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Friday, June 24, 2022

Published 13-22 June

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 18 books published between 13 and 22 June 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Boyd, Damien - Carnival Blues #12 DI Nick Dixon

Carnival season is off to an explosive start in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon arrives late for Bridgwater’s winter carnival. He’s come to see the squibbing, the traditional firework display that brings the town’s November festivities to a dramatic close. But when the squib of Avalon Carnival Club president Richard Webb is lit, it explodes, engulfing him in flames.

Dixon knows he’s just witnessed a killer making a very public statement. And he can’t help feeling it’s only the beginning.

After his suspicions are confirmed at the Burnham-on-Sea carnival forty-eight hours later, the race is on to find the killer before the next event in a nearby town.

Can Dixon stop the killings before any more lives are lost? And can he do it with police Professional Standards investigators breathing down his neck?



Comley, M A - Crossing The Line #16 DI Sarah Ramsey

One terrifying ordeal too many…


A spate of burglaries cripples the city, putting the community and the police on high alert.

Despite dealing with a personal tragedy, DI Sara Ramsey is determined to end the perpetrator’s terrorising agenda, but it's going to prove an impossible task as the criminal is far worse than any she's ever encountered before.

Can she prevent the loss of yet more lives, and if so, at what cost to her personal life and her career?



Cooper, Helen - The Other Guest

One year ago, Leah's twenty-one-year-old niece, Amy, mysteriously drowned near her family-owned luxury resort on the shores of Lake Garda.


Now, returning to Italy for the first time since Amy's death, Leah is shocked to find her family seem to have erased all reminders of Amy. Despite the murky circumstances, they insist her death was an accident but Leah knows she must look deeper if she is to uncover the truth.

Meanwhile, in Derby, university counsellor Joanna is recovering from a surprising break-up when she is swept off her feet by a handsome bartender. But after she invites him into her home, Joanna is forced to accept that she doesn't know him as well as she thought.

What follows is a propulsive game of cat-and mouse as both women begin to realise that appearances can be deceptive - and that the darkest secrets often lie closest to home.


Dixon, Helena - Murder at the Country Club #9 Miss Underhay 

Kitty Underhay is playing doubles… with death.


Kitty Underhay is accompanying her fiancé, Matthew Bryant,and Bertie, his new cocker spaniel, on an outing to Torbay Country Club. However, the delightful day soon turns to disaster. Walking Bertie in the shaded grotto after an exhilarating archery demonstration, Kitty makes an unsporting discovery: the body of their host, Sir William Winspear, with an arrow in his back.

When the local inspector falls foul interviewing female witnesses, Kitty steps up to the mark. And she quickly discovers that Sir William had threatened one of the guests, dashing Russian dancer Ivan, who is dependent on him for patronage. When Kitty overhears a damning conversation between Ivan and his sister, the case seems clear. But
 the next day Ivan is disqualified as he is found face down in the pool…

The race is on for Kitty to find the real killer, but she must keep her head in the game if she is to outwit this cunning murderer. And 
when the final score comes in, will it be ‘killer: three, Kitty: zero’…?


Edwards, Mark - No Place to Run

In this exhilarating thriller from four million copy bestselling author Mark Edwards, Aidan’s spent years looking for his sister. Will he ever find her?

Two years ago, on a trip to Seattle to visit her brother Aidan, fifteen-year-old Scarlett vanished into thin air. After years of false leads and dead ends, Aidan has almost given up hope. But then a woman sees a girl running for her life across a forest clearing in Northern California. She is convinced the girl is the missing Scarlett. But could it really be her?

Heading south, Aidan finds a fire-ravaged town covered in missing-teenager posters. The locals seem afraid, the police won’t answer any questions and it looks like another dead end―until a chance meeting with returned local Lana gives Aidan his first clue. But as they piece together what happened, Lana and Aidan make deadly enemies. Enemies willing to do anything to silence them.

Only one thing matters now: finding Scarlett―even if it kills him.



Ellis, Joy - Trick of the Night #5 Matt Ballard 

Matt and Liz may have retired from the police, but that doesn’t guarantee a quiet life.

A deserted building. A face in the window. A face that shouldn’t be there.


Photography student Toby Unsworth has found the perfect location for a night-time shoot. A cobbled street in the old part of Fenfleet. Later, when he looks at the images on his laptop, he thinks he sees a woman’s face in the window of an old, disused building. He asks his housemate Alex to come and take a look . . .

Two days later, Toby and Alex are dead. Carbon monoxide poisoning. An unfortunate accident. But Alex’s mother doesn’t believe it. She hires Matt and Liz to find out the truth.

Meanwhile, nine-year-old Simon is missing. He was staying with his Aunt Jessie in a cottage on the edge of the marsh. And his older sister Kellie is increasingly worried.

Matt and Liz’s investigations reveal that something very big and very dangerous has descended on the small market town of Fenfleet. And if they don’t get to the bottom of it, more deaths will follow.


England, Caroline - The Sinner

EVERY SAINT HAS A PAST


To the unsuspecting eye Dee Stephens has a perfect life as the vicar's wife: a devoted marriage to her charismatic husband Reverend Vincent, an adoring congregation and a beautiful daughter.

EVERY SINNER HAS A FUTURE

But beneath the surface, Dee is suffocating. Vincent is in control, and he knows her every sin. Desperate, Dee escapes into a heady affair with Cal, an old schoolmate.

EVERY CONFESSION HAS A PRICE

But is Cal the saviour she thinks he is? What dark secrets does he harbour? And to what lengths will Vincent go to when he uncovers the truth?


Gibney, Patricia - The Guilty Girl #11 Detective Lottie Parker

When the call comes in about 
Lucy, a seventeen-year-old girl murdered after the secret party she held in her parents’ home, Detective Lottie Parker is first on the scene. As she picks her way through the smashed glasses and the blood spatter on the perfect cream carpet, she is horrified to see Lucy’s angelic face, silvery-blue eyes forever closed.

As Lottie breaks the news to Lucy’s heartbroken parents and the devastated partygoers, she discovers that hours before her death Lucy had revealed a terrible secret about her friend 
Hannah. And when Lottie finds Lucy’s bloodstained clothing hidden in Hannah’s bedroom, she has no option but to bring the shy, frightened girl into custody.

But Hannah claims to have no memory of the night Lucy died and Lottie begins to question her guilt. Then a fifteen-year-old boy who also attended the party is pulled from the canal. And as Lottie investigates, she discovers something shocking. Her own son Sean was at the party. Why did he lie to her? Is her beloved child a witness or a suspect… 
or is he now in the killer’s sights?


Goldberg, Leonard - The Blue Diamond #6 Daughter of Sherlock Holmes series

The fate of the allied forces lies in the hands of Joanna and the Watsons in the next Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery from USA Today bestselling author Leonard Goldberg.

During a critical stage in World War One, the Governor-General of South Africa journeys to London for a meeting of The Imperial War Conference. Days prior to the conference, the Governor-General is scheduled to have an audience at Buckingham Palace at which time a most precious blue diamond will be presented to King Edward as a symbolic gesture of the colonies' resolute and never-ending allegiance to England.

The flawless blue diamond, with its magnificent luster, weighs nearly 3000 carats which renders it one of the world's largest and most valuable gems. On the Governor-General's arrival, he is ensconced at the fashionable Windsor Hotel under the tightest security, with his entire entourage and formidable security team occupying the entire penthouse floor. All entrances and exits are locked down and closely guarded, and no one is allowed entrance after 6 PM.

Despite the extreme precautions, the famous diamond is stolen from the Governor-General's suite in the middle of the night, with no clues left behind. With Scotland Yard baffled, Joanna and the Watsons are called in to investigate the theft and it becomes clear that the crime is not simply the work of a master thief, but one that could greatly aid the Germans and turn the tide of war in their favor. Time is of the essence and the blue diamond must be recovered before it begins its travels which could cause irreparable damage to the allied war plans.


Isaac, Jane - One Fatal Secret

Sometimes your enemies are closer than you think…

Nicole Jameson has always been proud of her husband, Ethan. He’s built a successful career in finance, and his employers, the Harrisons, treat them like family. They’re a firm who look after their own, and even gave a loan to the company chauffeur, Conrad, to fund his pilot licence.

When the two men are returning from a business trip, the worst possible thing happens – their plane crashes into the sea. No survivors are expected to be found. Nicole is heartbroken, much like Conrad’s wife, Ania. She never warmed to Nicole, but now they share a bond of grief.

When evidence is found that Conrad took drugs shortly before the plane departed with him at the controls, the two women begin to wonder if all is not what it seems. But when they ask questions about events leading up to the crash, unsettling occurrences suggest it wasn’t a good idea. Sinister-looking men follow them, the Harrisons are increasingly cagey, and the women wonder if there is not more to this than a tragic accident.

But are the most dangerous people the ones they have already allowed to get too close…?


James, Christina - The Canal Murders #10 Detective Inspector Tim Yates, South Lincolnshire Fens 

In England’s East Midlands, a harried police detective juggles multiple cases that soon reveal the depths of human depravity . . .


DI Tim Yates has been following up for months on reports of missing farm machinery—with no success—when a local farmer and philanthropist is physically assaulted. Could this be a lead? If so, it doesn’t take Yates very far, since the victim, Jack Fovargue, refuses to accept any help.

Meanwhile, there’s a more urgent case to attend to—a decapitated body has been found in the Fossdyke Canal. This may be the first clue that finally connects a series of recent disappearances: a paper girl out on her rounds; a prostitute abducted off the street; an immigrant woman who vanished after stepping off a bus. After frogmen find two more corpses in the canal, and Yates’s researcher wife notes a similarity to a long-ago case someone is already in prison for, the situation starts becoming as murky as the canal itself . . .


Malakin, Dan - The Box

To save your child you must open The Box...


Ed Truman's family is falling apart. His daughter Ally is being targeted by an alt-right incel organisation, Men Together. His house is being picketed, former clients are accusing him of sexual assault, his son won't speak to him. And then Ally disappears.

Frantic, Ed suspects that Men Together have abducted her. But before he can go to the police, his DNA is found on the body of a young woman. Suddenly he's the subject of a nationwide manhunt, led by the tenacious DCI Jackie Rose. Ed finds himself on the run with Ally's friend, Phoenix, who claims to know where Ally is. But what is the truth? Is Ed a violent sexual predator? Or is he the victim of a ruthless conspiracy? The answers are in The Box. But not everyone who goes in, comes out alive...


Nixon, Keith - Dead Money #2 Jonah Pennance 

A series of grotesque murders across London forces Pennance into a race against time. But what if his partner is the killer?


With a reputation for solving bizarre crimes, 
Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance, recently transferred to the National Crime Agency, is brought in to investigate the mysterious death of celebrity fund manager, Grady Carnegie – choked to death, his body arranged and ready for a wake.

Then a second corpse turns up under identical circumstances – that of washed-up investigative reporter, 
Stan Thewlis. However, there's no obvious connection between the two men.

Soon, Pennance’s partner, 
Sergeant Simone Smithson, comes under suspicion for the murders – the evidence seems overwhelming. To save her, Pennance must determine what role the shadowy organisation Blackthorn plays and who is in the background, pulling all the strings…


Onda, Riku - Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight tr. Alison Watts

Set in a Tokyo flat over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro spend one last night together before going their separate ways. Each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who has been killed and why? Which one is the killer? In an intense battle of wills over the course of a night, the true nature of the pair’s relationship and the chain of events leading up to this night are gradually revealed in this gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.


The thriller--buried in a literary whodunit--explores the mysteries of romantic love, memory and attaining self-knowledge. Like the best Japanese crime writing, it is an unflinching foray into the darker recesses of the soul, quietly suspenseful and elegantly constructed.


Phifer, Helen - Sleeping Dolls #6 Detective Morgan Brookes

The beam shines around the dark room, lighting up the woman in sky-blue pyjamas lying on the couch. But she doesn’t wake under the bright glow, she isn’t sleeping at all…

When a concerned neighbour reports a woman missing, Detective Morgan Brookes squeezes through the stiff front door to find the woman dead. At first, the case appears unsuspicious, but something about the scene unsettles Morgan. Every clock in the house has been stopped, every mirror covered, and the woman seems physically unharmed except for one missing lock of hair.

Shirley Kelly was loved by her friends and hated by her ex-husband and his new wife, but they have an iron-clad alibi, and Morgan is certain that the scene-staging holds a vital clue. She’s devastated to be proved right when another woman is killed, and her home arranged in the same way. The only difference is that the second victim has been stabbed, using a knife from Shirley’s own kitchen…

The team can’t find a connection between the two women, but Morgan is sure that there is a deadly pattern to the killer’s actions. She hunts through each woman’s past until she finds the link: years ago, they both worked for a woman called Evelyn Reynolds, before tragedy struck her young family. But what has made them targets now? Morgan knows this twisted case is far from over, can she find the final clue before the clock stops for the next name on the killer’s list?


Slan, Joanna Campbell - Death of a Gentleman #4 Jane Eyre 

A weekend at a squire’s country home was intended to be a relaxing visit for Jane Eyre and her husband Edward Rochester. Jane looked forward to meeting the squire’s bride and the artist who’d been hired to paint portraits of the newlyweds. However, the household is anything but joyous! The squire’s new marriage has infuriated those who hoped to inherit his holdings. Then their host turns up dead. A tweeny—a maid who assisted both the Cook and the housemaids—is immediately blamed for the crime. The girl is an easy scapegoat, but Jane and Edward refuse to believe she killed her master, the kind man who took her off the streets of London and gave her a job. Can the Rochesters find the real killer? Or can they at least save the tweeny from a gruesome fate? Jane Eyre is not about to let an innocent, friendless girl be hanged for murder!



Wilkinson, Kerry - The Boyfriend

He went missing when you were sixteen. Was it all your fault?

Trembling with shock, Jodie picks up the old T-shirt. She hasn’t seen it for twenty years. Her boyfriend had been wearing it – her Ben – the day he went missing. The last time anyone saw him alive.

After her dad’s funeral, all Jodie wants is to clear out her childhood home as quickly as possible and get back to life with her son. But a terrifying discovery changes everything she knew about her kind, loving father.

Her boyfriend Ben went missing when they were just teenagers. His parents still stare out the window desperately waiting for him to come home. So how did the T-shirt he was wearing when Jodie saw him walk away from their last date end up in her father’s attic?

The search for answers leads Jodie to an old family friend who knows all her father’s secrets. She can’t shake his questions about her older brother, and the real reason their dad left everything to Jodie, not him. But when a stranger begins to follow her around their little town, and a deadly fire breaks out in her home, it’s clear someone will do anything to stop Jodie finding the truth about Ben's disappearance. Has Jodie unknowingly put her own son in terrible danger?


Worrall, Patrick - The Partisan

It is the summer of 1961 and the brutal Cold War between East and West is becoming ever more perilous.

Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don't know it, but they are about to compete in the deadliest game ever played.

Shadowing them is Greta, a ruthless resistance fighter who grew up the hard way in the forests of Lithuania, but who is now hunting down some of the most dangerous men in the world.

Men who are also on the radar of Vassily, perhaps the Soviet Union's greatest spymaster. A man of cunning and influence, Vassily was Yulia's minder during her visit to the West, but even he could not foresee the consequences of her meeting Michael.

When the world is accelerating towards an inevitable and catastrophic conflict, what can just four people do to prevent it?

Epic in scope, The Partisan is a thrill ride like no other, taking you from the hallowed halls of Cambridge to the grimy depths of the Moscow underworld, from 1960s London to the Eastern Front in the Second World War.

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