Thursday, May 12, 2022

Published 9-15 May 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 27 books published between 9 and 15 May 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.


Cowie, Jane - After Dark (apa Curfew 3/22 US)

WELCOME TO A WORLD WHERE WOMEN HOLD THE POWER.


They dominate workplaces, public spaces and government.

They are no longer afraid to cross a dark car park, catch the last train, or walk home alone.

With the Curfew law in place, all men are electronically tagged and must stay at home after 7pm.

It changed things for the better. Until now.

A woman is murdered late at night and evidence suggests she knew her attacker.

It couldn't have been a man because a Curfew tag is a solid alibi... 
Isn't it?

Croft, Adam - Kiss of Death (ebook only) #4 Rutland crime series

An elderly woman collapses and dies during a Sunday morning church service in Oakham. But things aren't quite as innocent as they seem.


Within hours, there's a second unexplained death in Rutland. Then a third. But the victims appear to be completely unconnected.


With the body count rising by the day, DI Caroline Hills and DS Dexter Antoine need to uncover the link before more innocent people die.


Only one thing is certain: a killer walks the streets of Rutland. But no-one knows who the next victim will be, when they will be killed - or why.


Croft, Kathryn - The Mother's Secret

Eve wanted nothing more than to be a mother. She and her husband, Aiden, planned to have a family, but with each devastating miscarriage her hopes dwindled. When she eventually gave birth to her daughter, Kayla, it should have been the happiest time of her life. Instead, it was a waking nightmare for Eve, and one she was desperate to escape.

Now, Eve has left all that behind. She pretends that she never had a child, and keeps her secrets close. But someone knows the truth. They know that Eve told a lie, and the clock is ticking before her shocking decision is revealed. Once the story comes out, there’ll be no way out for Eve. If people learn about the crime she covered up, they’ll never look at her the same way again. She must get her little girl back, before it’s too late. If she can’t, running away won’t be an option. This time, Eve will face the consequences, and pay the price she should have paid years ago…


Dennisson, Florian - The List tr. ??

A man confesses to four murders—but will tell the police nothing more—in this stunning psychological crime thriller.


I killed them all. The stranger who walks into the police station says it again and again, but the only information he will provide is a list of the victims’ names. Yet when officers go in search of the bodies, they find only empty rooms, forensic traces of blood, and more questions than answers. Could the victims in fact still be alive and held captive in some unknown location?

Sgt. Michael Monroe, an expert in nonverbal communication, has just returned to the force after an extended leave. Sidelined from the investigation at first, Michael keeps fighting to be added to the team. But it’s not only his professional expertise that makes him especially qualified for this case—he has found a clue that may connect the suspect to a shadowy cult, one that Michael himself is all too familiar with . . . 

Dowd, Victoria - A Book of Murder #4 Ursula Smart

Nineteen guests with secrets to hide.

One exclusive party on a private island.
An invitation to die for?

Ursula Smart and her mother, Pandora, wangle an invite to crime-fiction powerhouse Anthony Lovell’s latest book launch, a weekend-long bash at his private island home.

They’re ready for an evening of wining, dining and hobnobbing.

But trouble always seems to follow the Smart women.

Late that night, Ursula is woken up by blood-curdling screams.

Anthony is dead. Poisoned by the highlight of the evening feast, the fugu fillet. If prepared incorrectly, this rare Japanese delicacy is deadly.

Who killed him?

When the accused is put on trial, the Smart women are called as witnesses. But Ursula’s not convinced the police have the right person.

Is asking questions asking for trouble?

Hampton, Graeme - Run For Cover #4 DI Denning and DS Fisher

He gazes at the bodies. Young men, probably in their early thirties. The wooden flooring around them has been stained dark red. He wonders what kind of monster could have done this.

And why.

As a murder detective in the Met Police, D.I. Matthew Denning is used to seeing the very worst of humanity. But when a young woman's body is discovered in an East London churchyard, her face obliterated by blows, he is plunged into his most shocking case yet. While the investigation discovers that victim Bryony Allen was hiding some dark secrets, nothing seems to warrant the violence that ended her life.

Until Denning, along with D.S. Molly Fisher, uncovers a link between this murder and the disappearance of an undercover policeman investigating a high-level criminal gang, one that may be responsible for the deaths of two men found dead in a ritual execution in Kent. While the top brass want to suppress Denning's discovery, the team knows that the key to the case may lie in the actions of a rogue officer.

And when his own boss, D.C.I. Liz McKenna, goes missing, the case becomes even more personal. Can Denning and Fisher get justice for Bryony's murder, while fighting through the wall of silence from the powers that be?


Hawkswood, Sarah - A Taste for Killing #10 Bradecote and Catchpoll, Worcestershire, C12

Whose was the hand that poisoned Godfrey Bowyer? Bradecote and Catchpoll are on the trail of the killer.

January, 1145. Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies an agonising death by poisoning. Although similarly struck down after the same meal, his wife Blanche survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for the Sheriff’s men, Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably. Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife may have had to endure Godfrey's attentions? Could it even be the wife herself?

With Bradecote eager to return to his manor and worried about his wife’s impending confinement, and Underserjeant Walkelin trying to get his mother to accept his choice of bride, there are distractions aplenty, though Serjeant Catchpoll will not let them get in the way of solving this case.



Herron, Mick - Bad Actors #8 Slough House

POLITICS IS A DANGEROUS GAME


In MI5 a scandal is brewing and there are bad actors everywhere.

A key member of a Downing Street think-tank has disappeared without a trace. Claude Whelan, one-time First Desk of MI5's Regent's Park, is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to Regent's Park HQ itself, with its chief, Diana Taverner, as prime suspect. Meanwhile her Russian counterpart has unexpectedly shown up in London but has slipped under MI5's radar.

Over at Slough House, the home for demoted and embittered spies, the slow horses are doing what they do best: adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation.

In a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing is the norm, bad actors are bending the rules for their own gain. If the slow horses want to change the script, they'll need to get their own act together before the final curtain.

Kaya, Kerry - The Reckoning #3 Carter Brothers

An eye for an eye…


Once the top dog, Danny Mckay has walked away from his old gangland life. He’s on the straight and narrow now, looking forward to settling down and living a quiet life.

But trouble seems to follow Danny. And when his own family is caught up in a shocking event, Danny is dragged back into the gangland world, hell bent on revenge.

Danny’s determined to make someone pay, but the rules are different this time around - old friends are enemies, and Danny doesn’t know who he can trust.

And as Danny gets closer to the truth, he realises that the consequences of his own actions could destroy everything - and everyone - that he loves.

Don't miss the shocking climax to the Carter Brothers series and another gripping gangland read from bestselling author Kerry Kaya!

Kershaw, Scott - The Game

Across the globe, five strangers receive a horrifying message from an unknown number.

THE PERSON YOU LOVE MOST IS IN DANGER.

To save them, each must play The Game – a sinister unknown entity that has a single rule: there can only be one winner.

IF YOU LOSE, YOUR LOVED ONE WILL DIE.

But what is The Game – and why have they been chosen?

There’s only one thing each of them knows for sure: they’ll do anything to win…

WELCOME TO THE GAME. YOU’VE JUST STARTED PLAYING.


Kirk, JD - City of Scars #14 DCI Logan

Life has been slowly improving for DCI Jack Logan lately. Happily settled down with the woman of his dreams and a dog he begrudgingly tolerates, things are finally going Jack’s way.

But, could all that be about to change?

When a sadistic killer begins picking off victims on the streets of Inverness, Jack’s boss decides to bring in some outside help. But the new team member is an old flame from Jack’s past who isn’t quite ready to let him go.

And, as the dead bodies rack up, the 
Happily Ever After that Jack has been building for himself might just be the next victim to fall…


Mariani, Scott - The Silver Serpent #25 Ben Hope, Ex-SAS

Some legends lie buried for a reason…

To fight extraordinary odds, you need an extraordinary man.

Under the fierce heat of the Australian outback, the laws of nature serve a rough justice. When a man vanishes deep in the Northern Territory, local police write it off. But his family suspect otherwise – and when the call for help goes out, Ben Hope and Jeff Decker are there to hear it.

Ben’s instincts, honed by years of Special Forces missions, soon see the story told by a trail of bullet casings, rumours of a missing map and a lethal cocktail of greed, power and money.

This savagely beautiful land holds a secret it won’t give up easily – and for Ben, discovering the truth will mean not only going up against a small army of hired guns and their twisted paymaster, but also surviving a place where the wilderness is as powerful as the weapons his enemies have trained on him.


Marsons, Angela - Six Graves #16 DI Kim Stone

It’s a typical teenage bedroom with posters covering the walls and clothes littering the floor. But the girl lying on her bed, wearing a delicate chain around her neck, is lifeless. A circle of red stains her white vest top. How had the girl’s mother looked down at her sleeping child and pulled the trigger?


When 
Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene of a house fire, she’s shocked to discover it’s claimed the lives of two teenage children and their parents. But this tragedy is not quite as it seems. Each body is marked by a gunshot wound and the mother, Helen Daynes, is holding the gun.

The case sparks painful childhood memories for Kim who suffered at the hands of her own abusive mother, but it just makes her more determined to uncover the truth. As Kim untangles Helen’s past, she finds a history of clinical depression. But did it drive Helen to murder her loved ones?

Then Kim uncovers a tiny, vital clue in Helen’s bedroom that throws the investigation wide open. Could 
someone else have killed the Daynes family?

Just as Kim feels she’s making progress, a deadly threat is made to her own life by a dangerous psychopath from her past. Biting back her fear, she keeps digging. And when Kim hits upon a shocking secret that changes everything she thought she knew about Helen, she realises that the remaining family members are in grave danger.

Kim is under pressure like never before, and the monster circling her is getting ever closer. Four bodies already. Four graves fresh in the ground. Who will be next? Can Kim find the killer and save herself before it’s too late?

Mayhew, Julie - Little Nothings

With friends like these, who needs enemies?


Liv Travers never knew real friendship until she met fellow mums Beth and Binnie. The three women become inseparable as they muddle through early parenthood together.

Then along comes Ange. Ambitious, wealthy and somehow able to do it all.

Under Ange's guiding presence, the group finds new vigour and fresh aspirations - bigger houses, better schools, dinners at exclusive restaurants. But Liv can't keep up and is increasingly edged out.

When the four families take a three-week trip to a luxurious holiday resort, Liv seizes the opportunity to reclaim her place at the heart of the group, only to discover the true, devastating cost of a friendship with Ange.

Set over the course of a single, life-changing trip to a Greek island paradise, Little Nothings is a sly, suspenseful novel about female bonds turned toxic, and the desperate ends one woman will go to keep her friends close - and her enemy closer.

McCleave, Simon - The Dark Tide #1 DCI Laura Hart, Anglesey

Will there be blood in the water?

Three years ago, DCI Laura Hart was the top Hostage and Crisis Negotiator for the Greater Manchester Police. Then her husband was kidnapped. Despite her best efforts to reason with the criminals, he was brutally murdered.

Now living on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, Laura is slowly healing. Then she gets a call: armed drug dealers have seized a tourist boat – and her ten-year-old son Jake is on board. There’s no other negotiator available, and the police need her to step up.

With the life of a loved one yet again on the line and memories of the last time she failed still searingly fresh, Laura is living her worst nightmare. Can she lay to rest the ghosts of her past in time to save her son?


McEvoy, Lesley - The Killing Song #2 Dr Jo McCready

On a busy train station platform, a man pulls a knife and viciously attacks another passenger before fleeing - apparently unaware of what he has just done.

To the police, it looks like a terrorist attack. But 
Forensic Psychologist Dr. Jo McCready has seen this bizarre behaviour before, in controversial psychological experiments. She knows this is no random killing spree.

When a botched cold case resurfaces, and the mistress of a controversial billionaire philanthropist is found dead, Jo discovers all these crimes are tangled up in the same web of deadly local secrets. Secrets that some will kill to protect . . .

McTiernan, Dervla - The Murder Rule

No one is innocent in this story.

First Rule: Make them like you.
Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.
 
They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.
 
They think I’m working hard to impress them.
 
They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.
  
They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.


Morfoot, Peter - Essence of Murder #5 Captain Darac, Nice, France

A go-to destination for students of the finer things in life, the Villa des Pinales is set high in the foothills above Nice. As groups check-in for three-day courses on wine tasting, perfume making and landscape painting, they are joined by their tutors, one of whom proves to be forensic sketch artist Astrid Pireque. Down in the city, the remaining members of Darac's team are experiencing a lull in new cases they know won't last. But none is prepared for what lay ahead. The Essence of Murder, the latest thriller in the Captain Darac series sees Peter Morfoot's writing skills at their very best.




Mumford, Louise - The Safe House

She told you the house would keep you safe. She lied.

Esther is safe in the house. For sixteen years, she and her mother have lived off the grid, protected from the dangers of the outside world. For sixteen years, Esther has never seen another single soul.

Until today.

Today there’s a man outside the house. A man who knows Esther’s name, and who proves that her mother’s claims about the outside world are false. A man who is telling Esther that she’s been living a lie.

Is her mother keeping Esther safe – or keeping her prisoner?



Nadel, Barbara - Bride Price #24 Cetin Ikmen, Policeman, Istanbul

When jeweller Fahrettin Muftugolu is found dead in his apartment in the Istanbul district of Vefa, it looks like suicide. Searching the jeweller's home, Inspector Mehmet Suleyman and his team come across a hoard of extraordinary artefacts including solid gold religious relics and a mummified human head. But are they real and, if so, who owns these priceless possessions?


As his colleagues begin their investigation, Suleyman is distracted by troubles of his own. His wedding to Gonca Serekoglu is days away, but when Gonca receives her bridal bedcover from a Roma haberdasher and discovers that it is covered in blood, she sees this as a curse on their marriage. Suleyman asks his old friend Cetin Ikmen to help him uncover the truth, but the task is not that simple...

Meanwhile, as the stories swirling around Muftugolu become increasingly sinister, the dead man's wife appears, laying claim to his valuables, and Suleyman is drawn into a dark and dangerous world of smuggling and savagery . . .

Regan, Linda - The Burning Question #5 DI Banham and Sergeant Alison Grainger

When an arson attack strikes in south London, leaving three people dead, it quickly becomes clear that the youngest victim, Danielle Low, was the intended target.

With no clear motive, and the killer at large, DCI Banham must act fast. But working with his partner, DI Alison Grainger, has its own challenges that threaten to stall the investigation. Then another body is found in similar circumstances and he knows that there is someone far more sinister at work.

As they begin to unravel a dark web of secrets, the case unexpectedly leads close to home and with time of the essence, and the killer always one step ahead, can DCI Banham and his team work together to put a stop to the depravity before another life is lost?

Set in the gritty backstreets of London, The Burning Question is the latest thrilling instalment in the DCI Banham series by the much-loved author and actress Linda Regan. For fans of Lynda La Plante and Martina Cole.


Riordan, Kate - Summer Fever

Two couples. One sweltering Italian villa . . .


Nick and Laura are the hosts:
pretending their marriage isn't on the rocks.

Madison and Bastian are the guests:
neither is remotely who they claim to be.

Under the scorching Mediterranean sun
no secret is safe.
No betrayal goes unnoticed.

Two couples. But will either survive the summer . . .


Ryan, Chris - Outcast

After single-handedly intervening in a deadly terrorist attack in Mali, SAS Warrant Officer Jamie 'Geordie' Carter is denounced as a lone wolf by jealous superiors.


Now a Regiment outcast, Carter is given a second chance with a deniable mission: locate SAS hero-gone-rogue, David Vann.

Vann had been sent into Afghanistan to train local rebels to fight the Taliban. But he's since gone silent and expected attacks on key targets have not happened.

Tracking Vann through Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Carter not only discovers the rogue soldier's involvement in a conspiracy that stretches far beyond the Middle East - but an imminent attack that will have deadly consequences the world over . . .


Sigurdardottir, Yrsa - The Fallout #6 Children's House series tr. Victoria Cribb

A murdered woman. 
A missing child. And a father intent on revenge.

On a cold day in Reykjavik, a baby goes missing from her pram. When the child's blanket washes up on the beach, and the mother is found dead, everyone's worst fears seem to have been realised.

Eleven years later, and detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are now working in the same police building, on the same team. Freyja believes that personal and professional relationships must remain separate, however hard that may be. But when a woman's dismembered body is found in a deserted car, her head missing, and Freyja and Huldar find themselves working on the same case, the secrecy around their affair threatens to crack. And when Freyja is accused of a serious breach of police protocol, will Huldar be able to help her? Meanwhile, their search to identify the body takes the case back into secrets of the past, and the unspoken crimes that bind three separate families.
 
Spain, Jo - The Last to Disappear

A luxury resort. Three missing women. One body.


When young London professional Alex Evans is informed that his sister's body has been pulled from an icy lake in Northern Lapland, he assumes his irresponsible sister accidentally drowned. He travels to the wealthy winter resort where Vicky worked as a tour-guide and meets Agatha Koskinen, the detective in charge. Agatha is a no-nonsense single mother of three who already thinks there's more to Vicky's case than meets the eye.

As the two form an unlikely alliance, Alex also begins to suspect the small town where his sister lived and died is harbouring secrets. It's not long before he learns that three other women have gone missing from the area in the past and that his sister may have left him a message.

On the surface, Koppe, Lapland is a winter wonderland. But in this remote, frozen place, death seems only ever a heartbeat away.


Thomas, Russ - Cold Reckoning #3 Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler, South Yorkshire

THE DARKNESS FROM HIS PAST WILL FINALLY COME TO LIGHT


For sixteen years, DS Adam Tyler has been searching for answers to his father, Richard’s, death. Convinced it wasn’t suicide, he has been investigating the case in secret.

When a body is found in a frozen lake, linked to a cold case from 2002, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the death of his father – except Tyler knows Richard was investigating the same case shortly before he died. And Tyler doesn’t believe in coincidences.

As he throws himself into finding out what really happened that day, Tyler uncovers a string of botched investigations, mysterious disappearances and, ultimately, deep-seated police corruption. There are dangerous people who don’t want Tyler asking questions – and the truth always comes at a price.

This time, it could cost him everything.


Young, Glenda - Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel #2 Helen Dexter, Scarborough

In the charming Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, the stage is set for murder . . .


Helen Dexter has started a new chapter in her life as sole proprietor of the Seaview Hotel.

But things take a dramatic turn when an acting troupe book into the hotel to rehearse a play they hope will save a much-loved theatre from being closed down. Helen immediately picks up on tension between the actors, but there is worse to come when the charismatic leading lady is found dead.

With so much at stake, it's clear the show must go on. Helen is roped into helping the troupe with their performance, giving her ample opportunity to discover who wanted their diva dead.

However, the murder is not the only thing on Helen's mind. She's receiving threatening phone calls, her car is vandalised - and she's just learned of an impending visit from a hotel inspector which could change the fortunes of the Seaview Hotel.

With her trusty greyhound Suki by her side, Helen is determined to uncover the identity of the killer - even if it means she has to give the performance of her life.

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