January 2016
I'm
not a bad person, but maybe I did a bad thing ...Life is good for Anna Wright.
She's a successful media executive working for one of the UK's largest TV
corporations. She's got a great boyfriend, some close friends and a lovely
home. She adores her dog, Wispa, and she loves to run to help her de-stress.
But Anna's perfect life starts to crumble from the moment when, out jogging on
the Heath one day, she meets a handsome stranger. She takes a route into
unfamiliar territory, and then she has to face the consequences. There's a
dark, growing creepiness as the atmosphere becomes unsettled and, as Anna's
professional life becomes increasingly pressured and poisonous, her obsession
with the intriguing stranger intensifies. Rebound is by Aga Lesiewicz.
February 2016
Montalbano's
First Case and Other Stories is a brilliant collection of short
stories, personally chosen by Andrea Camilleri, which follows Inspector
Montalbano from his very first case in Vigata, in which he stumbles upon a
young girl lurking outside a courthouse with a pistol in her handbag. When she
is taken in for questioning and won't utter a single word, Montalbano must find
another way to learn who she is trying to kill, and why ...Other cases include
a missing woman who has run away from the love of her life; an old married
couple who appear to be rehearsing their suicides; and a crime so dark there's
only one person the inspector can call for help. With twists and turns aplenty,
these stories have all the wit, mystery and culinary gusto that Camilleri's
fans have come to love him for.
Three
houses have been burgled in five weeks. The robbers barge in through the back,
disable any way to contact the outside world, and then ransack everything -
before distributing the stolen cash to local charities. It might be robbing
from the rich to give to the poor - but Detective Inspector Jessica Daniel is
not a happy bunny. The new DCI has a whiteboard with far too many things on the
'unsolved' side and he wants the burglars found. Doesn't he know she has other
things to do? There's a lottery winner who's gone bankrupt, the homeless
teenager she's taken in, the botched drugs raid, a trip to London with DC
Archie Davey, and a man-mountain Serbian with a missing wife who's been pimping
out young women. All the while, someone's watching from the wings and waiting
for Jessica to mess up. Officers are being pensioned off and booted out - with
a certain DI Daniel firmly in their sights.
For Richer, For Poorer is by Kerry Wilkinson.
The
House at Baker Street is by Michelle Birkby. When Sherlock Holmes turns down
the case of
persecuted Laura Shirley, Mrs Hudson, the landlady of Baker Street, and Mary
Watson resolve to take on the investigation themselves. From the kitchen of
221b, the two women begin their inquiries and enlist the assistance of the
Baker Street Irregulars and the infamous Irene Adler. A trail of clues leads
them to the darkest corners of Whitechapel, where the feared Ripper supposedly
still stalks. They discover Laura Shirley is not the only woman at risk as it
rapidly becomes apparent that the lives of many others are in danger too. As
Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson put together the pieces of an increasingly
complicated puzzle, the investigation becomes bigger than either of them could
ever have imagined. Can they solve the case or are they just pawns in a much
larger game? It is time for Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson to emerge from the
shadows and stand in the spotlight.
March 2013
Trust
No One is the third crime novel from Clare Donoghue in the DS Jane
Bennett and DI Mike Lockyer series. Set in south London, a father dies in
mysterious circumstances, leaving Jane Bennett to untangle the events leading
up to his death, discovering hidden family secrets as she investigates...
When
a Lesley Kinnock buys a lottery ticket on a whim, it changes her life more than
she could have imagined ...Lesley and her husband Mack are the sudden winners
of a GBP15 million EuroMillions jackpot. They move with their 15-year-old
daughter Rosie to an exclusive gated estate in Buckinghamshire, leaving behind
their ordinary lives - and friends - as they are catapulted into wealth beyond
their wildest dreams. But it soon turns into their darkest nightmare when, one
beautiful spring afternoon, Lesley returns to their house to find it empty:
their daughter Rosie is gone. DC Maggie Neville is assigned to be Family
Liaison Officer to Lesley and Mack, supporting them while quietly trying to
investigate the family. And she has a crisis threatening her own life - a secret
from the past that could shatter everything she's worked so hard to build. As
Lesley and Maggie desperately try to find Rosie, their fates hurtle together on
a collision course that threatens to end in tragedy ...Money can't buy you
happiness. The truth could hurt more than a lie. One moment really can change
your life forever. Gone Astray is by
Michelle Davies.
April 2016
Annie
Carter finally believes that life is good. She and Max are back together and
she has a new and uncomplicated life sunning herself in Barbados. It's what
she's always dreamed of. Then she gets the news that her old friend Dolly
Farrell is dead, and suddenly she finds herself back in London and hunting down
a murderer with only one thing on her mind . . . revenge. But the hunter can so
quickly become the hunted, and Annie has been keeping too many secrets. She's
crossed and bettered a lot of people over the years, but this time the enemy is
a lot closer to home and she may just have met her match . . . Stay
Dead is by Jessie Keane
The
Last Mile is by David Baldacci. Ex-detective
Decker suffered a life changing head injury when he played professional
football as a young man. His accident resulted in a condition known as Savant
syndrome, where the sufferer demonstrates extraordinary abilities far in excess
of what is considered normal. In Decker's case, he has gained a phenomenal
memory. Decker is still suffering from the devastating loss of his wife and
only daughter. They were murdered in his home two years previously. Overwhelmed
with grief, his life spiralled out of control and he lost his job, his home,
and his self-respect. It is only when teenagers are gunned down in a shooting
at a local school, and Decker's special skills can help to find the killer,
that he goes back to work with the help of his former partner, detective Mary
Lancaster. As the investigation deepens, new evidence reveals that one of the
weapons used in the shooting was the same as that used to kill Decker's wife
and daughter. The case turns even more personal as he attempts to track down
the killer. This sequel takes Decker to a new case where he will be required to
test his special skills to the very limit of his endurance.
May 2016
The
Trap by Melanie Raabe is set, and ready to spring. I know who killed my
sister. I wrote this novel for him. Twelve years ago, Linda's sister Anna was
murdered. Her killer was never caught, but Linda saw him. Now, all these years
on, she's just seen him again. On TV. He has since become a well-known
reporter, and Linda - a famous novelist and infamous recluse - knows no one
will believe her if she accuses him, so she does the only thing she can think
of: she writes a thriller about a woman who is murdered, her killer never
caught. When the book is published, she agrees to give just one media
interview. At home. To the one person who knows more about the case than she
does. He knows what happened that night and she wrote a book about it but, when
the doorbell rings, neither of them can be sure how the story will end.
Chicago,
1928. Al Capone runs the city but cracks in his rule are starting to show ...
In the heavy summer heat, a series of shocking events takes place. A group
poisoned in a swanky hotel. A rich white man found dead in a down-and-out
neighbourhood he should never have been in. A socialite, known across the city,
vanished without trace. Could these events be connected? Is someone trying to
bring down Al Capone? Ida and Michael at Pinkerton Detective Agency; Jacob, a
police photographer with a personal vendetta; and Dante, working on behalf of
Capone himself, are all trying to find answers in the city of jazz, dancing and
corruption. Dead Man’s Blues is by
Ray Celestin.
Kim
and Mia Timmers were ten years old when they were accused of murdering the rest
of their family and the lead singer of the world famous band, The Cupids. The
evidence seemed irrefutable at the time, and the sisters, who have been in a
Marken institution for ten years, are now due for release. Pieter Vos, DI in
the Amsterdam police, is given cause to re-open the case when the girls
disappear along with a nurse who was supposed to escort them to a half-way
house in Amsterdam. As the police investigation continues, it soon becomes
evident that there is more than meets the eye at Marken, and senior staff at
the institution are beginning to panic as they fear certain secrets might come
to light. Even Vos's boss, De Groot, seems to have something to hide which is
relevant to this case. When the dead body of the nurse washes up on the beach
at Marken, and the case takes a different turn as the various band members are
implicated in the murders, it becomes clear that someone is posing as the third
sister, Little Jo, who died ten years ago. Who is it, and is there a cover-up
at a higher level to protect those in power?
Little Sister is by David Hewson.
Love
you Dead is by Peter James. An
ugly duckling as a child, Jodie Danforth had two dreams in life - to be
beautiful and rich. She's achieved the first, with a little help from a plastic
surgeon, and now she's working hard on the second. Her philosophy about money
is simple. You can either earn it or marry it. Marrying is easy, it's getting
rid of the husband afterwards that's harder, that takes real skill. But hey,
practice makes perfect ...
June 2016
The
Searcher is by Chris Morgan Jones.
When Private Spy Ben Webster goes missing on a job, his colleague Hammer
promises Webster's anxious wife that he will travel to Georgia to find him. On
the pretext of attending a funeral, Webster had been investigating the
mysterious death of a journalist and had become embroiled in something far
darker than he ever could have imagined. As Hammer follows his friend's trail,
it soon becomes clear that he is putting himself, too, in grave danger - as his
dark past returns to haunt him . . .
You
Will Know Me by Megan Abbott is set in the high-pressure world of
competitive gymnastics, where Devon has had her sights set on the US Olympic
team since she was tiny. Strong, determined, the star of her training centre,
she is the absolute focus of her parents' lives, and the lynchpin of their
marriage. Yet Devon, for all her brightness on the floor, is a deeply private
person, unknowable even to her mother, Katie. Told from Katie's point of view,
with irresistible momentum and devastating detail, this is the story of what
happens when a person is driven by their own unique talent beyond the bounds of
tolerance, even of morality.
'Dubai is a good place to win. And a really,
really bad place to lose . . .' Junior advertising creative Tim Callaghan
can hardly believe his luck when his idea for a commercial is commissioned by
an international charity. He's flown out to Dubai to supervise the project and
is immediately enticed by the city - a futuristic environment unlike anywhere
he's ever been before. The first few days go by in a blur: Tim meets the heads
of the charity and the production team; a movie star flies in to appear in the
advert; and The Village, the five-star resort in which they're staying, offers
an almost uncanny level of customer service. Then filming begins, a crew member
dies, and things get complicated . . . Beautiful, seductive, brilliantly
managed and a bit frightening, Dubai itself is like an advert, and takes on an
increasingly unsettling atmosphere as the murder investigation begins. The
longer Tim stays, the more surreal everything seems: the mysterious death, the
ad campaign, even the charity. As Tim's assumptions evaporate one by one in the
heat of the desert city, all that's certain is that he needs to get out before
it's too late. Dubai Story is by Mark
Watson.
Meet
Siri and Irma, best friends and the queen bees of Sunset Grove, a retirement
community for those still young at heart. With a combined age of nearly 180,
Siri and Irma are still just as inquisitive and witty as when they first met
decades ago. But when their comfortable world is suddenly upturned by a suspicious
death at Sunset Grove, Siri and Irma are shocked into doing something about it.
Determined to find out exactly what happened and why, they begin their own
private investigations and form The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency. The
trouble is, beneath Sunset Grove's calm facade, there is more going on than
meets the eye, and Siri and Irma soon discover far more than they bargained for. The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency: Death
in Sunset Grove is by Minna Lindgren.
Who
Killed Sherlock Holmes is by Paul Cornell. Someone has murdered the
ghost of Sherlock Holmes. But who is responsible - and will the murderer strike
again? As a fictional character remembered by the people of London, Holmes'
ghost walked the city. But someone put a ceremonial dagger through his chest,
with fatal consequences. What could be the motive? A small team of Metropolitan
Police detectives have 'the Sight' and they find themselves assigned to this
twisty new investigation. They pursue a criminal genius, who lures them into a
Sherlockian maze of too many clues and too much evidence. Yet they also have
their own demons to fight. Lisa Ross finds herself drawn to an actor who may or
may not be a deity, and goes on a quest to win back her happiness. Lofthouse
seeks to finally answer the question as to why she brought the team together.
And while Quill battles for his sanity, Costain battles for his soul. Sefton
just wants to bring his team back together - even if that takes him to the edge
of death.
Nothing else comes so I set the notebook beside
me. What else is here? I ask myself and listen. This section of stream purls
and riffles amid small stones. What word might be made for what I hear ...Above
the Waterfall is by Ron Rash and is the story of Sheriff Les Clary. A
man on the verge of retirement, he is plunged into deep and dangerous waters by
one final case. A case that will draw him to the lyrical beauty of his
surroundings and, in doing so, force him to come to terms with his own past.
Echoing the heartbreaking beauty of William Faulkner and the spiritual
isolation of Michel Faber, Above the Waterfall is as poetic as it is haunting.
