January 2023
The Library Suicides is by Fflur Dafydd. You can get in. But you can't get out. Welcome to the library... Twins Ana and Nan are lost after the death of their mother. Everyone knows who drove Elena, the renowned novelist, to suicide - her long-term literary critic, Eben. But the twins need proof if they're going to get revenge. Desperate to clear his name, Eben requests access to Elena's diaries at the National Library where the twins work, and they see an opportunity. With careful planning, the twins lock down the labyrinthine building, trapping their colleagues, the public and most importantly Eben inside. But as a rogue security guard starts freeing hostages, the plan unravels. And what began as a single-minded act of revenge blooms into a complex unravelling of loyalties, motives and what it is that makes us who we are.
The SAS are used to deaths during combat - it goes with the turf. But when one of their own is said to have committed suicide in Thailand, red flags are raised. Pete Green wasn't the sort of soldier who would ever take his own life - and no one is more sure of that than his twin brother, Davie. Davie is determined to fly to the Land Of Smiles to find out what really happened to his twin brother. But if he is going to find out the truth he'll need help - the sort of help only SAS Sergeant Matt Standing can provide. But soon after they arrive they come under attack, leaving Standing to investigate on his own. There are clearly people who want to shut down all enquiries and Standing knows he will have to use all his SAS jungle skills to survive. This will be the toughest of assignments but nothing will come between him and the truth … Still Standing is by Stephen Leather.
Pay the Price is by Sam Tobin. The deadliest criminals of Manchester's murky underworld are back in an explosive new book!. GOOD GIRLS - When Fauzia's brother turns up with a dead body, her perfect life is shattered. She'll defend him to the ends of the earth, but who is he running from? Who can she turn to? DO BAD THINGS - Reeling from rejection, Keisha is determined to make her ex, Craig Malton, pay. If she can't have him no one can. And she knows just how to hurt him... TO PROTECT THEIR FAMILY - Craig Malton, the most infamous man in Manchester, is on the hunt for a violent drug lord. He doesn't know there are two women after him. One wants help, one wants revenge. Who will succeed?
The Island is by Katrine Engberg. Jeppe Korner, on leave from the police force and nursing a broken heart, has taken refuge on the island of Bornholm for the winter. Also on the island is Esther de Laurenti, a writer working on a biography on a female anthropologist with a mysterious past and coming to terms with her own crushing sense of loneliness in the wake of a dear friend's death. When Jeppe lends a helping hand at the island's local sawmill, he begins to realize that the island may not be the peaceful refuge it appears to be. Back in Copenhagen, Anette Werner is tasked with leading the investigation into a severed corpse discovered on a downtown playground. As she follows the strange trail of clues, they all seem to lead back to Bornholm. With an innocent offer to check out a lead, Jeppe unwittingly finds himself in the crosshairs of a sinister mystery rooted in the past, forcing him to team up with Anette and Esther to unravel the island's secrets before it's too late.
In at The Kill is by Gerald Seymour. Liverpool: a suburban crime family grips a whole city with fear. And their ambition reaches further still. Galicia: an entire community waits on the windswept edge of Europe for the delivery of four tonnes of cocaine, brought across the ocean in an almost unbelievable craft. London: Jonas Merrick, grey and quiet, alone in a small office, seems an unlikely character to be tasked with bringing down an international drug network. But while Jonas's colleagues regard him as scratchy, fastidious, old, he is also ruthless, cunning and brutally pragmatic. And he has a man on the inside: a would-be money-launderer on that wild Spanish coast. A man who has been undercover for so long, he has almost forgotten who he really is. And he is due to come home. Has to. For he will be given no mercy if he is caught. But Jonas needs him to stay.
February 2023
A Gift of Poison is by Bella Ellis. Haworth 1847 - Anne and Emily Bronte have had their books accepted for publication, while Charlotte's has been rejected everywhere, creating a strained atmosphere at the parsonage. At the same time, a shocking court case has recently concluded, acquitting a workhouse master of murdering his wife by poison. Everyone thinks this famously odious and abusive man is guilty. However, he insists he is many bad things but not a murderer. When an attempt is made on his life, he believes it to be the same person who killed his wife and applies to the detecting sisters for their help. Despite reservations, they decide that perhaps, as before, it is only they who can get to the truth and prove him innocent - or guilty - without a shadow of doubt.
Never Go Back is by Jessie Keane. Gangster Max Carter and his ex-wife Annie Carter are leading separate lives in separate countries: past hurts and broken promises cannot be resolved. But then a summons to Majorca and a tragic death makes Max question all that has happened to him over many years. He had two brothers - both are now dead. His closest friend has been found hanging from a London bridge. As the police wrestle with a seemingly unsolvable case, Max is forced to revisit his painful past to find answers to a mystery that seems to make no sense at all. Who is targeting his family and why? Annie Carter is at a crossroads in life. She has a luxurious lifestyle but no one to share it with, and Max clearly thinks she is in danger too. Her daughter, Layla, has left her mafia lover Alberto Barolli and is back in London, stumbling into the police investigation and making waves.You should never go back, so the old saying goes. But then, the Carter women don't follow the rules, they make them. And when the truth of what's been happening is finally revealed, will the Carter family stand together - or will it finish them for good?
The Blood Line is by Will Shindler. An ordinary day. An ordinary street. A gruesome delivery waiting on the doorstep that's going to set off an spine-chilling chain of events... Claire Beacham returns from a busy day at work to a parcel on her doorstep - no note, no label. As a politician, she's used to being suspicious of anonymous hate mail but today she's too tired to worry. She opens it, finding a gruesome surprise inside. A severed head falls to her kitchen floor; the rich, red drip of blood on her hands. It is clear to Claire and those around her that this terrifying package is a message. But who sent it, and why? It's Claire's first delivery - and won't be her last. DI Finn cannot enjoy the gentle return to his role in the Murder Investigation Team of the Metropolitan Police that he planned. Someone is targeting Claire and with every message comes another casualty. With the clock ticking, DI Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen must wade through the depths of the murky political sphere before the bodies start piling up.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria. A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished. But a question remains: did he succeed? Enter Cotton Malone. After many months, Malone's protege, Luke Daniels, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany. Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Bavaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittelsbach monarchy, only now with him as king. Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig's long-rumored search bore fruit - legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons. In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig's three fairytale castles - Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee - Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom. The Last Kingdom is by Steve Berry.
March 2023
Standing in the Shadows by Peter Robinson is the twenty-eighth in the series featuring Detective Superintendent Alan Banks. Late November, 1980. English student Nick Hartley returns from a lecture to find his house full of police. He soon discovers that his ex-girlfriend has been found murdered in a nearby park, and her new boyfriend is missing. Nick quickly realises he is a suspect as he has no convincing alibi, but Nick has his own suspicions... Meanwhile, in late November 2019, an archeological dig near Scotch Corner unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more recent than the Roman remains she is looking for. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in, and the investigation into the find begins...
DI Helen Birch is recovering from major surgery, housebound and exceptionally bored. Her boss, DCI McLeod, has made it crystal clear: she is not to take on any work until her recuperation is over. In her absence, Amy Kato is promoted to sergeant and is given a maddening case to work on: Edinburgh is being plagued by an anonymous vigilante. He started small, meting out punishment to obnoxious boy racers and other antisocial folk, but his behaviour is escalating. Amy can tell from the anonymous online paper trail he leaves. His writings are increasingly confident, and increasingly threatening. And yet he also seems to be invisible: her team can find no clue as to his identity, and no trace of his whereabouts. At first, McLeod doesn't see the case as a huge deal. Concerned, Amy comes to Birch in secret to ask for help, and Birch finds it impossible to resist taking action: placing her directly in the path of immense danger … The Dead Don't Speak is by Claire Askew.
The Running Club is by Ali Lowe. The rules of the running club are the same as they have always been: keep your breath steady, keep your mind sharp, record your laps! Only now there's a new one: don't get killed.The wealthy community of Esperance is picture-perfect. Big houses, stunning views, beautiful people. A brand new running track for the local club to jog around in the evenings. From the outside, it looks like paradise. But the women of the town know the truth: you can hide anything - from wrinkles to secrets from your past - if you have enough money. You could even hide a murder.
End of Story is by Louise Swanson. Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing. It has been five years since writing fiction was banned by the government. Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials. But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding? And who can be trusted?
Her is the debut novel by Mira Shah. You want to be just like her. But do you really know her? Rani has always felt like an outsider. First growing up among her white, wealthy peers. And now next to her successful, child-free friends. From the tiny rented flat she lives in with her family, she imagines being the kind of woman who owns the beautiful house across the street. Then Natalie moves in. With her expensive clothes, adoring husband and high-powered job, she has everything Rani wants, and Rani can't help but be drawn to her new neighbour. But as the two women strike up a friendship and begin open up, Rani wonders - is Natalie's perfect-seeming life too good to be true?
April 2023
Revenge is best served sweet. Secrets and lies ruin lives. Two women receive an anonymous note. For one it's a threat. For the other it's an invitation for revenge. Helena is beautiful, successful, and living in married bliss in Exeter. But she's hiding a secret that could tear her perfect life apart. When the notes begin to arrive, she realises someone else must know her secret. But what might her husband and his overbearing family do if they find out the truth? Thea is reeling from her best friend Helena's death. But when she starts digging into the circumstances, she receives a threatening note warning her to stop.She knows her friend's death wasn't an accident. This was murder. And she is determined to get revenge . . . Her Sweet Revenge is by Sarah Bonner.
The Soulmate is by Sally Hepworth. 'Gabe is alone at the cliff's edge. His arms are outstretched, palms facing the empty air.' He said she jumped. He wouldn't lie. Before the woman went over the cliff, Pippa and Gabe were happy. They have the kind of marriage that everyone envies, as well as two sweet young daughters, a supportive family, and a picturesque cliff-side home - which would have been idyllic had the tall beachside cliffs not become so popular among those wishing to end their lives. Gabe has become somewhat of a local hero since they moved to the cliff house, talking seven people down from stepping off the edge. But when Gabe fails to save the eighth, Amanda, a sordid web of secrets begins to unravel, pushing bonds of loyalty and love to the brink.
Fatal Legacy is by Lindsey Davis. An unpaid bar bill leads Flavia Albia to her most bitter and complex case yet. Decades earlier Appius Tranquillus Surus wrote his will: it freed his slaves and bequeathed his businesses to them. He left an orchard to the Prisci, a family he was friendly with, on the condition that his freedmen could still take its harvest. The convoluted arrangement has led to a feud between the two families, each of which has its own internal strife. Endless claims and counterclaims lead to violence and even death. Lawyers have given up in exasperation as the case limps on. The original will has disappeared, along with a falsified codicil - and might there be another one? But is there a solution? Two youngsters from each side of the divide, Gaius Venuleius and Cosca Sabatina, have fallen in love, which could unite the feuding families. There is only one problem: were Sabatina's grandmother and father really liberated in the Surus will? If not, the stigma of slavery will stop the marriage and the dispute will rage on forever. Reconciliation seems impossible, but Albia will try. Her investigation must cut through decades of secrets, arguments, lies and violence to reach a startling truth.
The Warlock Effect is a highly entertaining, fiendishly clever thriller. Set in 1950s Soho, where top illusionist Louis Warlock and his secret posse of eccentric assistants create extraordinary and baffling magic, his phenomenal expertise is noticed by the British Secret Service, which needs his lateral thinking and conjuring skills to defeat a deadly plot against the government. Pouring their joint obsessions with comedy, magic and horror into this novel, authors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman take the reader into a realm of secrets and betrayal. A peek behind the curtain of a world which though long lost, resonates with contemporary fears about identity and the malignant manipulation of our minds.
When Lady Anderson invites five guests to her apartment in Bruton Square, Mayfair, none of the guests know why they have been summoned. And it isn't long before dinner turns DEADLY. Supper for Six . . . but murder is on the menu. Felix Caerphilly - podcaster and investigator - has been obsessed with the case of the deadly dinner party for decades. Listen along as Felix uncovers what happened that night in 1977 - with interviews with the suspects, and recordings from the night in question . . . London, 1977: Agapanthus and Francois Langford, Jeremy and Chrissy Crowley, and Elizabeth Chalice have very little in common - except for the fact they have all been summoned at fairly short notice to attend a dinner party hosted by Lady Sybil Anderson, in her rather charming and opulent apartment in Bruton Square, Mayfair. Once the awkward introductions are out of the way, a powercut sends shockwaves through the group - and when the lights come back on, Jeremy is discovered dead. Elizabeth Chalice - the only private investigator in the group - becomes detective, witness and suspect . . . Is Jeremy's death an accident - or is it the very reason they've all been called here together? Decades later . . . can Felix Caerphilly shine light on what really happened that night? Supper for Six is by Fiona Sherlock.
Death of a Bookseller is by Alice Slater. A bookshop. A true crime case. A deadly friendship. Roach - bookseller, loner and true crime obsessive - is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep. That is, until Laura joins the bookshop. Smelling of roses, with her cute literary tote bags and beautiful poetry, she's everyone's new favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a darkness within Laura, the same darkness Roach possesses. As Roach's curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, it becomes clear that she is prepared to infiltrate Laura's life at any cost.
May 2023
My phone has no reception, something we've been told to expect from time to time out here, and my stomach feels uneasy. Maybe it's the motion of the waves or maybe it's the fact that Pete didn't leave a note or a text. He usually leaves a note with a heart. I pull on jeans and a jumper and scrunch my hair on top of my head and take my key card and step out into the corridor. Thirty seconds later it hits me. All the other cabin doors are wedged open. Every single one is unoccupied and unlocked. My heart starts beating harder. I break out into a run. At the end of the long corridor I take a lift down to the Ocean Lobby. There's nobody here. My mouth is dry. It's like I'm trapped on a runaway train. No, this is worse. The RMS Atlantica is steaming out into the ocean and I am the only person on board. This was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime for Cas. Now she just needs to survive. The Last Passenger is by Will Dean.
Broken Oaths is by Patricia Marques. During a remote meeting, an official watches from Lisbon as his colleague, Inacio Machado, a Portuguese diplomat based in London's Portuguese embassy, dies of what looks to be a heart attack. When no one comes into the room to Inacio's aid, he tries frantically to contact the embassy to get immediate help. He tries and tries again, but no one picks up the phone and he's forced to call the British emergency services. When local police arrive, they walk into a disturbing scene. Everyone inside the building is dead, all seemingly from the same cause. Inspector Isabel Reis, a Gifted Inspector with Portugal's PolIcia Judiciaria has developed a reputation for closing sensitive cases involving powerful people. When the gravity of what has happened in Belgravia is revealed, she's called up to London to assist London Met's CID in the investigation. The mystery takes another alarming turn when they realise that the embassy was harbouring an American-Portuguese military scientist who is unaccounted for. One thing becomes clear very quickly: the deaths are murders, and Isabel faces capturing a killer more ruthless than she has ever seen before.
Children of the Sun is by Beth Lewis. Welcome to Atlas. What would you do for a second chance? Summer 1982. Deep in the Adirondack Mountains, over three hundred people live off-grid in a secret community. Atlas is a refuge for broken souls who long for a different life. Founded by the enigmatic Sol, the group now prepares for their final ceremony: the opening of the Golden Door. They believe they will cross to another world, to a new life where their past decisions never ended in tragedy. James Morrow is a rookie New York City reporter intent on making his name with an expose of the crazy cult in the woods. He secures an invitation to the camp on the condition he tell the world of its wonders, but James is a sceptic. He's sure there must be more to the mysterious leader and his endgame than his followers have signed up for. James soon finds there is a darker side to the cult beyond the prayers and yellow robes. A group of children are treated like gods, there are iron strips embedded in the earth, and nobody talks about what's behind the gates of Sol's private sanctuary. As James learns the stories of the members and how they came to be there, he begins to understand the desperate nature of their beliefs - a desperation he knows all too well. As the final ceremony draws near, James must ask himself: what will it cost them to reach this other life? And is that a price he's willing to pay?
The Couple in the Photo is by Helen Cooper. Lucy and her husband, Adam, have been best friends with another couple, Cora and Scott for years. The four are practically family at this point--they vacation together, co-own a beach cottage, and their young children are inseparable. So Lucy is devastated when, while looking at a colleague's photos of a trip to the Malives, she spots a picture of Scott, apparently on a luxurious holiday with another woman. Lucy is determined to protect her best friend from her husband's seeming infidelity, but when she learns that the woman in the photo has gone missing, she can't help but fear that Scott was involved. As she searches for answers, she uncovers secrets about her friends and her own husband that could destroy the wonderful lives they have built...and she suspects that everybody around her knows much more about the missing woman than they are letting on. Is Lucy actually the one most in the dark? If so, what are the consequences of discovering the truth?
June 2023
She can save her client.Or she can save herself. The Therapist - Myra seems to have it all - a thriving practice as a counsellor, a million-dollar home, a loving husband and two children. A world away from her troubled childhood. She's the only one who knows that her entire life is built on a lie. The Client. Until a new patient confesses to a crime that feels eerily familiar and Myra is thrown into a quest to hide the truth: from her family, her friends, her co-workers, and most importantly, the police. The Confession. How can this client know about Myra's past? And how can Myra silence her before it's too late? One thing is certain: she will do anything to keep her family safe. Even from herself. Trust in Me is by Luca Veste.
