Books to Look Forward to from Severn House

January 2020

The Good Wife is by Jane A Adams.  1929. Clive Mason is devastated when his wife Martha is found dead in a horsebox at Southwell Races, her handbag stolen. As DCI Henry Johnstone and Sergeant Mickey Hitchens investigate, it's clear this wasn't a robbery gone tragically wrong - Martha was deliberately murdered. Who was Martha Mason and what was she involved in that led to her murder?

Henry Christie is enjoying a quiet retirement running the Tawny Owl pub - until a devastating moorland fire tears through the surrounding area and he finds himself at the forefront of coordinating the local response. When the occupants of a remote farm can't be contacted, Henry goes to check on them - and makes a grisly discovery.  Reluctantly agreeing to help the police with their investigation, Henry is reunited with DC Diane Daniels, and is soon confronting an explosive mix of organized crime, violence and drug turf wars which leads him back to his old hunting ground in Blackpool - and old enemies who will stop at nothing to finally have their revenge.  Wildfire is by Nick Oldham.

Cold Kill is by Rennie Airth.  An American actress arrives in London to find herself the target of a ruthless assassin in this compelling standalone thriller.  Adelaide Banks travels from New York to London to spend Christmas with her Aunt Rose. But when Addy reaches her Knightsbridge address, no one's home. Where is Rose? Dragged into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse on the snowy streets of London, Addy finds herself navigating a dark underworld of ruthless assassins, rogue agents and international crime.

February, 1586. When the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, learns that Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents, who have been strangely silent recently. On arrival in the small Devon village of Zeal Aquatico, Ursula discovers that both spies in question have met with mysterious - and fatal - accidents. Or is there more to it than that?  What did the two spies find out that got them killed? Is there any truth to the rumours that King Philip of Spain, in league with the queen's cousin, Mary Stuart, intends to launch an invasion from the south coast? As Ursula pursues her investigations, it becomes clear that someone in Zeal Aquatico is determined to stop her finding out the truth ... whatever it takes.  The Scent of Danger is by Fiona Buckley.  

Roar  Back is by John  Farrow.  Sergeant-Detective mile Cinq-Mars fails with a task set to him by his former captain and the consequences look set to spark a gangland war in Montreal.  Montreal, 1978. Newly promoted Sergeant-Detective mile Cinq-Mars attends the scene of seventeen break-ins at an apartment complex. Nothing more than stolen toasters. Cinq-Mars suspects that the burglaries are a trial run for a bigger heist . . . until he discovers a body pinned to a wall with a machete in one apartment.  When the former captain of Night Patrol, Armand Touton, receives a tip from an undercover informant in the Mafia, Cinq-Mars is ordered to intervene with a prisoner's release: the man must stay behind bars. He fails with the task and the immediate consequences are  devastating.   While trying to remedy his failure, solve the mystery of the break-ins and the case of the dead body, a chilling aspect emerges . . . gangland Montreal is bracing for war.

A murder of an Icelandic man during a Full Cold Moon reminds Lauren Riley of a previous case she failed to solve. She is determined not to let it happen again.  Since her partner on the Cold Case team has been out of action after being shot in the line of duty, Lauren Riley has been working Homicide. Her latest case involves an Icelandic man murdered on the streets of Buffalo mere feet from his hotel.  The brutality of the case hits Lauren hard. When she realizes the murder was committed on the night of a Full Cold Moon, it triggers memories of the first cold case she investigated that she's been unable to solve.  Lauren is determined not to fail again but when she is involved in a shooting with a suspect, she finds the case may be taken out of her hands . . . especially when it gains attention from the Icelandic government.  A Full Cold Moon is by Lissa Marie Redmond

In The Company of Fools is by Tania Bayard.  A baby abandoned in the palace gardens leads scribe sleuth Christine de Pizan into a mystery involving murder, superstition and scandal in fourteenth-century France. Paris, 1396. Scribe Christine de Pizan is shocked when the Duke of Orlans' fools find a baby, wrapped in rags and covered in sores, abandoned in the palace gardens. Was there really a wicked plan to substitute the child for the queen's own baby daughter and blame the Duchess of Orlans, Valentina Visconti? Who would commit such an evil act, and why?  Accused of being a sorceress, Valentina is the victim of much slander and has powerful enemies at the palace, where rumours of witchcraft and superstition run riot. Convinced of the duchess's innocence, Christine is determined to uncover the truth, and soon makes a number of disturbing discoveries. Could the palace fools be the key to unlocking the mystery?

Return Specialist Simon Fisk is brought in to find the granddaughter of the US Secretary of State who's been kidnapped by a group of terrorists while working with the Peace Corps in Africa. This is Simon's most dangerous mission yet that will take him through the forests of Nigeria and from city to city tracking down those who work in the shadows.  Beyond Gone is by Douglas Corelone.

London, 1396. A trip to the swordsmith shop for Crispin Guest, Tracker of London, and his apprentice Jack Tucker takes an unexpected turn when Crispin crosses paths with Carantok Teague, a Cornish treasure hunter. Carantok has a map he is convinced will lead him to the sword of Excalibur - a magnificent relic dating back to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table - and he wants Crispin to help him find it.  Travelling to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall with Carantok and Jack, Crispin is soon reunited with an old flame as he attempts to locate the legendary sword. But does Excalibur really exist, or is he on an impossible quest? When a body is discovered, Crispin's search for treasure suddenly turns into a hunt for a dangerous killer.  Sword of Shadows is by Jeri Westerson.

February 2020

Carrie Tollman awakes in the night to an intruder gazing down at her. He seems crazy. He tells her he's killed before and he'll kill again. Carrie is one of two carers looking after Enora Andressen's favorite scriptwriter. But Pavel is now paralysed, as well as blind, and it falls to Enora to track down this terrifying presence at Carrie's bedside.  Off Script is by Graham Hurley.

The Indigo Ghosts is by Alys Clare.  In this gripping forensic mystery set in Stuart England, Gabriel Taverner uncovers a series of shocking secrets when he's summoned by his former naval captain to investigate strange goings-on aboard his ship.  1604. Gabriel Taverner is surprised to receive an urgent summons from his old naval captain, who believes his ship is haunted by an evil spirit. Dismissive of the crew's talk of blue-skinned ghosts, Gabriel is convinced there must be a rational explanation behind the mass hallucinations. But matters take a disturbing turn when a body is discovered... 

Introducing an engaging new amateur sleuth, declutterer Ellen Curtis, in the first of a brilliant new mystery series.  Ellen Curtis runs her own business helping people who are running out of space. As a declutterer, she is used to encountering all sorts of weird and wonderful objects in the course of her work. What she has never before encountered is a dead body.  When Ellen stumbles across the body of a young woman in an over-cluttered flat, suspicion immediately falls on the deceased homeowner's son, who has recently absconded from prison. No doubt Nate Ogden is guilty of many things - but is he really the killer? Discovering a link between the victim and her own past, Ellen sets out to uncover the truth. But where has her best friend disappeared to? And is Ellen really prepared for the shocking revelations to follow? The Clutter Corpse is by Simon Brett

Introducing reluctant spy and friar-sleuth Brother Rodric Chandler in the first of a brand-new medieval mystery series.  London. July, 1399. As rumours spread that his ambitious cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, has returned from exile in France, King Richard's grip on the English throne grows ever more precarious. Meanwhile, the body of a young woman is discovered at Dowgate sluice. When it's established that the dead woman was a novice from nearby Barking Abbey, the coroner calls in his friend, Brother Chandler, to investigate.  Who would cut the throat of a young nun and throw her remains in the river? And what was she doing outside the confines of the priory in the first place? Secretly acting as a spy for Henry Bolingbroke, Chandler is torn by conflicting loyalties and agonising self-doubt. As the king's cousin marches towards Wales and England teeters on the brink of civil war, Chandler's investigations will draw him into affairs of state - and endanger not only himself but all those around him.  The Hour of the Fox is by Cassandra Clark.

Deadly Primrose is by Suzette A Hill.  The unfortunate demise of a local woman while sea bathing at the Birling Gap sends Primrose Oughterard's sleuthing antennae into overdrive.  Eccentric artist and indomitable amateur sleuth Primrose Oughterard is back in Lewes after her 'Baden-Baden' sojourn, but finds tragedy on her doorstep once again with the news that Elspeth Travers has drowned at sea while bathing at Birling Gap. The unfortunate Mrs Travers met her chilly demise in a black ruched swimming costume and pink floral cap, but Primrose is sure something is afoot. Elspeth hated swimming, and indeed frothy swimming hats - why was she in the water, and was her death really a tragic accident?  With so much incompetence around, Primrose feels compelled to investigate, and soon uncovers secrets, betrayal and nefarious deeds - with the help of her newly acquired pets, Maurice and Bouncer, inherited from her late brother, Francis. But just when Primrose thinks she's solved the mystery, there's an incredible twist...

The Doom List is by Gerard O’Donovan.  July, 1922. Newly-appointed 'movie czar' William H. Hays is about to arrive in town on a single-minded mission to clean up Hollywood. He is said to be compiling a list of 'undesirables' whom he plans to bar from screen work. They call it the Doom List.  With the industry in the grip of fear and paranoia, Hollywood's hottest young director Rex Ingram is determined that no hint of scandal should mar the premiere of his new movie, The Prisoner of Zenda, and hires private investigator Tom Collins, a fellow Irishman, with instructions to protect his leading lady's reputation at all costs. But, as Collins discovers, Barbara La Marr isn't the only member of the cast hiding a dangerous secret.  Meanwhile, a body is discovered in the Baldwin Hills to the south of the city. Could there be a connection? Against his better judgement, Collins is drawn into a case of scandal, forbidden love, blackmail . . . and cold-blooded murder.

Called to investigate the bloodstained aftermath of an eventful Christmas party, detectives Anderson & Costello discover that the holiday season can be anything but merry.  A family man is stabbed to death at a crowded Christmas Ice Show. Murdered in plain sight. No clues, no witnesses, no known motive.  A week later, two bodies are discovered at a holiday cottage in a remote highland glen: one in the kitchen; the other sprawled outside on the icy lawn. The killer would appear to have arrived and left without leaving a trace, not even a footprint in the snow.  What secrets are lurking within this isolated,  superstitious community? As the snow piles higher, detectives Anderson and Costello put their wits to solving a seemingly impossible crime, and gradually uncover a twisted tale of greed, obsession - and cold-blooded murder.  The Red Red Snow is by Caro Ramsay.

Hold Your Breath, China is by Qiu Xiaolong.  Inspector Chen is on the case of a serial murderer when he is called away to report on environmentalists trying to tackle the pollution issues in China.  Chief Inspector Chen and Detective Yu Guangming are brought into a serial murder case when the Homicide squad proves incapable of solving it. But before Chen can make a start, he is called away by a high-ranking Party member for a special assignment: to infiltrate a group of environmental activists meeting to discuss the pollution levels in the country and how to prompt the government into action.   Chen knows it will be a far from simple task, especially when he discovers the leader of the group is a woman from his past. Meanwhile, Yu is left to investigate a serial murder case on his own.  Both Chen and Yu face pressure from those above to resolve the cases in a satisfactory way . . . even if that means innocents face the punishment.

March 2020

Praying for Time is by Carlene Thompson.  She thought her prayers had been answered. Now she's praying for time.  Eight years ago, Vanessa Everly's younger sister Roxanne was kidnapped. Devastated, Vanessa ended her relationship with Christian Montgomery, whose troubled brother Brody was the police's prime suspect. Now, Vanessa receives the news she never thought she'd hear: Roxanne is alive. Vanessa's torment should be over, but it's about to get much darker...

An uninvited house guest throws Bea Abbot's summer plans into chaos, bringing danger and peril to Bea's door.  Bea Abbot is looking forward to spending the summer with her fourteen-year-old ward, Bernice, but her plans go awry when one of Bernice's schoolfriends finds herself in trouble. Evelina Trescott's uncle has died in a mysterious accident at their country house, and her aunt, Mrs Trescott, is keen to hide Evelina away from the police.  Evelina arrives on Bea's doorstep catatonic, heavily drugged up on epilepsy medication and unable to remember finding her uncle's body. Is she really a hapless victim, or is Bea harbouring a wily criminal?  The more Bea learns about the troublesome Trescotts, the more she realizes something is horribly wrong, and soon finds herself drawn into a dark web of greed, abuse, and murder. False Conclusion is by Veronica Heley.

Borrowed Time is by David Mark.  A badly mutilated body has been discovered in a remote woodland pond on the Essex borders - a location known to be the haunt of the ruthless crime gang that ruled London in the 70s. When one of the victim's hands is found nearby, forensic tests reveal a number scrawled on the palm. It is quickly identified as the National Insurance number of struggling family man Adam Nunn.  As Adam is arrested in connection with the murder, it emerges that the dead man was a private investigator he had hired to find out the identity of his birth parents. Just what did Larry Paris discover that got him killed?  As Adam seeks the truth surrounding his origins and promises justice for the mother he never knew, he is drawn into a lurid criminal world of violence and violation, reprisal and merciless death. Torn between the man he wants to be and the man he fears becoming, Adam's investigations will lead him ever deeper into darkness.

Money is the root of all evil, according to the Reverend Mother - but is it the motive for her cousin's murder?  Wealthy widow Charlotte Hendrick had always promised that her riches would be divided equally between her seven closest relatives when she died. Now she has changed her mind and summoned her nearest and dearest, including her cousin, the Reverend Mother, to her substantial home on Bachelor's Quay to inform them of her decision. As Mrs Hendrick's relatives desperately make their case to retain a share of her wealth, riots break out on the quays outside as the flood waters rise ...  The following morning, a body is discovered in the master bedroom, its throat cut. Could there be a connection to the riots of the night before - or does the killer lie closer to home? In her efforts to uncover the truth, the Reverend Mother unearths a tale of greed, cruelty, forbidden passion ... and cold-blooded malice.  Death of a Prominent Citizen is by Cora Harrison.

The Molten City is by Chris Nickson.  Detective Superintendent Tom Harper senses trouble ahead when the prime minister plans a visit. Can he keep law and order on the streets while also uncovering the truth behind a missing child?  Leeds, September 1908. There's going to be a riot. Detective Superintendent Tom Harper can feel it. Herbert Asquith, the prime minster, is due to speak in the city. The suffragettes and the unemployed men will be out in the streets in protest. It's Harper's responsibility to keep order. Can he do it? Harper has also received an anonymous letter claiming that a young boy called Andrew Sharp was stolen from his family fourteen years before. The file is worryingly thin. It ought to have been bulging. A missing child should have been headline news. Why was Andrew's disappearance ignored? Determined to uncover the truth about Andrew Sharp and bring the boy some justice, Harper is drawn deep into the dark underworld of child-snatching, corruption and murder as Leeds becomes a molten, rioting city.

The Reckoning is by M J Trow. December, 1592. England is entering dangerous waters as thoughts turn to the question of the ageing Queen Elizabeth's successor. Christopher Marlowe meanwhile is leading a troupe of the Lord Chamberlain's Men on tour with a controversial new play.  Marlowe expects his latest play, Edward II, to ruffle feathers. What he doesn't expect is it to lead to is sudden, violent death. The morning the tour is due to begin, the newest member of the cast is found stabbed to death in the local brothel. And when a second murder, and then a third, disrupt rehearsals for the inaugural performance in the Great Hall at Scudbury Manor, it becomes clear that someone is determined to prevent this play from being performed - at any cost. But who ... and why?

Maggie Wise, a retired homicide cop turned radio presenter, is asked to help the local police with the case of two missing girls.  Dr Oscar LeBlanc is close to a medical breakthrough to cure dementia and other degenerative diseases . . . but in order to succeed he needs to illegally obtain plasma from prepubescent children. He believes the ends justify the means and two young girls are abducted.  The disappearance of the girls causes a lockdown of the area and, when one of the girl's parents prove uncooperative with the police, former homicide cop turned radio presenter Maggie Wise offers to help. Maggie quickly forms a connection with the family just as the girls are recovered.  LeBlanc is quickly suspected, but after he is questioned he's found dead from an apparent suicide. However, the circumstances are suspicious and Maggie finds herself conflicted when the family become the prime suspects.  Young Blood is by Tricia Fields.

April 2020

Detective Sarah Burke and new cop Zivko 'Bogey' Boganicevic are sent to an incident at Fairweather Farms senior living center in Tucson. The center's van has suddenly been chased at reckless speed by a carload of bandits firing high-powered rifles, and crashed into its own garage. Arriving at the scene, Sarah makes a grisly discovery: the driver, Enrique Lopez, was shot in the head during the chase. Why was a kindly man, dedicated to looking after the elderly, targeted and killed so dramatically by a team of hoodlums? As Sarah works through her list of questions, she soon finds herself drawn into the high-stakes world of drugs, deception and mistaken identity where nothing is as it first appears, and she is forced to risk her career - and her life - in her search for answers.  Sarah’s List is by Elizabeth Gunn.

Lucky Bones is by Michael Wiley.  "My boyfriend's been stealing my Jimmy Choos." Genevieve Bower has hired private investigator Sam Kelson to recover her stolen shoes from her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend. The problem is that no one's seen Genevieve's boyfriend for the past two weeks. Events take a disturbing twist when, in his search for the shoes, Kelson comes across a body, shot in the head. A clear-cut case of suicide - or is it? Has Kelson's client been wholly honest with him? What is this case really about? At the same time, an explosion rips through one of the city's public libraries, leaving a friend's nephew critically injured. Could there be a connection? If there is, Kelson's determined to find it. But Kelson's not like other investigators. Taking a bullet in the brain during his former career as a Chicago cop, he suffers from disinhibition: he cannot keep silent or tell lies when questioned - and his involuntary outspokenness is about to lead him into dangerous waters . . .

Ghosts Up Her Game is by Carolyn Hart.  After a busy morning dispatching emissaries from Heaven's Department of Good Intentions to those in need, Bailey Ruth Raeburn is feeling flush with success. So when an urgent call for help comes through from her old hometown, she can't resist taking on the mission herself. After all, what could go wrong? With the shouted warning of her boss, Wiggins - "Irregular! Problematic!" - ringing in her ears, she arrives to face a shocking scene: Professor Iris Gallagher leaning over the corpse of her colleague Matt Lambert, the murder weapon clutched in her hand. Bailey Ruth is only sent to help the innocent, but things are looking very black for Iris. With Wiggins breathing down her neck, and her old friend Police Chief Sam Cobb casting doubt on her every theory, Bailey Ruth must uncover the truth - or this could be the last trip to earth she's ever allowed to make.

Literary caterer Letitia 'Tish' Tarragon has pulled out all the stops for her booth at the Hobson Glen Holiday Fair, theming her appetising offerings around the festive performances by the Williamsburg Theatre Group. But when Tish meets the cast, she is surprised by the hostility between members of the allegedly close-knit troupe, centred around their star actress, the beautiful, talented yet mysterious ingnue, Jenny Inkpen.  Determined to spread some Christmas cheer, Tish volunteers to deliver breakfast to the eight actors, but is horrified to discover Jenny dead in her trailer the next morning. As Tish attempts to find out more about the group's leading lady, she soon uncovers lies, jealousy and a series of shocking secrets. Can Tish expose a cold-blooded killer before the fair is over?  The Christmas Fair Killer is by Amy Patricia Meade.

The Music Box Enigma is by R N Morris.  Could a mysterious music box hold the key to unlocking the puzzle behind a gruesome murder for Detective Inspector Silas Quinn?London, 1914. Despite a number of setbacks, rehearsals for The Hampstead Voices' Christmas concert are continuing apace. The sold-out event is raising funds for war refugees, and both Winston Churchill and Edward Elgar are expected to attend. But the most disturbing setback of all occurs when the choirmaster, Sir Aidan Fonthill, is discovered dead at a piano, a tuning fork protruding from his ear.Detective Chief Inspector Silas Quinn and his team from the Special Crimes Department at New Scotland Yard soon discover that Sir Aidan had a number of enemies, but who hated him enough to carry out such a heinous crime? Could the answer be linked to a mysterious music box delivered to Sir Aidan's house shortly before the murder, and can Silas solve the puzzle of the music box enigma and catch the killer before the concert takes place?

The truth is stranger than fiction for Albert Campion in this gripping mystery where murder, detective novels and the supernatural collide.1946, London. The eagerly anticipated new detective novel from Albert Campion's godsibling, bestselling author Evadne Childe, is proving to be another runaway success. Unfortunately, it has also caught the attention of Superintendent Stanislaus Oates for reasons that go beyond its superior plotting. The crime at the heart of The Bottle Party Murder bears a number of striking similarities to a very real, recent and unsolved murder at the Grafton Club in Soho. Evadne wrote the book before the murder occurred, yet predicts it remarkably accurately - is it just a weird coincidence, is Evadne getting her information from 'the other side', or is something more sinister afoot? The repercussions of this extraordinary and complex case will reach out over the next fifteen years, drawing in three of Mr Campion's favourite policemen - Oates, Yeo and Luke - before finally coming to its violent conclusion in 1962.  Mr Campion’s Séance is by Mike Ripley.

July 2020

Secrets simmer in the lonely wasteland of Dartmoor.  Spring, 1312. At Malmaison Manor, Lord Simon is concealing a dark secret - one he arrogantly assumes will never catch up with him. But someone knows about the crime he committed and they've found a way to make him pay. And he's not alone. When he is found mysteriously slain, other deaths soon follow. Meanwhile, ships on the Devonshire coast are being deliberately wrecked, their crews slaughtered, their cargoes plundered.  Sir Hugh Corbett and Lord Simon are bound by the Secret Chancery and their search for one precious ruby - the Lacrima Christi. So, when Corbett learns of Lord Simon's death, he is once more dragged into a tangled web of lies and intrigue and it's not long before secrets of his own start to surface. As the Hymn to Murder reaches its crescendo, can Corbett confront his past and live to see another day?  Hymn to Murder is by Paul Doherty.

August 2020

Every Kind of Wicked is by Lisa Black.  Life and death have brought Maggie Gardiner full circle, back to the Erie Street Cemetery where she first entered Jack Renner's orbit. Eight months ago, she learned what Jack would do in the name of justice. More unsettling still, she discovered how far she would go to cover his tracks. Now a young man sprawls atop a snowy grave, his heart shredded by a single wound. A key card in the victim's wallet leads to the local university's student housing - and to a grieving girlfriend with an unsettling agenda.  Maggie's struggle to appease her conscience is complicated by her ex-husband, Rick, who's convinced that Jack is connected to a series of vigilante killings. Also a homicide detective, Rick investigates what seems like a routine overdose on Cleveland's West Side; but here, too, the appearance belies a deeper truth.   Rick's case and Jack's merge onto the trail of a shadowy, pill-pushing physician who is everywhere and nowhere at once, while Maggie and Jack uncover a massive financial shakedown hiding in plain sight. And when Rick's bloody fingerprint is found at another murder scene, Maggie's world comes undone in a violent, irreversible torrent of events . . .

Books to look forward to from Hodder and Stoughton and Mulholland

Brush Back is by Sara Paretsky and is due to be published in July 2015.  Twenty-five years ago, Stella Guzzo beat her daughter to death and then walked up the street to play bingo at her parish church. Chicago detective V.I. Warshawski grew up with the Guzzo family. She dated Frank Guzzo when they were teens and knew Stella's murderous rages first-hand, so she was relieved when a judge sent Stella to prison for a long stretch. V.I. and Frank went their different ways, V.I. to university and law school, Frank to marriage, children, and a job as a truck driver. She didn't think about the family again until the day Frank came to her office, wanting V.I. to help his mother with an exoneration claim. The detective wants no part of Stella Guzzo's world, but she realizes how hard life has been for Frank, stuck in the gang-ridden streets around Chicago's dead steel mills, and she doesn't feel able to say no. V.I. starts asking questions, but the answers leave her puzzled. Was Stella's daughter Annie the ardent girl V.I. remembers, looking for a college education as a way out of South Chicago? Or was she a calculating, amoral person, as Stella claims? And what about the lawyers Annie worked for - why did they insist on representing Stella in her murder trial? V.I.'s inquiries put her smack in the path of a notorious Mob enforcer. When she gets jumped in her old 'hood, her biggest question becomes whether she will live long enough to find the answers.

Two young men -Jago and Marcantonio - both studying business and finance: Jago is a kid from a rough part of London who has worked hard to get a job in a bank and is now on a fast-track secondment to the Berlin office. Marcantonio is one of the new generation in the 'Ndrangheta crime families from Calabria, Southern Italy. He is in Germany to learn how to channel their illicit millions towards legitimate businesses all over Europe. When Jago witnesses Marcantonio commit a vicious assault and the police seem uninterested, the Englisman refuses to let the matter drop. But by pursuing the gangster to his grandfather's mountain lair, Jago is stepping into the middle of a delicate surveillance operation, which sets alarm bells ringing in Rome, London and Berlin. It also leads him to Consolata, a young woman who sees in Jago the chance to turn her non-violent protest campaign against the crime families into something altogether more lethal... No Mortal Thing is by Gerald Seymour and is novel of relentless power and mounting suspense, a brilliant portrayal of organised crime in Europe and the under-resourced men and women who fight it.  No Mortal Thing is due to be published in July 2015.

The Undesired is by Yrsa Sigurdardottir and is due to be published in October 2015. The light spilling in from the corridor would have to do. Though weak, it was sufficient to show Aldis a boy sitting in the gloom at the furthest table. He had his back to her, so she couldn't see who it was, but could tell that he was one of the youngest. A chill ran down her spine when he spoke again, without turning, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. 'Go away. Leave me alone.' 'Come on. You shouldn't be here.' Aldis spoke gently, fairly sure now that the boy must be delirious. Confused, rather than dangerous. He turned, slowly and deliberately, and she glimpsed black eyes in a pale face. 'I wasn't talking to you.' Aldis is working in a juvenile detention centre in rural Iceland. She witnesses something deeply disturbing in the middle of the night; soon afterwards, two of the boys at the centre are dead. Decades later, single father Odinn is looking into alleged abuse at the centre following the unexplained death of the colleague who was previously running the investigation. The more he finds out, though, the more it seems the odd events of the 1970s are linked to the accident that killed his ex-wife. Was her death something more sinister?

If She Only Knew is by Lisa Jackson ad is due to be published in December 2015. She woke up with a new face. She woke up with no memories. And she woke up to murder...Not only has Marla Cahill survived a deadly car accident, but her beautiful features have been restored through plastic surgery. She should be grateful. Instead, she's consumed by confusion...and panic. For the people gathered at her bedside - her family - are strangers. And so is the woman whose haunted eyes stare back from the mirror...Secluded at the magnificent Cahill mansion, Marla waits for something to trigger recognition. Yet the only thing she's left with is the unshakable feeling that she is not who everyone says she is, and that something is very, very wrong. Determined to piece together the truth of her identity, she finds herself drawn to her brother-in-law, Nick - a man who seems both to want and despise her. And as her fractured mind slowly clears, Marla begins to have flashes of another life...of cruel betrayals and deadly secrets. Marla's life isn't just different - it's in danger, controlled by a twisted killer who's waiting for the right moment to strike...the moment Marla remembers...

When Kel MacDonald joins an expedition looking for a legendary lost city in the Peruvian Amazon, he's expecting the adventure of a lifetime. But things are not what they seem. Paramilitaries, drug cartels, and wildcat prospectors all want what the jungle has to offer - while untamed local tribes will fight desperately to protect their way of life. Maps of the region have been doctored. And what exactly happened to the previous expedition, a government vaccination program that went upriver and never returned? Soon finding the lost city is the least of their troubles. The jungle hides deadly secrets that must be hidden at all costs. And someone in the group wants to make sure they never get out.  Black River is by Tom Harper and is due to be published in September 2015.

DI Rio Wray returns in this breakneck-speed thriller Death Trap. A married couple and their housekeeper are brutally murdered at their home on a quiet suburban street. But this isn't a one-off case. There are clues linking their murders to a string of violent attacks and burglaries on other affluent families. Who is behind them? And will DI Rio Wray and her team catch them before they attack again?  Death Trap is by Dreda Say Mitchell and is due to be published in August 2015.

Oswald de Lacy is growing up fast in his new position as Lord of Somershill Manor. The Black Death changed many things, and just as it took away his father and elder brothers, leaving Oswald to be recalled from the monastery where he expected to spend his life, so it has taken many of his villagers and servants. However, there is still the same amount of work to be done in the farms and fields, and the few people left to do it think they should be paid more - something the King himself has forbidden. Just as anger begins to spread, the story of the Butcher Bird takes flight. People claim to have witnessed a huge creature in the skies. A new-born baby is found impaled on a thorn bush. And then more children disappear. Convinced the bird is just a superstitious rumour, Oswald must discover what is really happening. He can expect no help from his snobbish mother and his scheming sister Clemence, who is determined to protect her own child, but happy to neglect her step-daughters. From the plague-ruined villages of Kent to the thief-infested streets of London and the luxurious bedchamber of a bewitching lady, Oswald's journey is full of danger, dark intrigue and shocking revelations.  The Butcher Bird is by S D Sykes and s due to be published in October 2015.

Black Ops is by Stephen Leather and is due to be published in July 2015. Who Can you trust

if you can’t trust yourself. Spider Shepherd's MI5 Controller, Charlie Button, has gone rogue, using government resources to get revenge on the men who killed her husband. Spider is told to betray her. Worse, he's asked to cooperate with his nemesis at MI6, Jeremy Willoughby Brown, in taking Charlie down. And he will have to cross the assassin, Lex Harper, currently on the trail of two Irish terrorists, who may be able to lead him to his ex-boss. Meanwhile, Spider's sixteen-year-old son is caught with drugs, expelled from school and threatened with prosecution. But the drug police offer Spider a deal: go undercover, unmask a local dealer and his son will go free. Spider has no option but to cooperate. But is he any better than Charlie, using work resources to resolve personal issues? There's little time to debate because another high profile mission is about to engulf him. President Vladimir Putin is about to visit the UK and a father who lost his son on the downed Malaysian plane over the Ukraine holds Putin directly responsible for his death and wants revenge. Along with everything else, it's down to Spider to stop the assassination of a head of state on British soil.

Friction is by Sandra Brown and is due to be published in August 2015. A Texas Ranger, relegated to deskwork due to past recklessness, petitions to regain custody of his five-year-old daughter, and his case is assigned to a family court judge who is as attractive as she is ambitious. When a masked gunman barges in during the custody hearing with his sights on the judge, the Ranger reacts instinctually and goes after him. But authorities apprehend the wrong man, and the real gunman remains unknown, at large, and a threat. Will this take-charge lawman jeopardize his chances of custody by going after the would-be assassin? And will this unlikely pair be able to deny the forbidden attraction building between them?

Jude Shelley, daughter of a prominent cabinet minister, had her whole life ahead of her until she was attacked and left to drown in the Thames. Miraculously, she survived. A year later, her family ask psychologist Alice Quentin to re-examine the case. But then an elderly priest is attacked in Battersea, his body washed up at Westminster Pier. An ancient glass bead is tied to his wrist. The river has always demanded sacrifices, and now it seems a killer believes it's calling out for more. Alice is certain that Jude and her family are hiding something, but unless she can persuade them to share what they know, more victims will drown...  River of Souls is by Kate Rhodes and is due to be published in June 2015.

Before you discovered DCI Banks, Dectective Arvo Hughes was on the case in this vintage standalone crime thriller from Peter Robinson. In 1990s Los Angeles, the beautiful star of a hit TV cop show is being sent strange letters. At first, Sarah Broughton dismisses the letters as the ramblings of a lonely fan. But when the letters take on a disturbing tone and Sarah discovers a body in the sand outside her Malibu beach house, the experts are brought in. Working as a detective in the LAPD Threat Management Unit, Arvo Hughes has seen it all before: stalkers, love obsessionals,

erotomaniacs - willing to kill themselves and their supposed love objects over their devotion. He knows the language they use and the patterns they follow. But there is no pattern to follow here. Dealing with a highly unpredictable but extremely violent killer, Arvo feels certain Sarah's stalker must have met her before. But with the squeaky-clean star doing all she can to keep memories of a shady history locked away, Arvo must delve into her past himself.  No Cure for Love is by Peter Robinson and is due to be published in July 2015.

After 602 days dry, Captain Benny Griessel of the South African police services can't take any more tragedy. So when Benny is called in to investigate a multiple homicide, it pushes him close to breaking point - a former friend and detective colleague has shot his wife and two daughters, then killed himself. Benny wants out - out of his job, his home and his relationship with his singer girlfriend, Alexa. He moves into a hotel and starts drinking. Again. But Benny's unique talent is urgently required to help investigate another crime - the high profile murder of Ernst Richter, MD of a new tech startup, Alibi, whose body is discovered buried in the sand dunes north of Cape Town. Alibi is a service that creates false appointments, documents and phone calls to enable people to cheat on their partners. It has made Richter one of the most notorious people in South Africa. Can Benny pull together the strands of his life in time to catch the killer?  Icarus is by Deon Meyer and is due to be published in August 2015.

A Banquet of Consequences is by Elizabeth George and is due to be published October 2015. The suicide of William Goldacre is devastating to those left behind. But what was the cause of his tragedy and how far might the consequences reach? Is there a link between the young man's leap from a Dorset cliff and a horrific poisoning in Cambridge? Following various career-threatening misdemeanours, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers is desperate to redeem herself. So when a past encounter with bestselling feminist writer Clare Abbott and her pushy personal assistant Caroline Goldacre gives her a connection to the Cambridge murder, Barbara begs DI Thomas Lynley to let her pursue the crime. Soon, Lynley finds himself investigating the London end of an ever more darkly disturbing case, while Havers and DS Winston Nkata look behind the peaceful facade of country life to discover a twisted world of desire and deceit. 

Last Words is by Michael Koryta and is due to be published in August 2015.  Still mourning the death of his wife, private investigator Mark Novak accepts a case that may be his undoing. On same day his wife died, the body of a teenage girl was pulled from the extensive and perilous cave system beneath Southern Indiana. Now the man who rescued the girl, who was believed to be her killer, begs Novak uncover what really happened. The only problem is in small-town Midwest, cold cases stay cold. Garrison is much like any place in America, proud and fortified against outsiders. So Mark is forced to delve beneath the town's secrets, and more frighteningly match wits with the man who knows the caverns better than anyone. A man who seemed to lose his mind. A man who seems to know Mark Novak all too well.

Darkness is by Karen Robards and is due to be published in November 2015.  Beautiful, brilliant Dr Gina Solomon is one of a handful of scientists stationed on a remote island off the Arctic Circle. Out conducting research in the last few days before winter wraps the area in months-long darkness, she witnesses a small plane crash over the Bering Sea, and rescues a survivor from the wreckage - Mal Connolly. With a snowstorm stranding them unexpectedly, it's at least twenty-four hours before they return to the research station. When they do, Gina is horrified to discover that the rest of her party has been murdered. Whoever killed the scientists is still on the island, hunting Mal, who is a military weapons expert with a terrible secret. Someone will do anything to stop him from revealing what he knows. And now Gina is in danger too. With no escape until the plane comes for them the following week, Gina and Mal try to stay one step ahead of the killers, and discover a potent sexual chemistry ...But will they get off the island before they are swallowed up in darkness forever?

Glasgow, 1932, is a city in the grip of dance-fever. Public ballrooms and backstreet dancehalls are thronged every night and competition for professional titles is fierce. Even after the sudden death of one of last year's hopefuls there are plenty willing to take his place, and few who stop to wonder why he died. In the melting pot of the Locarno Ballroom in Sauchiehall Street, a debutante rubs shoulders with denizens of Glasgow's meanest streets, her respectable fiance oblivious, her parents dismayed. When she starts receiving threats from a rival, they grow frantic enough to call on Dandy Gilver to save their precious daughter from harm. But as Dandy and her sidekick, Alec Osborne, begin to unravel the secrets of the dancehall, they soon discover that the rot goes much deeper than rivalry and there's more at stake than a silver cup. Despite the pretty frocks and dancing shoes, this apparently glittering world is a darker place than they've ever been before ...  Dandy Gilver and the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom is by Catriona McPherson and is due to be published in July 2015.

The Tudor Vendetta is by Christopher Gortner and is due to be published in October 2015.

  It is the final book in the Elizabeth’s Spymaster Trilogy.  November, 1558: Elizabeth I has ascended the throne but the first days of her reign are already fraught with turmoil, the kingdom weakened by past strife and her ability to rule uncertain. When Brendan Prescott, her intimate spy, returns to court at the new queen's behest, he soon finds himself thrust into a deadly gambit against his old foe, Robert Dudley. But Elizabeth has an even more dangerous assignation in store for him when her favoured lady-in-waiting, Lady Parry, vanishes in Yorkshire. Sent from court to a crumbling manor that may hold the key to Lady Parry's disappearance, Brendan becomes the quarry of an elusive stranger with a vendetta- one that could expose both Brendan's own secret past and a long-hidden mystery that will bring about Elizabeth's doom.

NEVER DROP YOUR GUARD. NEVER CLOSE YOUR EYES. OR YOU'LL NEVER SEE HIM COMING...It should be the best day of their lives. Too bad they never get to see it. On the cusp of their twenty-first birthday, he strikes. His victims are always twins, their ritualistic murders planned in exquisite detail, down to the moment when they breathe their last together. An innocent man is in prison and Brianna Hayward needs to convince the New Orleans police. Not just to free her cousin, but to save others who will suffer until the true culprit is found. Reporter Jason Bridges is intrigued. It's a story that could make his career - as long as Brianna never guesses the secret in Jason's past...Detective Rick Bentz had his doubts about the '21' conviction when he worked the case in L.A. Now the real murderer may be loose in his backyard. Twin sisters have vanished, days before their birthday. And as Bentz and his partner Reuben Montoya desperately follow the trail, a killer prepares to unite his next victims in death forever...  Never Die Alone is by Lisa Jackson and is due to be published in August 2015.

2 July 1644. Five armies converge outside York. It will be a battle for honour, glory, and the fate of three kingdoms. And it will pit two great leaders - Oliver Cromwell and Prince Rupert - directly against one another for the first time. It is a day that will change the course of history. Into the cannon fire and musket smoke marches Major Innocent Stryker, battle-scarred hero of the Royalist cause. He must not only lead his men through the bloody horror and outwit his Parliamentary enemies, but uncover foul treachery on his own side. He will need every shred of experience and determination to survive. Marston Moor will be the decisive turning point in the British Civil Wars. This is the thrilling and shocking story of that battle.  Marston Moor is by Michael Arnold and is due to be published in July 2015.

Mumbai, murder and a baby elephant combine in a charming, joyful mystery for fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Rachel Joyce. On the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra inherits two unexpected mysteries. The first is the case of a drowned boy, whose suspicious death no one seems to want solved. And the second is a baby elephant. As his search for clues takes him across the teeming city of Mumbai, from its grand high rises to its sprawling slums and deep into its murky underworld, Chopra begins to suspect that there may be a great deal more to both his last case and his new ward than he thought. And he soon learns that when the going gets tough, a determined elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs...  The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra is the debut novel by Vaseem Khan and is due to be published in October 2015.

The Killing Kind is by Chris Holm and is due to be published in August 2015.  Michael Hendricks is not a good man. He doesn't deserve a good life. But he is very good at his job. He's the killing kind. He doesn't accept contract kills. He doesn't work for any criminal organisation. And he never kills civilians. He only hits hitters. He's not the kind of guy you call if you want to pop somebody who's pissed you off or done you wrong. He's not a guy you call at all - he calls you. And when he does, you'd be advised to take his call. Because it means that someone wants you dead, and time is running out to save your life. It's not a bad way to make a living, but it's a great way to make enemies. And now both the FBI and the mafia have Hendricks in their sights, he's about to learn just how good he really is...

'The system has no place for a cop who puts justice above the interests of the Party. It's a miracle that I survived as long as I did.' For years, Chen Cao managed to balance the interests of the Communist Party and the demands made by his job. He was considered a rising star until, after one too many controversial cases that embarrassed powerful men, he found himself neutralised. Under the guise of a promotion, he's been stripped of his title and his influence, discredited and isolated. Soon it becomes clear that his enemies still aren't satisfied, and that someone is attempting to have him killed - quietly. Chen has been charged with the investigation into a 'Red Prince' - a high Party figure who embodies the ruthless ambition, greed and corruption that is on the rise in China. But with no power, few allies, and his own reputation and life on the line, he knows he is facing the most dangerous case of his career.  The Shanghai Redemption is by Qiu Xiaolong and is due to be published in July 2015.