Books to Look forward to from Orion Publishing

January 2026

The Bone Garden is by Simon Beckett. Buried in the shadows and roots of the forest is a deadly secret that was never meant to come out . . . Driving through the mountains in a fierce winter storm, David Hunter is forced to seek shelter at a remote village. But a one-night stop-over at the dilapidated Hillside House becomes deadly after a gruesome discovery in the depths of the surrounding forest. With communications down and the only road washed out by the storm, Hunter is unsure who - if anyone - he can trust. And as long-buried secrets of a feud amongst the locals begin to emerge, he knows that whatever dark past the isolated community might be hiding, there's no one he can call on for help. This time he's on his own.

A man with a deadly past marries into the perfect, respectable family. A woman buried. A woman broken. A woman crashed. A woman burned. And the man who knew them all. Love at first sight, a whirlwind Vegas wedding, a fairy-tale romance. For seventy-nine days, Tavish Advani has been the happiest man in the world-until his new life turns to ash, his wealthy in-laws' house going up in a fiery explosion. His badly injured wife lies in a coma, her family all but annihilated. Tavish thought he left the sins of his Los Angeles life behind, but it's not so easy to leave behind an investigation into the deaths of several high-profile women-all of whom he professed to love. Tragedy and death follow him no matter where he goes . . . but this time, he knows he's innocent. Desperately trying to clear his name as the authorities zero in, he begins his own investigation into the fire-and learns that his wife's picture-perfect family may have been nothing but a meticulously constructed mirage. The truth is much darker than anything Tavish could've imagined . Such a Perfect Family is by Nalini Singh.

February 2026

Mrs Pearcey is by Lottie Moggach. Camden, 1890. London is a city of gaslight, gossip and grisly headlines. Hannah Teale is a bright young woman newly engaged to Cosmo, a budding Fleet Street reporter. Her interest in journalism is largely confined to the advice and short stories in her beloved Girl's Own Paper, but when news breaks of a local woman arrested for a brutal double murder - a woman named Mary Pearcey - Hannah is struck by a chilling realisation. She's seen that face before. As the streets of Camden fill with tabloid journalists jostling for a scoop and gawpers hungry for details, Hannah becomes convinced that her encounter with Mrs Pearcey holds the key to the story behind the headlines. In the guise of preparing for her wedding, Hannah embarks on her own investigation. Startling revelations bring her closer to the real Mary Pearcey - but the deeper she digs, the more the neat edges of her own world begin to fray. With a trial in full swing, what began as a morbid fascination now feels urgent and personal. The woman bound for the gallows may not be as guilty as the press have branded her - but can Hannah uncover the truth before it's too late? And even if she does, will anyone believe her? Riveting and immersive, Mrs Pearcey is a powerful reimagining of a true crime story that scandalised Victorian society and a moving exploration of the secrets we keep and the stories we tell.

March 2026

Killing Me Softly is by Christie Watson. Unexpected deaths and untoward incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent at City Emergency Department. A&E Senior Sister, Aoife, begins to question whether her new nurses are incompetent - or worse. Earnest recruit Eden cares deeply for her patients and carries the Code of Conduct around in her pocket, reporting everyone whose views don't align with hers. But despite her self-righteousness, Eden keeps making mistakes. Is she dangerous? It is Sophie who worries Aoife the most. Acerbic, over-confident and seemingly lacking in empathy, how Sophie ever became a nurse is beyond her. When Sophie begins an affair with Aoife's best friend, Michael, a man twenty-five years her senior, tensions escalate further, threatening to eclipse the fact that lives are at stake. Aoife is the nurse we'd all want. Compassionate to the core. She's the nicest, kindest nurse in the world. Until she is tested to the limit . . . Fearless, fast-paced and darkly funny, Killing Me Softly is a jaw-dropping novel about the hidden extremes of nursing and three complex women who hold the lives of their patients - and each other - in their hands.

The House of Falling Light by R J Ellory. Fifteen-year-old Eleanor’s life of quiet rural drudgery collapses when her parents’ marriage explodes into violence. Eleanor escapes across the Texas plains, but when she crosses paths with a escaped murderer, her dream of a fresh start crumbles, as she’s mistaken for his accomplice. On the run across desolate towns and anonymous cities, Eleanor will do whatever it takes to survive – pursued throughout by a Texas ranger, desperate to understand the truth behind her wild flight across the country. 

The Lancashire town of Burnley is a typical British melting pot, where drugs, violence and human trafficking rub shoulders with grand houses and rolling moors . . . and now two people have been found dead. DI Jane Hacker is back in town, caring for her sick mother, heading up a crime unit that doesn’t trust her instincts. It’s time Jane finally faces up to the truth of the town’s past and present to track down a sadistic killer, before it is too late. The Last Rites (Her Last Breath) is by M J Arlidge and Alex Khan

July 2026

What does it cost to live free? On a warm May night, a woman is found dead at the wheel of her car on a Birmingham back street, a single knife wound to her throat. To DCI Robin Lyons, called away from a date with her new lover, the clinical murder initially suggests organized crime, especially when she learns that Heather Pethick lived on a farm with access to secluded coves on the Cornish coastline. Was she a courier, delivering drugs or even people to a contact in the city? The more Robin learns, though, the less likely that seems. Heather's distraught husband is adamant she'd never jeopardize the life the two of them had built with their six-year-old son, Mikey, especially as her own childhood had been precarious. But then another woman goes missing - a woman with whom Heather had been seen in fraught conversation just hours before she died. Uncovering the truth will take Robin down a rabbit hole into a world where nothing is what it seems and accountability is shrugged off as lightly as a summer jacket. She and her team will be forced to consider what it really means to live freely - and what that might cost other people. For one team member, it will cost their life. This currently unnamed Lucie Whitehouse novel is due to be published in July.

Forthcoming books from Orion Publishing

 January 2024

Harbour Lights by James Lee Burke is a story collection from one of the most popular and widely acclaimed icons of American fiction, featuring a never-before-published novella. These eight stories move from the marshlands on the Gulf of Mexico to the sweeping plains of Colorado to prisons, saloons, and trailer parks across the South, weaving together love, friendship, violence, survival, and revenge. With his nuanced characters, lyrical prose, and ability to write shocking violence in the most evocative settings, James Lee Burke's singular skills are on display in this superb anthology.

The Clinic is by Cate Quinn. This place will change your life . . . or end it. Welcome to The Clinic. The world's most exclusive rehab clinic offers treatment to the rich and famous. Meg's sister Haley was one of them - a troubled country singer running from a terrible addiction. Between the luxury spa, the ayurvedic yoga and the world-class therapy, the clinic is a perfect place to heal and brush shoulders with the world's most beautiful people. Safely locked in the secluded compound, its patients are a thousand miles away from crazed fans and paparazzi... with no one to call for help. When Haley is found dead at the clinic, Meg checks in under an alias to find out why. Soon she's confronting a whole lot more than her own addiction - there's a killer on the loose and anyone could be next . . .

The Excitements is by C J Wray. Revenge is a dish best served old. Meet the Williamson sisters, Britain's most treasured World War II veterans. Now in their nineties, Josephine and Penny are in demand, popping up at commemorative events all over the country. Despite their age, they're in great form-sprightly and sparky, and always in search of their next "excitement." This time it's a trip to Paris to receive the Légion d'honneur, accompanied by their devoted great-nephew, Archie. Keen historian Archie believes his great aunts had minor roles in the Women's Royal Navy and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but that's only half the story. There's a reason sweet Auntie Penny can dispatch a would-be mugger with a brolly. This trip to Paris is not what it seems either. Scandal and crime have quietly trailed the sisters since the war. Now armed with new information about an old adversary, these much decorated (but admittedly ancient) veterans intend to settle scores, avenge lost friends, and pull off one last heist before the curtain comes down on their illustrious careers.

Her teacher's pet, or his worst nightmare? Jessica Mooney seems like any other student at her university. She's talented, driven, and looks set to be this year's 'favourite' in charismatic Professor Crane's Law and Literature class. But unlike the other students competing for his good opinion, Jessica isn't what she seems. She's carrying a dark secret. Her sister is dead. Crane's to blame. And she's the only one who can bring him to justice. Will Jessica be able to get the answers and justice she seeks, or will her search for revenge destroy her first? The Favourite is by Rosemary Hennigan.

Lies cost lives. Three years ago police officer Georgina Ioannau was murdered, her killers never brought to justice. Now the prime suspects have been shot dead within hours of their return to the UK. Has someone finally taken the law into their own hands? Seeking out the truth will force Kate Daniels to confront her own past mistakes, and put her career, and her team's lives, on the line. The Longest Goodbye is by Mari Hannah. 

February 2024

It was my job to look and look and never look away, until I had captured every part of the scene, until I had told the story of those last moments that the dead could not...  For years, A.J. Hewitt was the first person into a crime scene. Before the detectives and the forensics team it was her alone with the body, the only sound her flashes firing as they lit up scenes of unimaginable horror. It was her job to shoot the photographs that revealed the circumstances of someone's final moments. Now in her debut book, The Darkroom, Hewitt takes us into the shadowy world of the crime scene photographer, and recounts remarkable tales, from murders to suicides, accidents to assassinations. In the tradition of Unnatural Causes, When the Dogs Don't Bark and All That Remains, this is a true crime book full of the wisdom that can be found in the darkness.

A true Victorian murder mystery... Great Yarmouth, September 1900: A young woman is found dead on the beach, a bootlace tied tightly around her neck. Despite her death attracting national attention in the press, nobody claims her. Detective Inspector Robert Lingwood of the Great Yarmouth police force declares he will not rest until the mystery of the young woman's death is solved. But it's only once the case has been referred to Scotland Yard that the layers of mystery start to peel away... 'Mrs Hood' was in fact Mary Jane Bennett, and this is her story. Following clues and tracking red herrings leads the police to close in on their one and only suspect. With arson, fraud, an affair and a sensation-hungry press, the murder gripped the nation in one of the most eagerly anticipated trials of the early twentieth century. The Mysterious Mrs Hood is by Kim Donovan who finally tells her great-great-aunt's story and the truth of evil duplicity in Victorian England

After the Carusos family home is destroyed by police with a no-knock warrant, the family struggle to return to normal. Two former inmates reunite on a TV set. They're both back on the straight and narrow ... until one sees the potential for an easy grift. A teenage boy must step into the man he'd like to be as a hostage crisis grips his hometown. A woman adrift meets a man tied to her grandmother's past, and awakens to the bloody history of the place she grew up. Owning Up is by George Pelecanos' and his portraits are characterized by shades of grey, resisting the mold of heroes and villains, victims and perpetrators, good and evil. At once streetwise and full of heart, Owning Up grapples with random chance, the bind of consequence, and the forked paths a life can take.

March 2024

As each prisoner dies, the bell will ring... After a drugs bust goes wrong, Deputy Sheriff Garrett Nelson is left wounded, with a permanent limp and a career in tatters. On his long road to recovery he finds one consolation - Hannah, his tough-as-nails physiotherapist, and soon they're planning a future together. Unfit for active police service, Nelson is left with few options, so he gratefully accepts his father-in-law's offer of a job at a Florida penitentiary on the grounds of an old Spanish mission in the Everglades. The prison's chapel, a working bell tower, is now an execution chamber. And Nelson must attend the executions. Working on Death Row comes with a few simple rules: - Do not let the inmates get under your skin. - Do not allow any prisoners to escape. - Do not take justice into your own hands. Garrett Nelson will break every one of them. The Bell Tower is by R J Ellory. 

Rome, 1659. Months after the plague has ravaged Rome, men are still dying in unnatural numbers, and rumour has it that their corpses do not decay as they should. The Papal authorities commission prosecutor Stefano Bracchi to investigate, telling him he will need considerable mettle to reach the truth. To the west of the Tiber, Girolama and her female friends are at work, helping other women with childbirths and foretelling their futures. Elsewhere in the city, a young wife, Anna, must find a way to escape her abusive husband. But in a city made by men for men, there are no easy paths out.  Stefano's investigation at the Tor di Nona prison will introduce him to horror, magic and an astonishing cast of characters. He will be left wondering if certain deeds should remain forever unpunished... The Book of Secrets is by Anna Mazzola.

Even Greater London 1887. An uninterrupted urban plane encompassing the entire lower half of England and, for complex reasons, only the upper third of the Isle of Wight. The immense Tower casts electricity through the sky, powering the mind-boggling mechanisms of the city. The engineer-army of Isambard Kingdom Brunel swarms across the capital, building, demolishing, and rebuilding whatever they see fit. And at the heart of it all sits the country's first private detective agency. Archibald Fleet and Clara Entwhistle hoped things would pick up quickly for their new enterprise. No-one is taking them seriously, but their break will come soon. Definitely. Probably. Meanwhile, police are baffled by a series of impossible bank robberies, their resources absorbed by the case. Which means that when a woman witnesses a kidnapping, Fleet-Entwhistle Private Investigations is the only place she can turn for help. They're more than happy to oblige! But what's the motive behind the kidnap? As Clara and Fleet investigate, they find more than they could ever have imagined . . . High Voltage is by Chris Sugden and Jen Sugden. 

April 2024

An innocent man faces execution. Can Baptiste save him? France, 1977. Baptiste is an intelligent but somewhat naive detective, sent to work in Clermiers, a town filled with corruption. A girl goes missing, presumed dead after bloody clothes are found close to an illicit party near an abandoned chateau. Baptiste believes he's nailed the culprit, the eccentric Gilles Mailloux. When he appears in court, the public call for the guillotine - and that's the sentence Mailloux gets. But as Mailloux awaits an appeal for clemency, he asks to see Baptiste, who's still haunted by the fact the girl's body remains missing. As the clock ticks towards execution hour, Baptiste begins to realise he may have made a terrible mistake... Baptiste is by David Hewson. 

Last Witness is by Lucie Whitehouse. One murder, three families destroyed. And a detective guilty of a crime of her own. When 18-year-old Ben Renshaw is found dead in city woodland, DCI Robin Lyons is plunged into one of Birmingham's most controversial cases. Months earlier, Ben and his best friend gave testimony that sent a former classmate, Alistair Heywood, to prison for a vicious sexual assault. Before the trial, the boys and their families endured months of brutal witness intimidation, for which the Heywoods, a privileged and influential local family, faced no legal repercussions. Instead, they vowed revenge. Is Ben's murder the fulfilment of that vow, the beginning of a bloody new chapter that will go on claim lives on all sides? Or is the truth - as the Heywoods claim - something entirely different? To solve the case, Robin has to negotiate the city's networks of power while walking a dangerous line: her own daughter, Lennie, has a secret that could threaten her liberty - and, if it comes out, Robin's, too. Before long, Robin comes to question whether she knows what justice is at all.

The Vanishing of John Blackwood is by Lisa Rookes. The debris from the night before is scattered underneath the village tree and across the cobbles. Red wine stains the ground like blood. And Joni has vanished. Joni Blackwood is my best friend. She was there for my first crush, stood beside me at my wedding, watched my daughter grow up. She's been there through the painful mess of the divorce, too. So when she suddenly goes missing on All Gallows' Eve, I'm first to raise the alarm. People outside the village say she must have been sacrificed in some pagan ritual. But All Gallows' Eve isn't like that. We're just simple folk enjoying an annual bonfire to keep an old tradition alive. It's mulled cider and local mums running charity bake sales to be in with a chance of winning Gallows Queen. Joni wins every year. My mum used to say this village was built on the roots of The Gallows Tree, that they're underneath the ground, under all of our houses. It used to scare me as a kid. Thick, snaking roots squirming under me. No matter how far you ran, they could tunnel after you. And when the bones of a small child are unearthed in the church graveyard, I have to wonder how many secrets are running through our village, like the roots of the tree. And I wonder if Joni can really outrun hers. And I wonder if I can really outrun mine.

May 2024

There are more than just secrets buried in these walls. It's the day of the demolition at White Cross Academy, and a crowd of former pupils and teachers have gathered to watch. But as the final charges are laid in the basement, the crew make a shocking discovery - a human skull. Former student DI Jennie Whitmore is assigned to the case, her first big murder investigation and one where there can be no room for mistakes. The remains are identified as Hannah Jennings, a popular, but troubled classmate who went missing during her lower Sixth year. As news of the body's discovery soon leaks, the small town erupts with intrigue, conspiracy and accusation. Jennie now finds herself at the heart of the storm, tasked with making up for the failings of the initial investigation to ensure that justice is finally done. At the centre is Hannah's five closest friends who used the basement as a base for the photography club. Jennie knows many of the suspects personally and she is convinced that one of this group of five knows the truth about what happened to the wilful, beguiling teenager. As Jennie unearths secrets buried deep, and lies repeatedly told, the assembled friends must reassess their past, before confronting the terrible realisation that one amongst them would rather kill to protect their new life, than pay for the sins of their teenage years. The Reunion is by M J Arlidge and Steph Broadribb.

June 2024

Farewell Amethystine is by Walter Mosley. The Easy Rawlins novels follow the infamous detective Easy Rawlins solving mysteries on the sun-soaked streets of Southern California. 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.

Daniel Clement has suffered a secret humiliation and to recover, takes respite at the monastery where he was a novice. But the monastery doesn't allow Daniel a break, for there are tensions building there too, as the secret past of novice master Father Paul is emerging. Tension mounts and a murder ensues. Meanwhile back at Champton, Daniel is the subject of village gossip, his mother Audrey is up to something again, there's trouble at the dress shop, up at the big house, and the puppies are running riot. Can Daniel be reconciled with detective Neil and solve the mystery? Murder at the Monastrey is by Richard Coles.

July 2024

Forget Me Not is by M J Arlidge. As a feud between drug gangs grips the city, a desperate mother begs DI Helen Grace to help find her teenage daughter. Grace soon discovers more missing girls, but the web of corruption she finds stretches far deeper and closer to home than she could have imagined. 

When coffee shop worker Cheryl meets handsome stranger Dale. It's a nightmare and a dream. Loan sharks keep banging at Cheryl's door. That is, until Dale sends them running for good with just a few words. A romance soon blossoms between Cheryl and Dale, whose family has bought the house next door to hers. But when Cheryl mwwts Dale's family, it's clear that they have dangerous secrets to hide. And as Cheryl uncovers the mystery of is family, it's clear that her life is in terrible danger. The Family is by Mandasue Heller.

Forthcoming Crime Books from Orion Publishing

January 2023

She Had it Coming is by Carys Jones. 'Someone needs to bring her down a peg or two...' When Pippa's best friend goes missing on a school run, no one thinks twice. Heather is pretty, popular and more than a little wild. Most people think she ran away for the attention... Others say girls like her always get what's coming to them. Pippa's mother, Abbie, has never liked Heather. Or her mother Michelle, a successful doctor who thinks she's too good for the school mums' group. ut when Heather turns up dead, everything changes. Because Pippa was the last person to see her alive... and now Abbie's own house of cards is about to come tumbling down.

February 2023

Paris Requiem is by Chris Lloyd. 'You have a choice which way you go in this war...' Paris, September 1940. After three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the streets. But who is pulling the strings, and why? This question will take Eddie from jazz clubs to opera halls, from old flames to new friends, from the lights of Paris to the darkest countryside - pursued by a most troubling truth: sometimes to do the right thing, you have to join the wrong side...

The Only Child is by Kayte Nunn. 1949 - It is the coldest winter Orcades Island has ever known, when a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for 'fallen women' run by the Catholic Church. She and her baby will disappear before the snow melts. 2013 Frankie Gray has come to the island for the summer, hoping for one last shot at reconnecting with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before starting a job as a deputy sheriff. They are staying with her mother, Diana, at The Fairmile Inn, soon to be a boutique hotel, but when an elderly nun is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and then a tiny skeleton is discovered in the grounds of the house, Frankie is desperate for answers.

March 2023

On the Savage Side is by Tiffany McDaniel. Six women - mothers, daughters, sisters - gone missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this is the story of two sisters, both of whom could be the next victims. Arcade and Daffodil are twin sisters born one minute apart. With their fiery red hair and thirst for an escape, they form an unbreakable bond nurtured by their grandmother's stories. Together they disappear into their imagination and forge a world where a patch of grass reveals an archaeologist's dig, the smoke emerging from the local paper mill becomes the dust rising from wild horses galloping deep beneath the earth, and an abandoned 1950s convertible transforms into a time machine that can take them anywhere. But no matter how hard they try, Arc and Daffy can't escape the generational ghosts that haunt their family. And so, left to fend for themselves in the shadow of their rural Ohio town, the two sisters cling tight to one another. Years later, as the sisters wrestle with the memories of their early life, a local woman is discovered dead in the river. Soon, more bodies are left floating in the water, and as the killer circles ever closer, Arc's promise to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate - and the powerful riptide of the savage side more difficult to survive.

All That Is Mine I Carry With Me is by William Landay.A mother vanished. A father presumed guilty. There is no proof. There are no witnesses. For the children, there is only doubt. One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find the house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom's pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot. So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin? Investigators suspect Jane's husband. A criminal defense attorney, surely Dan Larkin would be an expert in outfoxing the police. But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public's memory, a simmering, unresolved mystery. Jane's three children-Alex, Jeff, and Miranda-are left to be raised by a man who may have murdered their mother. Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides. With their father or against him? Guilty or innocent? And what if they are wrong?

The Last Highway is by R J Ellory. A sheriff investigates his own brother's murder, deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains... Estranged after a devastating betrayal, brothers Victor and Frank Landis - sheriffs of neighbouring counties - hadn't spoken for years. In truth, Victor didn't care if Frank was alive or dead. Until the day somebody killed him. Crossing county lines in search of answers, Victor is soon on the trail of a sinister conspiracy that takes him deep into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. From the poorest communities to the most powerful and corrupt organisations, he soon becomes ensnared in a dangerous web of drugs, trafficking and murder. For Victor, finding the truth will mean uncovering dark secrets he'd rather have left buried, and risking everything to protect the family his brother left behind...

April 2023

The House of Whispers is by Anna Mazzola. Sometimes the secrets of the past are more dangerous than the present... Rome, 1938. As the world teeters on the brink of war, talented pianist Eva Valenti enters the house of widower Dante Cavallera to become his new wife. On the outside, the forces of Fascism are accelerating, but in her new home, Eva fears that something else is at work, whispering in the walls and leaving mysterious marks on Dante's young daughter. Soon she starts to wonder whether the house itself is trying to give up the secrets of its mysterious past - secrets that Dante seems so determined to keep hidden. However, Eva must also conceal the truth of her own identity, for if she is discovered, she will be in greater danger than she could ever have imagined...

One last chance to become who we were supposed to be... The trip was supposed to be the perfect holiday. Six friends, reuniting after two decades, spending the weekend in a beautiful riad in Marrakesh. Only, these friends are linked by more than their university days. Together, they've kept a dark secret that changed the course of all their lives forever. And as the truth threatens to surface in the stifling Morrocan heat, they all begin to question what really happened that terrible night twenty years ago... The Trip is by Rebecca Ley.

May 2023

Broken Light is by Joanna Harris. A bold and timely novel that explores how women can feel invisible as they grow older- and what happens when they decide to take back control. Bernie Moon's ambitions and dreams have been forgotten by everyone else - including Bernie herself. At 19 she was full of promise, but now facing 50 and going through the menopause, she's a fading light. Until the murder of a woman in a local park unlocks a series of childhood memories, and with them, a talent that she has hidden all her adult life. What happens when the frustrations and power of an older woman are finally given their chance to be revealed?

Are you ready to save a life. Why her? Becca Palmer has just been fired from her job as assistant to Simon Jones - the Policing Minister at the House of Commons. But Becca claims Simon was more than her boss, that she is in love with him. Why here? So when a heartbroken Becca leaves Parliament for the final time, she decides to take matters into her own hands and head to Westminster Bridge to take her own life. Which is where hostage negotiator Alex Lewis meets her, to talk her down off the ledge. Why now? It's clear Becca knows something about the Policing Minister that she shouldn't. Something that could get him in serious trouble if it were to come out. But can Alex save Becca and get to the bottom of a conspiracy that goes deep inside the highest levels of government- before it's too late? The Fallen is by John Sutherland. 

June 2023

A Death in the Parish is by The Reverend Richard Coles. Canon Daniel Clement is back... It's been a few months since murder tore apart the community of Champton apart. As Canon Daniel Clement tries to steady his flock, the parish is joined with Upper and Lower Badsaddle, bringing a new tide of unwanted change. But church politics soon become the least of Daniel's problems. His mother - headstrong, fearless Audrey - is obviously up to something, something she is determined to keep from him. And she is not the only one.And then all hell breaks loose when murder returns to Champton in the form of a shocking ritualistic killing...

Was it an accident? Or was it murder? Marc Mercier appears to have it all - a successful business man with a loving family who has risen above his upbringing. So when he vanishes while on a hunting trip in the Atchafalaya Basin, the mystery appears to be nothing more than a tragic accident. But all is not what it seems in Marc Mercier's life. As detectives launch the investigation into his death, the picture of his perfect life begins to unravel. Family members begin to make accusations, his wife and best friend change their stories, and the police are left floundering as the secrets begin to pile up. The clock is ticking - can detectives Nick and Annie discover the truth before someone else ends up as a case number? Bad Liar is by Tami Hoag.

Black Fell is by Mari Hannah. The truth can be hidden . . . but secrets always surface.The peace of Kielder Water is shattered when tourists open a barrel they found floating in the reservoir at dawn. Detectives Stone and Oliver are called to examine the skeletal remains inside.The tourists are eliminated from the investigation, but that same day a second body is discovered - this one with skin. Have the police let the killer leave the scene? While Stone investigates the remains, Oliver travels to Iceland to gather evidence and track down the tourists who have fled. Someone will do anything to protect the secrets of the past...

Welcome to The Starlings... sun, sea and neighbours to die for. Security, a sparkling sea view and the best kind of neighbours - The Starlings gated community has it all. Here, doors are left open, children run free, and at the heart of it all is the entrepreneurial Gold Family, who first dreamed up this aspirational vision of 'Dorset's Safest Community'. To the outside world the popular family appears glitteringly blessed... until an idyllic party takes a dark turn and one of their number is found slumped at the foot of the clocktower. Who knows what really happened? And what answers are harboured within the old building, the former Highcap Mother and Baby Home? Homecoming is by Isabel Ashdown. 

July 2023

Paris, a misty night a few days before Christmas: a young woman is saved from the waters of the Seine. She is naked, doesn't remember her name or how she ended up in the river, but is still alive. The mysterious woman is taken to the hospital - and then disappears in thin air. DNA testing reveals her to be celebrated concert pianist Milena Bergman - but that cannot be: Milena died in a plane crash more than a year before. As police captain Roxane begins to investigate, his fate becomes intertwined with that of writer Raphael Batailley, Milena's former boyfriend, and the two men are plunged deep into an impossible enigma: is it possible to be alive and dead at the same time? The Stranger in the Seine is by Guillaume Musso.

Consumed is by Greg Buchanan. On a lonely farmstead, a seventy year old woman falls down outside and, unable to move, is consumed overnight by two of her pigs. It seems like a tragic accident , except the woman was well-known photographer Sophia Bertilak – and inside her house, someone has removed all her photos from their frames seemingly erasing her past. The first photo sophia ever took remains her most famous, a missing girl who was never seen again. Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is darfted in for the autopsy – and slowly becomes obsessed with the victim, her family and the crimes she brought to light decades ago.

The Dead Wife by Sharon Bolton is a suspense thriller that begins when a chance extra marital liason goes disastrously wrong and an injured woman is trapped in a crashed car amid heavy snow. As she waits for a rescue that might never come, we learn more about her diffcult marriage to a high profile MP, her struggles to live in the shadow of his late wife, and the sinsiter secrets that they are all keeping.

Three sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked. They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their troubled childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable secret that binds the family together. The Short Straw is by Holly Seddon.

Books to Look Forward to From Orion Publishing

January 2022

The end is here. Jack West Jr has made it to the Supreme Labyrinth. Now he faces one last race - against multiple rivals, against time, against the collapse of the universe itself - a headlong race that will end at a throne inside the fabled labyrinth. An impossible maze. But the road will be hard. For this is a maze like no other: a maze of mazes. Uncompromising and complex. Demanding and deadly. A cataclysmic conclusion. It all comes down to this. It ends here - now - in the most lethal and dangerous place Jack has encountered in all of his many adventures. And in the face of this indescribable peril, with everything on the line, there is only one thing he can do. Attempt the impossible. The One Impossible Labyrinth is by Matthew Reilly. 

February 2022

The Goodbye Coast: A Philip Marlowe Novel is by Joe Ide. The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler's detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he's a quiet, lonely, and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective, famous throughout the city, who's given in to drink after the death of Marlowe's mother. Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases, the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the center of COAST is Marlowe's troubled and confounding relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad, and a dad who's unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown boy. Together, they will realise that one of their clients may be responsible for murder of her own husband, a washed-up director in debt to Albanian and Russian gangsters, and that the client's trouble-making daughter may not be what she seems.

Notes on an Execution is by Danya Kukafka. Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he's done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn't want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. But this is not his story. As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel's mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly. This is the story of the women left behind.

Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose is by T A Willberg. The envelope was tied with three delicate silk ribbons: "One of the new recruits is not to be trusted..." It's 1959 and a new killer haunts the streets of London, having baffled Scotland Yard. The newspapers call him The Florist because of the rose he brands on his victims. The police have turned yet again to the Inquirers at Miss Brickett's for assistance, and second year Marion Lane is assigned the case. But she's already dealing with a mystery of her own, having received an unsigned letter warning her that one of the three new recruits should not be trusted. She dismisses the letter at first, focusing on The Florist case, but her informer seems to be one step ahead, predicting what will happen before it does. But when a fellow second-year Inquirer is murdered, Marion takes matters into her own hands and must come face-to-face with her informer-who predicted the murder-to find out everything they know. Until then, no one at Miss Brickett's is safe and everyone is a suspect.

Was it an accident? Or was it murder? Marc Mercier appears to have it all - a successful business man with a loving family who has risen above his upbringing. So when he vanishes while on a hunting trip in the Atchafalaya Basin, the mystery appears to be nothing more than a tragic accident. But all is not what it seems in Marc Mercier's life. As detectives launch the investigation into his death, the picture of his perfect life begins to unravel. Family members begin to make accusations, his wife and best friend change their stories, and the police are left floundering as the secrets begin to pile up. The clock is ticking - can detectives Nick and Annie discover the truth before someone else ends up as a case number? Bad Liar is by Tami Hoag.

Disappeared is by Laura Jarrett. Let it burn. Let everything burn. One day Cerys walks out of her comfortable life, never to return. Standing on a hillside at night with no phone and no possessions, watching her car set alight, she believes this is the end. And then Lily walks into her life. Lily is desperate for a new start for herself and her child. More than that, she knows she has to disappear in order to keep them both safe. The two women strike a fierce bond, and are both running from things that soon threaten to catch up with them. Can these two women keep each other safe... Can they trust each other ? Or are the pasts they've escaped too much for either of them to bear?

In the dead of winter, even brothers become strangers... Running from a troubled childhood, Jack Devereaux left home as soon as he could and never looked back - until the day a stranger calls, begging him to return to his hometown of Jasperville, Quebec. Jack's brother Calvis - the little boy he left behind more than twenty years ago - has viciously attacked a man and left him for dead. Nobody knows why he did it, though Jack suspects it has something to do with the Jasperville girls who were lost all those years ago.  But as he begins the long journey home through the frozen, unforgiving landscape, Jack isn't wondering why his little brother lost his mind. He's wondering why it took so long . . .The Darkest Season is by R J Ellory.

March 2022

Hidden Depths is by Araminta Hall. Passenger... Lily is pregnant, travelling onboard the Titanic to her beloved family in the United States, hoping she can get there before her mind and body give up. For a long time now she's known her husband is not the man he's pretending to be and she's not safe. So, when she meets widower Lawrence she knows he's her last chance for help. Or Prisoner... But Lawrence knows he hasn't got time to save Lily. Lawrence is the only person on board the unsinkable ship who knows he will not disembark in New York. And the danger is much worse than either of them could imagine. Can Lily and Lawrence help each other to safety before it's too late?

For The Lost is by Lina Bengtsdotter. A missing child. In Karlstad, nine-month-old Beatrice is missing from her pram. Her parents are in shock and the media is in a frenzy. A personal struggle. DI Charlie Lager is struggling with her own demons when she's called to investigate, forced to push them aside as the case intensifies. A clock running down. As lead after lead goes nowhere, Charlie starts to feel like nobody actually wants the truth to come out about Beatrice as reluctant locals shut down in the face of her questions. And with each passing hour, the chance of finding Beatrice alive becomes less and less likely...

The Clockwork Girl is by Anna Mazzola. Paris, 1750. In the midst of an icy winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, chambermaid Madeleine Chastel arrives at the home of the city's celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter. Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose: to discover the truth of the clockmaker's experiments and record his every move, in exchange for her own chance of freedom. For as children quietly vanish from the Parisian streets, rumours are swirling that the clockmaker's intricate mechanical creations, bejewelled birds and silver spiders, are more than they seem. And soon Madeleine fears that she has stumbled upon an even greater conspiracy. One which might reach to the very heart of Versailles...

Jodie Martindale and her boyfriend were kidnapped a decade ago. Her boyfriend was found dead the next week. Jodie was never seen again. Journalist David Kelman, once a hotshot but now washed up, illegally comes into possession of Jodie's brother's old phone. And on that phone is an unheard voicemail from two weeks ago. The voice is unmistakeably that of Jodie Martindale. The message begins an obsession for Kelman - which takes him down a rabbit hole of lies, to a dark and deadly truth... Never Seen Again is by Paul Finch. 

Sorry Isn't Good Enough is by Jane Bailey. 'The trouble is, we don't recognise every danger when we see it. And that's how Mr Man manages to creep into our lives.' It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is 9 years old, and she has plans: 1. Get Jesus to heal her wonky foot 2. Escape her spiteful friend Dawn 3. Persuade her mum to love her. But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her - but more than one of them is lying. May 1997, and Stephanie has spent her life trying to bury the events of that terrible summer. When a man starts following her on the train home from London, she realises the dark truth of what happened may have finally caught up with her.

April 2022

Paris Requiem is by Chris Lloyd. Paris, 1940. As the city adjusts to life under Nazi occupation, Detective Eddie Giral struggles to reconcile his job as a policeman with his new role enforcing a regime he cannot believe in but must work under. He's sacrificed so much in order to survive in this new world, but the past is not so easily forgotten. When an old friend and an old flame reappear, begging for his help, Eddie must decide how far he will go to help those he loves. He can remain a good man and do nothing, or risk it all in a desperate act of resistance...

June 2022

Complicit is by Winnie M Li. You know what it's like. A comment here, a closed door there, turning a blind eye to get ahead. My name is Sarah Lai. You won't have heard of me. A decade ago I was on the cusp of being a big deal. But that was a long time ago. Now, instead of working in Hollywood, I teach students about it. And these are the two most important lessons you need to know about the film industry: 1) Those with the money have all the power. 2) Those with the power get whatever they want. Ignore these rules and the whole system will crumble. Stick to the rules and you'll succeed. But at what cost? Ask yourself, what would you have done?

Keep your family safe whatever the cost. Jamie and Victoria are expecting their first baby. With a few weeks to go, they head off for a final weekend break in a remote part of the North Pennines. The small and peaceful guesthouse is the ideal location to unwind together before becoming parents. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Barry and Fiona, the older couple who run the guesthouse. They cook them dinner and show them to their room before retreating to bed themselves. The next morning, Jamie and Victoria wake to find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen. All the doors are locked. Both their mobile phones and car keys have disappeared. Even though it's a few weeks early, Victoria knows the contractions are starting. The baby is coming, and there's no way out. The Guest House is by Robin Morgan Bentley.

July 2022

The Red Notebook is by Michel Bussi. Leyli Maal is a beautiful Malian woman, mother of three, living in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Marseille. Her quiet life as a well-integrated immigrant is suddenly shaken when her beautiful eldest daughter, Bamby, becomes the main suspect in two murders linked to a lethal illegal immigration racket. Is Bamby really involved? And why is everyone desperate to get their hands on Leyli’s mysterious red notebook? 

On the worst night of her life, in the middle of nowhere, lonely Charlotte Wilderwood saves a runaway bride from falling to her death. Soon Maggie is staying in Charlotte's home, safely hidden from the man that she was so desperate to escape. The immediate bond between the two women eclipses anything they've ever known and before long they will go to extreme lengths to protect each other. But is Maggie the best friend Charlotte has always dreamed about, or the nightmare she never saw coming... The Woman on the Bridge is by Holly Seddon.

The Starlings is by Isabel Ashdown. They were perfect neighbours. Now they are prime suspects. Security, a sparkling sea view and the best kind of neighbours - The Starlings gated community has it all. The residents are like family to each other, in a place where doors are left open and children run free. But that all changes when an idyllic street party takes a dark turn. Who knows what really happened to him? And what answers are harboured within the old building, a former asylum?

The tiny outback town of Dead Tree Creek is a rough place - and the locals are even rougher - but they've never seen anything like this . . . When a man is found gruesomely murdered in the local pub, all fingers point to the backpackers working behind the bar that night - two American girls who skipped town before the body was discovered. Despite all the evidence against them, rookie cop Tara Harrison knows there must be more to this case than a pair of sorority sisters who couldn't take a joke. She's determined to uncover the truth, and is soon on the trail of a devastating secret that could tear her hometown apart. But sorority sisters Lauren and Beth have their own dark secrets and they've made an oath to take them to the grave - which they will, all too soon, unless Tara can stop it . . . Blood Sisters is by Cate Quinn.

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.