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Friday, April 29, 2022

Published 25-30 April 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 20 books published between 25 and 30 April 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Barber, Lizzy - Out of Her Depth

There are summers that could change your life.
There are summers that could end it.


Meet Rachel.
An unassuming young woman from a quiet London suburb.

Picture the scene:
A summer job at the beautiful Villa Medici in the Tuscan hills.
A group of glamorous teenagers, used to a life of privilege.
Lavish parties, heady sun-soaked days, backstabbing and bedhopping.

Until someone goes too far.
And nothing will ever be the same.


Carson, John - Dead and Buried (ebook only) #12 DCI Harry McNeil

Sometimes, the past is better left behind...


Detective Chief Inspector Harry McNeil had found himself back in CID after a leave of absence saw his team disbanded. Now he's been temporarily assigned to an existing Major Investigation team, working alongside his old friend, Detective Inspector Frank Miller, after Miller's DCI dies suddenly.

A body is found in the city centre, torn to pieces. It's reminiscent of a cold case from years ago and the victim is quickly identified, bringing the old murder enquiry back front and centre.

There's new management in the Edinburgh police division, and old friends have been replaced by new enemies. Not everybody wants to see Harry McNeil succeed.

But that's not going to stop him and Frank Miller from tackling the cold case head on, with help from a couple of Glasgow detectives.

But nothing is what it seems. Starting with the death of Miller's DCI.

Harry and the team find out that some cold cases were meant to be left alone, and that sometimes the past should be left dead and buried...


Clarke, Sarah - Every Little Secret

From the outside, it seems Grace has it all. Only she knows about the cracks in her picture-perfect life… and the huge secret behind them. After all, who can she trust?

Her brother Josh is thousands of miles away, and he and Grace have never been close – he was always their parents’ favourite.

Her best friend Coco walked away from her years ago, their friendship irreparably fractured by the choices they’ve made.

And her husband Marcus seems like a different man lately. Grace can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something.

But when her seven-year-old daughter makes a troubling accusation, Grace must choose between protecting her child and protecting her secret… before she loses everything.


Creed, Ben - A Traitor's Heart #2 Revol Rossel

Winter, 1952: Leningrad's icy streets are haunted by a murderer. The name is whispered everywhere – Koshchei has returned, the people say, Koshchei the Immortal. Koshchei, named after a sinister figure from Slavic folklore, is an invisible killer who cuts out the tongue of his victims and replaces it with a scroll of paper containing a few lines of what seems to be Italian verse.

Three thousand kilometres away in a labour colony above the Arctic Circle, threatened by the Thieves who rule the camp, former militia lieutenant Revol Rossel is close to death. As helicopter blades whip the snow into hallucinatory flurries, Rossel watches the arrival of a saviour he hates: Major Nikitin, the man who once cut off the former virtuoso violinist's fingers.

Along with skilled aviator Tanya 'Vassya' Vasilievna, the two men must hunt Koshchei down. On the trail, they uncover more riddles, including one centred on the ruins of Hitler's bunker, the Fuhrer's own copy of a Renaissance manual for tyrants, and secret code hidden within that leads to a weapon of unimaginable power. A weapon coveted by the scheming plotters of Stalin's Kremlin.

What Rossel and Nikitin do not know is that the mystery and the murderer are inextricably linked. And to save themselves they must not only catch Koshchei but also uncover the identity of another ghost – a ghost hiding among the remnants of Hitler's once all-powerful Third Reich.



Daws N R - A Silent Way to Die #2 Lizzie Hayes, Pilot & DI Jonathan Kember, 1940

Even in wartime, the deadliest threat can be terrifyingly close to home…

December 1940. With the Blitz devastating Britain’s cities, Lizzie Hayes and the women pilots of the Air Transport Authority are more crucial to the war effort than ever before. But when the relative peace of the village of Scotney is shattered by the disappearance of the Chief Inspector’s niece, it’s Lizzie’s training as a psychologist that draws her into another disturbing police case alongside DI Jonathan Kember.

Events threaten to overtake the pair when a local shepherdess is found murdered – and there’s something strange missing at the scene of the crime. As more bodies turn up, each bearing the same hallmark, Kember realises the campaign of terror will only escalate unless they can use Lizzie’s training to get into the killer’s mind.

With Kember’s superiors set against Lizzie’s involvement, he risks his reputation and his career – but it’s Lizzie who risks everything by putting her own life on the line in a desperate effort to unmask the murderer. With war raging around them, can they halt the killer before it’s too late?



Eccleston, M H - The Trust #1 Astrid Swift

When art restorer Astrid Swift moved from London to the Dorset village of Hanbury, she thought she was heading for a quiet life. Far from it. A local man has just been murdered in the English Trust stately home where Astrid works, and the sleepy community is shaken to its core.

Soon Astrid has discovered the shocking truth about her employer: rather than being the genteel organisation it seems on the surface, the Trust is a hotbed of politics and intrigue. As Astrid's new friend Kath from the village says: 'It's like the mafia, but with scones.'

As the suspicious deaths mount up, Astrid must use every gadget in her restorer's toolkit to solve the mystery, salvage her reputation – and maybe even save her life.



Fennell, David - See No Evil #2 DI Grace Archer & DS Harry Quinn, London

Two men are found dead in London's Battersea Park. One of the bodies has been laid out like a crucifix - with his eyes removed and placed on his open palms.


Detective Inspector Grace Archer and her caustic DS, Harry Quinn, lead the investigation. But when more bodies turn up in a similar fashion, they find themselves in a race against time to find the sadistic killer.

The hunt leads them to Ladywell Playtower in Southeast London, the home to a religious commune lead by the enigmatic Aaron Cronin. Archer and Quinn suspect Cronin's involvement but his alibis are watertight, and the truth seemingly buried. If Archer is to find the killer, she must first battle her way through religious fanatics, London gangsters - and her own demons . . .



Hare, Louise - Miss Aldridge Regrets

London, 1936

Lena Aldridge is wondering if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho and her married lover has just left her. She has nothing to look forward to until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York.

After a murder at the club, the timing couldn’t be better and Lena jumps at the chance to escape England. Until death follows her onto the ship and she realises that her greatest performance has already begun.

Because someone is making manoeuvres behind the scenes, and there’s only one thing on their mind…

MURDER


Hodges, David - Venom On the Levels (ebook only) #10 DC Kate Hamblin

MEET DETECTIVE KATE HAMBLIN IN THIS BESTSELLING SERIES FROM A FORMER POLICE OFFICER.


An isolated country house.
A family with secrets.
A deadly spider on the loose.

DS Kate is expecting a routine case when she’s called out to a reported theft at remote Moat House in the marshy wilds of the Somerset Levels. The evidence points to a random break-in by a passing vagrant — but when she questions the wealthy homeowner, Professor Dunbar, and his warring family, Kate realizes there’s more to this burglary than meets the eye.

Professor Dunbar is a world-famous arachnologist. His extensive collection of live tropical spiders includes the world’s deadliest specimen, a Brazilian wandering spider, whose bite is almost instantly fatal. A spider he’s named Martha.

When a family member is found dying in agony in the professor’s laboratory — and it’s discovered that Martha has escaped from her supposedly secure tank — it would appear to be a tragic accident. But Kate is not so sure.

Everyone at Moat House has secrets to hide. Is someone prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden?

Kate sets out to uncover the shocking truth while a deadly spider stalks the shadows. Can she survive long enough to unmask a ruthless killer . . . and avoid the spider’s lethal bite?


Jonasson, Ragnar - Outside tr. Victoria Cribb


In a deadly Icelandic snowstorm, four friends seek shelter in an abandoned hunting lodge. Miles from help, and knowing they will die out in the cold, they break in, hoping to wait out the storm until morning.

But nothing can prepare them for what's inside . . .

With no other option, they are forced to spend a long and terrifying night in the cabin: watching as intently and silently as they themselves are being watched.

As the night darkens, old secrets spill into the light, and tensions rise between the four friends. Soon it's clear that what they've discovered in the cabin is far from the only mystery lurking there.

Nor the only thing to be afraid of . . .


Lee, M J - The Missing Father (ebook only) #9 Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mysteries

Alice Taylor was adopted in 1942 when she was three years old. Her adoptive parents never told her about her birth family and even changed her Christian name. Now, seventy-seven years later, she wants to know the truth.

Who were her birth parents?

How did her mother die?

What happened to her missing father?

Jayne Sinclair, genealogical investigator, has just a few days to discover the truth before she goes for a well-earned break in Australia.

Can she discover the truth hidden in the chaos of the war?




Lindsay, Douglas - Let Me Die In My Footsteps (ebook only) #7 DS Hutton

A winter wonderland becomes a snowbound, claustrophobic hellscape

Detective Sergeant Hutton has taken a month’s leave, after inadvertently sleeping with the chief inspector. He is a few days into his stay in a small Highland village when the local police come calling for aid. A young woman has gone missing. Hutton, as uncomfortably addicted to police work as he is to sex and vodka, agrees to help.

The hunt is on for Alice Schäfer. Part-time Post Office worker, bit-part player in the low-budget vampire feature shooting nearby, and promiscuous lover with a reputation around town. Add in the curious case of the Lodge of St Augustine, and Hutton has to cast a very wide net.

Someone, however, does not want Hutton involved. Low-level threats quickly escalate, and the terrorising of Hutton has begun. And as winter weather closes in, and the villagers are trapped in a suffocating snowstorm, it’s not just Hutton who will be haunted. Blood flows, screams disappear in the night, and at last a killer will show her hand…

Linley, Sarah - The Wedding Murders

You are invited to the wedding of the season…

It’s the stuff of fairytales. A celebrity wedding in a grand manor house in the beautiful English countryside.

But then one guest goes missing.

And another almost dies.

Someone at this wedding will do anything to stop their dark secrets from being exposed.

You might not live to tell the tale…



Lodge, Gytha - Little Sister #4 DCI Jonah Sheens

A teenage girl wanders out of the woods.

She's striking, with flame-red hair and a pale complexion. She's also covered in blood.

Detective Jonah Sheens quickly discovers that Keely and her sister, Nina, disappeared from a children's home a week ago. Now, Keely is here - but Nina's still missing.

Keely knows where her sister is - but before she tells, she wants Jonah's full attention . . .

Is she killer, witness, or victim?

And will Jonah find out what Keely's hiding, in time to save Nina?


Longo, Davide - Young Beasts at Play tr. Silvester Mazzarella

September 2008. Commissario Arcadipane arrives at the scene of a macabre discovery: the bones of twelve men and women buried in the countryside near Torino.


By the next morning, a task force specialising in mass graves from WWII is already in place. But something doesn't feel right: one of the femurs shows signs of an operation that couldn't have taken place before the seventies.

Suspecting a cover-up, Arcadipane launches his own investigation, enlisting his old mentor, Corso Bramard, long retired, and Isa, a young officer still haunted by the unexplained death of her father.

These mismatched allies ­- one at last at peace, one jaded to the point of breakdown and one under a permanent disciplinary cloud ­- will unveil a cruel political conspiracy that someone wants covered up for the second time.


MacBride, Stuart - No Less The Devil

'We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.'


It's been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer to catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, the top brass are demanding results, but the investigation is sinking fast.

Now isn't the time to get distracted with other cases, but Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh doesn't have much choice. When Benedict Strachan was just eleven, he hunted down and killed a homeless man. No one's ever figured out why Benedict did it, but now, after sixteen years, he's back on the streets again - battered, frightened, convinced a shadowy 'They' are out to get him, and begging Lucy for help.

It sounds like paranoia, but what if he's right? What if he really 
is caught up in something bigger and darker than Lucy's ever dealt with before? What if the Bloodsmith isn't the only monster out there? And what's going to happen when Lucy goes after them?


MacDonald, Dee - A Body on the Beach #5 Kate Palmer, Cornwall

Super sleuth Kate Palmer is Cornwall's answer to Miss Marple, but when the semi-retired nurse finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time can she prove her innocence and solve her most puzzling case yet?

Kate Palmer thought spending the day at Tinworthy's annual summer party would involve sea air, sunshine and Cornish cream cake - how very wrong she was! After a showdown with her new nemesis Sienna Stone, Kate goes for a cliff-top walk to cool off. But she is horrified to spot Sienna's body on the sandy beach below.

Rumours swirl around the close-knit Cornish community and all eyes are on Kate. Half the village witnessed her argument with Sienna. When Kate finds herself cast as a suspect and is accused of murder, can she solve the crime and clear her name?

Kate knows that plenty of people disliked Sienna but would any of them go so far as to kill her and frame Kate? Could it be Sienna's long-suffering husband Irving? Her jealous younger sister Sally? Or Timmy Thomson, the local loner who was infatuated with her?

Just as Kate thinks she's getting closer to an answer, Timmy is found dead in his own home. Does his untimely demise mean the other suspects, including Kate, are next on the killer's list...?

With time running out, Kate needs to find out the truth. Can she solve the case and save herself? Or have her days of sleuthing come to an end?


Parks, Alan - May God Forgive #5 Harry McCoy, Police Officer, Glasgow, 1973

Glasgow is a city in mourning. An arson attack on a hairdresser's has left five dead. Tempers are frayed and sentiments running high.


When three youths are charged the city goes wild. A crowd gathers outside the courthouse but as the police drive the young men to prison, the van is rammed by a truck, and the men are grabbed and bundled into a car. The next day, the body of one of them is dumped in the city centre. A note has been sent to the newspaper: one down, two to go.

Detective Harry McCoy has twenty-four hours to find the kidnapped boys before they all turn up dead, and it is going to mean taking down some of Glasgow's most powerful people to do it . . .


Shemilt, Jane - The Patient

When Rachel meets Luc, the attraction is instant.
But she is a doctor, and he is her patient.
She gives him the drugs he needs – but in doing so, risks everything.
And when a secret is exposed, they’re both in the firing line.
Not all patients are telling the truth.








White, M J - The Secret Voices #1 Cora Lael, Suffolk

They said they'd keep me safe.

They said, 'It's okay, Hannah. You know you can trust me.'

They lied.

When eight-year-old Hannah Perry goes missing in the small Suffolk village of St Just, the community is rocked. Heading up the investigation is Acting DS Rob Minshull, but he's out of his depth in a case that seems to mirror the disappearance of a young boy, seven years ago. That search ended in unimaginable tragedy...and Minshull is praying that history won't be repeated.

But with an investigation full of dead ends, and a kidnapper taunting the police with sinister deliveries of Hannah's belongings and cryptic notes, the young girl's life hangs perilously in danger.

Until Dr Cora Lael enters the picture. A psychologist with a unique ability, Cora's rare gift allows her to sense emotions attached to discarded objects. When she is shown the first of Hannah's belongings, she hears the child's piercing scream.

With few leads on the case, could Cora prove Hannah's only hope? And as time runs out, can they find Hannah before history repeats itself...?

A twisty, original and utterly gripping detective thriller that fans of James Oswald and LJ Ross will love. Don't miss the crime thriller debut from the bestselling women's fiction author, Miranda Dickinson.


Monday, April 25, 2022

Update Week 17

Just a brief update for now as I'm away.

We received the final Petrona Award entry last week, photos and a blog post to follow soon.

I've almost finished Jared Cade's Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days. The missing days are explained very matter of factly but I was expecting a little more evidence. I'm on the Max Mallowan years now so whether more will be revealed in the last few chapters, I don't yet know.

We finished Snow Angels - what a tragic set of events - my OH got very caught up in it.

We've just started The King which is on Sky and stars Luca Zingaretti.





Sunday, April 24, 2022

CWA Dagger Awards 2022 - Longlist for the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger

The CWA Dagger Longlists were announced last night. The most important one to me is the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, formerly the International Dagger for which I was a judge about ten(!) years ago now. 

The longlist is below and you can check out my extensive but not exhaustive list of eligible titles here.

You can see the details of all the longlists announced via this pdf on the CWA website

Shortlists will be announced at CrimeFest on 13 May.

 


Longlist

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir: Girls Who Lie, trans Victoria Cribb

Simone Buchholz: Hotel Cartagena, trans Rachel Ward 

Andrea Camilleri: Riccardino, trans Stephen Sartarelli 

Sebastian Fitzek: Seat 7a, trans Steve Anderson

Kōtarō Isaka: Bullet Train, trans Sam Malissa 

Victor Jestin: Heatwave, trans Sam Taylor 

Sacha Naspini: Oxygen, trans Clarissa Botsford

Samira Sedira: People Like Them, trans Lara Vergnaud 

Antti Tuomainen: The Rabbit Factor, trans David Hackston 

Hilde Vandermeeren: The Scorpion's Head, trans Laura Watkinson 

Friday, April 22, 2022

Published 18-24 April 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 17 books published between 18 and 24 April 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Beevis, Keri  - With Friends Like These (pb 6/4, ebook 20/4)

On his way to Scotland for a reunion with his university friends, Billy Maguire runs over a pedestrian. But this is only the start of his problems . . .

 
Realising the man is alive, Billy puts him in the back seat of his car, planning to leave him outside the nearest hospital. But when the man dies, Billy panics and drives to the reunion with the body in the car, where he begs his friends for help.
 
Tension swirls within the group at first, but when the dead man’s ID reveals him to be a notorious criminal Dougie McCool, they decide to get rid of the body. The only problem is that some dangerous men are looking for McCool—including his brother, who is willing to brutally exploit the circle of friends to get what he wants. But will he succeed or can they get away with it?


Brunet, Marion - Vanda tr. Katherine Gregor

Set in Marseilles, this is the story of Vanda, a beautiful woman in her thirties, arms covered in tats, skin so dark that some take her for a North African. Devoted to her six-year-old son Now, they live in a derelict shed by the beach. She had wanted to be an artist; she is now a cleaner in a psychiatric hospital. But Vanda is happy living alone with her boy. 'The two of them against the world', as she says. Everything changes when Simon, the father of her son, surfaces in Marseilles. He had left Vanda seven years earlier, not knowing that she was pregnant. When Simon demands custody of his son, Vanda's suppressed rage threatens to explode. The tension becomes unbearable, both parents fully capable of extreme violence.





Buchanan, Kerry - Deadly Shores (ebook only) #3 Detectives Asha Harvey and Aaron Birch, Belfast

A COMPELLING CRIME THRILLER FEATURING DETECTIVES ASHA HARVEY & AARON BIRCH.


TWO SHIPS IN THE NIGHT.
ANOTHER DEAD BODY.
NO SAFE HARBOUR.

A wave lifts the stern of the boat, rigging groans in protest and a crash comes from down below, as the wails of the cargo rise above the howl of the storm.

It’s a wild Christmas Day on the rugged Northern Irish coast. But there’s no time for turkey and pud with the family for Detectives Harvey and Birch.

DS Aaron Birch leans into the wind and driving sleet. Thick, scudding clouds make the streets of Lisburn almost as dark as early evening.

Then he gets the tip-off. Smugglers coming into a boatyard in Bangor.

Birch and DI Asha Harvey head to the marina. They expect to find drugs. But the evidence points to something far, far worse.

When one of the couriers is found murdered in his hotel room, they realize they are facing in a deadly storm of corruption and criminal depravity. Will they sink or swim?

Cheshire, Mahi - Deadly Cure

THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH: FIRST, DO NO HARM...


Dr Rea Dharmasena is devastated when she loses out on her dream research job to her med-school rival and best friend, Dr Julia Stone.

To add insult to injury, Julia used Rea's own cutting-edge research to get it.

But just as Rea finds it in her to forgive the betrayal, Julia, after a life-changing medical discovery, is found murdered.

Now Rea has the dream job she's always wanted.

But at what cost?


Corrigan, J A  - The Bad Sister

One rotten apple can spoil the bunch

The Keane sisters grew up together at Raven House, a luxurious riverside home that their mother inherited. On the day of a party at the house, tension fills the air as Jess, Natalie and Teresa all fear the exposure of things they're desperate to hide. The beautiful evening is marred by tragedy, and a celebration turns into a nightmare when a young life is lost. It is a haunting reminder of a shocking event five years earlier.As guests eye their companions with suspicion, it's the family who have the most to hide. They turn on one another, with breathtaking malice and irrevocable consequences.

Years later, the sisters are barely hanging on to the scraps of their relationship. As another family celebration looms, long-held secrets come rushing to the surface. But someone is determined that the past will stay dead and buried, and will stop at nothing to prevent their mistakes being uncovered.

Which sister has the most to hide? A secret that they would kill to keep...


Eldridge, Jim - Murder at Claridge's #3 Detective Chief Inspector Coburg & Sergeant Lampson

One of the Claridge's kitchen porters is found dead – strangled. He was a recent employee who claimed to be Romanian, but evidence suggests he may have been German. Detective Chief Inspector Coburg has to find out exactly who he was, and what he was doing at Claridge’s under a false identity. Once he has established those facts, he might get an insight into why he was killed, and who by.

Coburg’s job is complicated by the fact that so many of the hotel’s residents are exiled European royalty. King George of Greece is registered as ‘Mr Brown’ and even the Duke of Windsor is staying, though without Wallis Simpson. Clandestine affairs, furtive goings-on and conspiracies against the government: Coburg must tread very lightly indeed …





Emerson, T J - The Perfect Holiday 

Olivia and Julian are enjoying lazy days in their Spanish villa, a well deserved break from their busy lives. Especially for Julian, who after a lifetime as a carer was thrust into the public eye following the tragic murder of his first wife.

The languid heat and peace of the villa is broken only by clifftop walks, sun drenched lunches and cooling swims. Until a chance encounter with Gabriel - an attractive man, many years their junior - changes everything.

Soon their idyllic break turns into a dangerous, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse. Will any of them get out alive?





Fullerton, John - Spy Trap (ebook only) #3 Brodick Cold War Thriller

The year is 1992. As a seasoned British agent, Richard Brodick now occupies a respectable - in as far as any spy can be respectable - position in the UK's Secret Intelligence Service. The isolation and the danger don't bother him; he survived far worse in childhood, and the respect of his bosses is sufficient.

But when a British man dies in a Chinese hotel, Brodick finds himself face-to-face once more with the ruthless and ambitious Chen Meilin, better known as Fang, codename DRAGON. Their working relationship both pleases and torments Brodick, but in this case he cannot operate without her.

As they delve deeper into the events surrounding Roger Peacock's death, Brodick and Fang uncover corruption and betrayal at the heart of China's communist regime. But as events unfold and their own conflicting interests, hopes and ambitions collide, it is not clear that either of them can survive, this time ...


Gatland, Jack - Heavy Is The Crown (pb 13/4, ebook 24/4 ) #10 DI Declan Walsh

To be the king - you need to kill the king.

When East-End gangster and 'frenemy' to the Last Chance SaloonJohnny Lucas, is accused of murdering a London gangland rival in his boxing club, he claims his brother was the killer.

The only problem though is that his brother, Jackie, is actually Johnny's multiple personality.

Pulled in to prove the case, DI Declan Walsh and his team soon realise that Johnny might be as innocent as he claims, as a new player is in town, claiming to be Johnny's brother Jackie in the flesh, a man who shouldn't exist yet can prove he does, is starting to carve out his own empire.

And as old foes appear with their own agendas against Declan, and as Central London becomes a criminal warzone not seen since the days of the Krays and the Richardsons, Declan finds himself facing a criminal mastermind with more than power on their mind...

...and Declan is the next pawn to be taken off the board...


Grecian, Alex - One Eye Open

After her mother’s sudden passing, Laura and her daughter Juniper return to her childhood home in the rural outskirts of Denmark. In the scenic village amidst seas of wheat fields, Laura hopes they have finally let tragedy behind them. Then, Juniper begins to notice something strange about the people she encounters, the same people who have worked in these fields for centuries. 

In tracing her lineage back through her mother and beyond, Juniper makes a horrifying discovery. This town is alive with more than just nature, and the endless fields of wheat demand to be harvested, whether the hands that do so are alive or dead… 





Huber, Anna Lee - A Perilous Perspective #10 Lady Darby, Scotland, 1830s

Argyll, Scotland. July 1832. After a trying few months in Edinburgh, Kiera and her husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, are eager to escape to the Highlands with their three-month-old child. Kiera is overjoyed for her cousin Rye and her detractor-turned-friend Charlotte who are being wed in a private ceremony at the estate of Rye's great-uncle, the Marquess of Barbreck, in what seems to be the perfect wedding party. But when Kiera is invited to peruse Barbreck's extensive art collection, she is disturbed to discover that one of his most priceless paintings seems to be a forgery. The marquess's furious reaction when she dares to mention it leaves her shaken and the entire house shocked. For it turns out that this is not the first time the word forgery has been uttered in connection with the Barbreck household. Matters turn more ominous when a maid from a neighboring estate is found murdered where the forged painting hangs. Is her death connected to the forgeries, perhaps a grisly warning of what awaits those who dare to probe deeper? With unknown entities aligned against them, Kiera and Gage are forced to confront the fact that they may have underestimated their opponent. For they are swiftly made to realize that Charlotte's and Rye's future happiness is not the only issue at stake, and this stealthy game of cat and mouse could prove to have deadly consequences.


Murphy, Peter - To Become an Outlaw #8 Ben Schroeder, Lawyer, 1960s

1964, Apartheid South Africa. Danie du Plessis, the son of a conservative Afrikaner family, is poised to start a glittering legal academic career at one of South Africa's leading universities, when he falls in love with a student, Amy Coetzee. But there's a problem: he's white, she's not. Facing arrest, imprisonment and ruin, the couple flee South Africa, and settle in Cambridge, where friends find them positions at the University. They marry and have two children, and have seemingly put the past, and South Africa, behind them. But in 1968 Art Pienaar enters their lives, and, insisting that they have a duty to fight back, enlists their help in increasingly dangerous schemes to undermine the South African regime. When Pienaar and a notorious drug dealer, Vince Cummings, are found murdered together, Danie's activities come to light, and he and his family find themselves in mortal danger. Danie is also threatened with criminal prosecution on behalf of a government desperate to maintain good relations with the apartheid regime. Danie knows he's sailed close to the wind. But has he become an outlaw? Can Ben Schroeder persuade a jury that the answer is no?


Reid, TG - Dead Man's Stone (ebook only) #3 DCI Bone

Some secrets are worth killing for

When DCI Duncan Bone is contacted by a terminally-ill psychiatric patient and given clues linking a forty-year-old unsolved murder to high-profile public figures, he finds himself locked into a conspiracy at the very heart of the Scottish criminal and political establishment.

With his bosses stonewalling the investigation, lives under threat, and his career on the line, Bone faces a race against time to hunt down a group of men who will stop at nothing to cover their murderous crime.

Can DCI Bone catch the killer before the killing starts again?

Set among the dramatic hills and glens of Scotland's Campsie Fells, Dead Man's Stone is the third in a series of edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers that will keep you guessing right up to the nail-biting, heart-stopping climax.


Ryan, Sadie - The Wives of Crimson Avenue (ebook only) #1 DI Vincent Sullivan

Ladies. Are you a perfect wife wanting to live in suburban utopia?
Then Crimson Avenue is for you!
Come and join other like-minded women in our idyllic community.
We might even let you into our little secret…

When a striking young woman turns up to Adele Love’s antique shop acting suspiciously and gives her a cryptic message …

Tell Sam that they know…

On leaving the shop, to Adele’s horror, the woman is bundled into a white van and abducted.

Beginning a search for the missing woman, DI Vincent Sullivan and DS Josephine Jenkins conduct their house-to-house investigations, which lead them into a sinister world of diamond smuggling and drugs, all happening behind the perfect façade of Crimson Avenue.

As the pressure mounts with the severity of the crimes committed, the wives close ranks and deny all knowledge.

But just as cracks begin to appear and the women start to turn on each other, they realise there’s also the small problem of Adele’s secret, which could get them all killed...


Sanderson, Lesley - The Widow's Husband (ebook only)

For seven years I believed my husband was dead - until the note arrived this morning...

The day her husband Tom disappeared, Rachel's life fell apart. Childhood sweethearts with two young children, they'd done everything together. And then, suddenly, Tom was gone. Without a word, without a note, without a single sign of where he might be, leaving Rachel to survive alone.

Now, nearly seven years later, Rachel has come to terms with life as a single mother, caring for their children who still secretly long for their father's miraculous return.

But in his absence, Tom's hidden life started to emerge, and Rachel has discovered things a wife should never have to. A secret life that betrayed everything Rachel thought she knew. Not knowing where he'd gone was no longer the main worry keeping her awake at night - it seemed much more likely he'd been silenced. Forever.

Until today, when - with just one month until Tom is to be declared legally dead - Rachel receives a note in handwriting she recognises with dread:

My darling, I've missed you so much. Give me a chance to explain. I'm coming home.

The husband she'd lost is alive.

And so are all his secrets...