Published 27-30 September 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. Here are 15 books published between 27 and 30 September 2022.

Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Adler-Olsen Jussi - The Shadow Murders #9 Carl Morck and his assistant Assad, Department Q, Copenhagen tr. ???

The penultimate thriller in the bestselling Department Q Series. Copenhagen's cold cases division must hunt for a nefarious criminal who has slipped under the radar for decades.

On her 60th birthday, a woman takes her own life. When the case lands on Detective Carl Mørck's desk, he can't imagine what this has to do with Department Q, Copenhagen's cold cases division. It's a tragedy to be sure, but the cause of death seems to be clear. But his superior, Marcus Jacobsen, is convinced that this is not in fact a suicide, but a murder related to an unsolved case that has been plaguing him since 1988.

At Marcus' behest, Carl and the Department Q gang-Rose, Assad, and Gordon-reluctantly begin to investigate. However, they quickly discover that Marcus is on to something: Every two years for the past three decades, there have been unusual, impeccably timed deaths with connections between them that cannot be ignored. As they dig deeper, it transpires that these "accidents" are in fact murders by a very cunning and violent criminal.

Faced with their toughest case yet, made only more difficult with COVID-19 restrictions and the challenges of their own personal lives, the Department Q team must race to find the culprit before the next murder is committed, as it is becoming increasingly clear that the killer is far from finished.

Archer, Jeffrey - Next in Line #5 Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick 

 

London, 1988. Royal fever sweeps the nation as Britain falls in love with the ‘people’s princess’.

Which means for Scotland Yard, the focus is on the elite Royalty Protection Command, and its commanding officer. Entrusted with protecting the most famous family on earth, they quite simply have to be the best. A weak link could spell disaster.

Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick and his Scotland Yard squad are sent in to investigate the team. Maverick ex-undercover operative Ross Hogan is charged with a very sensitive – and unique – responsibility. But it soon becomes clear the problems in Royalty Protection are just the beginning. A renegade organization has the security of the country – and the Crown – in its sights. The only question is which target is next in line…

Bridgestock, R C - Vengeance #4 DI Charley Mann, Yorkshire

 

On a beautiful summer afternoon, Stacey Sullivan is getting married to Mark James. But then screams smother the laughter, police sirens drown out the church bells. Out of nowhere, a drug-fuelled gunman opens fire on the wedding party.

The shooter is beaten, disarmed and detained by the guests. No one knows who the gunman is… or if they do, they’re not admitting it. The job of solving the two murders is laid solely at the feet of DI Charley Mann.

Could this be a random attack, or a pre-planned assassination? When information comes to light of a link to feuding drug-dealing families in Manchester, Charley’s team need to act rapidly. They need to find – and apprehend – those responsible. Fast.

It soon becomes clear: if they fail, more deaths are coming…

Griffiths, Elly - Bleeding Heart Yard #3 Harbinder Kaur

 

DS Cassie Fitzgerald has a secret - but it's one she's deleted from her memory. In the 1990s when she was at school, she and her friends killed a fellow pupil. Thirty years later, Cassie is happily married and loves her job as a police officer.

One day her husband persuades her to go to a school reunion and another ex-pupil, Garfield Rice, is found dead, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent MP and the investigation is high profile, it's headed by Cassie's new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur. The trouble is, Cassie can't shake the feeling that one of her old friends has killed again.

Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies? It's in Cassie's interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like the latter and she seems to be succeeding.

Until someone else is killed...

James, Alison - The New Couple

The perfect marriage. The perfect house. The perfect secret...

 As I step through the cherry-red door of my new home, I know I should feel like the luckiest woman alive. I have a handsome husband, a beautiful daughter and now the house of my dreams. And to everyone else my life looks perfect...

When the neighbours stop by to welcome us, I tell them my name is Stephanie Hamlin and, under the watchful gaze of my husband Richard, I introduce him and our curly haired little girl Poppy. I smile as wide as I can and desperately hope I can fit in to this exclusive place with its pretty communal gardens. Because I've risked everything to be here.

Behind closed doors I try to relax, to unwind in the huge clawfoot bath and forget about my complicated past. It's hard being the new couple on the street when you've got secrets.

Because the truth is, my charming husband isn't really my husband.

And I'm not Stephanie Hamlin...

 

James, Peter - Picture You Dead #18 Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, Brighton

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace finds himself plunged into an unfamiliar and rarefied world of fine art. Outwardly it appears respectable, gentlemanly, above reproach. But beneath the veneer, he rapidly finds that greed, deception and violence walk hand-in-hand.

Harry and Freya, an ordinary couple, dreamed for years of finding something priceless buried amongst the tat in a car boot sale.

It was a dream they knew in their hearts would never come true – until the day it did…

They buy the drab portrait for a few pounds, for its beautiful frame, planning to cut the painting out. Then studying it back at home there seems to be another picture beneath, of a stunning landscape. Could it be a long-lost masterpiece from 1770? If genuine, it could be worth millions.

One collector is certain that the painting is genuine. Someone who will use any method he can to get what he wants and will stop at nothing.

And Harry and Freya are about to discover that their dream is turning into their worst nightmare. . .

Jameson, Emma - A Death at Neptune Cove #4 Jemima Jago, Librarian, Isles of Scilly

When Jem knocks on the door of an isolated cottage overlooking beautiful Neptune Cove, she's hoping for help fixing a birthday cake baking disaster. She's not expecting to find the tenant dead on the tiled floor, specks of blood on the collar of his navy-and-red satin pajamas...

The victim is Arthur Ajax, a handsome and wealthy American businessman who arrived in the Isles of Scilly as a tourist ten months ago and never left. There have been rumors about him in town, as he was known for his extravagant lifestyle. Perhaps he'd gone overboard, or could his death be connected to an unpaid debt?

Later that same evening, Jem stumbles across a hoard of buried jewelry, dug up from the dunes by little dog Buck, and she immediately wonders if they could be connected to the rich man's murder. It's not every day you find expensive-and very real-looking-sapphire earrings stashed away in an antique biscuit tin!

Jem seeks help from a local jewelry expert to identify the gems. But when he suddenly goes missing, Jem knows someone is trying to cover their tracks. Can she catch the killer before he makes her walk the plank too?

Johnstone, Doug - Black Hearts #4 Skelfs family 

 

Death is just the beginning…

The Skelf women live in the shadow of death every day, running the family funeral directors and private investigator business in Edinburgh. But now their own grief interwines with that of their clients, as they are left reeling by shocking past events.

A fist-fight by an open grave leads Dorothy to investigate the possibility of a faked death, while a young woman’s obsession with Hannah threatens her relationship with Indy and puts them both in mortal danger. An elderly man claims he’s being abused by the ghost of his late wife, while ghosts of another kind come back to haunt Jenny from the grave … pushing her to breaking point.

As the Skelfs struggle with increasingly unnerving cases and chilling danger lurks close to home, it becomes clear that grief, in all its forms, can be deadly…

Linskey, Howard - The Inheritance

 

When Sarah's Aunt Evelyn passes away, she discovers a hidden fortune has been left to her, including a foreboding mansion in a small Northumberland town.

But it comes with one condition.

For most of her life, Evelyn had been haunted by the loss of a friend who went missing in Cragsmoor - the very house Evelyn has left to Sarah.

Now, Evelyn's final wish is for Sarah to return to Cragsmoor and uncover the truth.

If she does, she will inherit everything.

But someone wishes for the secrets of Cragsmoor to remain hidden.

Someone who may have killed once before . . .
 

Mullen, Owen - Thief (ebook only) #4 Glass Family 

 

Charley Glass arrived in her family’s lives like the hurricane she'd escaped. But she hadn't run far enough: the ruthless Giordano family are on her tail and want two things - her life, and the return of the property she stole from them. No matter how many bodies stack up.

After years of hoping, Charley finally has the family she’s always wanted, but now she’s going to have to tell them the real reason she came looking for them. There is only one way she’s going to stay alive, and that is to employ the muscle of the notorious Glass Family.

The head of the family, Luke, isn't sure they're strong enough to take on one of New Orleans' biggest crime gangs. But he'd put his life on the line to protect the empire they've built - even if they’ll have to take on an enemy hurting enough to cross an ocean for revenge.

Pattison, Nell - Friends Don't Lie

My name is Isabella Butterworth. Your name is Isabella Butterworth.

We’re around the same age. We live in the same town.

But your life is more exciting than mine, isn’t it? Richer, dramatic, more fulfilling.

Imagine if I’d never found out about you…

But I have. Because someone mistook me for you.

And now I can’t stop thinking about you because I know you’re in trouble. You need my help.

And I need a way to get to know you.

To save you.

To be you…

Penrose, Andrea - Murder at the Serpentine Bridge #6 Wrexford & Sloane

 

Charlotte, now the Countess of Wrexford, would like nothing more than a summer of peace and quiet with her new husband and their unconventional family and friends. Still, some social obligations must be honored, especially with the grand Peace Celebrations unfolding throughout London to honor victory over Napoleon.
 
But when Wrexford and their two young wards, Raven and Hawk, discover a body floating in Hyde Park’s famous lake, that newfound peace looks to be at risk. The late Jeremiah Willis was the engineering genius behind a new design for a top-secret weapon, and the prototype is missing from the Royal Armory’s laboratory. Wrexford is tasked with retrieving it before it falls into the wrong hands. But there are unsettling complications to the case—including a family connection.
 
Soon, old secrets are tangling with new betrayals, and as Charlotte and Wrexford spin through a web of international intrigue and sumptuous parties, they must race against time to save their loved ones from harm—and keep the weapon from igniting a new war . . .

Phifer, Helen - Silent Angel #7 Detective Morgan Brookes

 

The girl's head is bent as if in prayer, her hands bound tightly together at the wrist. Her bare feet are still against the cold sand, the last thing she ever felt before she breathed her last...

When the body of a teenage girl is found in Rydal Falls' churchyard, Detective Morgan Brookes abandons her own birthday to attend the scene. In the dim evening light, Morgan can just make out the girl wrapped in a pristine white sheet and is certain she's been left here for them to find.

The autopsy identifies the girl as sixteen-year-old Shea Wilkinson, and Morgan's heart cracks with sorrow. The beautiful teenager has been missing for weeks, could she have been suffering all this time? When she learns the sand on Shea's feet is from a nearby island, Morgan leaves immediately, determined to find the killer's hiding place and stop them in their tracks.

But scouring the windswept beach, Morgan can't find any sign that Shea was ever there. And then her phone rings with devastating news. Another girl has gone missing, a young nurse called Milly with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Shea.

Morgan won't rest until she has returned the kind, cheerful girl to her distraught parents. But Milly was last seen chatting to one of Morgan's colleagues on the force... Refusing to think the worst, can she trace the clues and get inside the mind of the most cunning killer of her career, before another innocent life is lost?

 

Ramunno, Oriana - Ashes in the Snow tr. Katherine Gregor 

A beautiful, moving detective story set in Auschwitz in the Christmas of 1943.

A young Jewish prisoner…
Auschwitz, 1943. It’s snowing outside and Block 10 looks even bleaker than usual. Gioele Errera, a young Jewish boy imprisoned in the camp, finds the body of an SS officer.

A detective with everything to prove…
Hugo Fischer is sent to investigate the unexplained death of the renowned Nazi. But Hugo is hiding a secret – he is suffering from a degenerative disease. The only way for him to survive is to give his support to the Reich and hide his condition.

A confrontation with pure evil…
In Auschwitz, Hugo comes face to face not only with a complex murder, but with a truth – that of the Final Solution. And he is forced to decide what is most important to him – and who, if anyone, he should try to save…

Steadman, Catherine - The Family Game 

 

THE RULES

    1. Listen carefully
    2. Do your research
    3. Trust no one
    4. Run for your life
 
Harriet Reed is newly engaged to Edward Holbeck, the heir to an extremely powerful American family.
When Edward’s father hands her a tape of a book he’s been working on, she is desperate to listen.
But as she presses play, it’s clear that this isn’t a novel. It’s a confession to murder.
Feeling isolated and confused, Harriet must work out if this is all part of a plan to test her loyalty. Or something far darker.
Because this might be a game to the Holbeck family - but games can still be deadly.
 
READY OR NOT, HERE THEY COME . . .
 

Blog Tour: Extract from Harm by Solveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates

Welcome to the latest stop on the blog tour for Harm by Solveig Pálsdóttir translated by Quentin Bates. 

I am very pleased to be able to share an extract from Harm, the third in this Icelandic 'Ice and Crime' series which began with The Fox, and then Silenced.

Harm is available to buy now.

When wealthy doctor Ríkarður Magnússon goes to sleep in his luxurious caravan and doesn’t wake up, detectives Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún are called to the Westman Islands to investigate what looks like murder.

Suspicion immediately falls on Ríkharður’s young, beautiful and deeply troubled girlfriend – but there are no easy answers in this case as they are drawn into family feuds, disgruntled friends and colleagues, and the presence of a group of fitness-obsessed over-achievers with secrets of their own.

As their investigation makes progress, Guðgeir and Elsa Guðrún are forced to confront their own preconceptions and prejudices as they uncover the sinister side of Ríkharður’s past.

Harm is the third novel featuring the soft-spoken Reykjavík detective Guðgeir Fransson to appear in English. Sólveig Pálsdóttir again weaves a complex web of intrigue that plays out in the Westman Islands, remote southern Iceland and Reykjavík while asking some searching questions about things society accepts at face value – and others it is not prepared to tolerate.

Extract

Diljá was startled from sleep a noise from somewhere. It took her a moment to realise where she was as she stared at the pile of mattresses at her side. Before long she recalled that she was in the upstairs space of the summer house owned by Ingi Thór and Eygló. She rolled over onto her front and crawled to the small window, taking care not to be seen. There was nothing to be seen outside and she wriggled closer, peering out and listening. She was sure she could hear the sound of a car in the distance, and she watched as a small jeep drove down the track from one of the other summer houses. Someone was leaving. She pulled back from the window and hoped that she hadn’t been spotted. Now she needed a little more time to think things over and look for a way out of this predicament.

She had no idea what the time was, or how long she had been asleep. There was a television downstairs and she switched it on, quickly scanning the news media.

Man found dead in Herjólfsdalur.

It was just a short news item, but she read it again and again. There was no more information in the full text than the headline had provided. There was no mention of her disappearance, or anything referring to the group’s trip to the Westman Islands, other than that the deceased was a fifty-two-year-old man from Reykjavík.

What options were now open to her? Give herself up and try to explain, in the forlorn hope that she would get away with it?

No. Nobody would believe her. Was she prepared to be remanded in custody, to be shut away in a cramped, windowless cell? Her claustrophobia was so severe that even taking the lift from one floor to the next was too much for her. A stream of thoughts whirled through her mind, one after another, and it was difficult to keep them under some kind of control. Occasionally María Líf appeared in her thoughts, and that magnified her misery. Her stomach made a strange sound, and she realised that she hadn’t eaten since the night before. Something to eat would help her think straight. She found the bag of goods she had picked up at the shop by the Landvegur crossroads. Two of the hotdogs went into a pot and she rooted around for ketchup and mustard in one of the cupboards, and smeared both onto some bread. The aroma sharpened her hunger and she wolfed down the two sausages. It was years since she had last eaten processed food of this kind, but her stomach didn’t rebel and she felt better for it.

She took a quick shower and washed her hair. The green towel on a hook must have been hung up wet, as it was stiff to the touch. Diljá dried herself vigorously, hard enough to leave her skin red and tender. The steam from the shower had left a mist on the mirror, and when she looked at her reflection she saw the raw skin, eyes puffed with tears and the worry on her face.

‘You always fuck everything up, you idiot,’ she snarled angrily at her own reflection.

***

Don't forget to follow the tour!

Published 19-26 September 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. Here are 11 books published between 19 and 26 September 2022.

Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Adenle, Leye - Unfinished Business #3 Amaka 

Funke’s assignation with her pastor lover is cut short when he is assassinated in their hotel room, as she hides naked and terrified inside a sofa. Desperate for help, she calls on Amaka, who has moved to London. One frantic phone call later and Amaka is headed back to Lagos, where she is thrust into a world of private jets, money-laundering and mega-churches. With the trustworthy Police Inspector Ibrahim out of the country, Amaka has to use all the resources at her disposal, with the hostile Inspector Musa breathing down her neck, and a ticking clock bearing down on her, as she works to rescue Funke and get to the bottom of this tangled web of missing money, dead pastors and corrupt government officials.

Davies, Emma - Death on the Menu (ebook only) #3 Francesca Eve, Shropshire

 

Francesca Eve has planned a showstopping funeral supper to say goodbye in style, but the last thing she expects is a murder on the menu…

When elderly millionaire and eccentric entrepreneur Clarence Lightman dies, his nearest and dearest gather one final time at Justice House, Clarence’s beautiful country estate, for the reading of his will. But the day ends in uproar when it is revealed that whoever solves a series of complex clues will inherit everything. Will one of Clarence’s disagreeable children outwit everyone else for the fortune, or could his devoted housekeeper or even Francesca herself win the day?

Francesca knows she should stick to the kitchen and stay out of this lethal game, but she is unwillingly drawn into the mystery when she finds one of Clarence’s sons, blood pooling from a deadly thwack to the head, shoved into the larder. Somebody is clearly not playing fair, and Francesca feels sure that they won’t stop until all of the competition has been eliminated.

Trapped in the game until all the riddles are solved, Francesca must solve the clues and find the ruthless killer to protect herself and her fellow innocent guests. But she can’t trust anyone. Fran must use all her wits, not only to hunt down the truth, but to stay alive…

 

Engman, Pascal - Femicide #1 Detective Vanessa Frank, Stockholm tr. ???

  

When 25-year-old Emelie is found murdered in her Stockholm apartment the same week her ex-partner is released from prison, it feels like an open and shut case for Detective Vanessa Frank. Who else would launch such a frenzied attack on the young woman?

But Frank suspects there is something they’re missing. Could the killing be linked to the rising online movement of men who want to punish women, the so-called ‘incels’? When a survivor of brutal sexual assault comes forward, Frank uncovers more about this shadowy group who, in their own words, have weaponised the gender war and will stop at nothing to make themselves heard.

Desperate to stop any further attacks, Frank escalates the investigation when a music festival intended to be a safe space for women becomes a potential target.

Finnegan, Trish - Blue Sky #2 PC Samantha Barrie

 

No longer the fresh-faced new cop in the station, life should be getting easier for WPC Samantha Barrie. She is settled into her job at the station, is well liked on her beats, and is on track to pass her probation and become a fully-fledged police constable.

However, when her colleague and best friend, Steve, is arrested for apparently trying to smuggle drugs into the Isle of Man, Sam is determined to prove his innocence.

As headstrong as ever, Sam soon finds herself deep undercover and embroiled in a mystery which spans decades and has ruined countless lives.

Who framed Steve, and why?

Who is the mysterious Vincent Boyle, and what is his connection to the murky past at Hornthorpe Dell airfield?

Can Sam save not just her friend’s life and career – but her own as well?

 

Gardner, Ashley - Murder in the Eternal City #16 Captain Lacey, Regency Era

 

When I agree to visit Grenville in his villa near Rome, I scarcely imagine that I immediately will become embroiled in mystery and mayhem. James Denis has requested that I purchase an antique from a collector, one Conte de Luca. Before I can approach this count, I am recruited by a Roman a man to help rescue his daughter from a cool aristocrat, and then asked to solve the murder of an Englishman—by a man who is already dead.

These tasks do not keep me from traveling to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and exploring to my heart’s content, but trouble follows me in the form of a man bent on killing me—for what reason I cannot fathom.

All this is compounded by another murder back in Rome, and I am commanded by James Denis, as well as the aristocrat who stole my new Roman friend’s daughter, to find out who committed the deed and the secret of the man’s astonishing collection of rare and fine art.

Probing these puzzles lead me to the past, present, and future troubles of the Italian peninsula, a beautiful but deadly place in the spring of 1820.

Gatland, Jack - A Quiver of Sorrows #12 DI Declan Walsh

 

When legendary TV actor Montgomery Pryce is shot in the chest by an arrow and killed while on stage during a Robin Hood convention, Detective Inspector Declan Walsh and the team of the Last Chance Saloon are brought in to solve the murder, only to find that nearly everyone there holds a bow capable of loosing the arrow.

And when the cast of Pryce's show bring to light terrible jealousies and secrets from their past, and Ryan Gates, one of the co-stars is discovered to have a valid reason for wanting to silence Pryce, Declan finds himself facing paparazzi, managers and brutal personal appearance agents, as the organisers of the convention refuse to cancel it, and the bodycount rises.

Running against the clock, and with a suspect list longer than the roll call of Robin Hood's merry men, Declan must find out not only who killed Robin Hood, but also whether he was the actual target in the first place.

Because, for the first time... could Robin Hood have been the villain?

 

 

Kirk, JD - Here Lie the Dead #15 DCI Logan 

 

Six months ago, a girl vanished. Now, it’s happening again.

When the body of a teenager is discovered near Eilean Donan Castle several months after she disappeared, DCI Jack Logan and his team journey across the Highlands to investigate.

As they start to unpick the young woman’s life, the secrets and lies they expose soon threaten to tear the small, rural community apart.

But, when a second girl goes missing in similar circumstances, it isn’t just a murder investigation that Jack finds himself running.

It’s a race against time.
 

Louth, Nick - The Body in the Stairwell #10 DCI Craig Gillard 

 

Jonathan Hale is terrified. The wealthy property lawyer and money launderer is back home in Surrey after a nightmare experience in a U.S. jail. The police have him under secret surveillance.

But Hales's fears lie elsewhere. His plea bargain has earned him the enmity of The Reptile, a notoriously cold-hearted gangster, now confined for life in a maximum-security jail in Arizona thanks to Hale. He's taken precautions, moved house, hidden his identity and installed security for his wife and family. But still... what if The Reptile escapes?

For DCI Gillard it should be just another week at work. But before long he is involved in a desperate manhunt that will test him to his very limits.

Be prepared.

 

Parker, Kate - Deadly Rescue #9 Olivia Denis, 1930s London

 

As the Phony War morphs into the Blitzkrieg, two British intelligence officers risk getting trapped behind enemy lines in the ninth Deadly mystery from USA Today Bestselling author Kate Parker

April, 1940. Hitler is invading Denmark on Tuesday. Olivia Redmond has only a weekend to bring a Nobel Prize winning chemist and his war-altering research to Britain. The scientist and his wife want to leave, but their troublesome daughter will do anything to stop her parents from departing.

The scientist’s wife was close friends with Olivia’s long dead mother and wants to talk about her, in stark contrast to Olivia’s father who won’t mention his wife. Olivia feels protective toward the invalid woman with her photos and details of Olivia’s mother’s life and wants to get her to safety.

When the daughter’s German fiancé is murdered, the police refuse to let anyone depart until they find the killer. If Olivia wants to escape Denmark with the chemist and his breakthroughs, she will have to unmask the killer before the Nazis stop her forever.

 

Skelton, Douglas - An Honourable Thief #1 Jonas Flynt, C18 

 

1715. Jonas Flynt, ex-soldier and reluctant member of the Company of Rogues, a shady intelligence group run by ruthless spymaster Nathaniel Charters, is ordered to recover a missing document. Its contents could prove devastating in the wrong hands.

On her deathbed, the late Queen Anne may have promised the nation to her half-brother James, the Old Pretender, rather than the new king, George I. But the will has been lost. It may decide the fate of the nation.

The crown must recover it at all costs.

The trail takes Jonas from the dark and dangerous streets of London to an Edinburgh in chaos. He soon realises there are others on the hunt, and becomes embroiled in a long overdue family reunion, a jail break and a brutal street riot.

When secrets finally come to light, about the crown and about his own past, Jonas will learn that some truths, once discovered, can never be untold…

Starr Mel - Suppression and Suspicion #15 Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon, 14thC England 

 

Edmund Harkins has gone missing.

Few in Bampton liked him, knowing him to be a wife-beater and distinctly unsavoury character, so when some hungry pigs unearth his corpse from a shallow grave, there is hardly an outpouring of grief.

As bailiff, it is Hugh de Singleton’s duty to bring Edmund’s killer to justice. But where is he to start investigating when almost everyone in the village has a motive? And when everyone is pleased to see the scoundrel dead, who knows how far they might go to help someone get away with murder?

To further complicate Hugh's life, the Bishop of Exeter has appointed his nephew as Bampton’s new vicar. But as well as an obsession with discovering any heretical views Hugh might hold, he could not be more unpriestly – he not only acts appallingly with Lady Katherine’s maid, but is contributing to the unhealthy atmosphere of suppression and suspicion that has come to pervade the village . . .

Fast paced and full of twists and turns, Suppression and Suspicion is a brilliant medieval murder mystery perfect for fans of Susanna Gregory and Peter Ellis. Mel Starr paints an immersive and atmospheric picture of fourteenth-century England, and weaves a compelling mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page.

Published 13-18 September 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. Here are 26 books published between 13 and 18 September 2022.

Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Anthology - Marple 

This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.
· Naomi Alderman
· Leigh Bardugo
· Alyssa Cole
· Lucy Foley
· Elly Griffiths
· Natalie Haynes
· Jean Kwok
· Val McDermid
· Karen M. McManus
· Dreda Say Mitchell
· Kate Mosse
· Ruth Ware

Banks, Lucy - Caged Little Birds 

 

The public think Ava’s a monster. Ava thinks she’s blameless.

In prison, they called her Butcher Bird – but Ava’s not in prison any more. Released after 25 years to a new identity and a new home, Ava finally has the quiet life she’s always wanted.

But someone knows who she is. The lies she’s told are about to unravel.
 

 

 

Carson John - Hard Case #2 Detective Superintendent Calvin Stewart

 

Three victims. Two men on the hunt. One killer to play the game.

Calvin Stewart has just retired from Police Scotland, but far from ready to sit in front of the fire with his slippers on. He has joined the small private investigation firm, run by a former colleague, Michael "Muckle" McInsh. Along with his friend, Finbar O'Toole.

Fresh off a case tracking down a runaway bride, they get a job to go north. A woman's husband disappeared almost a year ago while on a golfing holiday with some friends.

Now, the body of a man has just been pulled out of the water. This man had identification on him. Just not his own. It belongs to the missing man.

The woman wants answers. Where is her husband? And why did this man have his identification on him?

Calvin and Finbar are sent to investigate after the police investigation stalls. But this might be a bigger job than even they can handle. But Calvin Stewart has dealt with many killers in his career, but maybe not one quite as dangerous as this one...

Comley, M A - Time To Kill #17 DI Sarah Ramsey

 

A killer with a horrific agenda is at large …

DI Sara Ramsey is called to a crime scene where a man’s body has been nailed to a fence. She also discovers the killer hasn’t bothered disguising the victim’s identity. When Sara turns up to break the news of the victim’s death to his girlfriend, all is not how it should be.

The case becomes even more intriguing as the body count rises and the motive for the murders remains a complete mystery.

Will time run out for Sara and her team, when the killer’s agenda is turned on its head and his motive becomes clear as he goes full throttle into his endgame?
 

Dakin, Emma - Danger in Edinburgh #4 British Book Tour Mysteries 

 

When Claire Barclay took her dog for a quick walk, she didn't expect to find a body, especially in the middle of Edinburgh. It was a young woman. A sad situation, but not her concern, or so she thinks.

Davis, L G - My Husband's Secret 

 

I have the perfect life: a loving marriage, and an adorable little daughter, Mia, who is always full of smiles. But when my husband Keith is hit by a car, my whole world is turned upside down. With my heart breaking in his cold white hospital room, I hold his hand and tell him how much I love him. Then just as Keith slips into a coma, I hear him say four words that change everything: I took a life.

Mia and I move into my childhood home with my parents for support, and I spend hours by Keith’s hospital bedside, willing him to wake up. I keep his last words to myself; I cannot believe my gentle husband would hurt anyone. But as I search through his belongings, it becomes clear that he was hiding something.

And when I discover a note in my parents’ attic, my breath catches in my throat. My husband is not the only one in my family with a dark secret, and I’m beginning to think what happened to him was far from an accident…

But just as I get closer to the truth, my daughter goes missing. I’ll do whatever it takes to save my child. But I soon realize I was wrong about everyone I thought I could trust…
 

Delaney, J P - My Darling Daughter

 

The child you never knew
knows all your secrets . . .

Out of the blue, Susie Jukes is contacted on social media by Anna, the girl she gave up for adoption fifteen years ago.

But when they meet, Anna's home life sounds distinctly strange to Susie and her husband Gabe. And when Anna's adoptive parents seem to overreact to the fact she contacted them at all, Susie becomes convinced that Anna needs her help.

But is Anna's own behaviour simply what you'd expect from someone recovering from a traumatic childhood? Or are there other secrets at play here - secrets Susie has also been hiding for the last fifteen years?

Dicker, Joël - The Enigma of Room 622 tr. Robert Bononno 

 

It all starts with an innocuous curiosity: at the Hotel de Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, there is no Room 622.
This anomaly piques the interest of Joël Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary star, who flees to the Verbier to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his publisher, and begin his next novel.

Before he knows it, he's coaxed out of his slump by a fellow guest, who quickly uncovers the reason behind Room 622's erasure: an unsolved murder. The attendant circumstances: a love triangle and a power struggle at the heart of Switzerland's largest private bank, a mysterious counter-intelligence unit known only as P-30, and a shadowy émigré with more money than God.

A Russian doll of a mystery crafted with the precision of a Swiss watch, The Enigma of Room 622 is Joël Dicker's most diabolically addictive thriller yet.
 

Douglas, Claire - The Girls Who Disappeared 

 

THREE GIRLS MISSING

Twenty years ago: One rainy night, Olivia Rutherford is driving three friends home when a figure in the road causes her to swerve and crash. Regaining consciousness, she finds herself alone in the car - her friends have vanished.

THEY ARE NEVER SEEN AGAIN

Now: Journalist Jenna Halliday visits the close-knit community of Stafferbury to persuade Olivia to talk and solve the mystery of the girls' disappearance. But Olivia won't speak.

What happened?

Is Olivia hiding something?
Why are the people of Stafferbury so frightened?
How many secrets can one small town hide?
 

Fortin, Sue - Death at Applewick Schoolhouse (ebook only) #1 Applewick Village

 

Welcome to the English villages - Applewick, Appledown, Applemere and Appleside - collectively known as ‘The Apples’ and home to the young Fairfax sisters - Esme, Bella and Isla. Theirs is a peaceful existence, enjoying the gentle rhythm of rural life... until Applewick receives a rude awakening. The body of local headteacher, Max Bartholomew, has been found bludgeoned to death in his study.

Sleepy Applewick is suddenly a hive of activity and Frank Fairfax, local funeral director and father of the three sisters, becomes the prime suspect. He was the very last person to see Max Bartholomew alive and, for some reason, the police are seemingly uninterested in looking for another potential perpetrator.

Determined to prove their father’s innocence, the sisters team up and sleuth their way through the clues in bid to find the identity of the real murderer. But with Esme's detective husband in charge of the case for the local CID, will the intrepid sisters be able to solve the murder before their amateur interference starts raising red flags? Or will their involvement lead to even more deadly consequences?

Francis, Dick - Hands Down (by Felix Francis) #6 Sid Halley, ex-jockey turned investigator 

 

An old friend in need, a dangerous conspiracy – a new case for Sid Halley…
 
Sid Halley, former British jump racing champion and private detective, is not having a good time. His wife Marina has decided she needs some time out of their marriage to think about the future and Sid is devastated. But then Gary Bremner, an ex-jockey trainer, calls him to ask for his help – he is being threatened by someone in the racing world and he needs a friend he can trust. However, the very next morning, Gary’s stable yard is torched, horses killed, and Gary has disappeared.
 
Determined to uncover the truth and to help his friend, Sid starts to investigate. He soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that cuts to the very heart of the integrity of British horse racing, and then danger comes closer to home than ever.
 
Can Sid get to the bottom of what’s going on before he too becomes a victim, while, at the same time, saving his marriage?

Gustawsson, Johana - The Bleeding tr. David Warriner 

 

Three women
Three eras
One extraordinary mystery…
 
1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them.

1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable.

2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.

Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love…

 

Hamdy, Adam - The Other Side of Night 

 

David Asha wants to tell you a story about three people:

Elliott Asha, his son, broken by a loss that will redeem him.

Ben Elmys, a surrogate father and David’s trusted friend, a man who might also be a murderer.

Harriet Kealty, a retired detective searching for answers to three mysterious deaths, while also investigating a man who might turn out to be the love of her life.

Every word David tells you is true, but you will think it fiction . . .
 

Harris, Robert J - The Devil's Blaze #2 Sherlock's War 

 

London, 1943.

Across the city prominent figures in science and the military are bursting into flame and being incinerated. Convinced that the Germans have deployed a new terror weapon, a desperate government turns to the one man who can track down the source of this dreadful menace - Sherlock Holmes.

The quest for a solution drives Holmes into an uneasy alliance with the country’s most brilliant scientific genius, Professor James Moriarty. Only Holmes knows that, behind his façade of respectability, Moriarty is the mastermind behind a vast criminal empire. As they pursue the trail of incendiary murders, Holmes is quite sure that the professor is playing a double game and that there lies ahead a duel to the death which they cannot both survive.

A tribute to the classic Universal Pictures Sherlock Holmes film series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

 

Higgins, G D - Gone From the Grave (ebook only) #3 Detective Conal Brophy

 

A body with no name and a name with no body.

Inspector Conal Brophy is presented with conflicting cases when a young woman goes missing from outside her mother’s house, and a couple of nights later, a skeleton is found behind a pub in a village a few miles away.

It’s only a matter of time before the cases present clues that show they might well be connected. As Brophy enters a world of occult depravity in his hunt for the missing woman, he figures out a killer may be resurfacing after three decades underground.

Brophy’s mental health issues come to the fore, and his actions end up compromising the entire investigation. But just when he thinks the killer might have returned to the shadows, the unthinkable happens.

Will he catch him and find the missing woman alive, or will she become another unsolved mystery for the records?

Lancaster, Neil - The Night Watch #3 DS Max Craigie, Scotland (NB. ebook Sep, pb, Dec)

Don’t miss the next gripping thriller in the DS Max Craigie series!

He’ll watch you.
A lawyer is found dead at sunrise on a lonely clifftop at Dunnet Head on the northernmost tip of Scotland. It was supposed to be his honeymoon, but now his wife will never see him again.

He’ll hunt you.
The case is linked to several mysterious deaths, including the murder of the lawyer’s last client – Scotland’s most notorious criminal… who had just walked free. DS Max Craigie knows this can only mean one thing: they have a vigilante serial killer on their hands.

He’ll leave you to die.
But this time the killer isn’t on the run; he’s on the investigation team. And the rules are different when the murderer is this close to home.

He knows their weaknesses, knows how to stay hidden, and he thinks he’s above the law…

Max, Janie and Ross return in the third gripping novel in this explosive Scottish crime series.

Leadbeater, David - The Demon Code #2 Joe Mason 

 

An impossible heist. An ancient code. A deadly race against time…

High in the Italian alps, cut off from the outside world, sits a chapel battered by winds and icy blizzards. The priests who guard this sacred place have sworn to protect the dangerous treasure that lies within their walls.

But when Joe Mason and his team are called to the remote church, they find its ancient stones reduced to rubble, the priests murdered in cold blood and their precious cargo stolen.

As Mason pursues the thieves across continents and dangerous waters, he wonders what incredible secret the priests laid down their lives for… And if he can recover it before it claims more innocent victims, and brings the downfall of civilisation as we know it…

McCleave, Simon - The Portmeirion Killings #13 DI Ruth Hunter 

 

When a London journalist is run off the road and killed, it seems that his death might be linked to his investigation into plans for a nuclear plant. Is the murder linked to an American power company with a dark past who want to bury the story? There are also locals who stand to make millions from the plant’s construction. However, it soon appears there might be an event in Jake’s past that might provide the clue.

Another murder throws the case on its head, and Ruth and her team are struggling to find the killer with a motive to kill both victims. With time running out, Ruth realises that the clue to both murders might lie in a bitter dispute from twenty year earlier.

McDermott, Andy - The Temple of Skulls #16 Archaeologist Nina Wilde & ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase 

 

World-renowned archaeologist Nina Wilde and her husband, former SAS soldier Eddie Chase, now lead a quiet life - the only real danger posed by their rebellious teenage daughter. Until, on a visit to a newly discovered temple, they're suddenly engulfed in a deadly hunt for an ancient weapon which threatens the entire globe.

From the bustling streets of Mexico City to the mountainous jungles of Guatemala, Nina and Eddie - with daughter Macy in tow - are the only ones who can prevent an apocalyptic evil seizing control of an unstoppable power.

Battling special operations soldiers and blood-thirsty cults, Nina and Eddie must once again risk their lives to save the world. . .

 

Moore, Jennifer - The Woman Before 

  

A perfect home

When Fern and Paul move into the large, old house on Crenellation Lane, with beautiful high ceilings and a luscious garden, they think they’ve found their dream home. After the devastating loss of Fern’s twin sister, it will be a fresh start and somewhere to raise their first baby.

A destructive obsession

But as soon as they arrive, Fern starts having terrifying nightmares about the woman who lived there before. When the woman showed Fern around, they bonded over their pregnancies. Now, Fern can’t let her go. Does she have something to do with the strange things happening in the house? Paul fears his wife has relapsed, obsessing in the same way she did with her twin.

A fatal secret

Fern questions the neighbours about the previous owner, but nobody wants to talk. It’s like the woman never even existed. Refusing to give up, Fern uncovers a shocking secret and now suddenly her whole family is in danger…

Osman, Richard - The Bullet That Missed #3 The Thursday Murder Club 

 

It is an ordinary Thursday and things should finally be returning to normal.

Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club are concerned. A decade-old cold case leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.

Then a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill. . . or be killed.

As the cold case turns white hot, Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), while Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim chase down clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

Pálsdóttir, Sólveig - Harm #3 Guðgeir Fransson tr. Quentin Bates  

When wealthy doctor Ríkarður Magnússon goes to sleep in his luxurious caravan and doesn’t wake up, detectives Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún are called to the Westman Islands to investigate what looks like murder.

Suspicion immediately falls on Ríkharður’s young, beautiful and deeply troubled girlfriend – but there are no easy answers in this case as they are drawn into family feuds, disgruntled friends and colleagues, and the presence of a group of fitness-obsessed over-achievers with secrets of their own.

As their investigation makes progress, Guðgeir and Elsa Guðrún are forced to confront their own preconceptions and prejudices as they uncover the sinister side of Ríkharður’s past.

Perry, Anne - The Fourth Enemy #6 Daniel Pitt, Barrister, 1910

 

A sensational fraud case provides Daniel Pitt with his greatest challenge yet . . .

When a heart attack forces Marcus fford Croft to retire from his chambers, his daughter Miriam and son-in-law Daniel are relieved that he is stepping down and handing over to Toby Kitteridge. But Daniel and Toby are concerned that their new recruit, Gideon Hunter KC, who is a brilliant barrister with a penchant for taking risks, could jeopardise their chambers' hard-won reputation . . .

Daniel's old friend Inspector Ian Frobisher then alerts him to the fact that one of England's most influential newspaper tycoons, Malcolm Vayne, is about to be arrested for fraud. Hunter jumps at the chance to prosecute in such a high-profile and controversial case, and Daniel soon finds himself assisting with a chilling criminal exploration into a murky world of power, greed and pure evil that endangers Miriam's life . . .

Rosi, Zoe - Someone's Watching Me

Is someone dangerous out to get her? Or is it all in her mind?

Becky’s life is almost perfect. Growing up, she could never have imagined living in such a safe, beautiful home, with a boyfriend as loving and kind as Alex, and hopes for a little family of her own. But then stand-offish Max moves in next door, and things begin to fall apart.

First, someone starts trolling her social media. Then she finds her tyres slashed. By the time she discovers the dead bird, left waiting for her like a prize, she’s sure someone is after her. And having spied some strange goings-on beyond her kitchen window, she suspects that person is Max.

Frightened, Becky turns to Alex for help, but she’s surprised to find that he and Max have become firm friends―and that Alex is convinced it’s all in her mind. But when news of a missing young woman breaks, Becky knows she has to do something. She’s sure she’s seen this woman in Max’s home―hasn’t she?

With Alex concerned that she’s losing her grip on reality, does Becky dare keep digging, knowing her almost-perfect life could shatter into imperfect little pieces?

Roslund, Anders - Sweet Dreams #10 Ewert Grens tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel

Two little girls go missing on the same day in Stockholm. Their disappearances are never explained. In time, the investigations are abandoned.

A chance discovery puts Detective Ewert Grens back on the trail five years later. His own personal trauma makes him determined to find out what happened to these children who were snatched from a supermarket and a car park and never seen again.

His search leads him into the recesses of the dark web and the discovery of a paedophile ring that can only be cracked from the inside. Grens is forced to call upon his retired partner, Piet Hoffman, the best undercover operative he knows, to try to infiltrate the group.

They will have only one chance - but are they up to the darkest challenge of their lives?

Trinchieri, Camilla - Murder on the Vine #3 Nico Doyle, Chianti, Italy 

 

On a late October Sunday morning in Gravigna, local maresciallo Perillo is having breakfast with ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle when he is called back to the station in Greve. Laura Benati, the young manager of Hotel Bella Vista, is worried - her bartender and good friend eighty-year-old Cesare Costanzi has been missing for three days. The next morning, Jimmy, co-owner of Bar All'Angolo, Gravigna's local cafe, where Nico is a frequent patron, runs out of gas on his way back from Florence. When Nico meets him to help, Nico's dog, OneWag, reacts to the smell coming from Jimmy's trunk. Inside Nico finds a body wrapped in plastic: Cesare Costanzi, stabbed several times in the chest. Why would anyone kill Cesare, and how did he end up in Jimmy's car? That's for Nico to find out, as Perillo once again turns to Nico for help with the investigation.