The Unexpected Star of the Show by Sharon Bolton

In July 2015, a car veered off the road near Stirling in Scotland. The driver was killed on impact; his passenger, a young woman, was trapped in the car, badly injured, for three days. She died in hospital shortly after police, finally, found the vehicle. It’s a dreadful story, one that remained with me for a long time. We expect, on our relatively small island, that when we need them, emergency services will be there. On this occasion, something went badly wrong.

Books often begin with a simple, if disturbing, idea and trying to imagine what the poor woman went through as she waited for help to arrive was the start of The Fake Wife. In my story, Olive Anderson, dining alone in a north-eastern hotel shortly before Christmas, is surprised by the arrival of a glamorous stranger who joins her, pretending to be her wife. What starts as an alluring game quickly turns dangerous and Olive is forced to leave the hotel with the stranger, driving into a heavy snowstorm. A split-second’s loss of concentration and the car leaves the road; both women are hurt and snow quickly covers their tracks. 

I like to think of The Fake Wife as my Russian Dolls book: each mystery unfolds to reveal another, deeper puzzle and only as we learn more about the characters at its heart – Olive, her MP husband Michael, the Stranger, Michael’s first wife Eloise, and the elusive and mysterious Maddy, do we start to glimpse the deadly game these people are playing. 

Well, that’s how the book should have panned out. Pretty soon, though, something else kicked in…

The Fake Wife was conceived as a thriller packed full of puzzles, psychological, but with plenty of pacy action along the way. What it wasn’t supposed to be was a police procedural. And yet, as all writers will know, sometimes characters grab a hold of a story and make it their own. As The Fake Wife took shape, gaining flesh on its bones, it became apparent that a character I hadn’t intended to play any sort of leading role was finding himself, increasingly, in the limelight. 

Garry Mizon, a nondescript traffic cop in his mid-thirties, who hates his job and is bored with his life, was supposed to be nothing more than a factotum: a means of getting my narrative from a to b. Garry was there to fill in the gaps, to let my real main characters – Olive, Michael, Eloise and Maddy – shine through. 

And yet, almost from the first chapter, Garry took charge. His personality – awkward, painfully shy but, ultimately, true as steel – shone through. In his clumsy, unassuming, anxious way, he began to dominate the page. He became the character I felt most invested in, the one I loved above all others. Full disclosure now: the team at Orion weren’t sure at first; wasn’t he a bit too – incompetent? Too much of a bozo? I toned him down a bit but clung on to what made this man essentially Garry and as the first proofs went out, I was vindicated. The most frequent feedback comment we got back was, “I love Garry!” Far from merely serving the narrative’s purpose, Garry became the book’s star. (As I write this, proofs are going out to key influencers along with a Garry Mizon winter survival pack and his ‘driving in winter conditions’ Spotify playlist.) 

Frankly, I should have known this would happen. After all, The Fake Wife is not my first rodeo. I should have remembered that when you pack a book with twisty, unsavoury characters, the readers need someone firmly in their corner. Garry is the story’s Everyman, the character with no interesting secrets, shady past or burning ambition. He isn’t particularly good at anything, especially not being a police officer. He has no superpower, no great skill (actually, he has a couple, but being Garry, he discounts both.) In Garry, I guess, we see ourselves, the ordinary man or woman caught up in something extraordinary. Garry’s doubts are our doubts, his insecurities and lack of confidence reflect our own. 

I lost track of this as I set out on the story that became The Fake Wife, concentrating far too much on the ‘glamourous’, much less likeable characters. Had I succeeded, the story would probably have failed. But the muse took charge and the book sorted itself out. 

How does this happen? The truth is, I don’t know. I’m just glad it does. 

The Fake Wife by Sharon Bolton is published by Orion on 9th November 2023. 

You're not who you say you are. But neither is she. Olive Anderson has accepted that tonight she'll be dining alone, without her husband. So when a beautiful stranger appears at Olive's dinner table, telling the waiter she's her wife, Olive is immediately unsettled.  But the stranger wants to talk, and isn't this what Olive wants on this lonely winter night? To vent to a perfect stranger? She's too ashamed to tell her real friends the truth - six months into the marriage they all warned her against, her life is a living nightmare. Perhaps Olive should have asked the fake wife who she's really married to. Perhaps she should have known this chance encounter had something to do with her secretive husband. Because there is a string of missing women connected to Mr Anderson, and by the morning, Olive will be the latest...

More information about the author and her books can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @AuthorSJBolton and on Facebook.

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The Pact by Sharon Bolton - Reviewed by Gwent Moffat

  

THE PACT, Sharon Bolton

Trapeze.  Hbk £14.99. Publ. May 27, 2021

Waiting for exam results which will secure them places at favoured universities six friends while away the long summer nights beside the pool of Talitha’s indulgent parents. All six are ensured success, and in more than exam results; five are from privileged backgrounds, and if Megan is a scholarship girl she balances the scales with brains and drive, even status. She is head of their elite Oxford school.

So where are the challenges when suddenly there is nothing to do and the future is guaranteed: gilded but – dull? On the cusp of ennui they have invented a game which five have played already. They emerged unscathed but shocked and frightened and gloriously exhilarated. It’s a dare: to drive the wrong way down the M40. It’s Russian roulette – and now Dan, the quiet one, is cajoled and bullied into taking his turn.

Of course it goes wrong. Again the friends escape physically undamaged but they have forced another car to take avoiding action and crash and while they argue whether they should try to rescue the screaming occupants it catches fire and explodes and they flee, leaving two children and their mother to die. 

An image of their car’s registration plate is caught on camera. They panic and while they wait for the police to find them they concoct crazy alibis against a rolling background of exam results – which are as they’d anticipated except  that Megan has failed across the board. But the immediate concern is their dread of murder charges and they are close to hysteria when Megan comes up with a solution. She will confess to driving the car even in the face of life imprisonment. In return the others must sign a document committing each to grant her some unspecified service when she has served her term.

Eventually the others agree to sign; they have all their lives ahead of them, but Megan is only a scholarship girl and she fluffed her finals. Besides, she volunteered. They assure her they will keep in touch. 

Twenty years later those on the outside have, individually and predictably, achieved success. Amber is a junior minister in the cabinet, Xavier a banker, Felix a millionaire industrialist, Talitha a lawyer. Only Dan (who had been driving the car) is unmarried. He has joined a religious order but he too has climbed the ladder and is master of their old school. And now, having served extra time for bad behaviour, Megan is released and comes back to remind them of the pact.

The book proper begins. So far, in the first few pages, there was a group of careless adolescents who played a silly game to produce horror that has haunted them ever since.  Reactions have run the gamut as they tried to repress guilt by means of new lives with intense professional involvement bolstered by easy living and comfortable domesticity. Whereas in prison Megan has had to contend with violence, failing health and isolation. No one visited. No one wrote. But she has the whip hand; she holds the signed document and photographs dating from the night of the fatal crash, evidence that proves all six people were responsible, not one: the ultimate blackmail weapon. She has nothing to lose, she has served her time.

The situation has been artfully contrived. With every participant possessing hostages to fortune, there are heart-breaking dilemmas to be resolved, lines to be crossed. If murder was done on the motorway nothing short of murder can balance the books. But who and whom and how? All six were guilty: five passengers in the car were accessories even if only one was at the wheel, but how is it going to work out?

A remarkable novel: part puzzle, part morality play. Despite the bizarre premise of that outrageous dare, perhaps because of it, this one is a page-turner.

Sharon Bolton (previously S. J. Bolton) is the critically acclaimed author of some of the most bone-chilling crime books ever written. She has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2014 she won the CWA Dagger in the Library for her whole body of work. 

Gwen Moffat is a British mountaineer and writer, whose novels are set in remote communities ranging from the Hebrides to the American West. 

Books to Look Forward to from Orion Publishing

 January 2021

Kim and Jim: Philby and Angleton, Friends and Enemies in the Cold War by Michael Holman. Kim Philby's life and career has inspired an entire literary genre: the spy novel of betrayal. He was one of the leaders of the British counter-intelligence efforts, first against the Nazis, then against the Soviet Union. He was, arguably, the KGB's most valuable double agent, so highly regarded that today his image is on the postage stamps of the Russian Federation. Philby was the son of St. John Philby, an Arabist contemporary and sometime colleague of T. E. Lawrence. Kim Philby benefited from his father's connections when he worked as a journalist - in Spain, during the Civil War; in France, during the first months of the Second World War; and in the Middle East after the Suez Crisis of 1956 until his escape to Moscow in 1963. There, in retirement, he helped train the last generation of Soviet spies. Philby was the mentor of James Jesus Angleton, one of the main figures in the early years of the CIA who became the long-serving chief of the counter-intelligence staff of the Agency. Angleton developed the CIA's worldwide network of alliances with other secret intelligence agencies from Australia to Israel, supervised the opening of all overseas mail and telegrams, and served as the CIA's liaison to the Warren Commission. James Angleton and Kim Philby were friends for six years, or so Angleton thought. They were then enemies for the rest of their lives. Both agreed about that. This is the story of their intertwined careers, and the dramatic effect of these on the Cold War.

A Violent Gentleman is by Danny O'Leary. He does what's right. Not what's easy. Jeremiah O'Connell made his name solving problems in London and now does the same in LA. The problems other people can't or won't touch? They're the ones that end up at Jerry's door. Suddenly Jeremiah has problems of his own when he sets out to right a wrong and finds himself on the hitlist of one of LA's most feared drug gangs. As the stakes rise, so does the body count, and Jerry has the fight of his life on his hands. Now, with high-class escort Noah in tow, Jeremiah must revisit his old London stomping grounds and assemble his team in order to wage all-out war on the streets on Tinseltown...

The Two Lost Mountains is by Matthew Reilly. An incredible victory but at a terrible price. Against all the odds, Jack West Jr found the Three Secret Cities but at a heartbreaking cost. His beloved daughter Lily, it appeared, was slaughtered by Jack's mortal enemy, Sphinx in a cruel ancient ritual. To the mountains and the fall. With his rivals far ahead of him, Jack must now get to one of the five iron mountains-two of which have never been found-and perform a mysterious feat known only as 'The Fall'. Although what is this object on the moon that is connected to it? A new player arrives. Amid all this, Jack will discover that a new player has entered the race, a general so feared by the four legendary kingdoms they had him locked away in their deepest dungeon. Only now this general has escaped and he has a horrifying plan of his own...

February 2021

Blood Grove is by Walter Mosley. Ezekiel "Easy" Porterhouse Rawlins is an unlicensed private investigator turned hard-boiled detective always willing to do what it takes to get things done in the racially charged, dark underbelly of Los Angeles.But when Easy is approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran- a young white man who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man- he knows he shouldn't take the case. Though he sees nothing but trouble in the brooding ex-soldier's eyes, Easy, a vet himself, feels a kinship form between them. Easy embarks on an investigation that takes him from mountaintops to the desert, through South Central and into sex clubs and the homes of the fabulously wealthy, facing hippies, the mob, and old friends perhaps more dangerous than anyone else. Set against the social and political upheaval of the late 1960s, Blood Grove is ultimately a story about survival, not only of the body but also the soul.

Buenos Aires, 1981. Inspector Alzada's work in the Buenos Aires police force during the Dirty War exposes him to the many realities of life under a repressive military regime: desperate people, angry people and - most of all - missing people. Personally, he prefers to stay out of politics, favouring a steady job and domesticity with his wife Paula over the path taken by his hot-headed revolutionary brother, Jorge. But when Jorge is disappeared, Alzada knows he will stop at nothing to recover him.  Buenos Aires, 2001. Argentina is in the midst of yet another devastating economic crisis. Alzada is still an inspector: he's burnt out, frustrated that he hasn't been able to affect real change, and convinced of the futility of yet another doomed Argentinean attempt at democracy. This time he is determined to remain a detached bystander, to keep his head down in anticipation of a peaceful retirement with Paula and the nephew they've raised together. However, all his plans are derailed as the riots gain traction and a young woman's dead body lands in the dumpster behind the morgue on the same day a woman from one of the city's wealthiest families goes missing. Repentance is by Eloisa Diaz.

Quiet in her Bones is by Nalini Singh. My mother vanished ten years ago. So did a quarter of a million dollars in cash. Now, she's back. Her bones clothed in scarlet silk. When socialite Nina Rai disappeared without a trace, everyone wrote it off as another trophy wife tired of her wealthy husband. But now her bones have turned up in the shadowed green of the forest that surrounds her elite neighborhood, a haven of privilege and secrets that's housed the same influential families for decades. The rich live here, along with those whose job it is to make their lives easier. And somebody knows what happened to Nina one rainy night ten years ago. Her son Aarav heard a chilling scream that night, and he's determined to uncover the ugly truth that lives beneath the moneyed elegance . . . but no one is ready for the murderous secrets about to crawl out of the dark. Even the dead aren't allowed to break the rules in this cul-de-sac.

Proof of Life is by R J Ellory. Stroud's best years are behind him. A former war photographer, he's seen things no one should have to see. He left the front line before his luck ran out. His best friend and mentor, Vincent Raphael, was not so fortunate and died in an explosion. His body was never recovered; his friends buried an empty box. But then Stroud gets a call from his old editor, Marcus Haig. Two months ago Raphael was photographed in Istanbul. Stroud doesn't believe it's him, but there's money on the table for Stroud to go out there and prove he's dead. But the more he looks, the harder that becomes. Stroud's journey will take him from London, to Istanbul, to Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin - on the trail of a shadow. A man who not only should be dead - but may never have existed.

The only thing the three women had in common was their husband. And, as of this morning, that they're each accused of his murder. Blake Nelson moved into a hidden stretch of land - a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah - where he lived with his three wives: Rachel, the chief wife, obedient and doting to a fault. Tina, the other wife, who's everything Rachel isn't. And Emily, the youngest wife, who knows almost nothing else. When their husband is found dead under the desert sun, the questions pile up. What are these women to each other now that their husband is dead? Will the police uncover the secrets each woman has spent her life hiding? And is one of them capable of murder...? Black Widows is by Cate Quinn.

March 2021

In East Long Beach, California, the LAPD is barely keeping up with the neighborhood's high crime rate. Murders go unsolved, lost children unrecovered. But someone from the neighborhood has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the police can't or won't touch. A high school dropout, Isaiah Quintabe's unassuming nature disguises a ferocious intelligence. Most people call him IQ. Word has gotten around: if you've got a problem, Isaiah will solve it, his rates adjustable to your income or lack thereof. Smoke is by Joe Ide.

April 2021

The Hit List is by Holly Seddon. Congratulations, someone wants you dead. When Marianne's husband Greg is knocked off his bike and killed on the way to work, she must unpick the life he left behind. Numb with grief, Marianne consoles herself by scouring Greg's laptop, finding comfort in reading his old emails and tracing his footsteps across the web. Until one day, she discovers that he had been accessing the dark web. Why was Greg, a principled charity worker and dedicated husband, logging on to a website that showcases the worst of humanity's cruel impulses and where anything is available for a price? Marianne steels herself and logs on. After tentative searching, she discovers her name on a hit list. In this fast-paced, powerful and exceptionally plotted novel, Marianne must figure out whether Greg was trying to protect her or whether he was complicit in the conspiracy for her murder. As she is pulled deeper into the depths of the underworld that Greg was seemingly hostage to, she gets closer and closer to coming face to face with Sam - the assassin hired to kill her. The dark truths that Marianne uncovers speak volumes about the dark underbelly of our society and forces us to question how far we would go to protect those we care most about.

Four women.. Orly, Lenny, Mel and Thea have been best friends since school. But now it is 20 years later and inevitably they have drifted apart. One weekend.. It is Lenny's 40th birthday, plus Orly and Mel need cheered up, so Thea suggests a weekend away at a festival in their hometown. It's a chance for them all to reconnect. Not all of them will survive. But their holiday soon takes a sinister turn, and not all of the friends will leave the festival alive... The Festival is by Sarah J Naughton.

Look What You Made Me Do is by Nikki Smith. Sisters Jo and Caroline have it all. Perfect houses. Perfect husbands. Perfect lives. But when their father passes away, the contents of his Will forces them to question what they have always believed to be the truth about their family, their marriages, and themselves. As the stakes grow ever higher, it is clear they are hiding secrets too. Secrets which they'll do anything to protect. And theirs could turn out to be lethal...

May 2021

The Pact is by Sharon Bolton. A golden summer, and six talented friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures. But after a dare-devil game goes horribly wrong, a woman and two children are killed. Eighteen-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a ‘favour’, payable on her release from prison. Twenty years later, it’s payback time. 

Faith Diamond grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. With a family incapable of staying on the right side of the law, her future has always been about survival. Then a series of prostitutes are found murdered, their only connection the pimp, Marshall Vella – a man connected in more ways than one with the Diamond family. And Faith is forced to consider the possibility that the peo- ple she loves might be entrenched in something more evil than even she could ever have imagined . . Loaded is by Niki Mackay.

June 2021

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is the debut novel by T A Wilberg. They were a band of mysterious private detectives who lived beneath the streets of London in a labyrinth of twisted tunnels and ancient hallways, the entrance to which no one had ever found. The Inquirers were something of a myth, a whispered legend that may or may not exist, depending on whom you asked. They were like ghosts, some said, these sleuths who guarded the city... London, 1958: Elaborately disguised and hidden deep beneath the city's streets lies the world of Miss Brickett's, a secret detective agency, training and housing the mysterious Inquirers. From traversing deceptive escape rooms full of baited traps and hidden dangers, to engineering almost magical mechanical gadgets, apprentice detectives at Miss Brickett's undergo rigorous training to equip them with the skills and knowledge they will need to solve the mysteries that confound London's police force. But nothing can prepare 23-year-old apprentice Marion Lane for what happens after the arrest of her friend and mentor Frank on suspicion of murder: he has tasks Marion with clearing his name and saving his life. Her investigation will place Marion and her friends in great peril as they venture beyond The Border and into the forbidden maze of uncharted tunnels that surround Miss Brickett's. Being discovered out of bounds means immediate dismissal, but that is the least of Marion's problems when she discovered that the tunnels contain more than just secrets.

Truth or Dare is by M J Arlidge. A crimewave sweeps through society and no one is safe. The rising tide of crime threatens to drown the city and, along with it, D.I. Helen Grace. A vicious arson at the docks. A violent carjacking near the hospital. A fatal attack in a country park. Crimes without motive, without suspects and without any leads. Each crime is a piece of a puzzle – with many more pieces still to come. And as they all fall into place, Helen Grace will face the case that may be the end of her . 

July 2021

The Wrong Mother is by Michel Bussi. Nothing is as fragile as the memory of a child...
Malone, a child barely four years old, starts to claim that his mother isn't his real mother. It seems impossible. His mother has birth certificates, photos of him as a child and even the pediatrician confirms this is her child. The school psychologist is the only one who believes him and he's in a race against time to find out the truth. He approaches Marianne Augresse, a police captain with better things to do with her time. Hot on the heels of a major criminal, she has little interest in the stories of a child. But what if she's wrong?

Lost is the beginning of a new crime series by Simon Beckett and introduces readers to Jonah Colley, an armed response officer with the Met Police. Ten years ago, the abduction of Colley’s young son ended his career as a police detective and almost destroyed him. A plea for help from an estranged friend leads Jonah to a brutal attack of which he’s the only survivor. Discharged from the force and under suspicion himself, his search for the truth throws doubt on everything he thought he knew. 

The Dying Squad is by Adam Simcox. Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus always believed he could solve any murder, until it came to his own. When Lazarus storms a Lincolnshire farmhouse, he expects to bring down the drug gang within it; instead, he discovers his own bleeding-out body and a spirit guide called Daisy-May. She's there to enlist him to The Dying Squad, a spectral police force who solve crimes their flesh and blood colleagues cannot. Lazarus reluctantly accepts and returns to the Lincolnshire Badlands, where he faces dangers from both the living and the dead in his quest to discover the identity of his killer - before they kill again.

Capital Crime Announces Amazon Publishing Readers' Awards Shortlists

Capital Crime and Amazon Publishing have partnered for a second year to present innovative new awards that give readers the power to honour their favourite books, films & TV 

After a successful first year with authors Ian Rankin, Oyinkan Braithewaite and C L Taylor among the 2019 winners, Capital Crime is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2020 Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards.  

The awards are a celebration of the crime and thriller genre and recognise excellence in film and television as well as books. The shortlists were decided by Capital Crime’s advisory board of authors, industry leaders and reviewers, and readers will have the final say on who wins in each category. 

David Headley, co-founder of Capital Crime said, ‘​Capital Crime is all about the readers. From our Festival to our Book Club we want to focus on continuing our inclusive celebration of the crime and thriller genres. We are here to entertain and engage with fellow fans, and it’s only natural we give readers the ultimate say over who wins our awards.’ 

Capital Crime’s innovative voting system which gives festival passholders and Capital Crime Book Club members the ability to decide their favourite books, film and TV series. The Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards are decided by real crime and thriller fans. 

Adam Hamdy, author and screenwriter, and co-founder of Capital Crime said, Amazon leads the way in technology innovation and it’s fitting that our awards make use of new technology to put the power in the hands of crime and thriller fans. Get involved, become part of the Capital Crime community, and have your say.’ 

Capital Crime festival pass holders and Capital Crime Book Club subscribers will be able to vote for the winner in each category from today until 11th October. To vote Capital Crime Ticket Holders and Book Club subscribers should login and visit: 

Jose Chapa, Director, EU Books, at Amazon said: ‘We at Amazon Publishing are delighted that readers have shortlisted such a vibrant, diverse range of authors across so many categories for this year’s awards. It’s a testament to the fantastic quality of books on offer to readers in the crime and thriller genre this year, and it’s particularly inspiring to see so many up-and-coming authors featured.'

The winners of the awards will be announced at 6:30pm on Tuesday 13th October via Capital Crime’s social media platforms and newsletter. 

The 2020 Amazon Publishing Readers’ Award Nominees are: 

CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 

Find Them Dead by Peter James 

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha 

Bryant & May - Oranges and Lemons by Christopher Fowler 

Without A Trace by Mari Hannah 

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz 

DEBUT BOOK OF THE YEAR 

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi 

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdottir 

Black Sun by Owen Matthews 

A Shadow on the Lens by Sam Hurcom 

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan Bentley 

THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR 

The Split by Sharon Bolton 

Witchfinder by Andrew Wilson 

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

Knife Edge by Simon Mayo 

All Fall Down by MJ Arlidge 

MYSTERY BOOK OF THE YEAR 

Rules for Perfect Murder by Peter Swanson 

The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson 

The House Guest by Mark Edwards 

Island of Secrets by Rachel Rhys 

The Holdout by Graham Moore 

E-BOOK OF THE YEAR 

Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks 

Strangers by C L Taylor 

Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee 

The Less Dead by Denise Mina 

Remember Me by Amy McLellan 

AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley 

If It Bleeds by Stephen King 

Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee 

The Dance of the Serpents by Oscar Muriel 

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz 

INDEPENDENT VOICE BOOK OF THE YEAR 

Beast by Matt Wesolowski 

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda 

Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen 

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Bjorg Ægisdóttir 

A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone 

CRIME MOVIE OF THE YEAR 

Knives Out 

Joker 

Uncut Gems 

Parasite

Queen & Slim 

CRIME TV SHOW OF THE YEAR 

The Stranger 

I May Destroy You 

Giri/Haji

Quiz 

The Liar (Season 2) 

ABOUT CAPITAL CRIME 

Capital Crime is a diverse, inclusive and socially responsible festival, running initiatives including social outreach to support students exploring a literary career, an innovative digital festival and the ​New Voices Award.​ The festival is the brainchild of British screenwriter Adam Hamdy and Managing Director of Goldsboro Books, David Headley.

Capital Crime offers fans unprecedented access to their favourite crime and thriller creatives. Capital Crime is a celebration of books, films and TV and the line-up is an unrivalled mix of world class talent, rising stars and newcomers. Capital Crime is a must for fans of all things crime and thriller.

Capital Crime’s inaugural festival took place from September 26-28 2019 at the 

Connaught Rooms in London. Guests included Kate Atkinson, Robert Harris, David Baldacci, Ian Rankin, Ann Cleeves, Robert Glenister, Leye Adenle, Denise Mina, Anthony Horowitz, Abir Mukherjee and many more prestigious authors. 

Capital Crime organisers cancelled their 2020 festival, due to take place on 1– 3 October 

2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Capital Crime is an inclusive, and welcoming festival with the safety and enjoyment of their on site team, panelists and guests at the heart of every event. They look forward to announcing their 2021 festival in due course. 

THE CAPITAL CRIME BOOK CLUB 

In September 2020 Capital Crime launched the Capital Crime Book Club. The Capital Crime Book Club is an affordable monthly subscription service that will be a year-round, inclusive, home for readers, and a regular link between authors and fans. 

Every month our subscribers will receive: 

● Two carefully curated paperbacks from the crime and thriller genre. 

●Access to exclusive online author interviews with the opportunity to submit questions in advance. 

● The latest news and competitions in the crime and thriller community. 

● Access to our back catalog of festival content and interviews which grows every month. For more information on ​The Capital Crime Book Club you can visit their website here: www.capitalcrime.digital/capital-crime-book-club

Books to Look Forward to from Orion Publishing (Incl Trapeze, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, Gollancz and Orion)

January 2020

Backlash is by Marnie Riches. Keep your enemies close and your neighbours closer...  When Private Investigator Beverley Saunders is tasked with going undercover, she relishes the chance to disguise herself as a cleaner in order to get close to Manchester bad boy Anthony Anthony, aka 2Tone. Anthony's neighbours are suspicious of his wealth and sick of his anti-social behaviour, and Bev's just the woman they need to find out what's going on behind closed doors.  As Bev begins to infiltrate Anthony's world, she soon realises she's in danger - and this time, she might be too far in to get out. Alongside her sidekick Doc, Bev must fight to discover the truth - but when people begin to die, she has to ask herself - is exposing Anthony worth risking her own life?

Can you ever really know your neighbours?  When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years.   Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building.  Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on.  As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it's clear that someone isn't telling the truth about what went on all those years ago...  The Woman Downstairs is by Elisabeth Carpenter.

February 2020

Things will never be the same again... Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.  A day like any other, except for Adam, who in a last despairing act jumps in front of Ben's car, and in killing himself, turns the teacher's world upside down.  Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, Ben develops a friendship with Alice, Adam's widow, and her 7-year-old son Max. But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to make amends?  The Wreckage is by Robin Morgan-Bentley

Witness X is by S E Moorhead.  She's the only one who can access the truth...  Fourteen years ago, the police caged a notorious serial killer who abducted and butchered two victims every February. He was safe behind bars. Wasn't he?  But then another body is discovered, and soon enough, the race is on to catch the real killer. Neuropsychologist Kyra Sullivan fights to use a new technology that accesses the minds of the witnesses, working with the police to uncover the truth. Will Kyra discover the person behind the murders, and if so, at what cost? And how far will she go to ensure justice is served.

False Value is by Ben Aaronvitch.  Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with emigre Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company.  Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son.  Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological - and just as dangerous.

One Fatal Mistake is by Tom Hunt.  Her son accidentally kills a man.  They cover it up.  Then everything goes wrong.  When eighteen-year-old Joshua Mayo takes a man's life in a terrible accident, he leaves the scene without reporting the crime to the police. He hopes to put the awful night behind him and move on with his life. But, of course, he ends up telling his mother, Karen, what happened.  Karen has raised Joshua on her own in Cedar Rapids, Iowa--and she'd thought they'd finally made it. He was doing well in school and was only months away from starting college at his dream school. After hearing his dark confession, she's forced to make a choice no parent should have to make. A choice that draws them both into a web of deceit that will change their lives forever--if they can make it out alive.

The Holdout is by Graham Moore.  One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong?  Ten years ago we made a decision together... Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a

billion-dollar fortune, vanishes on her way home from school. Her teacher, Bobby Nock, is the prime suspect. It's an open and shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed.   Until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, persuades the rest of the jurors to vote not guilty: a controversial decision that will change all of their lives forever.  Ten years later, one of the jurors is found dead, and Maya is the prime suspect.  The real killer could be any of the other ten jurors. Is Maya being forced to pay the price for her decision all those years ago?

March 2020

Against all odds, Aydin Torkal - aka Sleeper 13 - broke free from the terrorist group that took him as a child and raised him into a life of violence and hate.   In the two years since, he's been tracking and killing all those responsible. But he's not done yet.  Now living a secret life in London, he receives a surprise visit from Rachel Cox of MI6. She needs his help to infiltrate a sinister new terrorist cell who've taken root in the USA. Aydin is initially reluctant. But when he learns that a member of the group is the brother of Aziz Al-Addad, 'the Teacher' responsible for Aydin's horrific upbringing, his mind is changed.   Aydin thought he'd broken free from life as an insurgent. But in order to scupper their deadly plans, he must now convince the world's most dangerous terrorist cell that he's one of them.  He must do it before the world suffers another deadly attack.  He will have to do it on his own.  He is IMPOSTER 13.  Imposter 13 is by Rob Sinclair.  

An international disaster.  A plane on route from London to New York City has disappeared out of the sky. This breaking news dominates every TV channel, every social media platform, and every waking hour of the Metropolitan Police and US Homeland Security.   A private tragedy.  The love of DCI Kate Daniels' life was on that aircraft, but she has no authority to investigate. This major disaster is outside of her jurisdiction and she's ordered to walk away.  A search for the truth.  But Kate can't let it lie. She has to find out what happened to that plane - even if it means going off book. No one is safe. And there are some very dangerous people watching her.  Without a Trace is by Mari Hannah.

Hi Five is by Joe Ide.  Christiana is the daughter of the biggest arms dealer on the West Coast, Angus Byrne. She's also the sole witness and number-one suspect in the murder of her boyfriend - found dead inside her Newport Beach boutique. Angus will do anything to save his daughter and he thinks private eye Isaiah Quintabe is just the man for the job - an offer IQ soon learns he can't refuse.  The catch: Christiana has multiple personalities. Five radically different ones - among them, a naive shopkeeper, an obnoxious drummer in a rock band and a wanton seductress.  IQ's dilemma: no one personality saw the entire incident. To find out what really happened the night of the murder, Isaiah must piece together clues from each of the personalities - before the cops catch up.

April 2020

She’s got nowhere left to hide. A year ago, in desperation, Felicity Lloyd signed up for a lengthy research trip to the remote island of South Georgia. It was her only way to escape.  And now he is coming for her.  Freddie Lloyd has served time for murder. Out at last, he's on her trail.  And this time, he won't stop until he finds her.  Because no matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you….  The Split is by Sharon Bolton.

 

Blood Relations is by Jonathan Moore.  Who is Claire Gravesend?  So wonders PI Lee Crowe when he finds her dead, in a fine cocktail dress, on top of a Rolls Royce in the most dangerous neighbourhood in San Francisco.   Claire's mother doesn't believe the coroner: her daughter did not kill herself. But the questions about the Gravesend family pile up fast.  Until Crowe finds their secret home in San Francisco. Sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, he finds Claire and as far as he can tell, she's alive…

Last night my sister was murdered. The police think I killed her.  I was there. I watched the knife go in. I saw the man who did it.  And heard him laugh because he knows he'll never get caught.  He knows I have prosopagnosia - I can't recognise faces.  And if I don't find the man who killed my sister, I'll be found guilty of murder.  Remember Me is by Amy McLellan.

You Can Trust Me is by Emma Rowley.  You can trust me.  But can I trust you?  Olivia is the domestic goddess who has won millions of followers by sharing her picture-perfect life online. And now she's releasing her tell-all autobiography.  For professional ghost-writer Nicky it's the biggest job of her career. But as she delves deeper into Olivia's life, cracks begin to appear in the glamorous facade. From the strained relationship with her handsome husband, to murky details of a tragic family death in her childhood, the truth belies Olivia's perfect public image.  But why is Olivia so desperate to leave an old tragedy well alone? And how far will she go to keep Nicky from the truth?

Alison is more alone than she's ever been. She is convinced that her ex-husband Jack is following her. She is certain she recognises the strange woman who keeps approaching her in the canteen.  She knows she has a good reason to be afraid. She just can't remember why.  Then the mention of one name turns her life upside down.  Alison feels like she's losing her mind . . . but it could just lead her to the truth.  All in Her Head is by Nikki Head. 

The Devil You Know is by Emma Kavanagh.  How do you get away with murder? You lead the world to believe that it has already been solved.  Rosa Fischer has lived a perfectly normal life. That is, until the day that she discovers that she is not Rosa Fischer after all. That she is someone entirely different. But who?   She struggles to unpick the lies that surround her until finally she is left with a crime - one that was solved decades ago. A family dead in a barn, and a baby girl left to be found.  The thing about closed cases - no-one is investigating them. And when Rosa begins to dig deeper beneath the layers of the family annihilation, she discovers that all is not as it seems, and that the answers provided all those years ago may not be quite right.   Because if the dead people are not who you believe the dead people to be, who are they?   And what happened to the ones who were mourned in their place?

May 2020

Never Forget is by Michel Bussi.  BEFORE.  A man running along a remote clifftop path on an icy-cold February morning.  A woman standing on the cliff's edge.  A red scarf on the ground between them.  AFTER  The man is alone - paralysed by fear.  The woman is on the beach below - dead.  The red scarf is now perfectly - and impossibly - arranged around the woman's broken neck.  A handful of seconds. Two lives colliding. WHAT HAPPENED?

All Fall Down is by M J Arlidge.  "You have one hour to live."  Those are the only words on the phone call. Then they hang up. Surely, a prank? A mistake? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth... That someone is watching, waiting, working to take your life in one hour.  But why?  The job of finding out falls to DI Helen Grace: a woman with a track record in hunting killers. However, this is one case where the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police and the victims.  With no motive, no leads, no clues - nothing but pure fear - an hour can last a lifetime...

The hero of The Poet and The Scarecrow is back in a new thriller. Jack McEvoy, the journalist who never backs down, tracks a serial killer who has been operating completely under the radar - until now.  Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realizes he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered.  McEvoy investigates - against the warnings of the police and his own editor - and makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. But his inquiry hits a snag when he himself becomes a suspect.  As he races to clear his name, McEvoy's findings point to a serial killer working under the radar of law enforcement for years, and using personal data shared by the victims themselves to select and hunt his targets.  Fair Warning is by Michael Connelly.  

June 2020

'The Sleeping Nymph': a work of art of magnetic beauty, painted by a young partisan fighter during the last days of the Second World War. A painting carrying a shocking secret hidden in the red pigment on the canvas, made with the blood of a human heart.   But whose heart? There is no body, no confession. Only that faint trace of blood. And that's what leads commissioner Teresa Battaglia - herself hiding an unspeakable truth - to the Resia Valley, in the north eastern part of Italy: a perfect genetic enclave protected for centuries from the outside world.   The valley and the portrait are the only clues for a murder that occurred more than 70 years before. A red thread leading to the shadow of someone hell-bent on protecting a sacred secret.  The Sleeping Nymph is by Ilaria Tuti.

Inside Out by Chris McGeorge.  Kara Lockhart has just commenced a life sentence in HMP New Fern - the newest maximum security woman's prison in the country. She was convicted of a murder she is adamant she didn't commit.   One morning she wakes up to find her cellmate murdered - shot in the head with a gun that is missing. The door was locked all night, which makes Kara the only suspect. There is only one problem - Kara knows she didn't do it and she has no idea who did.   Being the only one who knows the truth, Kara sets about trying to clear her name, unravelling an impossible case, with an investigation governed by a prison timetable. Kara starts to learn more about her fellow prisoners, finding connections between them and herself that she would never have imagined.   Indeed it seems that her conviction and her current situation might be linked in strange ways...

The Unwanted Dead is by Chris Lloyd.  On the first day of the Paris Nazi occupation, four Polish refugees are gassed in a railway truck. A fifth commits suicide later that day. Paris police detective Eddie Giral is determined to find out what happened...   But as he investigates, he is led to shocking evidence backing up the rumours of atrocities coming out of Poland.   As Eddie tries to bring the killers to justice and uncover the truth, he finds himself in a more dangerous and sinister world than any he’s known before... 

Two sisters. One guilty of murder. A trial to discover the truth.  Alexandra Avellino has just found her father’s mutilated body. She believes her sister killed him.   Sofia Avellino has just found her father’s mutilated body. She believes her sister did it.   Both women are to go on trial together, in front of one jury. One of these women is lying. One of them is a murderer. Sitting in a jail cell, about to go on trial for murder, you might think that this is the last place she expected to be.   You’d be wrong. Fifty-Fifty is by Steve Cavanagh.  

July 2020

Dead Doubles is by Trevor Barnes.  The Portland Spy Ring was one of the most notorious spy cases from the Cold War. It seized international attention and revealed the shadowy world of deep cover KGB spies operating under false identities ('illegals').  The CIA's revelation to MI5 that a KGB agent was stealing crucial secrets from the sensitive submarine research base at Portland in Dorset looked initially like a dangerous but contained lapse of security by a British man and his mistress. But the unsuspecting couple passed the secrets to a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale. Lonsdale in turn led MI5's spycatchers to an innocent-looking couple in suburban Ruislip called the Krogers, who were transmitting the vital information to Moscow. A sudden defection forced the arrest of the spy ring.  The Krogers were discovered to be two of the most important Russian 'illegals' ever. The Americans had been searching for them for years. In a previous undercover life they had been a conduit to the KGB atomic spies at Los Alamos. And Lonsdale was no Canadian, but a senior KGB controller called Konon Molody - who years later turned out to have been running other key Soviet agents in the UK.

Like Mother, Like daughter is by Elle Croft.  How far would you go to reveal the truth about your own family?   Imogen Brown is a normal 16-year-old... and she feels like she doesn’t belong. She thinks her parents, Kat and Dylan, are hypocrites, playing the perfect family. But they’re in financial difficulty and Kat is trying to work things out, to save her tight-knit family.   One Friday evening, her parents have their biggest fight yet. When Kat goes to wake Imogen the next day, she’s not in her bed, and no one has seen her since school the previous day. Imogen has gone missing. 

Imperfect Women is by Araminta Hall.  Three women. Three best friends. Three untimely deaths   Eleonor, Nancy and Mary met at college and have been friends ever since, through marriages, children and love affairs.   So when Nancy is brutally murdered, Eleonor and Mary are determined to uncover her killer. But as each of their stories unfold, they realise that there are many different truths to find, and many different ways to bring justice for those we love... 

Neon is by G S Locke.  A detective desperate for revenge. A hitwoman with one last job. A killer with both on his list.  Detective Matt Jackson has reached the end. His beloved wife, Polly, is the latest victim of 'Neon' - a serial killer who displays his victims in snaking neon lights - and he can't go on without her.  Unable to take his life, Jackson hires a hit-woman to finish the job. But on the night of his own murder, he makes a breakthrough in the case, and at the last minute his hit-woman, Iris, is offered an irresistible alternative: help Jackson find and kill Neon in return for the detective's entire estate.  What follows is a game of cat and mouse between detective, hit-woman and serial killer. And when Jackson discovers it's not a coincidence that all their paths have crossed, he begins to question who the real target has been all along...

Hunted is by Alex Knight.  You're woken early by the doorbell. It's a young girl, the daughter of the love of your life. She's scared, covered in blood, she says her mother is hurt.  You let her in, try to calm her down, tell her you're going to get help. You reach for your phone, but it lights up with a notification before you touch it.  It's an Amber alert - a child has been abducted by a dangerous suspect.  The child is the girl standing in front of you.  The suspect? You.