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Thursday, June 30, 2022

Published 23-30 June 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. These are the 25 books published between 23 and 30 June 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Arenz, Ewald - Tasting Sunlight tr. Rachel Ward

Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace.

Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.

From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked.

That night becomes weeks and then months, as an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts  through their shared work on the land.

Achingly beautiful, profound, invigorating and uplifting, 
Tasting Sunlight is a story of friendship across generations, of love and acceptance, of the power of nature to heal and transform, and the goodness that surrounds us, if only we take time to see it…


Bartlett, Graham - Bad for Good #1 Detective Superintendent Jo Howe, Brighton

How far would you go?

The murder of a promising footballer, son of Brighton’s highest-ranking police officer, means Detective Superintendent Jo Howe has a complicated and sensitive case on her hands. The situation becomes yet more desperate following devastating blackmail threats.

Howe can trust no one as she tracks the brutal killer in a city balanced on a knife edge of vigilante action and a police force riven with corruption.








Bettany, Jane - Last Seen Alive #3 DI Isabel Blood, Derbyshire

When Anna Matheson fails to collect her son from the babysitter after a works party, the police are swiftly called. Anna is a stickler for time and a good mother – she would never abandon her baby. Her disappearance is totally out of character and DI Isabel Blood and her team soon suspect foul play.

CCTV footage shows Anna was last seen at precisely 11.11pm, as she collected her coat to leave the party. But the cameras outside the venue have failed to pick up her exit from the car park – how could she have vanished in plain sight?

Rumour has it that Anna was set to make big changes in the workplace, and Isabel can’t help but think someone wanted her out of the way.

Everyone at the party is a suspect, and all the clues point to murder…



Blackhurst, Jenny - The Girl Who Left


Twenty-five years ago, a local girl went missing. Now, another girl comes back…

When five-year-old Elsie Button was snatched from a garden in a sleepy town on the Welsh island of Anglesey, and a local man later confessed, it sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community. How could one of their own do such a thing? Especially when his own little girl was the same age – and the victim’s best friend.

Kathryn and her family left under the cloak of darkness one night, unable to bear the shame, and the anger of their neighbours. She hardly remembers that time. Now, she suffers the consequences of living under an assumed name, always looking over her shoulder. Her dad has not spoken a word to her since he went to prison. She is haunted by the question: why did he kill Elsie?

When another child is taken from the same garden, twenty-five years to the day of Elsie’s murder, Kathryn is determined that this time she’ll be on the right side. She’ll join the search and atone for her father’s deed, and maybe, just maybe, get the answers she wants. But she’s not prepared for the long memory of the locals, nor the risks of going back. Not everyone on the island wants the truth to come out, and they’ll go to extreme lengths to stop that from happening.


Campbell, Colin - Swing Gang #4 Vince McNulty

“In hindsight I think we should have stayed in Boston.”
“Thought you always wanted to be Mr. Hollywood.”
Larry Unger looked at McNulty. “Do you know how much they charge for location services in Los Angeles?”

Los Angeles, California

Titanic Productions has moved to Hollywood but the producer’s problems don’t stop with the cost of location services. When McNulty finds a runaway girl hiding at the Hollywood Boulevard location during a night shoot it brings back memories of his life in Crag View Orphanage.

He takes the girl under his wing but after somebody breaks into the compound looking for her she runs away again. Between the drug cartel that wants her back and a hitman who wants her dead, McNulty must try and find her again before California wildfires race towards her hiding place.


Chaudhuri, A A - The Loyal Friend

She has your back.

And may stab you in it.

Wealthy, pampered Susan is living the perfect life in leafy Kingston. She’ll never let anyone see the darkness she’s concealing behind the diamonds and rosé.

Grace is new to the group, seemingly the perfect wife and mum. Yet no one knows the truth of what’s happening behind closed doors.

Loner Natalie hides the pain of her childhood behind a carefully ordered life. But how long can the past stay hidden?

Three unlikely friends, brought together for a weekly class run by beautiful, friendly, instructor, Jade.

But when Jade goes missing in mysterious circumstances, the group starts to unravel. And as their darkest secrets come to light, it seems that no one can be trusted. Even their closest friends…


Corry, Jane - We All Have Our Secrets

Two women are staying in Willowmead House.


One of them is running.
One of them is hiding.
Both of them are lying.

Emily made one bad decision, and now her career could be over. Her family home on the Cornish coast is the only place where she feels safe. But when she arrives, there's a stranger living with her father. Emily doesn't trust the beautiful young woman, convinced that she's telling one lie after another. Soon, Emily becomes obsessed with finding out the truth...

But should some secrets stay buried forever?


Fitt, Heather J - Open Your Eyes 

A Scottish journalist enters a dark online world in this unsettling novel of men, women, resentment, and rage . . .


Edinburgh reporter Frankie has finally been assigned a high-profile crime story about a series of sexual assaults, and relishes her big break. Her article focuses on the issue of women’s safety, which doesn’t seem to have improved much since the era of the Yorkshire Ripper.

When Frankie begins to face a torrent of abuse online, she discovers the phenomenon of incels—the men who are trying to stop her from covering the story. But she refuses to back down. What she doesn’t realise is that in this murky online world, one man is being goaded into a spectacular and shocking attack with Frankie as his main target . . .


Flood, Helene - The Lover tr. Alison McCullough

Is it worse to deceive to your husband or the police?


Rikke is lying to them both.

When her upstairs neighbour Jørgen is found murdered, she's questioned alongside her husband. How can she admit that she and Jørgen were having an affair? Or explain to the police the complexity of her feelings? The hint of relief that he's dead. And what would they say if they knew she used a spare key to enter his apartment the morning after he was killed?

Rikke knows she can't hide the evidence of the affair from the police. And if she's caught in her lie, suspicion will turn to her.

With her perfect family life threatening to unravel, Rikke realises that finding the killer is the only way to put herself in the clear. So long as the killer doesn't get to her first.

Gee, Brian - Murder at the Seaside 

Scene of crime officer Simon Croft has seen death before. Yet the death of a drug user leads him down a path he has never traveled.


A crime has been committed on the south coast of Sussex, and it’s going to take all of his skill to get this case solved. A murder with no suspects is always hard—but evidence is always left behind . . .

Then Simon’s attention is caught by two unassuming people, Bethany and Stevie, who seem to be hiding something. Now he has to deal with his personal life—while feeling the mounting pressure of a death that can’t be explained—in this gripping murder mystery that reveals the dark side of the seaside.



Goodwin, Sarah - The Thirteenth Girl

She was the only one who escaped. This time she might not be so lucky…

My name is Lucy Townsend.

I was born on Friday the thirteenth, and I was the thirteenth girl living in the big house. Unlucky for some.

But I was the fortunate one. I escaped. The only one who made it out alive.

And now, twenty years after that fateful night, the secrets of the past and what happened in that house are pulling me back.

I might not be so lucky this time…



Hayes, Samantha - The Ex-Husband 

You thought you were safe. Until he moved in next door…


I haven’t lived here long. The house is small and a little rundown, but each piece of faded floral wallpaper I peel away feels like unwrapping the second chance I never thought I’d get. I’m finally free to wear what I want, and I don’t flinch when I accidently burn dinner. My new home is warm, and the kids are safe inside. Anywhere would feel idyllic after the nightmare marriage I’ve just escaped.

But then I see my ex-husband Craig stroll past my window and let himself into the house next door. Fear chokes me. How did he find me? Does he want me back, or to destroy me for good?

As the removals van pulls away, Craig tells me it’s just a coincidence, that we can all get along and be good neighbours. But at night I lie awake listening to the sound of laughter and lovemaking through the thin wall that separates us, wondering if his new girlfriend is safe. And in the morning, I rifle through his trash, trying to guess his next move. I know how crazy I look, but I’d do anything to protect my children.

Weeks later, when the night air fills with smoke, and this quiet street dances with blue and red flashing police lights, all the secrets behind our two closed doors will be revealed. But after everything that’s happened, will anyone believe I’m innocent?


Kara, Lesley - The Apartment Upstairs

Scarlett
's aunt lived - and was brutally murdered - in the apartment upstairs. But Scarlett is determined that life should return to some kind of normal, even if that means living with just a ceiling between her and the scene of such a devastating crime. After all, this is her home. She's safe here. Isn't she?

Dee is busy balancing her job as a funeral director with organizing an event to mark the disappearance of her best friend, ten years ago. So she's got enough on her plate without worrying about the threatening messages that are appearing on her company's Facebook page.

When Scarlett approaches Dee about planning her aunt's funeral, an unexpected link between them emerges. Together, the two women could uncover secrets that have long been buried. Even while someone wants to stop them digging . . .


Kist, Heleen - What I Hid From You

She thought she was her own worst enemy ... until the real one came after her

Traumatised by the death of a patient in her chair, Glaswegian dentist Radha Bakshi succumbs to an addiction to Valium she can’t acknowledge, even to herself.

The pills take the edge off trying to be the consummate professional, perfect daughter, devoted wife and a not-too-embarrassing mother to her teenage son.

When increased scrutiny of her work forces her to find a new source of supply, she stumbles into the menacing clutches of blackmailing drug dealers.

A mistake that could cost her everything.



Lackberg, Camilla - Sweet Revenge - 2 Short Stories tr. Ian Giles

Women Without Mercy

Ingrid gave up her career to support her husband. Now he’s having an affair.
Birgitta is avoiding the doctor. No one can see the bruises her husband leaves.
Victoria left Russia to marry a man she met online. But he is nothing like she imagined.
Maybe the only way out is to commit three perfect murders…

Truth or Dare

Best friends Liv, Martina, Max and Anton are spending New Year’s Eve together.
But each of them is keeping a terrible secret.
When a game of truth or dare takes a dark turn, the shocking truth emerges.
Not everyone will live to see the chime of midnight…

To avoid disappointment, please note that these two novellas have been previously published separately



Matsumoto, Seicho - Tokyo Express tr. Jesse Kirkwood

It was a puzzle with no solution. But he did not lose heart.'


In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast's wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple's cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers' suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Jutaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime...

Now widely available in English for the first time, 
Tokyo Express is celebrated around the world as Seicho Matsumoto's masterpiece - and as one of the most fiendish puzzles ever written.


McCleave, Simon - The Chirk Castle Killings #12 DI Ruth Hunter

A fatal shooting. A vulnerable eyewitness. DI Ruth Hunter and her partner, DS Nick Evans, must track down the killers before they find a key witness - a ten-year-old boy, Daniel.


Ruth and Nick are called to a fatal shooting at Chirk Castle, a well-known tourist spot in North Wales. The only witness to the murder is Daniel, the ten-year-old son of the victim. Ruth discovers that the victim was a small-time drug dealer and it seems that his killing might be linked to stolen drugs. However, when a local girl is also brutally murdered, Ruth has to change the focus of the investigation as it is clear that the murderers will go to any lengths to cover their tracks.

With the case now faltering, Ruth begins to suspect that the key to solving the murders actually lies in Daniel’s early childhood. Can she unlock the dark secrets of Daniel’s past before the killers catch up with him?


Reynolds, Allie - The Bay

Kenna arrives in Sydney to surprise her best friend, shocked to hear she's going to marry a guy she's only just met. But Mikki and her fiancé Jack are about to head away on a trip, so Kenna finds herself tagging along for the ride.


Sorrow Bay is beautiful, wild and dangerous. A remote surfing spot with waves to die for, cut off from the rest of the world. Here Kenna meets the mysterious group of people who will do anything to keep their paradise a secret. Sky, Ryan, Clemente and Victor have come to ride the waves and disappear from life. How will they feel about Kenna turning up unannounced?

As Kenna gets drawn into their world, she sees the extremes they are prepared to go to for the next thrill. And everyone seems to be hiding something. What has her best friend got involved in and how can she get her away? But one thing is rapidly becoming clear about The Bay: nobody ever leaves.


Robotham, Michael - Lying Beside You 3 #Cyrus Haven

Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven's family was murdered and only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.


Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.

As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter, Maya, is missing. Then a second woman is abducted. The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with a gift for knowing when people are lying.

Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them - and he and Evie know how the past can come back to haunt you . . .


Sutherland, John - The Siege

Nine hostages. Ten hours. One chance to save them all.


Lee James Connor has found his purpose in life: to follow the teachings of far-right extremist leader, Nicholas Farmer. So when his idol is jailed, he comes up with the perfect plan: take a local immigrant support group hostage until Farmer is released.

Grace Wheatley is no stranger to loneliness having weathered the passing of her husband, whilst being left to raise her son alone. The local support group is her only source of comfort. Until the day Lee James Connor walks in and threatens the existence of everything she's ever known.

Superintendent Alex Lewis may be one of the most experienced hostage negotiators on the force, but there's no such thing as a perfect record. Still haunted by his last case, can he connect with Connor - and save his nine hostages - before it's too late?


Taylor, C L - The Guilty Couple

What would you do if your husband framed you for murder?

Five years ago, Olivia Sutherland was convicted of plotting to murder her husband.

Now she’s finally free, Olivia has three goals. Repair her relationship with her daughter. Clear her name. And bring down her husband – the man who framed her.

Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her?

Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined – and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life…




Tremayne, S K - The Drowning Hour

A hotel brimming with wealthy guests

Surrounded by the Blackwater estuary, The Stanhope hotel sits on a beautiful remote island. Tonight is the grand reopening, and organiser Hannah watches the guests with pride.

Celebration leads to tragedy

But as drinking descends into debauchery, drunken revellers wade into the water, unaware of the treacherous tide at The Drowning Hour.
They are never seen again.

Fear becomes phobia

Tormented by a terror of water, Hannah is stuck on the island over winter. Whispers about That Night begin to circle.
Someone knows what really happened in The Drowning Hour – and Hannah isn’t safe…


Watson, Sue - The Resort 

You’ve been excited about this getaway for months – at last, a chance to reconnect with your husband at a secluded island resort. But when he unexpectedly calls you from the beach, you hear the urgency in his voice. 
Something is very wrong.

The beautiful waitress from the restaurant last night has been found lying dead in the sand. And the police want to question your husband about it.

Sure, you saw him glance at her over dinner a few times, but you know he didn’t have anything to do with the poor girl’s death. So why is he asking you to lie to the police that he was with you all night? And where did he go in those missing hours?

When he returns to your beautiful sea-view suite, things get heated and he accuses you of being jealous, just like he always does. Yes, the waitress was overly flirtatious with your husband, but you didn’t actually wish her any harm. Not really.

Can you trust the man you married… or are you the one who can’t be trusted?


Williams, Andrew - The Prime Minister's Affair

London 1929. Very much not a land fit for heroes. Frenchie knows his occasional work for MI5 serves only the ruling classes. But he needs to feed his children. Scruples died in the trenches.

When Ramsay MacDonald, Britain's first Labour Prime Minister, is blackmailed by a former lover, Frenchie must go to Paris to buy her silence.

It is clear there are many people who would see MacDonald fall - the Conservatives, their friends in the press, even some of his own colleagues. But his own secret service? When Frenchie hears the other side of the story, everything changes.

The Prime Minister's Affair is another brilliant historical thriller from the author of Witchfinder, based on a real blackmail plot, hidden in the shadows.


Yokomizo, Seishi - Gokumon Island #2 Kosuke Kindaichi, PI tr. Louise Heal Kawai

A classic Japanese puzzle mystery from the author of The Honjin Murders, featuring Detective Kosuke Kindaichi.

Translated into English for the first time.

The rockbound and forbidding Gokumon Island was once a pirate stronghold. Now it is home to a clannish fishing community, dominated by two feuding families.

When Kosuke Kindaichi arrives bringing news of a death, it triggers a series of grotesquely staged murders. The scruffy detective attempts to untangle the island’s secrets and stop the killings, but a fresh mystery seems to greet him at every turn, and soon he falls under suspicion himself…

The fiendish Death on Gokumon Island is one the best-loved classic murder mysteries by the master of Japanese crime.

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