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Friday, May 20, 2022

Published 16-22 May 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 17 books published between 16 and 22 May 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.


Chase, Clare - Mystery at Lovelace Manor #8 Eve Mallow, Saxford St Peter

Lovelace Manor has a famous past... but when a historian becomes history at its annual open day, amateur sleuth Eve Mallow is on the case!

Everyone in Saxford St Peter flocks to Lovelace Sunday, the festival celebrating the romantic history of beautiful Lovelace Manor. This year will be even more exciting, as famous TV historian Cammie Harington is planning a spectacular stunt with a hot-air balloon for her new show.

Eve Mallow jumps at the chance to volunteer - it's a great people-watching opportunity. But she soon realises there is no love lost between Cammie and the family who own the manor... so why did Cammie agree to come?

When Cammie's hot-air balloon tumbles from the sky, Eve feels sure this is no accident. Alongside dachshund Gus, she sets to work investigating the mystery, piecing together all the odd things she's seen and heard.

Could the killer be discreet Diana, lady of the manor, who fell out with Cammie years ago? Or Diana's dashing brother Sebastian, whose dark secret Cammie knew? Why was the loyal gardener following Cammie around? And had Cammie uncovered something explosive about the manor's past, as she claimed?

When someone breaks into Cammie's cottage and a priceless Lovelace heirloom goes missing, Eve is sure she's on the right track... but can she solve the case, before the killer brings her crashing down?


Chong, Mairi - Clinically Dead #5 Dr Cathy Moreland

Is it grief—or guilt? A doctor investigates a colleague in mourning in this addictive mystery by the author of Deadly Diagnosis.


When she pays a condolence call to medical secretary Sara Wiseman, Dr. Cathy Moreland is a bit taken aback to find Sara more upset about the recent suspicious death of her colleague at the hospital than the loss of her own mother. But Cathy is far more surprised when Sara’s husband later confides that he suspects Sara was having an affair with the dead doctor—and that he fears it was the least of her transgressions. Could she have had something to do with not only his demise but with her own mother’s?

When the postmortem reveals the doctor had a chemical in his system that was stored in the pathology lab—and it becomes apparent that a large amount of the toxin has gone missing—Cathy agrees to assist her friend and fellow doctor Suzalinna in the investigation. She can only hope she doesn’t wind up in the mortuary herself . . .


Comley, M A - To Prove Fatal #4 DI Sam Cobbs

A failed burglary or is there something far more sinister afoot?

DI Sam Cobbs investigates a heinous crime in which a family is ripped apart. With two lives in the balance, can Sam and her team unravel the plethora of lies and secrets, surrounding the horrendous incident?

The stakes are raised when Sam's integrity is called into question by a relative of one of the victims. He has his own agenda, to search for the truth and to seek his own retribution.






Dunphy, S A - Her Child's Cry #3 Boyle & Keneally, Ireland

'I just want my little girl back. She's so little, she needs her mummy. And she doesn't even have her panda bear with her. Find her, please find her, before it's too late.'

Little Rosie Blake has been taken. Since going missing from the hospital where she was being treated for cancer, Rosie's distraught parents haven't heard a word. And time is swiftly running out. They have to find her, and right away, because Rosie can only survive for ten days without her medication.

With the police unable to find any leads at all, criminal behaviourist Jessie Boyle and her team are brought in to help. Who would be so evil as to steal a sick child? Narrowing down on a suspect, Jessie quickly moves to arrest them, only to discover the suspect's dead body instead... And with no Rosie in sight, the case becomes even more desperate.

Who killed their chief suspect, and where is Rosie now? And is Rosie's disappearance linked to the sudden revival of Dublin's Hellfire Club, an ancient and terrifying cult obsessed with death and human sacrifice?

As the race to find Rosie intensifies, her heartbroken parents know their little girl's time is running out. The clock is ticking, but Jessie clings on to the hope of finding her safe. As her search leads her to Ireland's remote mountains, will Jessie be able to survive the deadly threat that awaits her, rescue Rosie, and get her back to safety, before it's too late?


Ellis, Mark - Dead in the Water #5 Frank Merlin

Summer, 1942.

The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side.

In a bombed-out London swarming with gangsters and spies, DCI Frank Merlin continues his battle against rampant wartime crime. A mangled body is found in the Thames just as some items of priceless art go mysteriously missing. What sinister connection links the two?

Merlin and his team follow a twisting trail of secrets and lies as they investigate a baffling and deadly puzzle .




Giuliani, C P - The Road to Murder (ebook only) #1 Tom Walsingham

England, 1581


Nineteen-year-old Thomas Walsingham is thrilled to be working as a confidential courier, carrying messages between London and Paris for his illustrious cousin, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham … until everything goes wrong.

Tasked with escorting an English glove-maker to the French Court, Tom is also playing messenger for the Duke of Anjou, Queen Elizabeth’s French suitor, as well as carrying confidential instructions to the English Ambassador in Paris.

When French soldiers assault his convoy en route, Tom loses a letter he had sewn into his clothes. And the next morning, the glove-maker is found stabbed to death.

Determined to prove himself, despite failing so disastrously in his mission, Tom pushes on to Paris, but when he gets there, he discovers the glove-maker may not have been who he said he was.

Certain the queen may now be at risk, Tom is determined to report back to Sir Francis, but he cannot afford to wait for official orders.

Who was the glove-maker working for? Why was he killed?

Isolated and without a passport, Tom must travel incognito and return to the English court before anyone else ends up dead…


Grand, Mary - Good Neighbours 

It was meant to be a safe place to start again...


In need of an escape from her failing marriage, Nia agrees to house-sit her aunt’s cottage on the Isle of Wight. She feels sure the cosy close in a quaint harbour town will be a safe place to hide and figure out what to do next.

But things are not all as they seem in the close, and the neighbours who welcome her with open arms, are keeping secrets. When Nia finds the body of one of her new friends lying on the beach, she feels sickeningly sure that the killer is dangerously near to home.

Who killed her friend and why did she have to die? And if Nia discovers the answers she’s looking for, is she next on their hit list? Good neighbours may become good friends, but they can also make deadly enemies…


Lake, Deryn - Death on the River Thames #17 John Rawlings, Apothecary, Georgian London

John Rawlings has returned to his beloved London after spending time in America where revolutionary trouble is dangerously brewing.

Having made a substantial sum selling carbonated water, Rawlings buys a country house situated on the banks of the Thames in Strand-on-the-Green in Chiswick.

But one morning a small child falls into the river, and John, witnessing her rescue, hears her say she did not fall but was pushed. 

Not long after he is at the theatre with his daughter Rose when a woman is lowered by her ankles from the Slips... As he goes to her aid John Rawlings gets the feeling that some deadly mystery is about to unfold.

Could the two incidents possibly be connected?

Join John Rawlings and his friends as they make their way through the streets of Georgian London, chasing the bad lads, solving mysteries, sipping claret, and dancing at the fabulous balls with the Bon Ton.


Morton, Mandy - The Cat and the Pendulum #10 The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency

When the celebrated crime writer Agatha Crispy engages Hettie and Tilly in the search for a stolen manuscript, our feline detective duo is plunged into a world of Dickensian thieves and murderers.

Does the ghost of Jake the Nipper prowl the London Streets of Kitzrovia? Will Madame Two Paws’s exhibition wax or wane? And will the secrets in the crypt of the church of St Mavis and Cucumber finally be revealed?

Join Hettie and Tilly as they attempt to unravel yet another darkly humorous case for The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency.





Mulrooney, Gretta - Murder By the Shore (ebook only) #4 DI Siv Drummond

Detective Siv Drummond moved back to her hometown in Sussex, hoping for a quiet life by the sea. But trouble soon follows . . .


A little girl and her grandfather are murdered, minutes before her fourth birthday party.

Detective Siv Drummond arrives at the family’s beautiful coastal home to find a horrifying scene.

The little girl lies dead at the bottom of the garden. Suffocated in her Wendy house. Her grandfather is in the kitchen, his head caved in.

As long-kept secrets begin to surface, the killer is preparing to strike again.

The clock is ticking for Siv to uncover the family’s dark history and solve the case . . .


Scarr, Louisa - Blink of an Eye #3 DS Butler & DC West

Five friends meet. Only four come home.

On Christmas morning, DS Robin Butler has no plans to celebrate. He'll be glad to get back to work - a wish that comes true sooner than he anticipates. A dog walker at a local beach has discovered five unresponsive people strewn across the shingle. By the time Robin arrives, one is pronounced dead, and the other four are being treated in hospital.

DC Freya West is less than pleased when the romantic day with her boyfriend is scuppered, but duty calls. As she and Butler speak to those involved, it's clear something is being left unsaid. They claim they are friends, and that they don't know how one of the group was killed. But why are they so cagey?

A cold case investigation unlocks some answers about the history between the beach-going gang, yet they're tight-lipped about what prompted them to meet on Christmas Eve. Butler and West are getting nowhere, and their partnership is about to face another test. When Freya wants to come clean about events in her past, it's not just her neck on the line, but Robin's too. Can their relationship survive if their pact of silence is broken?


Scarrow, Alex - Gone to Ground #6 DCI Boyd

When Jay Turner – a nightclub doorman accidentally overhears a murder being planned he suddenly becomes Hastings' MOST WANTED man! Not only is he wanted by East Sussex Police for a violent crime that he's been framed for, but, by a desperate psychopath with limitless resources who simply can't afford for Jay to live... and for the truth to come out.


With Jay on the run and DCI Boyd doing his best to keep him alive, the noose is tightening and his only chance is to go to ground.






Schmidt, Joachim B - Kalmann tr. Jamie Lee Searle

Kalmann is the self-appointed Sheriff of Raufarhöfn. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays bait in the sea ― to catch the gigantic Greenland sharks he turns into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, hákarl. There is nothing anyone need worry about. Kalmann has everything under control. Inside his head, however, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But he knows that his native wisdom and pure-hearted courage will see him through. There really is no need to worry. How can anything go wrong with Kalmann in charge? He knows everything a man needs to know about life – well almost.




Shelton, Paige - The Burning Pages #7 Scottish Bookshop Mystery

One winter's night, bookseller Delaney Nichols and her coworker Hamlet are invited to a Burns Night dinner, a traditional Scottish celebration of the poet Robert Burns. She's perplexed by the invitation, but intrigued. The dinner takes place at Burns House itself, a tiny cottage not far from the Cracked Spine bookshop but well hidden. There, it becomes clear that Delaney and Hamlet were summoned in an attempt to make amends between Edwin, Delaney's boss, and one of the other invitees, who suspected Edwin for burning down his own bookshop twenty years ago after a professional disagreement.


But after the dinner, there’s another fire. The Burns House itself is burned to the ground, and this time there’s a body among the ruins. When Hamlet is accused of the crime, Delaney rushes to prove his innocence, only to discover that he might actually have a plausible motive...


Slater, K L - Missing 

I've known him all my life. I know he has taken my daughter. His mother says she can help me. But she's the last person I can trust...


Samuel lived next door when we were children. We were inseparable. But he didn’t like sharing me with my adored little brother. And one terrible night, he got rid of my brother forever…

Now, years later, he’s free. 
And my daughter is missing.

I turn on my baby girl’s unicorn nightlight and bury my face in her pillow, my heart breaking. I know Samuel has her – he blames me for ruining his life, and even after all this time, he still doesn’t like to share.

As darkness falls, there’s a knock at my door and I open it to see Samuel’s mother. She says she can help me.

I know I can’t trust her, but I don’t have a choice. With each step I take, my fear grows stronger. Can she help me find my daughter? Or does she know something about what really happened all those years ago? Something that could stop me from saving my baby girl…


Upson, Nicola - Dear Little Corpses #10 Josephine Tey, real-life crime writer

It takes a village to bury a child.


1 September, 1939. As the mass evacuation takes place across Britain, thousands of children leave London for the countryside, but when a little girl vanishes without trace, the reality of separation becomes more desperate and more deadly for those who love her.

In the chaos and uncertainty of war, Josephine struggles with the prospect of change. As a cloud of suspicion falls across the small Suffolk village she has come to love, the conflict becomes personal, and events take a dark and sinister turn.



Webb, Liz - The Daughter

I lean in and whisper the question I have never let myself utter in twenty-three years.

"Dad, did you murder Mum?"

Hannah Davidson has a dementia-stricken father, an estranged TV star brother, and a mother whose death opened up hidden fault lines beneath the surface of their ordinary family life.

Now the same age that Jen Davidson was when she was killed, Hannah realises she bears an uncanny resemblance to her glamorous mother, and when her father begins to confuse them she is seriously unnerved.

Determined to uncover exactly what happened to her mum, Hannah begins to exploit her arresting likeness, but soon the boundaries between Hannah and her mother become fatally blurred.


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