzov’s extravagant private parties is just too tempting. While the Chicago P.D. searches for Louie’s killer, the FBI pressures Sagarine to inform on the gang. She has no choice, but things take another dangerous turn when she falls for one of Morzov’s lieutenants. As Sagarine becomes more deeply involved with the gang and with her lover, the FBI’s demands put her at increased risk of discovery. She has to make a decision about where her loyalties lie as she finds herself running for her life.

Murder and the Missing Dog is by Susan C Shea. Ariel Shepard has spent the last year renovating her beautiful French château, while also ingratiating herself into the lives and hearts of the quirky locals of Noyers-sur-Serein. The shocking business of the murder of the local historian is behind her and she is finally feeling at home. However, it’s not long before murder and mystery once again seek Ariel out, when she and her friend Katherine find the body of the elderly Madame Toussaint in the doorway of Katherine’s flea market shop. Who would want to harm this lonely soul? Where is the bag the woman never leaves home without? And more importantly, where is her loyal, loving dog who never leaves her side? Could Raoul, Ariel’s stoic gardener, really have something to do with it? And could Madame Toussaint have been mixed up with the robberies increasing around the idyllic villages of France? Despite warnings from the rather handsome Brigadier Allard, Ariel, with help from Katherine and Pippa, once again dons her sleuthing hat . . .

The morning after his eighty-seventh birthday bash, former Posadas County sheriff Bill Gastner drives past a couple of vehicles stopped on the highway shoulder. It’s not an unusual sight: a sheriff’s patrol unit, emergency lights ablaze, pulled in behind a pickup truck. The female deputy hasn’t radioed for backup. But there’s something about the scene that makes him feel uneasy. The next day, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called to a rather more dramatic and disturbing roadside scene, with the same truck the star of the show. But this time, its occupant is in no fit state to talk – his dead body stabbed through the chest with a Ka-Bar, a second corpse in the ditch beside the car. What happened to the two men? And what were the dead man and the deputy discussing in the quiet of pre-dawn the previous day? The truth is more twisty and complex than even Estelle and her long-standing friend and former colleague Bill are ready for, and it will take all their combined years of experience to untangle the sorry tale and ensure justice is served. Perfect opportunity is by Steven F Havill.

I know my husband is dead. But I don’t know whether I killed him . . . I‘ll never forget meeting Charles. We were law students at Santa Clara University when I fell head-over-heels. He was brilliant, charming, and handsome. Oh, and he loved me. We got married after a whirlwind romance and moved into a gorgeous new home while I continued with law school – until I became pregnant with Emma. My happiness was complete. But happiness can be deceiving . . . Now Charles is gone. I found his body in our living room, but I can’t remember what happened just before he died. I’ve tried, but I’ve been having blackouts for months. The police think I killed him, but I didn’t . . . did I? I keep reliving our relationship, desperate to unlock the truth. But if I do, will I be able to face it? Hanging with Hugo is by Katherine Boger Hyde.

April 2024

Ancient Crete, 1450 BC. When young bull leaper Martis finds Duzi, the newest member of the bull leaping team, dead in the bull pen early one morning. Made to look like he met his end on the horns of the bull, it’s clear to Martis that this was no accident . . . Martis once again finds herself thrown into a dangerous game of hunting down a murderer as the deaths start to mount. An old friend of Martis’ sister, and possible lover to Duzi, is the next person to be found dead, and Martis’ investigations lead her to believe love and jealousy are at the heart of these crimes against the Goddess. Is someone targeting the bull leaping community? Or is there something else at play? With only the Shade of her sister Arge to confide in, Martis struggles to untangle the growing web of secrets which stretch around her. On The Horns of Death is by Eleanor Kuhns.

May 2024

 

Books to Look Forward to from Hodder & Stoughton and Mulholland.

The Narrow Bed is the tenth book in the Culver Valley series by Sophie Hannah and is due to be published in February 2016. A killer that the police are calling 'Billy Dead Mates' is murdering pairs of best friends, one by one. Before they die, each victim is given a small white book...For months, detectives have failed to catch Billy, or work out what the white books mean. And then a woman, scared by what she's seen on the news, comes forward. Stand-up comedian Kim Tribbeck has one of Billy's peculiar little books. A stranger gave it to her at a gig she did a year ago. Was he Billy, and does he want to kill her? Kim has no friends and trusts no one. How - and why - could she possibly be Billy Dead Mate's next target?

Frank Marr may be the best investigator Washington, DC has ever known, but the city doesn’t know his dirty secret.  A long functioning drug addict, Frank has lent his considerable skills to hiding his usage from others.  But after accidently discovering a kidnapped teenage girl in the home of an Adams Morgan drug gang, Frank becomes a hero and is thrust into the spotlight.  Reluctantly, he agrees to investigate the disappearance of another girl – possibly connected to the first – all the time knowing that the heightened scrunity may bring his own secrets to light.  The Second Girl is by David Swinson and is due to be published in June 2016.

We first met Flavia Albia, Falco's feisty adopted daughter, in The Ides of April. Albia is a remarkable woman in what is very much a man's world: young, widowed and fiercely independent, she lives alone on the Aventine Hill in Rome and makes a good living as a hired investigator. An outsider in more ways than one, Albia has unique insight into life in ancient Rome, and she puts it to good use going places no man could go, and asking questions no man could ask.  In Graveyard of The Hesperides Albia is called in to investigate a long-dead corpse discovered during renovations to a local tavern.  But the investigation will reveal some terrible secrets, and force Albia to question everything that she believes is true about her own life. In Graveyard of The Hesperides is by Lindsey Davies and is due to be published in April 2016.

Hannah Kelly has been missing for nine months. Ava Delaney has been dead for five days. One girl to find. One girl to avenge. And DS Aector McAvoy won't let either of them go until justice can be done. But some people have their own ideas of what justice means...  Dead Pretty is by David Mark and is due to be published in January 2016.

A brand-new historical spy thriller series set in 1930s London, Cambridge and Berlin.  1936 and Europe is on the brink of a cataclysm it cannot foresee. In Berlin, a young woman risks her life to rescue a Jewish dissident. In a London club, two men exchange a vital message. In a country house near Cambridge, an elderly couple are discovered, horribly murdered. It will take Cambridge professor and maverick Thomas Wilde, expert in the Elizabethan spy networks, to put the pieces of a conspiracy that reaches the very highest levels of government. But can he decipher its true meaning before it's too late?  Corpus is by Rory Clements and is due to be published in June 2016.

Tell Me Lies is by Rebecca Muddiman and is due to be published in March 2016.  What

would you do to protect your family? Tell a lie? Break the law? Or solve the problem...for good? The body in Lauren James's back garden belongs to her ex-boyfriend, Ritchie. DI Gardner thinks it's an open-and-shut case. But he reckoned without the interference of Lauren's father, local businessman and aspiring politician Walter James. And he couldn't know about the secrets that everyone involved wants to hide. When a murder touches so many lives, not even the cops are immune from the consequences. In the end you must decide what you can live with: a loving lie or the deadly truth?

London is under siege. Nine men in suicide vests primed to explode hold hostages in nine different locations around the city, and are ready to die for their cause. Their mission: to force the government to release jihadist prisoners from Belmarsh Prison. Their deadline: 6 p.m. Today. But the bombers are cleanskins, terrorists with no obvious link to any group, and who do not appear on any anti-terror watch list. What has brought them together on this one day to act in this way? Mo Kamran is the Superintendent in charge of the Special Crime and Operations branch of the Met. As the disaster unfolds and the SAS, armed police, and other emergency services rush to the scenes, he is tasked with preventing the biggest terrorist outrage the capital has ever known. But nothing is what it seems. And only Kamran has the big picture. Will anyone believe him?  First Response is by Stephen leather and is due to be published in February 2016.

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown is by Vaseem Khan and is due to be published in May 2016.  For centuries the Koh-i-Noor diamond has set man against man and king against king. Now part of the British Crown Jewels, the priceless gem is a prize that many have killed to possess. So when the Crown Jewels go on display in Mumbai, security is everyone's principal concern. And yet, on the very day Inspector Chopra visits the exhibition, the diamond is stolen from under his nose. The heist was daring and seemingly impossible. The hunt is on for the culprits. But it soon becomes clear that only one man - and his elephant - can possibly crack this case.

How can you be saved when no one knows you're lost? No one knew about the Puppet Maker...until DI Brady found what remained of his victims. The murderer never meant them to be found. They are his private collection: each body identical, each...altered. Brady knows that now his secret is out, the killer will destroy the evidence - including his latest captive. He must find a man who has hidden the worst of crimes for over twenty years. And whose nameless victims were never even missed... The Puppet Maker is by Danielle Ramsay and is due to be published in April 2016.  

Technology is everywhere. It makes our lives easier, our connections faster and journeys quicker. But in the hands of someone smart enough, every piece of technology can be a murder weapon. When an escalator gives way mid-chase, Amelia Sachs is forced to let a killer escape as she helps the man trapped in the depths. Now Sachs and forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme must investigate if the collapse was a freak accident...or whether they are facing a murderer who knows exactly how fatal machines can be.  The Steel Kiss is by Jeffery Deaver and is due to be published in March 2016.

Spring, 1967. The trail of tragedy and destruction that followed the previous winter's flood seems to have died down; Florence is beginning to recover. But Inspector Bordelli does not feel the same sense of relief - he has not had a moment's peace since his investigation of a young boy's murder went disastrously wrong. Unsettled and embittered, Bordelli resigns from the force and leaves the city. He could not continue to work as a policeman while the perpetrators of such a terrible crime were still at large. Now, in the solitude of his new home in the Tuscan hills, he spends his days cooking, going for long walks and learning to grow his own vegetables. But the thought of that case - of justice not served - is constantly with him. Until fate, in which he has never believed, unexpectedly offers him the chance of retribution ... Death in the Tuscan Hills is by Marco Vichi by February 2016.

Unable to make any progress in locating the missing Indavara, a desperate Cassius has been given an unrewarding assignment in Antioch. But when an old ally's daughter is kidnapped, he feels duty-bound to repay a long standing debt. Disillusioned with the tawdry demands of the Imperial Security Service, he disobeys his superiors and leaves Syria, determined to do some good. Accompanied by nomadic chieftain Kabir and a trio of warriors, Cassius soon finds himself in Greece hunting a vicious band of slave-traders trafficking women across the Empire. But these are no common criminals, and as Cassius sets out to bring them down, he finds himself up against ruthless, cunning men with powerful friends and a lot to lose. For the Agent of Rome, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Agent of Rome: Earthly Gods is by Nick Brown and is due to be published in June 2016.

Hap and Leonard are not your typical private eyes. But what they lack in experience they make up with perseverance. Hap, a former 60s activist and self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard, a tough black, gay Vietnam vet, have finally decided to make their detective work official. Their first client: a mean old woman looking for her missing granddaughter. The girl used to work for a car dealership in town...but it seems like cars weren't the only things on offer. The mystery thickens to include blackmail, revenge, and an in-bred family of hillbilly assassins who eliminate any threats to the operation. Only Hap and Leonard could turn a simple missing person case into a life-threatening showdown. Honky Tonk Samurai is by Joe R Lansdale and is due to be published in February 2016.

A Time of Torment is by John Connolly and is due to be published in April 2016. Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings and in doing so damned himself. His life was torn apart. He was imprisoned, brutalized. But in his final days, with the hunters circling, he tells his story to private detective Charlie Parker. He speaks of the girl who was marked for death, but was saved; of the ones who tormented him, and an entity that hides in a ruined stockade. Parker is not like other men. He died, and was reborn. He is ready to wage war. Now he will descend upon a strange, isolated community called the Cut, and face down a force of men who rule by terror, intimidation, and murder. All in the name of the being they serve. All in the name of the Dead King.

The Devil’s Anvil is by Matt Hilton and is due to be published in February 2016. Accepting

the task of protecting Billie Womack is a no-brainer for ex-counterterrorist soldier Joe Hunter, but it comes with its own set of complications. Billie's husband, Richard, stole thirty million dollars from some violent people. He apparently died in a car crash with Billie's daughter, Nicola, during a desperate attempt to elude his pursuers. But his enemies don't believe him dead. They think he escaped the plunge into the icy river that killed Nicola and has now decided to come back for the money. If he's alive, they believe he'll contact Billie. It doesn't take long for the bad guys to arrive at her remote farmhouse. Soon she and Joe are fugitives. Dead or alive, Richard's fate means nothing to Hunter, but he promises to do everything in his power to protect the grieving mother. Even if it means taking a bullet for her, it's a price he'll pay. It's a pledge he will come to regret, as he learns that killers are forged on the Devil's anvil.

Elizabeth Black is a hero. She is a cop who single-handedly rescued a young girl from a locked cellar and shot two brutal kidnappers dead. But she's also a cop with a secret. And she's not the only one...Set in an America of desperate small towns and uneasy and remote landscapes, Redemption Road is by John Hart and is due to be published in May 2016. It has all of John Hart's trademark evocation of the abandoned and the derelict and sense of place.

In The Month of The Midnight Sun is by Cecilia Ekbäck and is due to be published in June 2016.  Sweden, 1855. 'Worst thing I ever saw...' A telegram arrives on the Minister of Justice's desk. A massacre on one of Lapland's mountains - a priest, a law enforcement officer, and a local settler have been slaughtered by one of the indigenous Sami people. The murderer is in custody; he refuses to talk. The Minister dispatches his son-in-law, a geologist, to investigate for there is more than one reason to visit Blackasen: it is a mountain with many secrets, a mountain that has never been mapped. Magnus does not journey alone. The Minister's daughter, in disgrace, is sent with him. What they discover about the murders and what lies behind them will be as nothing compared with what they discover about themselves. And self-knowledge will come at a bitter price. From the stifling heat and restricted society of a Stockholm summer to the wild landscape of Sweden's far north, this novel tells a powerful story of the collision of worlds old and new.

Altar of Blood is the ninth novel in the thrilling Empire sequence by Anthony Riches and is due to be published in February 2016 and leads Centurion Marcus Aquila and the Tungrians to the battlefield that was one of Rome's most disastrous defeats. The Tungrians have no sooner returned to Rome than they find themselves tasked with a very different mission to their desperate exploits in Parthia. Ordered to cross the river Rhenus into barbarian Germany and capture a tribal priestess who may be the most dangerous person on the empire's northern border, they are soon subject to the machinations of an old enemy who will stop at nothing to sabotage their plans before they have even set foot on the river's eastern bank. But after their Roman enemy is neutralised they face a challenge greater still. With two of the Bructeri tribe's greatest treasures in their hands they must regain Roman territory by crossing the unforgiving wilderness that was the graveyard of Roman imperial strategy two hundred years before. And capture by the Bructeri's vengeful chieftain and his warband can only end in one way - a horrific sacrificial death on the tribe's altar of blood.

Also due to be published in May 2016 is Souls of Air by Mons Kallentoft.

Paul Morris is running out of money, friends and second chances. His new relationship might be his last hope of success. Alice is not like any of the women he's pursued in the past: wealthy, lonely, driven. When she invites Paul to her holiday home in Greece, he decides to do whatever it takes to make the romance stick. But the summer is not the idyll he had planned. Ten years ago, a thirteen-year-old girl went missing on the island, and now a fresh sighting and another attack unsettle the long hot days. For Paul is not be the only person with a plan...and his dreams of a life worth living may yet turn into a nightmare he cannot escape.  Lie With Me is by Sabine Durrant and is due to be published in June 2016.

Dr Harry Kent likes to keep busy: juggling hospital duties with his work as a police surgeon for the Metropolitan Police - anything to ward off the memories of his time as an Army medic. Usually the police work means minor injuries and mental health assessments. But Solomon Idris's case is different. Solomon Idris has taken eight people hostage in a chicken takeaway, and is demanding to see a lawyer and a BBC reporter. Harry is sent in to treat the clearly ill teenager...before the siege goes horribly wrong. When Solomon's life is put in danger again from the safety of a critical care ward, it becomes clear he knows something people will kill to protect. Determined to uncover the secret that drove the boy to such desperate action, Harry soon realises that someone in the medical world, someone he may even know, has broken the doctors' commandment 'do no harm' many times over…  The Hollow Men is the debut novel by Rob McCarthy and is due to be published in February 2016.

The Night Charter is by Sam Hawken and is due to be published in January 2016. Camaro Espinoza has spent her whole life protecting people: at home, in the army, whenever she can. Sometimes, that's meant leaving bodies behind. Now she's running a boat off the Miami shore, keeping a low profile and aiming for a simple life. Then a man named Parker comes by with an errand to run near the Cuban coast. He's offering good money, and bad trouble. Camaro is reluctant - but Parker's in deep with the wrong people and he has a daughter who'll suffer if he doesn't come home. Camaro's not the sort to ignore the girl's plight. She's used to being wanted, but she's never really been needed before. As she tries to protect Lauren, she finds herself in the midst of double crosses, international intrigue, broken promises and scattered bullets. And this time she may not be able to escape unscathed.

The whole world seems to have descended on Amsterdam for the Earth 2050 conference. As the city gets busier, Posthumus is thankful that work is quiet. But then one of his friend's former colleagues is left for dead under a bypass. Ever curious, Posthumus agrees to look into the case, sparking memories of his own time as a student radical. Amsterdam has always attracted people with fierce views...but is someone willing to kill for their principles? Or did the attack have a much more personal motive? Forced to contend with family secrets, political machinations and international conspiracies, Posthumus finds himself in ever deeper, darker waters as he tries to uncover what really happened, and why.  Deadly Secrets is by Britta Bolt and is due to be published in June 2016.

Three generations - torn apart by one weapon.  Philadelphia 1965: Two street cops - one black, one white - are gunned down in a robbery gone wrong. The cold-blooded killing stuns a racially divided city. One of the fallen officers, Stanislaw Walczak, leaves behind a twelve-year-old boy, Jimmy...  Philadelphia 1995: Homicide Detective Jim Walczak is preparing for the day he's dreamed about for 30 years. His father's killer is about to be set free. And Walczak will be waiting...  Philadelphia 2015: Walczak's daughter Audrey, studying forensic science, reinvestigates her grandfather's murder. But the deeper Audrey digs, the more she realizes: the man convicted of killing Stan Walczak didn't do it... Revolver is by Duane Swierczynski and is due to be published in April 2016.

Navy SEALs Crocker and Mancini are on a training exercise in Las Vegas when a moment of relaxation is interrupted by a violent altercation between hotel security and three businessmen claiming to be Chinese diplomats. They attempt to stop the fleeing businessmen, but soon realise that they may not be who they claim to be. That same night Las Vegas goes dark - someone has hacked into the Nevada Power Company system and shut down the entire city. As chaos reigns the businessmen make their escape. When Crocker and the rest of SEAL Team Six attempt to track them down, they find themselves drawn into a North Korean plot that combines cyber warfare and the theft of black market nuclear weapons. As darkness reigns, the squad is the last hope of preventing a conspiracy that could have catastrophic international consequences.  Hunt The Dragon is by Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo and is due to be published in May 2016.

We Were Kings is by Thomas O’Malley and Douglas Graham Purdy and is due to be published in June 2016. Two years after Cal and Dante destroyed the heart of the Boston Irish mob and splintered the Boston political landscape, everyone is out for themselves and trying to claim a piece of the city. It's early summer but already the city is in the grips of a heat wave, which doesn't help tensions any as the fractures within Boston's underworld are finding their way to the streets in payback shoot-outs between mobsters and the police. When a body is discovered at the Charlestown locks, tarred and feathered and shot, it appears to be a gangland killing, and almost immediately dismissed. But Cal's cousin, detective Owen Lackey, who intended to intercept a boat coming into Boston weighed down with stolen guns and ammunition, recognises the murder as typical retribution for IRA informers and knows that with this murder there may be much more at stake than his superiors realise. Keen to uncover those responsible, he asks Cal and Dante to help search the Irish-American enclaves of Dudley Square, Dorchester and South Boston for some sign of the killers. It is a journey that will take them into the shadowy parts of Boston, a world of packed dance halls, Irish wakes and funeral parlors, of down-and-out immigrant rooming houses, bars, and secret meeting halls, and, ultimately, to the discovery of a terrorist plot that will shake the city to its core and bring them head-to-head not only with Cal's past but with the IRA Army Council itself.

Books to Look Forward to From Severn House

In this fascinating psychological neo-noir mystery, a notorious late 19th-century photograph provides the key to a contemporary murder. In 1882, the young Lou Andreas-Salome, writer, psychoanalyst and femme fatale, appears with Friedrich Nietzche and another man in a bizarre photograph taken in Luzern, Switzerland. Over thirty years later, an intense art student in Freud's Vienna presents Lou Salome with his own drawing based on the infamous photograph. In the present day, Tess Berenson, a brilliant performance artist, moves into an art deco loft in downtown Oakland, California. Her new apartment, she learns, was vacated in a hurry by a professional dominatrix who used the name Chantal Desforges. Tess's curiosity about Chantal intensifies when her body is discovered in the trunk of a stolen car at Oakland airport. Embarking on an obsessive investigation into the murder, Tess discovers a link to the original Luzern photograph and the 1913 drawing - but as she gets closer to the shocking truth, Tess finds that she too is in jeopardy.  The Luzern Photograph is by William Bayer and is due to be published in September 2015.

The Blood That Touched is by Peter Helton and is due to be published in December 2015.  A seemingly open-and-shut case becomes increasingly complicated for Detective Inspector Liam McLusky in this intriguing police procedural. It all seemed so simple: a murder; an obvious suspect; a shaky alibi: DI McLusky never had it so good. Until a second killing challenges all his earlier assumptions. With every new piece of evidence McLusky brings to light, the case becomes more complicated. Does it have its roots in a disappearance eighteen years earlier, or is it firmly based in the present? Meanwhile, DI Kat Fairfield and DS Jack Sorbie are tasked with finding the daughter of a prominent Italian politician, who has disappeared while on a student exchange programme at Bristol University. Neither is overjoyed to be lumbered with a routine missing person's case while McLusky heads a high-profile murder investigation. Until they find a dead body of their own...

A routine flight descends into terror in this spine-tingling tale of supernatural suspense As Oceans Airways flight 582 takes off from LAX Airport, Los Angeles, headed for Sydney, Australia, passengers and crew prepare themselves for the 14-hour flight, among them flight attendants Sharlene Their and Aaron Drake, who have recently started dating. But suddenly communication and navigation systems in the cockpit start malfunctioning: just the start of a series of inexplicable and terrifying events about to engulf these airborne travellers. The Boeing 747 has entered strange airways, inhabited by something malicious - a presence that holds sway over the aircraft. And Sharlene may be the only one to understand the true nature of the threat...  Zone is by Jack Lance and is due to be published in November 2015.

Lights, Camera, Action is by Marie Celine and is due to be published in September 2015. Gourmet Pet Chef Kitty Karlyle must draw on more than her TV presenting skills when the producer of a new cooking show is found stabbed to death. Pet chef Kitty serves gourmet meals to pampered canines, cats, birds, snakes (ugh), Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs and most any other pet belonging to her wealthy and quirky LA clientele. This is a town where pets have their own psychologists, psychics and masseuses, so why shouldn't they have their own chefs, right? Kitty finds herself somewhat reluctantly hosting a new cooking show called 'The Pampered Pet' on CuisineTV. While shooting the pilot, the show's producer is found in her office with a knife in her back - one of Kitty's knives, to be exact. The list of suspects is long and time is short. If Kitty can't find the killer soon, her own goose might be cooked...

When a major drugs dealer seeks vengeance for the death of his family, policemen Harpur and Iles must do all they can to prevent a bloodbath. Following the murder of his wife and son, tycoon drugs dealer Mansel Shale is determined to get vengeance - and he wants another drugs baron, Ralph Ember, to help him. Having heard of the movie Strangers on a Train, in which two men agree to undertake each other's murders as a way of preventing detection, Shale suggests he and Ralph should have a similar arrangement - and Ralph is in no position to refuse. When he learns of the plan, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles fears that if things go wrong, the hard-won peace he and Harpur have established in the city will be seriously threatened. The two top policemen find they have their work cut out to limit the damage and restore tranquillity.  First You Fix Your Alibi is by Bill James and is due to be published in December 2015.

The Herald of Hell is by Paul Doherty and is due to be published in September 2015.  May,

1381. The Great Revolt draws ever nearer. The Upright Men openly roam the streets of London, waiting for the violence to begin. Their mysterious envoy, the Herald of Hell, appears at night all over the city, striking terror into the hearts of those who oppose them. But who is he? When his chancery clerk is found hanged in a notorious Southwark brothel, the ruthless Thibault, John of Gaunt's Master of Secrets, summons Brother Athelstan to investigate. Did Amaury Whitfield really kill himself following a visit from the terrifying Herald of Hell? Athelstan is unconvinced. In the dead man's possession was a manuscript containing a great secret which he had been striving to decipher. If he could only unlock the cipher and interpret the messages being carried to the so-called Herald of Hell, Athelstan would be one step closer to catching the killer. But can he crack the code before the Great Revolt begins?

Cold Florida is by Phillip Depoy and is due to be published in November 2015.  Introducing former car thief and amateur sleuth Foggy Moskowitz in the first of a brand-new noir mystery series. It's 1974. Foggy Moskowitz, a Jewish car thief on the run from the Brooklyn authorities, ends up in Florida working for the first office of Child Protective Service. For personal reasons. An unlikely, but tenacious, child protection officer, he takes on an investigation to find a missing infant, taken from the hospital by her addict mother. But the case takes several unexpected turns as Foggy makes his way from seedy Fry's Bay to Indian Seminole swampland, undertaking a vision quest, a rite of passage in some Native American cultures, in the process. Along the way he encounters more than a few interesting characters, including John Horse, an Indian mystic, and works to foil a vast land-grab scam by an uber-rich felon. 

Skeleton Blues is by Paul Johnston and is due to be published in December 2015.  Ex-cop Quint Dalrymple discovers there is something very rotten in the independent city-state of Edinburgh in this near-future dystopian thriller. Edinburgh, spring 2034. The weather's balmy, there's a referendum on whether to join a reconstituted Scotland coming up - and a tourist is found strangled. As usual, maverick detective Quint Dalrymple is called in to do the Council of City Guardians' dirty work. For the first time in his career, Quint is stumped by the complexity of the case. An explosion at the City Zoo is followed by the discovery of another body - and the prime suspect is nowhere to be found. Can Quint and his sidekick, Guard commander Davie, put a stop to the killings before the city erupts into open violence? Are the leaders of other Scottish states planning to take over Edinburgh, or is the source of unrest much closer to home? Quint must race to pull the threads together before he becomes one of the numerous skeletons on display...

This is a darkly humorous noir mystery featuring laidback, guitar-playing private investigator Rolly Waters. Rolly Waters has many reasons to regret going out for Mexican food at 2.30 in the morning. Not least because then he would never have met dance-club DJ Macy Starr - possibly the most infuriatingly unpredictable and secretive client he has ever taken on. Macy Starr wants Rolly to find out what happened to the young woman she knew as Aunt Betty, the woman who rescued her as a child and who then disappeared without trace. The only clue she has to go on is a curious one-stringed guitar. Rolly's investigation leads to a weird world of alien-obsessed cults, a strange desert hideaway known as Slab City - and to a 20-year-old unsolved murder case. But how can he solve the mystery if he can't even trust his own client?  Desert City Diva is by Corey Lynn Fayman and is due to be published in September 2015.

Skin Like Silver is by Chris Nickerson and is due to be published in November 2015.  The third intriguing historical mystery to feature Detective Inspector Tom Harper Leeds, England. October, 1891. An unclaimed parcel at the Central Post Office is discovered to contain the decomposing body of a baby boy. It's a gruesome case for DI Tom Harper. Then a fire during the night destroys half the railway station. The next day a woman's body is found in the rubble. But Catherine Carr didn't die in the blaze: she'd been stabbed to death - and Harper has to find her killer. The estranged wife of a wealthy industrialist, Catherine had been involved with the Leeds Suffragist Society, demanding votes for women, the same organization for which Harper's wife Annabelle has just become a speaker. Were Catherine's politics the cause of her death? Or is the husband she abandoned behind it? But when her brother escapes from the asylum and steals a shotgun, Harper has to race to find the answers.

Fatal Catch is by Pauline Rowson and is due to be published in September 2015.  Trust no one. Believe nothing...DI Andy Horton is called out to examine a gruesome catch by two fishermen: a human hand. Is it that of missing violent criminal, Alfie Wright - or is he the killer? And where is the rest of the corpse? Soon Horton finds himself immersed in a complex case where everyone has a reason to lie and no one is who they seem. Assailed by doubts both in his personal and professional life, Horton desperately tries to keep his emotional feelings under control and his focus on his work. His instincts tell him to trust no one and believe nothing; he's not sure, though, whether this time he'll succeed...

Bitter Poison is by Margaret Mayhew and is due to be published in December 2015.  The Colonel turns reluctant sleuth once more when tragedy strikes at a Christmas party, in Margaret Mayhew's latest atmospheric village mystery Frog End, that most quintessential of English villages, is preparing for its annual Christmas pantomime. This year, it's Hans Christian Andersen's dark fairytale The Snow Queen. Local busybody Marjorie Cuthbertson is on the hunt for her leading lady - and who better to play the icy queen than beautiful new resident, ex-model Joan Dryden. But as interested as they are in their new neighbours, the residents of Frog End remain wary of the Dryden family, considering them aloof Londoners. Mystery is about to engulf the village however when a cast member collapses and dies at a Christmas party, having consumed a rogue mince pie. Was the death an accident - or was it a malicious revenge strategy masked as an allergic reaction? The Colonel makes it his business to find out.

The Killing in the Café is by Simon Brett and is due to be published in November 2015. The

wickedly entertaining new Fethering mystery featuring chalk-and-cheese detective duo Carole and Jude. Polly's Cake Shop has been a feature of the shopping parade for many years, but when its owner announces her retirement, the Fethering residents start to worry about the loss of this popular amenity. Alarmed by rumours that the cafe might become a Starbucks, a group clubs together to form the Save Polly's Cake Shop Action Committee. The plan is that Polly's should become a community venture, managed and run by volunteers from the village. Roped in to help, Jude finds the committee meetings fraught with petty power struggles, clashing personalities and monstrous egos. Matters take a turn for the worse when she and Carole come across a badly-decomposed body on Fethering beach - and uncover a link to Polly's. Not only do the two neighbours have to find out whodunit, they are also faced with the thorny question: is it possible to run a business on that most volatile of commodities - goodwill?

1940s, Washington DC. Government girl Louise gets her big chance, when she is tasked with recruiting German POWs for a secret mission inside Nazi Germany Government girl Louise Pearlie has a new job inside the OSS - the Office of Strategic Services: recruiting German prisoners-of-war for a secret mission inside Nazi Germany. It's a big chance for her, and Louise hopes she can finally escape her filing and typing duties. With the job come two new colleagues: Alice Osborne, a propaganda expert, and Merle Ellison, a forger from Texas who just happens to speak fluent German. But when the three arrive at Fort Meade camp, to interview the first German POWs to arrive there, their mission is beset by complications. Only one of the prisoners speaks English, the army officer in charge of the camp is an alcoholic and two prisoners disappeared on the ship bringing the Germans to the states. Were their deaths suicide? Officially, yes. But Louise can't help but have her doubts...  Louise’s Chance is by Sarah R Saber and is due to be published in September 2015.

Mara, Brehon of the Burren, must battle superstitious beliefs and fears as she sets out to solve a brutal murder. When a woman's body is discovered, strangled and bound with rope to the stone torso of Far Breige, the ancient stone god which stands sentinel above the haunted caves and ancient fortifications of the Atlantic cliffs, the locals believe it was the god who killed her. In life, Clodagh O'Lochlainn had been a disgrace to her clan, tormenting her former priestly lover, jeering at her husband, robbing her relatives: but could she really have been slaughtered by a vengeful god, as the local population believes? Abandoning preparations for the celebration of her fiftieth birthday, Mara, Brehon of the Burren, with the assistance of Fachtman and her scholars, takes up the task of solving the murder. Ignoring the ancient legends, she concentrates instead on bringing a mortal killer to justice. But it's only when Fachtman's small daughter is lost in the labyrinth of passages among the caves that the horrifying truth begins to emerge.  A Fatal Inheritance is by Caro Harrison and is due to be published in November 2015.

Onslaught by Nick Oldham and is due to be published in December 2015. Introducing tough-as-nails former Royal Marine, ex-cop and sport fishing skipper Steve Flynn in the first of a brand-new series of exciting action thrillers. When he is accused of murdering his boss, sport fishing captain Steve Flynn finds that his idyllic life in the Canary Islands has suddenly lost its charm. Arrested by a tenacious - and corrupt - Spanish detective, Flynn knows he is facing a grim future unless he can somehow prove his innocence. Matters take a turn for the worse however when Flynn's ex-girlfriend is kidnapped and her life used as a bargaining chip. The only way Flynn can save her is to pull out all the stops, re-hone his old policing and military skills, and put himself in the firing line against a murderous gang for whom violent death is a way of life.

Introducing Blackie, an unusual feline hero, and his companion Care in the first of this dark new mystery series. Three figures, shadowy against the light. That's all I remember from my past life, as I am dragged, dripping and half-drowned, from the flood. My saviour, a strange, pink-haired girl, is little help. She can barely care for herself, let alone the boy she loves. And although she has sworn to avenge the murder of her mentor, she must first escape the clutches of drug dealers, murderers and thieves. I would repay her kindness if I could. But we are alone in this blighted city - and I am a cat. The past is an enigma to Blackie, the voice of Clea Simon's dark new mystery. Combining elements of feline fantasy and cozy whodunit, The Ninth Life introduces this unusual hero and his companion, Care: two small creatures in a nightmarish urban landscape, fighting for their lives, and for the lives and memories of those they love. The Ninth Life is by Clea Simon and is due to be published in November 2015.

The Case of The Missing Morris Dancer is by Cathy Ace and is due to be published in October 2015 The Women of the WISE Enquiries Agency are back in a witty and intriguing new mystery. The Anwen Morris Dancers are to play a pivotal role in the imminent nuptials of Henry, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth. But it looks as though the wedding plans might go awry unless Mavis, Annie, Carol and Christine can help Althea, the Dowager Duchess, by finding a missing Morris man and a set of ancient and valuable artefacts in time for her son's wedding. Anwen-by-Wye might look like an idyllic Welsh village where family values reign and traditions still mean something in a modern world, but what will the WISE women find when they peer behind the respectable net curtains?

DCI Peach and DS Northcott investigate a murder at an exclusive tennis club Detective Sergeant Clyde Northcott - DCI Peach's tall, black, powerful protege - has no interest in joining the snooty Birch Lane Tennis Club. So it is unfortunate for him when committee member Olive Crawshaw decides he would be the perfect talisman for the club's new, and controversial, policy to recruit members from a wider ethnic and social background. Clyde soon finds himself thrust into an exclusive community where his rusty tennis skills are the least of his concerns: for 'exclusive' does not mean moral, and while some of the club's members sail very near the law, one or two of them go far beyond it. So when a distinguished club member is murdered, a problem arises: how can he and Peach unveil the killer, when almost everyone seemed to want the victim dead?  Backhand Smash is by J M Gregson and is due to be published in November 2015.

American Anglophile Dorothy Martin tackles a tricky puzzle in the historic university town of Cambridge Dorothy Martin isn't overly enthusiastic when her husband, retired police detective Alan Nesbitt, invites her to accompany him to a conference in Cambridge, picturing cramped student accommodation. But St Stephen's turns out to be recently renovated, and, bolstered by en suite facilities, Dorothy is looking forward to exploring the historic and beautiful city. It is not long, though, before disaster strikes: lost in the maze of college buildings, Dorothy stumbles into a laboratory...and is shocked to find what looks like a pool of blood on the floor. She flees, to fetch help, but when Alan checks it out, there is nothing to be found. Was she mistaken? Or has a terrible crime been committed? Dorothy, who can never resist a puzzle, determines to find out.  Blood Will Tell is by Jeanne M Dams and is due to be published in October 2015.

Introducing private investigator Tess Grey and Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas 'Po'

Villere in the first of a brand-new series of fast-paced action thrillers. When her local District Attorney offers her a considerable sum of money to track down state witness Crawford Wynne, private investigator Tess Grey is in no position to refuse. Wynne is one of the few men still alive who can help the State nail vicious drug lord Albert Suarez. But Tess is not the only one trying to track Wynne down. Suarez's psychotic brother Hector has been hunting and butchering anyone who is a danger to his brother. Tess needs help and there's only one man she can turn to: Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas Villere, known to all as Po. Po always gets his man, but he has never been teamed with a woman before. Both have their own agenda for taking on this case, and neither fully trusts the other. But of one thing they are sure: if they don't cover each other's backs, they are both going to die.  Blood Tracks is by Matt Hilton and is due to be published in November 2015.

One Under is by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and is due to be published in October 25. For a policeman, there are some questions that have to be asked even if you don't want to know the answers...A middle-aged man jumps under a tube train at Shepherd's Bush station, and a teenage girl is killed in a hit-and-run, in a country lane puzzlingly far from her home on the White City Estate: two unrelated incidents which occupy DCI Bill Slider and his team during a slack period. At least it's a change of speed after the grind of domestics, burglaries and Community Liaison. But links to a cold case - another dead teenager, pulled out of the River Thames - create doubts as to whether they are indeed unrelated. And slowly a trail of corruption and betrayal is uncovered, leading Slider and his firm ever deeper into a morass of horror.

Detective Inspector Hardcastle ruffles feathers in a sleepy Hampshire village, when he investigates the murder of a local girl August 1917. The head of the CID at Scotland Yard sends Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle and Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott of the Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police to a small Hampshire village, to investigate the murder of a local girl. For once, Hardcastle has plenty of suspects. Was the murderer one of Daisy Salter's many suitors? Was it the shifty individual who left the local pub and disappeared the moment he saw Hardcastle? Or could it have been Daisy's own father? In an entirely different world from London, Hardcastle is forced to adapt to the slower pace of country life, and he soon finds he is ruffling feathers as he carries out his investigations in his own inimitable fashion.  Hardcastle’s Collector is by Graham Ison and is due to be published in October 2015.

The Bell Tower is by Sarah Rayne and is due to be published in October 2015.  A 400-year-old crime continues to menace the present in this spine-chilling tale of supernatural suspense. When Nell West starts extending her Oxford antiques shop, she is not expecting to uncover strange fragments of its past: fragments that include a frightened message scribbled on old plasterwork, dated 1850 and referring to someone called Thaisa. She also uncovers a mysterious link with a village on the Dorset coast - a village with an ancient bell tower and dark memories of a piece of music known locally as Thaisa's Song. The sea is gradually encroaching on the derelict tower, but the old Glaum Bell still hangs in the lonely bell chamber and although it was silenced after an act of appalling brutality during the reign of Henry VIII, local people whisper that its chime is still occasionally heard. As Nell and Michael Flint discover, the tower is mysteriously entangled with the story of Thaisa and a 400-year-old tragedy that has echoed down the centuries.

In Vino Veritas is by Peter Turnbull and is due to be published in November 2015.  A tip-off leading to the discovery of a young woman's body throws Harry Vicary and his team into another perplexing murder investigation. 'Big Andy' Cragg's drunken disclosure to an undercover police officer in a West London pub that he was once party to the disposal of the body of a murder victim sets a sinister and disturbing chain of events in motion for Harry Vicary and his team. A body is found exactly where Cragg said it would be, and the consequent investigation plunges Vicary into a labyrinth world of contract killings, witness intimidation and large-scale money laundering. Can he piece together the clues to uncover why a young woman was so brutally murdered?

Carl Burns returns to his hometown to uncover a viper's nest of corruption and dark secrets in this tense and twisting novel of suspense: first in a brand-new series. After ten years' absence and a spell in prison, Carl Burns has returned to his hometown of Rose City to offer support to his estranged daughter Kate, currently one of four witnesses testifying against former Mayor Joseph Sanderson III, who stands accused of multiple counts of underage rape. Carl is determined to get justice for Kate, whatever it takes. But with his former sister-in-law Frances his only ally, he finds himself incurring the wrath of powerful enemies as he attempts to uncover the shocking truth beneath the layers of corruption and lies which engulf the town.  Rough Justice is by Brad Smith and is due to be published in October 2015.

Thicker Than Water is by Sally Spencer and is due to be published in October 2015.  DCI Monika Paniatowski investigates a case that could be the making - or, more likely, breaking - of her career DCI Monika Paniatowski has only been back from maternity leave for three days when she is called in to investigate a nightmare of a case. Not only is the murder victim a mother of three small children, but her husband is a wealthy politician. Monika knows that if she can't make a quick arrest her career is on the line. It's lucky, then, that within minutes of meeting Councillor Danbury, she has a bruised face - and a prime suspect. But then the case takes a nasty twist, and suddenly the investigation is national news. Monika's sure she has the right man - but how to prove it? Particularly when she's under pressure from her superiors to arrest anyone other than Councillor Danbury, president of the golf club and friend of her chief constable...

A medieval mystery featuring disgraced knight Crispin Guest London, 1388. When the mythical Stone of Destiny disappears from the throne of England during mass in Westminster Abbey, the populace takes it as a sign to side with King Richard II's rebellious barons. The last thing the king needs is for his authority to be put in question, especially after his army suffers a crushing defeat against a Scottish uprising. Desperate, Richard calls in Crispin Guest to find the missing stone. And to ensure that he will do the deed, the king imprisons Jack Tucker and orders Crispin to find the stone before Parliament convenes in a week's time - or Jack will hang for treason.  The Silence of Stones is by Jeri Westerton and is due to be published in October 2015.

This lively cozy, set in small town California, is the second in the Mary McGill dog mystery series. Preparations for Santa Louisa's annual spring rummage sale are thrown into chaos when organiser Mary McGill and her devoted cocker spaniel Millie come across a dead body on the premises. Still wearing her pink nightdress and slippers, what on earth was Miss Emilie Plym doing in a locked church hall in the dead of night? And who on earth would want to harm a sweet-natured but confused elderly lady who wouldn't hurt a fly? As Mary questions the victim's nearest and dearest, she discovers that not everyone had Miss Plym's best interests at heart, and that at least one of those who should have been caring for her is hiding a shocking secret.  Curtains for Miss Plym is by Kathleen Delaney and is due to be published in November 2015.

The intriguing, witty and irreverent new mystery featuring Ancient Roman sleuth Marcus Corvinus. May, AD 41. The emperor Claudius has acceded to the throne, and the citizens of Rome look forward to an era of peace and stability. Not so Marcus Corvinus however, who finds himself embroiled in not one but two investigations. A friend of his wife has asked him to look into the murder of her brother, found stabbed to death at the Shrine of Melobosis. A wily businessman and notorious womaniser, no one seems to have a good word to say about Gaius Tullius, not even his less-than-grieving widow. But who would have a good enough reason to want him dead? At the same time, Corvinus's daughter comes across a dead body in the Pollio Gardens, and urges her father to investigate. At first Marcus refuses to get involved - but when his enquiries lead him to Ostia, Rome's busy trading port, he uncovers a disturbing connection between the two deaths.  Trade Secrets is by David Wishart and is due to be published in October 2015.

The murder of a student re-opens a series of cold cases in this intriguing mystery. A young student is found brutally murdered in her room, killed while her flatmates slept nearby. The police soon recognize that this is frighteningly similar to a crime committed fifteen years before. A crime investigated by the now discredited Detective Inspector Joe Jackson, but never solved. Other deaths, linked to the same modus operandi and stretching back more than twenty years, have also remained unsolved. No link has been found between the victims - but it seems Joe Jackson had a perpetrator in mind. He had however been unable to prove his guilt. Can the new investigation trust the judgement of a man who was himself a killer? Or did that give Naomi Blake's one-time friend and mentor an insight his colleagues did not have?  A Murderous Mind is by Jane A Adams and is due to be published in November 2015.

Private investigator Patrick de Courvoisier unearths a shocking wartime secret in this stylish Cannes-based mystery series. Brother Robert from the abbey on St Honorat, a picturesque island off the French coast, has requested Patrick de Courvoisier's help in locating a valuable painting which has disappeared from the monastery's vaults. At the same time, an old enemy from Patrick's past has arrived in Cannes in search of a different stolen painting. As it becomes increasingly clear that the two investigations are linked, Patrick's enquiries lead him to uncover a shocking wartime secret: a secret the British Royal family would prefer to keep hidden...  The case of the Missing Madonna is by Lin Anderson and is due to be published in September 2015.

Next of Kin is by Maureen Carter and is due to be published in November 2015.  Ice-cool Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn and fiery reporter Caroline King lock horns once again in this latest intriguing mystery. When the body of a teenage girl is found in a local park, it is assumed she is the latest victim of a serial sex offender who has been plaguing the area. But when it transpires that the dead girl's best friend is missing, DI Sarah Quinn is drawn into a complex murder investigation where nothing is as it seems. With the investigation heading nowhere - not helped by the hostility of the victim's distraught father, nor by Sarah's unsympathetic new Chief Superintendent who seems determined to undermine her - a shocking turn of events leads Sarah to question her own judgement. And that's before she encounters her old foe, calculating journalist Caroline King...

False Wall is by Veronica Heley and is due to be published in December 2015.  Bea Abbot discovers that at least one of her neighbours is hiding a shocking secret in the latest intriguing Abbot Agency mystery When the party wall dividing the gardens of Bea Abbot and her fiance Leon collapses, amongst the ensuing chaos a human skeleton is unearthed in Leon's garden. Having only just purchased the property, Leon and Bea set out to discover more about the house's previous owners. Before they can proceed in their investigation however, the pair fall victim to an elaborately-laid trap. With her home, livelihood and the agency under threat, Bea appears to be the subject of a meticulously-planned vendetta. But why? And why is Leon becoming strangely distant?