January 2017
Elementary Murder is by A J Wright. 1894, Wigan. Miss Dorothea Gadsworth is
interviewed for a teaching vacancy at George Street Elementary, but is
ultimately dismissed as a candidate. The following Monday morning, her body is
discovered in a locked classroom with a note by her side. DS Michael Brennan is
called in to investigate what appears to be a straightforward suicide, but his
instincts tell him there is more to this case than meets the eye. With the door
locked from the inside, staff members with plenty to hide and a student missing
from the school, DS Brennan, aided by the scowling Constable Jaggery, wrestles
with one of his most intricate investigations yet.
February 2017
Matt
Hunter lost his faith a long time ago. Formerly a minister, now a professor of
sociology, he's writing a book that debunks the Christian faith while assisting
the police with religiously motivated crimes. On holiday with his family in
Oxfordshire, Matt finds himself on edge in a seemingly idyllic village where wooden
crosses hang at every turn. The stay becomes more sinister still when a local
girl goes missing, followed by further disappearances. Caught up in an
investigation that brings memories to the surface that he would prefer stay
buried deep, Matt is on the trail of a killer determined to save us all. Purged is by Peter Laws.
1817.
Dawn breaks on a summer's day in Chalk Farm, London, and the scene is set for a
duel between a lady's two ardent admirers. Paul Skillen has been teaching Mark
Bowerman how to shoot properly, and although he is not sanguine of his chances,
stands as his second. Although the duel is broken up, the passions behind the
duel seem to spill out into the full light of day when one of the two duellists
is found dead, shot between the eyes. Paul and his twin Peter are determined to
see justice done and are soon enmeshed in threads of inheritance, treachery and
fraud. Date With the Executioner is by
Edward Marston.
March 2017
Britain
is at war. Returned from a dangerous mission onto enemy soil and having
encountered an old enemy and the Fuhrer himself along the way, Maisie Dobbs is
fully aware of the gravity of the current situation and how her world is on the
cusp of great change. One of those changes can be seen in the floods of refugees
that are arriving in Britain, desperate for sanctuary from the approaching
storm of war. When Maisie stumbles on the deaths of refugees who may have been
more than ordinary people, she is drawn into an investigation that requires all
her insight and strength. In This Grave
Hour is by Jacqueline Winspear.
Falling
Creatures is by Katherine Stansfield. Cornwall,
1844. On a lonely moorland farm not far from Jamaica Inn, farmhand Shilly finds
love in the arms of Charlotte Dymond. But Charlotte has many secrets,
possessing powers that cause both good and ill. When she's found on the moor
with her throat cut, Shilly is determined to find out who is responsible, and
so is the stranger calling himself Mr Williams who asks for Shilly's help. Mr
Williams has secrets too, and Shilly is thrown into the bewildering new world
of modern detection.
Usually
sharp-witted editor Sam Clair stumbles through her post-launch-party morning
with the hangover to end all hangovers. Before the Nurofen has even kicked in,
she finds herself entangled in an elaborate saga of missing neighbours,
suspected arson and the odd unidentified body. When the grisly news breaks that
the fire has claimed a victim, Sam is already in pursuit. Never has comedy been
so deadly as Sam faces down a pair from Thugs 'R' Us, aided by nothing more
than a CID boyfriend, a stalwart Goth assistant and a seemingly endless supply
of purple-sprouting broccoli. A Cast of
Vultures is by Judith Flanders.
April 2017
Out
of the blue, private investigator and ex-soldier Lee Arnold receives a visit
from an old army mate. Abbas al'Barri worked as a translator with him during
the Second Iraq War. Now living in Ilford with his family, Abbas is convinced
that he's had a message from his estranged son Fayyaad, who was radicalised and
was last thought to be fighting for ISIL in Iraq. Does Fayyaad's message
indicate a change of heart? Abbas is desperate for Lee's help in establishing
some contact with him, a point with which Lee's Muslim assistant Mumtaz might
be able to help. From the bright lights of the Western world, to the murky
online recruitment techniques of radical Islamism, Lee and Mumtaz have little
to guide them in who to trust as they begin a journey into the belly of the
beast. Bright Shiny Things is by Barbara
Nadel.
May 2017
The
Bowness Request is by Rebecca Tope. Winter
has arrived in the town of Windermere, and has bought with it the death of
Frances Henderson, the best friend of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's mother. Having
known the Henderson family all of her life, Simmy must cope with the loss of an
important figure from her childhood, as well as the confusion at being
bequeathed something in Frances's will. When Frances's husband is violently
murdered in his home, Simmy must face the fact that the family she was once so
close to as a child, holds some dark and sinister secrets. How will Simmy cope
with seeing Christopher Henderson, the eldest child of Frances and Kit and her
childhood sweetheart, after so long, and are the rumours of Kit's infidelity a
clue to who murdered him? Keen to keep out of the investigation, Simmy must not
only face these personal dilemmas, but deal with Ben Harkness and Bonnie
Lawson's enthusiasm for solving crimes, as well as her father's worsening
dementia, and her own mother's grief for her best friend.
Shot
in Southwold is by Suzette A Hill. 1960.
Lady Fawcett is eager to vet her daughter Amy's current beau, aspiring film
director Bartholomew Hackle who is shooting his first major project in
Southwold. While Amy is unable to accompany her mother, Rosy Gilchrist is
strong-armed into another visit. On the set of The Suffolk Seagull nobody
really knows what is going on - least of all Felix Smythe whose bit part is
constantly changing thanks to Hackle, much to Felix's chagrin. But the
unambiguous death by gunshot of a female cast member brings a drama to
proceedings lacking in the film itself, and Lady Fawcett, Rosy, Felix and even
Cedric Dillworthy are once again at the centre of a murder mystery in which
further victims may face the cut.
June 2017
The
Circus Train Conspiracy is by Edward Marston.
Following a string of successful performances along the west coast, the
Moscardi Circus is travelling by train to Hexham on the Newcastle to Carlisle
Railway for their next show. Yet a collision on the track with a couple of
sleepers causes pandemonium: passengers thrown about and animals escaping into
the night. When the headless body of a woman is discovered in nearby woodland,
Inspector Colbeck is desperate to lend assistance, believing the two incidents
to be connected, however a reluctant Superintendent Tallis forbids him from
doing so. Torn between his desire to detect and his duty as a father, Colbeck
agrees, until contact from an old friend is made and Tallis relents. With the
performers pointing fingers at both the competition and each other, the
interference of locals concerned about the show's morality, and a planned
takeover bid of the NCR, Colbeck has his work cut out trying to untangle the
thread of events.
