Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

Klara Walldeen, orphaned as a child and brought up by her grandparents on a remote Swedish archipelago, is now a political aide in Brussels.  And she has just seen something she shouldn't: something people will kill to keep hidden.  On the other side of the world, an old spy hides from his past.  Once, he was a man of action: so dedicated to the cause that he abandoned his baby daughter to keep his cover.  Now the only thing he lives for is swimming in the local pool.  Then, on Christmas eve, Klara is thrown into a terrifying chase through Europe. Only the Swimmer can save her.  But time is running out...  The Swimmer is the debut novel by Joakim Zander and is due to be published in July 2014.

The Moon Pool is by Sophie Littlefield and is due to be published in October 2014.  North Dakota is like nowhere Colleen has ever seen.  Vast rolling plains of silvery snow, studded with shimmering black pools, lit by occasional flares of orange light.  It is a landscape both beautiful and terrible.  It is the landscape that swallowed her son.  Across town, another mother also searches for her missing boy.  He too went missing from the oilfields where he worked.  And no one - not his employers, not the police - seems to care that he is gone.  As long as they are alone, these two women will never find out the truth.  But if they team up, and help each other, then maybe, just maybe, this freezing wilderness will give them back their sons.

C.J. Box has been consistently hailed for his brilliant storytelling and his extraordinary skills at creating character, suspense, and a deep sense of place.  All of those strengths can be found in the ten riveting stories - three of them written especially for this book - that make up Shots Fired.  In 'One-Car Bridge,' one of four Joe Pickett stories, Pickett goes up against a 'plain mean' landowner, with disastrous consequences, and in 'Shots Fired,' his investigation into the radio call of the title nearly ends up being the last thing he ever does.  In 'Pirates of Yellowstone,' two Eastern Europeans, strangers in a strange land, hear that American tough guys can be ruthless, but it's not till they try strong-arming one that they discover the real truth of the statement; and in 'Le Sauvage Noble,' a Lakota Indian takes a job in the Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris and finds its perks to be pleasant - good wages, decent food, and French women who find his 'noble savage' act to be pretty exotic - that is, until he meets Sophie.  Then he finds out what 'savage' really means.  Shots Fired is due to be published in July 2014.

Disappeared is by Anthony Quinn and is due to be published in August 2014.  In Northern Ireland’s darkest corner, the Troubles have never ended.  Though bombs no longer rock Belfast, for some the fight goes on.  Retired Special Branch agent David Hughes disappears after looking into the previously closed case of Oliver Jordan, who went missing at the hands of the IRA decades ago.  Soon after, a former spy is found bludgeoned to death, the day after placing his own obituary in the newspaper.  Beneath Northern Ireland’s modern calm, ancient jealousies threaten to rend the country asunder once more.  A Catholic detective in a Protestant nation, Celcius Daly knows too well the agonies of sectarian strife.  To solve this string of murders, he must reach decades into the past, confronting a painful history that Ireland would prefer to forget. 

Two books by Phillip Hunter are due to be published in September 2014.  The first is To Die For, which is the first book in The Killing Machine series.  To Die For is a novel of vengeance and betrayal about a runaway twelve-year-old girl and her protector, Joe, a broken down ex-soldier who has turned his face from the world.  It is easy to be anonymous in the city.  Make no ties.  Work, on one side of the law or the other. Drift from place to place.  Keep your head down.  Hide when you must.  It was the life ex-soldier Joe threw himself into when the woman he loved was murdered.  The life that has ultimately betrayed him. But in all this, Joe does have one thing left worth protecting in his care.  Something he would sacrifice himself for gladly.  A twelve-year-old girl called Kid. And now the life he chose is coming for them both...  To Kill For is the second book in the series.  Ex-boxer, ex-paratrooper, Joe once had meaning in his life.  People, who cared for him, people who needed him.  Then he lost everything, and now he is a hitman for London's most vicious criminals.  Brenda was the only woman who ever loved him.  The only woman who believed he could escape the underworld.  She died protecting others: now Joe wants revenge on her killers.  With nothing left to lose, Joe prepares for the fight of his life...

Bravo Shaw always knew his father had secrets, he just didn't realise how dangerous they were...When Bravo's father dies in mysterious circumstances, his hidden life is laid bare.  Dexter Shaw belonged to a secret religious order long thought extinct.  For centuries, the sect has guarded a lost Testament that could end Christianity, as we know it.  Dexter was the Keeper of the Testament - now his son must take his place.  Bravo has to solve the clues his father left behind, locate this precious document, and ward off those who want it destroyed.  But his enemies are powerful, and will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried...  The Testament is by Eric Van Lustbader and is due to be published in August 2014.

In Death Sentences: Stories of Deathly Books, Murderous Booksellers and Lethal Literature Sigmund Freud deals with an unwelcome visitor; Columbo confronts a murderous bookseller; a Mexican cartel kingpin with a fatal weakness for rare books; deadly secrets deep in the London Library: who knew literature could be so lethal?  Here are 15 short stories to die for from the world's best crime writers.  With an introduction from Ian Rankin, Death Sentences includes original, specially commissioned stories about deadly books from Jeffrey Deaver, Andrew Taylor, Laura Lippman, C.J. Box, Anne Perry, Ken Bruen, Thomas H. Cook, Micky Spillaine & Max Adam Collins, Nelson DeMille and John Connolly.  Death Sentences is edited by Otto Penzler and is due to be published in October 2014.

Books to Look Forward to From Head of Zeus

Can you hide your deepest fear?  To the outside world, Kathy is the very picture of a happy and fulfilled modern woman.  She has a beautiful baby boy, a clever, handsome husband and a glamorous, high-powered job.  However, not everybody is fooled.  Her employee, Heja, knows the truth the cracks in Kathy's marriage, her self-doubt, her fear of failure at work.  Heja is perfectly placed to destroy Kathy's life.  In addition, if she succeeds, she can claim the one thing she wants most...  The Lie of You is the debut novel by Jane Lythell and is a chilling psychological thriller about obsession, jealousy, and lying to those you love. The Lie of You is due to be published in January 2014.

Ghost Girl is the second book in the Detective’s Daughter series by Lesley Thomson and is due to be published in May 2014.  Stella Darnell cannot shake her father's legacy.  A year after his death, she still visits his house every day.  Now she has discovered what looks like an unsolved case in his darkroom: a folder of unlabelled photographs of deserted streets.  But why did her father - a Detective Chief Superintendent and a stickler for order - never file them at the station?  The oldest photo dates back to 1966.  To a day when a young girl, just ten years old, is taking her little brother home from school in time for tea.  That afternoon, as the Moors Murderers are sent to prison for life, Mary witnesses something horrible that will haunt her forever.  As Stella inches closer to the truth, the events of that day will begin to haunt her too.

The Killing Machine is by Phillip Hunter and is due to be published in February 2014.  Massive, glowering, and ugly as death, former soldier and ex-boxer Joe has always invited violence.  But now Hackney's most vicious gangs all want to kill him.  Why?  As he tries to unravel the knot of events that have made him a target, Joe is drawn back into his past, back to the memory of the only woman he ever loved.  Brenda was a prostitute who dreamed of something better.  Now she is dead, and her murder, unsolved, haunts Joe every night.  Then a twelve-year-old runaway enters his life.  Kid is traumatised, mute, and sees Joe as her saviour.  Life has made Joe a machine.  Can Kid - as Brenda once did - make him human again?  The Killing Machine is a thriller about betrayal, vengeance and redemption.

AD 1193, England lies uneasy, a land without a king.  Richard the Lionheart languishes in an Austrian dungeon, his brother John conspires to usurp the crown.  On the throne sits Eleanor Aquitaine, determined to prevent the outbreak of civil war, but there are a few she can trust.  Justin de Quincy is one of the few.  But now the King’s brother has asked for de Quincy’s aid.  John tells of a document implicating him in a plot to kill his brother.  Despite his hunger for the crown, John swears that he is innocent.  Justin must unearth the forger and prove the document is false before the Lionheart hears of it.  His quest will ultimately lead to the unravelling of a powerful conspiracy that could have changed the course of history.  Prince of Darkness is by Sharon Penman and is due to be published in April 2014.

The Curse of the House of Foskett is the second book in the Gower Street Detective series by M R C Kasasian and is due to be published in June 2014.  Sidney Grice and March Middleton investigate the murky world of Victorian Death Societies in a quirky crime novel that oozes atmosphere.  Sidney Grice, of 125 Gower Street, is London’s premier personal detective.  But since his last case led an innocent man to the gallows, business has been light.  Listless and depressed, Grice has taken to lying in the bath for hours.  Once a voracious reader, he will pick up neither book nor newspaper.  His ward, March Middleton, has been left to dine alone.  Then an eccentric member of a Final Death Society has the temerity to die on his study floor.  Finally, Sidney Grice and March Middleton have an investigation to mount – an investigation that will draw them to an eerie house in Kew, and the mysterious Baroness Foskett.

  

The Abduction is the second book in the Carnivia Trilogy by Jonathan Holt and is due to be published in May 2014.  The Spy: Holly Boland is trained to think differently.  When a US major’s daughter is kidnapped, she knows the abductors want more than ransom.  The Policewoman: Kat Tapo has found a webcam feed in encrypted site Carnivia.com.  It shows a terrified teenage girl, tied to a chair.  But where is she?  The Webmaster: Daniele Barbo, creator of Carnivia, never allows access to his servers.  Why would he help Kat and Holly?  Then secrets are unearthed from Italy’s wartime past.  Secrets that could put them all in danger.

The Boat is by Clara Salaman and is due to be published in January 2014.  It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime...Johnny and his new bride Clem have arrived in Turkey for a year's honeymoon.  Young, blissfully happy but poor, they are surviving on love, luck and a spirit of adventure.  So when a boat appears out of a raging storm, crewed by a bohemian couple who represent everything Johnny and Clem want to be, they do not think twice about stepping on board.  But all is not as it seems. And when they finally open their eyes to the truth, the boat is in the middle of the vast open sea.

A terrified, frozen child is found close to death on an icy Cape Town mountainside. But no-one reported her missing. Where does she come from? Who does she belong to? Dr Clare Hart is baffled - and then another young woman disappears, and a frightening pattern begins to emerge. Rosa is a gifted but troubled young cellist, and her grandfather is at his wits end. Why did she walk out of her music school that day? Where has she gone now? As winter tightens its grip, Clare must find Rosa and unravel the secrets of these two cases...all the while carrying a secret of her own.  Water Music is by Margie Orford and is due to be published in February 2014.

Stone Cold is by C J Box and is due to be published in April 2014.  Everything about the ranch is a mystery.  Rumours abound about the reclusive millionaire who owns it, the women who live with him, the private airstrip, and the sudden disappearances.  And, most persistent of all, that it is all funded by murder.  Joe Pickett is tasked by the governor to find out the truth.  But he soon discovers a lot more than he had bargained for.  There are two other men living up at the ranch.  One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe.  The other, Joe knows all too well.  The first man does not frighten him.  But the second is another story entirely.

Angel of Death is the second book in the Jim Monahan series by Ben Cheetham and is due to be published in May 2014.  Would you break the law to see justice done?  A feverish page-turner starring Sheffield detective Jim Monahan.  In Sheffield, a bankrupt businessman has murdered his family.  It seems like an open-and-shut case: a desperate man resorting to desperate measures.  In Middlesbrough, a woman named Angel is heading south.  She is a woman alone.  A prostitute.  Now a murderer.  And she has only one thing on her mind: revenge.  Two crimes, a hundred miles apart, but a terrible secret connects them.  And although the courts may not agree, DI Jim Monahan has all the proof he needs to bring down justice on a group of particularly vicious criminals...

Jack McClure must outrun the CIA to complete his most dangerous mission yet...Dennis Paull, Secretary of Homeland Security, has been shot dead - and Special Agent Jack McClure has been accused of his murder.  Someone must have framed him, someone who would do anything to forestall his next move.  For before Paull died, he had tasked McClure with a mission as secret as it is deadly.  Find the mole in beloved the FBI, and track down their spymaster, The Syrian.  If McClure is to complete his mission now, he must evade the CIA officers on his tail.  And to do that, he must find Annika Dementieva, the woman he once loved and lost...  Beloved Enemy is by Eric Van Lustbader and is due to be published in January 2014.

She has a habit of breaking rules.  Her loyalty is unshakeable.  Introducing DI Hanlon: the fiercest crime heroine since Lisbeth Salander.  Intensely private, tough as teak, DI Hanlon is not a woman to cross.  Assistant Commissioner Corrigan knows she is dangerous and unorthodox.  Her ruthless disregard for rules could cost him the top job he craves.  But he also knows there is no one as fearless on a mission.  And he likes her.  When two seemingly unrelated murders point to a mole in the Met, Corrigan turns to Hanlon – though not without asking Enver Demirel, Turkish boxer turned London policeman, to stick to her like glue.  Then a diabetic twelve-year-old boy is abducted, and what began as an investigation becomes an ugly, frightening race against time, in which Hanlon will take no prisoners.  Come Unto Me is the debut novel by Greg Howard and is due to be published in May 2014.

Someone is murdering the brutal pimps who traffic young girls into Cork.  In a grimy flat in the city of Cork, a man lies dead on a bloodstained mattress.  His face is unrecognisable: seven gunshots have shattered cartilage and bone.  Yet DS Katie Maguire, of the Irish Garda, knows exactly who he is: Amir Xaaji Maxamed, a Somali pimp she has been trying to convict for years.  Katie knows it is her job to catch the killer.  However, Maxamed was an evil man who trafficked young girls into Ireland to be sold for sex.  Now that he is dead, the city is a safer place.  When a second pimp is killed, Katie must decide.  Are these vigi­lante murders justified?  Moreover, how can she stop them spiralling out of control?  Red Light is the third book in the Katie Maguire series by Graham Masterton and is due to be published in June 2014.

Girl Seven is the second book in the London Underground series by Hanna Jameson and is due to be published in April 2014.  Kiyomi Ishida was eighteen when she left Japan for a better life in London.  Then her parents died tragically, and she was left alone.  Now nicknamed Seven, she has worked her way up from the streets to The Underground, an exclusive club that fuels the nighttime urges of those that stalk south London's streets.  As her last spark of humanity flares, Seven must make a decision.  How many people will she betray to further her own ends?  Spare and visceral, laced with razor-sharp dialogue, Girl Seven is for those who like their thrillers violent and cutthroat.