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?

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Simon & Schuster

Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He's a murder detective. A near-genius. He's brilliant; he's intense; he's instinctive. He's obsessional. He's dangerous. DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumours that DCI Luther is bad - not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn't; things way beyond the limits of the law. Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder... Luther: The Calling is by Neil Cross and is due to be published in August 2011.

Thieves Get Rich is by Jodi Compton and is due to be published in December 2011. Having defied a powerful mobster to protect a pregnant teenager, army dropout Hailey Cain has found herself on the wrong side of the law and is now in LA, second-in-command to her high school best friend turned rising gangster Serena 'Warchild' Delgadillo. Hailey is just beginning to settle into her unconventional new way of life when it is suddenly and violently overturned. A murder has been committed, and all fingers are pointing at her. Only Hailey herself, and the all-girl gang to which she belongs, know that this is a case of stolen identity with ruthless and dangerous motives. But how can they prove this, given that she'll be arrested as soon as she steps forward? Hailey must go on the run once more, risking her life to reclaim her name and chase down the murderer who has taken it...

Agent 6 is by the award wining author Tom Robb Smith and is due to be published in July 2011. Former Soviet Secret Service agent Leo Demidov has built himself a new life as a civilian with his wife Raisa, and their two teenage daughters, Elena and Zoya. The Soviet Union is a country trying to reassert itself after the murderous excesses of Stalin and the chaos of the following years, and as the Cold War continues powers inside Russia seek to topple their great enemy, the United States of America. Communist allies within the United States will prove vital players in this game of intrigue and revolution. Raisa and their two daughters travel to the United States on a diplomatic mission, but a horrifying tragedy destroys everything Leo and Raisa have built. Leo must get to the States somehow and find out what happened. Exiled from the Soviet Union and separated from his family, Leo's quest takes him through the stark wilderness of Afghanistan, reawakening all his old instincts and forcing him to confront his demons. But whatever it costs, wherever he must go, he will find Agent 6.

In the middle of a rainy Swedish summer, a little girl is abducted from a crowded train. Despite hundreds of potential witnesses, no one noticed when the girl was taken. Her mother had been left behind at the previous station in what seemed to be a coincidence. The train crew were alerted and kept a watchful eye on the sleeping child. But as the train pulled into Stockholm Central Station, the girl was nowhere to be seen. Inspector Alex Recht and his special team of federal investigators, assisted by the investigative analyst Frederika Bergman, are assigned to what at first appears to be a classic custody row. But when the child is found dead in the far north of Sweden with the word 'Unwanted' scribbled on her forehead, the case soon turns into the investigation team's worst nightmare - the pursuit of a brilliant and ruthless killer. Unwanted is by Kristina Ohlsson and is due to be published in November 2011.

Forensic investigator Reilly Steel, Quantico-trained and California-born and bred, imagined Dublin to be a far cry from bustling San Francisco, a sleepy backwater where she can lay past ghosts to rest and start anew. She's arrived in Ireland to drag the Irish crime lab into the 21st century, plus keep tabs on her Irish-born father who's increasingly seeking solace in the bottle after a past family tragedy. But a brutal serial killer soon puts paid to that. When a young man and woman are found dead in an apartment, the gunshot wounds on their naked bodies suggest a suicide pact. But Reilly's instincts are screaming that something's seriously amiss, and as more bodies are discovered, the team soon realises that a twisted murderer is at work, one who seeks to upset society's norms in the most sickening way imaginable... Taboo is by Casey Hill and is due to be published in July 2011.

When Detective Robert Hunter, of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section, has to take over the investigation of an especially gruesome murder, he starts to suspect that the killer might be keeping several women hostage, not least because his inquiry collides with a missing persons’ case being investigated by the razor sharp Whitney Meyers. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a predator with a terrible secret, who won’t stop until each of his victims has brought forth the awful truth that lies hidden deep inside them too. The Night Watcher is by Chris Carter and is due to be published in July 2011.

The Covenant is by Dean Crawford and is due to be published in November 2011. When archaeologist Lucy Morgan uncovers a 7000-year old tomb on a dig in a remote part of Israel, she realises she has stumbled across something that will re-write history. That’s before she’s knocked unconscious. Pastor Kelvin Patterson, head of one of America’s biggest fundamentalist churches, has known of such discoveries for some time but in his eyes these skeletons are not aliens but angels. In Washington DC, two detectives come across three bodies, rotting in a sweltering apartment. So why is it that they appear to have died of hypothermia. With so much at stake only one man can be called upon to help. Troubled Ethan Warner, war correspondent and former marine, had hoped to put his action days behind him. But when he is asked by Lucy’s mother to find her, he knows he cannot let her down.

Ali Reynolds' six week course at the Arizona Police Academy is abruptly interrupted when Brenda Riley, a colleague from Ali's old news broadcasting days in California, shows up in town with an alcohol problem and an unlikely story about a missing fiance. Ali is cynical, but reluctantly agrees to help out an old friend. It soon comes to light that the man posing as Brenda's fiance is Richard Lowensdale, a cyber-sociopath who has left a trail of broken hearts in his virtual wake. Now he has been viciously murdered, the women he once victimized are considered suspects. The police soon focus their investigation on Brenda, who is already known to have broken into Richard's home and computer before vanishing without a trace. Attempting to clear her friend's name, Ali is quickly drawn into a web of online intrigue that may lead to a real-world fatal error. Fatal Error is by J.A Jance and is due to be published in September 2011.

Face of the Devil is by N.J.Cooper and is due to be published in July 2011. Suzie Gray is only fifteen when she is stabbed to death within metres of her uncle's yacht on the Isle of Wight. Her body is found in the blood-smeared arms of Olly Matken, a family friend who grew up with her. Schizophrenic and vulnerable, he presents a serious challenge to the police. 'I didn't hurt her!' Olly protests. 'All I did was keep her from the devil.' DCI Charlie Trench turns to forensic psychologist Karen Taylor. She knows she should ignore his call, but she cannot. Curiosity and, although she would never admit it to her partner, Will, a dangerous attraction to the brooding detective, push her into a deeply troubling case. Is Olly capable of murder? His own psychologist doesn't think so, but his father does. The only way to find the truth is to identify Olly's devil. And Karen has demons of her own.

Jake Reese is an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, trying to block out the memory of his far from ordinary past by planning for a life with his new wife, Diane. When two men attack Jake in a car park and cut off his ring finger, he tries to dismiss it as a random incident: an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake finds he can dismiss his suspicions no longer. As he embarks on a mission to find her, Jake finds that his dark past refuses to stay buried, and his future begins to unfold in ways he could never have imagined….. Already Gone is by John Rector and is due to be published in December 2011.

Gideon Davis, whose behind-the-scenes negotiating skills have earned him the role of peacemaker in conflicts around the globe, knows more about hush-hush discussions in Capitol corridors than he does about hand-to-hand combat. But his more practical, tactical skills become vital when he's called upon by family friend and government big-wig Earl Parker to bring in a rogue agent - Gideon's own brother Tillman. Gideon is transported from a DC awards dinner to the jungles of the oil-rich nation of Mohan, where Tillman has promised to give himself up. But on his arrival the plan goes immediately awry. Gideon must evade hostile locals to make his way to The Obelisk - a multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art oil rig that has been seized by terrorists. Both Tillman, who doesn't seem to have surrender in mind, and Earl Parker are aboard the ill-fated rig - Tillman working undercover and Parker as a hostage. As tensions rise, Gideon launches a hazardous one-man rescue. The Obelisk is the debut novel by Howard Gordon and is due to be published in September 2011.

When Christopher Thomas, a curator at San Francisco's Museum of Fine Arts, is murdered and his decaying body is found in an iron maiden in Berlin, his wife Rosemary Thomas is the prime suspect. Long suffering under Christopher's unfaithful ways, Rosemary is tried, convicted and executed. Ten years later, Jon Nunn, the detective who cracked the case, becomes convinced that the wrong person was put to death. Along with financier Tony Olsen, he plans to gather everyone who was there the night Christopher died and finally uncover the truth about what happened that fateful evening. Could it have been the ne'er do well brother Peter Hausen, interested in his sister's trust fund having got through his own; the curatorial assistant Justine Olengard, used and betrayed by Christopher; the artist Belle who turned down his advances only to see her career suffer a setback; or someone else all together? No Rest for the Dead is a thrilling, page-turning accomplishment that features contributions from such authors as Jeffery Deaver, Kathy Reichs, Tess Gerristen, Jeff Lindsay, Alexander McCall Smith and Peter James with an introduction by David Baldacci. It is due to be published in November 2011.

When a whole block is torn down in central Minneapolis to make way for a new housing development, an unpleasant surprise is unearthed. The bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic, are discovered underneath an old house. It looks like they've been down there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long. In 1985, Davenport was a young cop just about to be promoted out of uniform, despite a reputation for playing fast and loose with the rules. A superb undercover guy, he was part of the massive police effort that followed the kidnapping of two girls who were never found again, dead or alive. The searches turned up nothing, so when the suspected kidnapper was killed in a shoot-out, the case was closed. But not for Davenport. He'd gotten deep into the case, and while he was convinced the suspect knew something, he didn't think he was the perpetrator - something just felt off. He argued hard about it to his bosses, but nobody wanted to hear. Until now. With the bodies discovered, the case is dusted off, just to tie a bow around it - but there's something wrong with the evidence. There are indications of tampering. Police tampering. And as Davenport investigates, it becomes clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried, but the truth - and there are a lot of people with a very strong stake in that truth never being uncovered. Buried Prey is by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Sandford and is due to be published in July 2011.

The Good Jihadist is by Bob Shepherd and is due to be published in August 2011. Disillusioned SAS veteran Matt Logan is struggling on civvy street. The life he dreams of can be his - if he takes a private security job with the American commander who ended his military career. But when a seemingly random act of terror destroys everything Matt holds dear, the only way to settle the score is to sell his soul. Matt returns to the murky world of Black Ops. But this time, he's not part of an elite crew. To find and kill an elusive insurgent leader, he must single-handedly unravel a jihadist network more complex than he realizes and closer than he knows. Stalked by fundamentalists and Pakistani intelligence, Matt ends up a pawn in a conspiracy to redraw the boundaries of global power; a secret war that is ripping a nation apart. But not the one he thinks ...

The Survivor is by Sean Slater and is due to be published in August 2011. It's every cop's worst nightmare. Especially when his daughter's in the line of fire. In his first hour back from a six-month leave of absence, Detective Jacob Striker's day quickly turns into a nightmare. He is barely on scene five minutes at his daughter's high school when he encounters an Active Shooter situation. Three men wearing hockey masks - Black, White, and Red - have stormed the school with firearms and are killing indiscriminately. Striker takes immediate action. Within minutes two of the gunmen are dead, and Striker is close to ending the violence. But then the last gunman, Red Mask, does something unexpected. He runs up to his fallen comrade, racks the shotgun, and unloads five rounds, obliterating the man's face and hands. And before Striker can react, Red Mask escapes. Against the clock, Striker investigates the killings for which there is no known motive and no known suspect. Soon his investigation takes him to darker places, and he realizes that not everything at Saint Patrick's High is as it seems. The closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous his world becomes. Until Striker himself is in the line of fire. And the violence follows him home ....

When the village of Priors Bramley was closed off for chemical-weapons testing during the Cold War, a long history of dark secrets was also shut away. Now, more than fifty years later, the ghost village has been declared safe again, but there are those living nearby who would much rather that the past remains buried. Ella Haywood, who used to play in the village as a child, is haunted by the discovery of two bodies. All those years ago, something happened in the village, something so terrible that and she and her two oldest friends have vowed to this day never to tell a soul. But the past has a habit of forcing the truth to the surface. With the identity of the bodies and the mystery surrounding the now derelict Cadence Manor drawing increasing local interest, Ella fears that she will have to resort to ever more drastic measures if she is to make sure that no one discovers what really happened all those years ago. What Lies Beneath is by Sarah Rayne and is due to be published in August 2011.

The Beloved of Isis is by Christian Jacq and is due to be published in October 2011. Vienna 1789. A season of darkness has spread throughout Europe as the French Revolution stirs up civil unrest and provokes fear among the authorities. Struggling to makes ends meet, and plagued by a never-ending assault from his enemies, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is determined to fulfil his destiny, as foretold in the ancient secrets of the Pharaohs. Supported by his friend Thamos, Count of Thebes, and encouraged by the Masonic Lodge, Mozart finds the energy to accomplish his greatest work - The Magic Flute, which will reveal the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris to the world and pave the way to enlightenment. But the ultimate test approaches...

Cerdic, a young boy who has the ability to see into the future, has a mysterious treasure in his possession. A blind old woman once gave him a miniature knife with an ivory bear hilt - the symbol of King Arthur - and told him that when the time comes he will know what he has to do with it. But when he and his brother, Baradoc, are enlisted into King Arthur's army, he finds that trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes. When Baradoc dies fighting with King Arthur in an ambush of the Saxons on Solsbury Hill, Cerdic buries the dagger in the side of the hill as a personal tribute to his brother. Throughout history, Solsbury Hill continues to be the scene of murder, theft and the search for buried treasure. Religion, politics and the spirit of King Arthur reign over the region, wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of corpses and treasure buried in the hill as an indication of its turbulent past. Hill of Bones is by The Medieval Murderers and is due to be published in July 2011.

The Night Strangers is by Chris Bohjalian and is due to be published in November 2011. It begins with a door in a dusky corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire. A door that someone has sealed it shut with thirty-nine enormous carriage bolts. The home's new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin daughters. Chip was an an airline pilot until he was forced to crash land on a remote lake the jet he was flying after double engine failure. Thirty-nine people aboard Flight 1611 died that day - a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door ...Meanwhile, his wife is increasingly troubled about the women in this sparsely populated village, self-proclaimed 'herbalists'. Why do they seem excessively interested in her young daughters. Emily is terrified, too, that her husband's grip on sanity seems to have become increasingly tenuous, in the wake of the devastating plane accident.