Forthcoming Books from Hodder and Stoughton

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.

Books to Look Forward to from Hodder & Stoughton

 January 2022

Her Perfect Twin is by Sarah Bonner. When Megan discovers photographs of her estranged identical twin sister on her husband's phone, she wants answers. Leah already has everything Megan has ever wanted. Fame, fortune, freedom to do what she wants. And when Megan confronts Leah, an argument turns to murder. The only way Megan can get away with killing her twin is to become her. But then lockdown hits. How can she continue living two lives? And what happens if someone else knows her secret too?

Shady Hollow is by Juneau Black. A murder to solve a reporter on the case. Can you spot the secrets in Shady Hollow? In the woodland community of Shady Hollow, you'll discover a secret. Moose and mice, owls and bears live side by side in civilized harmony. Shady Hollow has a coffee shop and a bookshop, a haberdasher and a bank. All is well . . . until the town's querulous toad shows up dead. It's something this village haven't seen before: a murder. Vera Vixen is new in town. She has a nose for news and catches the scent of a story, one that leads her to dark places. As she stirs up the still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and the folks in Shady Hollow learn that some of their neighbours are lying, while others are downright dangerous. It will take all of Vera's cunning and quickness to come out alive.

What makes a good man become an assassin? A Navy SEAL has gone rogue, selling his skills to the highest bidder as a professional assassin. Ryan French no longer cares who he kills so long as the price is right. His former bosses want him taken down, but they're not prepared to get their hands dirty so they need a Brit to do the job. SAS trooper Matt "Lastman" Standing is a lethal killing machine with experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Plus he's worked with French in the past. It's not a mission he wants, but Standing made a bad choice in his past and it has come back to haunt him. Now he's hunting French in the lawless Wild West forests of Humboldt County, where the US produces most of its legal - and illegal – cannabis. But French isn't the only predator in the wilderness - there are Mexican cartels, Russian Mafia and Hungarian gangsters - and Standing has to overcome them all to get to his target. Standing Alone is by Stephen Leather.

Something to Hide is by Elizabeth George. A Nigerian born detective sergeant working for the Metropolitan Police is found unconscious in her own flat and ends up in hospital where she dies of her injury. The post-mortem reveals that the subdural hematoma is the result of a blow to her head. DI Thomas Lynley, DS Barbara Havers and DS Winston Nkata are called in to investigate a case that touches upon not only the work and the life of the murdered detective but also upon a controversial cultural tradition that damages and often destroys the future of everyone it involves.

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is by C S Robertson. Death is not the end. For Grace McGill, it's only the beginning. When people die alone and undiscovered, it's her job to clean up what's left behind - whether it's clutter, bodily remains or dark secrets. When an old man lies undetected in his flat for months, it seems an unremarkable life and an unnoticed death. But Grace knows that everyone has a story and that all deaths mean something more.

He thought the worst was behind them. The primaries done and dusted. The Presidency within arm's reach. He couldn't have been more wrong. Not only were the primaries rigged; they had revealed a web of lies that was but the tip of a huge iceberg. But where there's a will, there's a way... In The Shadows is by Edouard Philippe and Gillies Boyer

The Couple at the Table is by Sophie Hannah. You're on your honeymoon at an exclusive couples-only resort. You receive a note warning you to 'Beware of the couple at the table nearest to yours'. At dinner that night, five other couples are present, and none of their tables is any nearer or further away than any of the others. It's as if someone has set the scene in order to make the warning note meaningless - but why would anyone do that? You have no idea. You also don't know that you're about to be murdered, or that once you're dead, all the evidence will suggest that no one there that night could possibly have committed the crime. So who might be trying to warn you? And who might be about to commit the perfect impossible murder?

February 2022

In the early years of the last century, a desperate young girl changes her name and flees the confines of her dominating gangland family in London. She goes to Paris to be come an artist's model but the world there I different , and she soon falls on hard times. Back home in London she reluctantly re-joins the Soho family “firm” and becomes a force to be reckoned with, a gangland queen. Then she meets Richard Beaumont, the youngest son of a wealthy aristocratic family, and sparks fly. But cans he escape the law, when the crimes of her past finally catch up with her? Diamond is by Jessie Keane. 

The Hunting Ground is by Will Shindler. Sadie Nicholls has been found dead, brutally and strangely murdered, in her South East London flat. Her little boy is missing. DI Alex Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen know that, in the case of a missing child, it's the first 24 hours that count. They don't have many left to find out where Sadie's son might be and the identity of her killer. Why would anyone want a struggling single mother, loved by many, dead? But when they realise a similar crime was committed at the same house nearly 20 years ago, a question is on everyone's lips: is this more than just a coincidence?

Legend has it that the ocean can lure children and make them fall into the depths to never return . . . Martin, who has always been drawn to the ocean, moves his wife Alexandra and their two young children move to his family's idyllic summer cottage in the picturesque island village of Orust, on the west coast of Sweden. Martin begins to cultivate a mussel farm, where he soon runs into trouble with the locals. One January weekend, when Martin is distracted by a ringing phone, he discovers that in those few moments, his young son has gone missing and his little red bucket is bobbing in the waves. Though his body is never found, it's ruled an accidental drowning. Martin's grief is all-consuming as he falls into a deep depression, withdrawing from his family and community. When former police photographer Maya Linde arrives to Orust, she learns of the little boy's disappearance and decides to do some investigating of her own. Martin and Maya grow closer as they learn the hidden truths of this town and the locals who have always mythologized the ocean. Together they make a macabre discovery: other children have tragically died in the these waves, all on the same day in January, all in the exact same spot, though decades apart. Can it really be a coincidence, or is the ocean luring the children into its depths? As Maya and Martin grapple with a threat far greater than they ever imagined, they soon realize that the truth is actually much stranger than fiction . . . Winter Water is by Susanne Jansson.

Sasza decides to return to the police, but first she must ensure the safety of her daughter by putting to rest the demons evoked by terrifying ordeal which led her to leave Poland for seven years in England. No sooner has she begun the process, however, than she is drawn into the deeply disturbing case of a woman who has disappeared from a village - and she is not the first to do so. The roots of the crime seem to reach all the way back to the dark enmities of the second world war. Conspiracy of Blood is by Katarzyna Bonda.

You Never Said Goodbye is by Luca Veste. A devoted mother. Sam Cooper has a happy life: a good job, a blossoming relationship. Yet, there's something he can never forget - the image seared into his mind of his mother, Laurie, dying when he was a child. His father allowed his grief to tear them apart and Sam hasn't seen him in years. A loving wife. Until an unexpected call from Firwood hospital, asking Sam to come home, puts in motion a chain of devastating events. On his deathbed, Sam's father makes a shocking confession.  A liar? Who was Laurie Cooper? It's clear that everything Sam thought he knew about his mother was wrong. And now he's determined to find out exactly what she did and why - whatever the cost. What happens if you discover you've been lied to by your own family for twenty-five years? Sam Cooper is about to find out.

The Trivia Night is by Ali Lowe. Question: How long does it take to tear someone's life apart? Answer: Sometimes just one night. From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it's a community where everyone knows each other - and secrets don't stay secret for long. The big date in the calendar is the school's annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it's not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact. But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart - and revenge turns fatal.

The Harbour is by Katrine Engberg. A boy is missing. A web of lies will be uncovered... When fifteen-year-old Oscar Dreyer-Hoff disappears, it's assumed he's another teenage runaway - an overlooked middle child who will turn up within 24 hours. But as the hours, and then days, tick by and the family become more frantic, Detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner begin to dig deeper into Oscar's life. Who has been sending the family malicious notes? What secrets is Oscar's best friend keeping? And what's really going on down at the harbour? With every passing hour and little evidence, the odds of finding a missing person grow dimmer and dimmer in Korner and Werner's toughest case yet.

Crime [Noun]: An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law. Forensic science is one of the most important aspects of any criminal investigation. It can allow the authorities to do everything from positively identify a suspect in a crime to determine exactly when and how a crime occurred. Professor Angela Gallop has been at the forefront of forensics for over 45 years. During her remarkable career, she has worked on hundreds of cases from the seemingly unsolvable to outright bizarre and is often essential in finding the crucial piece of evidence to help solve them. In How to Solve a Crime, Gallop takes readers behind the police tape and into the heart of the crime scene. From being bemused by mediums to helping identify the man who stabbed George Harrison, the crimes in this book offer a real insight into the mind of a forensic scientists.

March 2022

Cold Clay is by Juneau Black. A murder to solve. A reporter on the case . Crimes of the past won't stay buried. In the woodland community of Shady Hollow, you'll discover a secret. Moose and mice, owls and bears live side by side in civilised harmony. The town has a coffee shop and a bookshop, a haberdasher and a bank. Life is peaceful, until a skeleton is found buried deep under an apple tree. Danger has returned to Shady Hollow.  Ace reporter Vera Vixen only wants a good news story as harvest time arrives with the promise of glorious feasts ahead. But the discovery of the body casts a darker shadow. Soon enough, the coffeeshop's owner is being dragged down to the police station. Vera can't believe gentle Joe the moose is a killer. To get to the bottom of the matter, she will have to dig into the secrets her neighbours would rather leave buried forever . . .

You can run from your past, but you can't hide forever... Rebecca Bray has moved on from a childhood she desperately wants to forget. She has everything she's ever wanted - the perfect fiance, a loving stepdaughter, a career she's proud of, and now the house of her dreams. But when the family move to the Cornish village where Rebecca grew up, everything she wanted to bury from those years starts to claw at the surface. Then, when her stepdaughter goes missing at a New Year's Eve party, Rebecca must finally face the ghosts of her past - or Ava might never come home safely...Return to Blackwater House is by Vikki Patis.

A Matter of Time is by Claire Askew. At 8am the first shots are fired. At 1pm, the police establish the gunman has a hostage. By 5pm, a siege is underway. At 9pm, DI Helen Birch walks, alone and unarmed, into an abandoned Borders farmhouse to negotiate with the killer. One day. One woman. One chance to get everyone out alive.

The Foot Soldiers is by Gerald Seymour. Defectors are not always welcome. Is the information they bring worth the cost of protecting them for the rest of their lives? Is it even genuine? Might they be double agents? These are some of the questions facing MI6 when a Russian agent hands himself in to them in Denmark. As a team begins to assess his value, his former employers in the Kremlin develop a brutal plan to show that no defector will ever be safe. And they know where to find him. Which means there must be a mole in MI6. So it is that the cavaliers of Six find themselves being interrogated by nondescript Jonas Merrick of Five - the man called back from retirement and his beloved caravan, the man the young guns call the Eternal Flame because 'he never goes out.' But while he may be grey, Jonas is also ruthless. As he quietly works through the suspects in London, and violent mayhem breaks out in Denmark, Jonas plans not just to unmask a traitor, but to hit back at the Russians with deadly force.

Anthem is by Noah Hawley. America spins into chaos as the last remnants of political consensus break apart. Against a background of environmental disaster and opioid addiction, debate descends into violence and militias roam the streets - while teenagers across the world seem driven to self-destruction, communicating by memes only they can understand. Yet the markets still tick up and the super-rich, like Ty Oliver, fly above the flames in private jets. After the death of his daughter, Ty dispatches his son Simon to an Anxiety Abatement Center. There he encounters another boy called the Prophet. And the Prophet wants him to join a quest. Before long, Simon is on the road with a crew of new comrades on a rescue mission as urgent as it is enigmatic. Suddenly heroes of their own story, they are crossing the country in search of a young woman held in a billionaire's retreat - and, just possibly, the only hope of escape from the apocalypse bequeathed to them by their parents' generation.

April 2022

Desperate Undertaking is by Lindsey Davis. Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community, and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die on stage. A figure from the past wants Flavia Albia's father to investigate, but Falco is out of Rome for the holidays. Albia seizes the commission. And begins to regret doing so almost immediately. 'The undertaker did it!' the first victim croaks before expiring. This seems to make no sense, because surely people are already dead when they go to their funeral?  Though there is a serial killer at large, the authorities would prefer a cover-up but Albia is driven to discover what is going on. How much blood must be shed before the mania ends? And could her own family be on the list for a frightful stage death?

The Younger Wife is by Sally Hepworth. The moment she laid eyes on Heather Wisher, Tully knew this woman was going to destroy their lives. Tully and Rachel Aston are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn't even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their mother, who is in a care facility with end-stage Alzheimer's disease. Announcing his plan to divorce and then remarry, the news of Stephen and Heather's engagement sets a chain a family implosion. With their mother unable to speak for herself, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family's secrets and what this new woman really wants.  Heather knows she has an uphill battle to win over Tully and Rachel, all the while carrying the burden of the secrets of her past. But, as it turns out, they are all hiding something. A garage full of stolen goods. An old hot-water bottle stuffed with cash. A blood-soaked wedding. And that's only the beginning . . .

The Third Grave is by Lisa Jackson. A cold case. A recent discovery. A very real threat... Amongst the ruins of the old Beaumont mansion lies a terrible secret. In the cellar are three graves - but only two skeletons. They belong to Holly and Poppy Duval who disappeared 20 years ago. But where is their missing youngest sister? Detective Pierce Reed is assigned to the case, which becomes complicated by his reporter wife, Nikki, trying to get the scoop on the ground-breaking new find. As Reed and Nikki start to piece together what really happened all those years ago, it becomes clear that the killer is anything but finished. And the question remains - where is Rose Duval?

A murder to solve. A reporter on the trail. Is this a case of mistaken Identity? Welcome, dear reader! You have happened upon the delightful village of Shady Hollow, a place where rabbits and raptors, squirrels and snakes live together in civilised accord . . . with only the occasional murder to mar the peace of daily life. Keen journalist Vera Vixen is recovering from the Harvest Festival (and its bounty of local cheeses, cider and pies) when the calm is shattered by a scream from one of the small town's grandest houses. Dorothy Springfield, a rat with a reputation for eccentricity, claims her husband - who is standing right next to her - has been murdered. Has Dorothy finally lost her grip on reality? Or is the rat who claims to be Edward an imposter? Vera's fox nose scents a story. And it's not long before the discovery of a body, minus head, complicates things further . . . Mirror Lake is by Juneau Black.

First Born is by Will Dean. The last thing a twin expects is to be alone... Molly lives a quiet, contained life in London. Naturally risk averse, she gains comfort from security and structure. Every day the same. Her identical twin Katie is her exact opposite: gregarious and spontaneous. They used to be inseparable, until Katie moved to New York a year ago. Molly still speaks to her daily without fail. But when Molly learns that Katie has died suddenly in New York, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. Katie is part of her DNA. As terrifying as it is, she must go there and find out what happened. As she tracks her twin's last movements, cracks begin to emerge. Nothing is what it seems. And a web of deceit is closing around her.

Helen leaned close enough to fog the mirror with her breath and whispered, 'You, my girl, are a qualified medical almoner and at eight o'clock tomorrow morning you will be on the front line of the National Health Service of Scotland.' Her eyes looked huge and scared. 'So take a shake to yourself!'' Edinburgh, 1948. Helen Crowther leaves a crowded tenement home for her very own office in a doctor's surgery. Upstart, ungrateful, out of your depth - the words of disapproval come at her from everywhere but she's determined to take her chance and play her part. She's barely begun when she stumbles over a murder and learns that, in this most respectable of cities, no one will fight for justice at the risk of scandal. As Helen resolves to find a killer, she's propelled into a darker world than she knew existed, hardscrabble as her own can be. Disapproval is the least of her worries now. In Place of Fear is by Catriona McPherson

The Dark Flood is by Deon Meyer.One last chance. Almost fired for insubordination, detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido find themselves demoted, exiled from the elite Hawks unit and dispatched to the leafy streets of Stellenbosch. Working a missing persons report on student Callie de Bruin is not the level of work they are used to, but it's all they get. And soon, it takes a dangerous, deeply disturbing turn. One last chance. Stellenbosch is beautiful, but its economy has been ruined by one man. Jasper Boonstra and his gigantic corporate fraud have crashed the local property market, just when estate agent Sandra Steenberg desperately needs a big sale. Bringing up twins and supporting her academic husband, she is facing disaster. Then she gets a call. From Jasper Boonstra, fraudster, sexual predator and owner of a superb property worth millions, even now. For Sandra, the stakes are high and about to get way higher. For Benny Griessel, clinging to sobriety and the relationship that saved his life, the truth about Callie can only lead to more trouble.

The Fields is by Erin Young. It starts with a body - a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture. For Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations at the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office, an already horrific crime takes on a personal edge when she discovers the victim is an old friend, from a dark past she thought she'd left behind. Rumour travels fast in small towns, while sweltering heat and state-wide elections only add to the pressure-cooker atmosphere. When another body is found, Riley is in danger of being engulfed by the fear and the frenzy. Something deeply disturbing is out there - and it reaches far beyond Black Hawk County.

May 2022

She Just wanted to escape. Deep in the lavender fields of Provence, nine guests arrive at a luxury holiday home. They all know each other well, or at least they think they do. The only stranger is the young woman hired to do the catering. Over the course of their break, loyalties will be tested, secrets revealed , and tensions pushed to the point of no return. The Summer Job is by Sabine Durrant.

My Sweet Girl is by Amanda Jayatissa. A girl in a new country. A dark secret left behind. A dead body which might tell all. Ever since she was adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka, Paloma has led a privileged Californian life: the best schools, a generous allowance and parents so perfect that Paloma fears she'll never live up to them. Now at thirty, Paloma has managed to disappoint her parents so thoroughly that their relationship will never recover. Unemployed and friendless, the only person still talking to her is Arun - the Indian man subletting her spare room. That is until Arun discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her fragile place in this country, and the next day is found face down in a pool of blood. On finding Arun's body Paloma flees her apartment. But by the time the police arrive, there's no body to be found or signs of struggle - and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place. The police may be quick to dismiss everything, but Paloma knows what she saw. Is this tangled up in her childhood in Sri Lanka and the desperate actions she took to leave so many years ago? And did Paloma's secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?

On her way home from an all-night surveillance job, V.I. Warshawski's dogs lead her on a mad chase that ends when they find a badly injured teen hiding in the rocks along Lake Michigan. The girl only regains consciousness long enough to utter one enigmatic word. V.I. helps bring her to a hospital, but not long after, she vanishes before anyone can discover her identity. As V.I. attempts to find her, the detective uncovers an ugly consortium of Chicago power brokers and mobsters who are prepared to kill the girl before VI can save her. And soon it becomes clear that V.I.'s own life is in jeopardy as well.  Told against the backdrop of a city emerging from its pandemic lockdown, Overboard by Sara Paretsky lays bare the dark secrets and corruption buried in Chicago's neighbourhoods in masterly fashion.

The bunker is designed to keep them all safe. In the end, very few people made it to the bunker. Now they wait there for the outside world to heal. Wolfe is one of the lucky ones. She's safe and employed as the bunker's pharmacist, doling out medicine under the watchful eye of their increasingly erratic and paranoid leader. But is it the place of greatest danger? But when the leader starts to ask things of Wolfe, favours she can hardly say no to, it seems her luck is running out. Forming an unlikely alliance with the young Doctor Stirling, her troubled assistant Levitt, and Canavan - a tattooed giant of a man who's purpose in the bunker is a mystery - Wolfe must navigate the powder keg of life underground where one misstep will light the fuse. The walls that keep her safe also have her trapped. How much more is Wolfe willing to give to stay alive? The Pharmacist is by Rachelle Atalla.

The Fallout is by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. A murdered woman. A missing child. And a father intent on revenge. On a cold day in Reykjavik, a baby goes missing from her pram. When the child's blanket washes up on the beach, and the mother is found dead, everyone's worst fears seem to have been realised. Eleven years later, and detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are now working in the same police building, on the same team. Freyja believes that personal and professional relationships must remain separate, however hard that may be. But when a woman's dismembered body is found in a deserted car, her head missing, and Freyja and Huldar find themselves working on the same case, the secrecy around their affair threatens to crack. And when Freyja is accused of a serious breach of police protocol, will Huldar be able to help her? Meanwhile, their search to identify the body takes the case back into secrets of the past, and the unspoken crimes that bind three separate families.

Matt Mason is attempting to put the army behind him, building a life for himself training anti-poaching forces on a Kenyan game reserve. He's looking forward to meeting up with his eldest child, Jo who has graduated naval college and taken a summer job working on a billionaires yacht in the Red Sea. But then he receives a call informing him that Jo's boat is missing, likely abducted by Somali pirates. Mason must call in favours from old contacts as he follows Jo's trail. She isn't the abduction target, she won't be worth the pirates keeping for long. But she is still Matt Mason's daughter, and she knows she needs to survive to fight. Survive to Fight is by Billy Billingham. 

House of Silence is by Patricia Marques. A woman's body is found in a river just outside of Lisbon. Inspectors Isabel Reis and Aleksandr Voronov identity the murder victim as Marta Nunes - a youth centre worker who, like Isabel, classifies as Gifted. Born with special abilities, the Gifted are often looked at with a certain level of suspicion. In the search for her killer, Reis digs into Marta's past. She soon discovers that she is connected to a number of missing women. All young, all telepathic Gifted, all vanished off the face of the earth. Marta might have been helping these missing girls, or she might have been hurting them. But Inspector Reis needs to find the truth about who killed Marta and why, and she needs to find where the missing girls go. Because some of them might still be alive out there . . .

June 2022

The Skeleton Key is by Erin Kelly. This reunion will tear a family apart...Summer, 2021. Nell has come home at her family's insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Fifty years ago, her father wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, Sir Frank Churcher created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried - gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore's pelvis remained hidden. The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore. Marriages broke down as the quest consumed people. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. His daughter, Nell, became a recluse. But now the Churchers must be reunited. The book is being reissued along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. Nell is appalled, and terrified. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.

One year ago, Leah's feisty twenty-one-year-old niece, Amy, mysteriously drowned near her family-owned luxury resort on the shores of Lake Garda. Now, Leah is returning to Italy for the first time since Amy's death. But what she finds upon her arrival shocks her: her sister, brother-in-law, and surviving niece, Olivia, seem to have erased all memories of Amy, and insist her death was an accidental drowning, despite murky circumstances. Leah knows she must look beyond the resort's beautiful facade if she is to uncover the truth of that night. Meanwhile, in Derby, university counsellor Joanna is recovering from a surprising break-up when she is swept off her feet by a handsome bartender. But when she invites him into her home, Joanna quickly starts to realise that she doesn't know him as well as she thought. What follows is a propulsive game of cat-and mouse as both women begin to realise that appearances can be deceptive: and that the darkest secrets often lie closest to home. The Other Guest is by Helen Cooper.

Wake is by Shelly Burr. Everybody thinks they know Mina McCreery, Everyone has a theory on what happened to her sister. Now its time to find out the truth. Mina McCreery's sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family's destocked sheep farm. When Lane, a private investigator, approaches her with an offer to reinvestigate the case, she rejects him. The attention has had nothing but negative consequences for her and her family, and never brought them closer to an answer. Lane wins her trust when his unconventional methods show promise, but he has his own motivations for wanting to solve the case, and his obsession with the answer will ultimately risk both their lives.

Jonathan's wife disappeared more than twenty years ago. Now he's seeing her everywhere . . . New York in the 1990s - impoverished writer Jonathan Dainty takes his wife Maddie out to the beach for her birthday. Hours later he finds himself at the local police precinct trying to explain how on earth he let his wife get into a stranger's car, and allowed it to drive her away. More than twenty years later, Maddie is presumed dead and Jonathan has channelled his grief into a best-selling series of crime novels. As far as he can, he is living the perfect life. Then one day he catches a glimpse of his dead wife, moving through a throng of people. Is Maddie alive? Has she come back? And why does no one believe him? As Jonathan attempts to uncover the truth, it soon becomes clear that the people closest to him are hiding something, something that could change everything . .. Birthday Girl is by Niko Wolf.

The Lies I Tell is by Julie Clark. Meg Varnum. Maggie Littleton. Meg Upton. Different names for the same person, depending on the town, depending on the job. I'm not a con artist as much as an avenger. A righter of wrongs. But nothing about me is real, other than my desire to hold men like you accountable for the things you've done. I don't break any laws, and what I take is given willingly. I can't be blamed for how easy it is to manipulate you. It's a discipline involving confidence, cleverness, and deception. And now, I'm about to work my final trick . . . this time under my real name. Because when it's done, I want you to know who I am and remember what you did to me.

London 1929. Very much not a land fit for heroes. Frenchie knows his occasional work for MI5 serves only the ruling classes. But he needs to feed his children. Scruples died in the trenches. When Ramsay MacDonald, Britain's first Labour Prime Minister, is blackmailed by a former lover, Frenchie must go to Paris to buy her silence. It is clear there are many people who would see MacDonald fall - the Conservatives, their friends in the press, even some of his own colleagues. But his own secret service? When Frenchie hears the other side of the story, everything changes. The Prime Minister's Affair is by Andrew Wilson and is another brilliant historical thriller based on a real blackmail plot, hidden in the archives.

July 2022

Just Like Home is by Sarah Gailey. The twenty-year anniversary of Vera's serial killer father's arrest is approaching, and she is about to do something she hasn't done in a very long time. Vera is going home. Her childhood home is a notorious burial ground but also the heart of Vera's warm memories of her then-idolized and beloved father. Now it is a living tomb for her long-estranged, dying mother. It's hard enough for Vera to even be there, but to make things worse, someone (or something) is stalking her, leaving creepy notes in her father's handwriting and painting fake blood all over the porch. And that's not the only unwelcome guest - a parasitical artist with delusions of granduer has moved into her mother's guest house, oozing charm and stinking of his own plans. But there are more secrets in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House, and no one could have fore seen how this last confrontation would end . . .