Pages

Friday, May 06, 2022

Published 1-8 May 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 14 books published between 1 and 8 May 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.


Amphlett, Rachel - Special Delivery  - Case Files

All Jackson Dark wants to do is get home and surprise his wife with the special gift he's bought her.


But he's got one last job to finish first...

 




 

Areklew, Lina - Death in Summer tr. Tara F Chace

When murder comes to a secluded island, the ghosts of the past will resurface...

As a young boy, Fredrik Fröding survived one of Europe's worst ferry disasters. The tragedy haunts him, and decades later Fredrik refuses to give up hope that his brother Niklas also lived. It's become an obsession that cost him a career in the police, and his relentless quest for answers leads him from Stockholm to the island of Ulvön.

In the remote north on Sweden's High Coast, the island community is tiny, but bolstered by a bustling tourist industry. It's where Detective Sofia Hjortén retreated to after her personal life fell apart. When a man is murdered at the local hotel, she gathers evidence, and is shocked to see Fredrik in the area: his departure from police training also signalled the end of their brief intimacy.

Sofia's work leads her to unravel secrets from forty years ago. What does a summer camp have to do with the dead man? It's this mystery Sofia must solve - a job made harder when the key suspect in the crime turns out to be Fredrik. Has his fragile mental state led to violence, or is there someone else out there whose demons have led to bloodshed?


Atherton, Nancy - Aunt Dimity and the Enchanted Cottage #25 Aunt Dimity

In the twenty-fifth installment of the bestselling Aunt Dimity series, when an inscrutable newcomer arrives in Finch, Lori is determined to befriend him--and in the process discovers Finch's own heart-wrenching past

It's early May in the small English village of Finch and the air is crackling with excitement: a newcomer is about to move into Pussywillows, a riverside cottage with a romantic reputation. Will the cottage's newest resident prove yet again its enchanting ability to matchmake? But when Crispin Windle arrives, no one knows what to make of him: seemingly a loner, he repels every welcoming gesture and appears altogether uninterested in being a part of the community. Soon, the townspeople have all but dismissed him.

Only Lori and Tommy Prescott, a young army veteran who recently moved to Finch, refuse to give up. They orchestrate a chance meeting that leads to a startling discovery: a set of overgrown ruins. They are, Aunt Dimity shares, the remains of a Victorian woolen mill that once brought prosperity to Finch.

As the three explore, they stumble upon the unmarked graves of children who died working at the mill. Heartbroken, Lori, Tommy, and Mr. Windle get to work on the seemingly impossible task of identifying the children to give them a proper burial. And as Mr. Windle works tirelessly to name the forgotten children, he slowly begins to open up--giving the romantic cottage a chance to heal his heart as well.


Atkinson, Heather - Blood Pact (ebook only) #4 Gallowburn

To survive, they’ll need to stick together…

After the defeat of the rival Gordon and Thompson families, the Blood Brothers' reputations as feared lieutenants of the McVay clan are firmly established. The Gallowburn has become an untouchable stronghold in their capable hands.

However, danger rears its head in another form - Jamie’s deadliest foe, Cameron Abernethy. Still fighting to be released from prison, Cameron decides to use the Lawson family, the Blood Brothers’ biggest rivals, to discover his daughter's whereabouts.

With his enemies getting closer, and the police on his tail too, Jamie has some impossible choices to make. This is his last chance to live the life he's dreamed of with the woman he loves, but first he’s got to make sure he's not caught or killed…


Chowdhury, Ajay - The Cook #2 Kamil Rahman

Kamil Rahman is a cook in a Brick Lane restaurant. But he used to be a detective back in Kolkata.
And somehow trouble still knows how to find him.


When a young woman Kamil knows is murdered the police are convinced her boyfriend is the culprit. Kamil isn't so sure and feels he has no choice but to start his own investigation. Meanwhile, his friend and restaurant manager, Anjoli, is troubled by a rise in the number of homeless deaths in their local area.

Initially the cases seem unrelated, but as the duo dig deeper, they discover connections that stretch from London to Lahore.

Together they take on the indifference of the authorities to the homeless and the casual racism that pervades the investigation of killings of Muslims - all while trying to stop a supremely intelligent murderer who always seems to be several steps ahead of them.

Freire, Natalia García - This World Does Not Belong to Us tr. Victor Meadowcroft

Many years have passed since Lucas was expelled from his childhood home by Felisberto and Eloy, the two men who arrived uninvited and slowly, insidiously, made it their own. Now Lucas is back, fully grown and intent on claiming his rightful inheritance.

But he is not interested in the house as it once was, in his mother's lovingly planted flowerbeds - now conquered by weeds - nor in the lavish portraits covering every wall. Lucas belongs to a darker world, one crawling with the only creatures he really trusts: insects. As the house crumbles before his eyes, Lucas turns to the allies of his underground kingdom to help him take revenge. 

Weaving together past and present like a spider's web, This World Does Not Belong to Us is a spine-tingling story of human greed, from a masterful new literary voice. 



Gayle, Katie - An English Garden Murder #1 Julia Bird

Meet Julia Bird: recently single, reluctantly retired, and… an amateur sleuth?


Julia Bird has left London for a fresh start in a picturesque Cotswolds village, and the rustic charm and cosy fireplaces of her little cottage are everything she’d hoped for. But when she tears down the old garden shed to make way for a chicken coop, she unearths much more than she’d bargained for… the body of a young woman, apparently buried for decades, thrusting Julia into a baffling mystery.

With only one copper on the case in Berrywick, Julia decides to solve the who and whodunnit herself, taking her wayward puppy 
Jake along for the ride. And so begins a whirlwind tour of the village – from the dotty 90-year-old to the delightful doctor and the village gardener, it seems everyone has something to hide.

Soon, Julia is convinced she has discovered the killer’s identity, until Jake, a true Labrador, finds a new love of the local lake’s waterfowl and instead ends up catching her chief suspect… drowned. Back at square one, with potential culprits galore, Julia – newly nicknamed the Grim Reaper – despairs at ever solving the murders.

But as Julia ruffles feathers village-wide, the clock is ticking. There is someone in the village who has killed twice already. Will they be prepared to make it third time lucky to keep their secret safe?

Gray, Claudia - The Murder of Mr. Wickham

A summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Jane Austen's Mr. Wickham—one of literature’s most notorious villains—meets 
a sudden and suspicious ending this brilliantly imagined mystery featuring Austen’s leading literary characters.

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.


Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. In this tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, from 
New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang. 

James, Ed - Lost Cause (ebook only)

The only one who can find Mark's daughter? The cop who just divorced him


Mark Campbell is in deep trouble. His latest book is five years late and his recent divorce has cleaned him out. Worse, his debts with Vic Hebden aren’t exactly the kind you consolidate into one easy payment. And he’s missed three.

But Mark has a plan — finish his novel, then pay Hebden off with the advance. His student daughter, Kay, is spending her summer holiday researching locations in the far north of Scotland, ahead of a father-daughter holiday.

Desperate to add her research to his book, the hotel calls — Kay has run off, leaving a big bill, her phone and a copy of Mark’s last book, BREAK THE CHAIN.

There's only one person to turn to — his ex, Olivia. Kay’s stepmother. A Glasgow cop still angry at their recent divorce.

As they hunt the Scottish Highlands for his daughter, Mark starts to realise Kay’s disappearance could have something to do with BREAK THE CHAIN, the novel where his research exposed a cult founder’s real life sexual abuse.

Has Kay run away from Mark? Does Hebden have her? Or could Kay have succumbed to the clutches of someone from the cult? And can Mark and Olivia save her in time?

Lelic, Simon - The Hiding Place

FOUR FRIENDS. ONE MURDER. A GAME THEY CAN'T ESCAPE


----------
'It was only a game'... 
Until a boy went missing.

'No one was meant to get hurt'... 
But a body has been found.

'Just some innocent fun'... 
Except one of them is a killer.

Ready or not, here I come.

It's time to play hide and seek again.

THE WHISPER MAN meets THE GUEST LIST in this gripping story; DI Fleet is up against some of the most powerful people in the country as he attempts to discover the truth about what happened on the day of the game...


Myers, Amy - The Maid of Kent Murders #9 Peter and Georgia Marsh, father and daughter cold case investigators/authors, Kent

The Maid of Kent pub sits in the village of Cobshaw and at the centre of controversy.

The local descendants of the Plantagenets and the Tudors each have an eye on the property, but for different reasons. The current owner Percival needs to sell, but will only let it go to another Planter, as the descendants of the Plantagenets call themselves. Hotelier Howard Greene claims Plantagenet blood and wants to add the property to his long empire. But is he really descended from the kings who once ruled England?

Local historian Brenda Randall knows everything there is to know about Cobsham and its inhabitants, including the history of the actual maid of Kent, Cecilia. What is now the pub was once her ancestral home, Cobshaw Court, and Brenda wants to restore the home and make it a stately inn. But her plans are soon interrupted.

Then a windstorm uncovers a burial site, and Marsh and Daughter, the local authors and sleuths, have a new mystery to solve. But who was buried under the old copper beech? And how is it connected to the endless fighting between the Planters and the Tudors in the picture- perfect village of Cobshaw?


Savage, Vanessa - The Night They Vanished

A family with a secret.

A past about to catch up with them.

At thirty, Hanna has finally decided she's better off without her family. They hold her responsible for the incident that ruined their lives fourteen years ago and they've barely spoken since.

But then, whilst browsing a true crime website, she sees her family home listed as the site of a brutal murder. Number of victims: three. Date of crime: today. When the police investigate, they find no bodies, but the house is abandoned. Hanna's family have disappeared.


To find them, Hanna will have to confront what happened all those years ago.

And the person determined to make her pay for it . . .


Sten, Camilla - The Resting Place tr. Alexandra Fleming

Crimson Peak
 meets The Sanatorium in The Resting Place, a heart-thumping, unforgettable novel of horror and suspense by international sensation Camilla Sten.

Deep rooted secrets.
A twisted family history.
And a house that will never let go.


Eleanor lives with prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize a familiar person's face. It causes stress. Acute anxiety.

It can make you question what you think you know.

When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, the horror of having come so close to a murderer—and not knowing if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.

Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a chilling past for over fifty years.

Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to uncovering the truth, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.

Veerapen, Steven - Of Blood Descended

Summer, 1522. In a wave of pomp, Henry VIII’s court welcomes the Imperial emperor, Charles V. Anthony Blanke, the son of the king’s late ‘black trumpet’, John Blanke, is called to Hampton Court by his former employer, Cardinal Wolsey. The cardinal is preparing a gift for King Henry: a masque of King Arthur and the Black Knight. Anthony is to take centre stage.

The festive mood, however, quickly sours. Wolsey’s historian, charged with proving the king’s descent from King Arthur, is found murdered, his body posed in a gruesome tableau. A reluctant Anthony is charged with investigating the affair. His mission takes him on the path trod by the historian, through ancient monastic libraries and the back streets of London.

On a journey that takes him from Hampton Court to Windsor and Winchester, and which sees him lock horns with secretive monks, historian Polydore Vergil, and a new face at court, Anne Boleyn, he must discover the murderer, secure the great masque, and avoid King Henry’s wrath.


No comments:

Post a Comment