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Monday, September 12, 2022

Published 6-12 September 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. Here are 16 books published between 6 and 12 September 2022.
Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon. 

Anthology - Sherlock Holmes: A Detective's Life (ed. Martin Rosenstock)

The famous detective returns in a thrilling anthology of 12 Sherlock short stories spanning Holmes’s entire career, penned by Peter Swanson, Cara Black, James Lovegrove and more.

A brand-new collection of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories which spans Holmes's entire career, from the early days in Baker Street to retirement on the South Downs.

Penned by masters of the genre, these Sherlock stories feature a woman haunted by the ghost of a rival actress, Moriarty's son looking for revenge, Oscar Wilde's lost manuscript, a woman framing her husband for murder, Mycroft's encounter with Moriarty and Colonel Moran, and many more!



Adolfsson, Maria - Cruel Tides (ebook Sep, pb Jan) #3 Doggerland trilogy tbc ???

A secluded island. A missing woman. An impossible choice.


Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby is not the only person to have returned to her native island nation, Doggerland, after years abroad. Following a ten-year hiatus, Luna has chosen to secretly record her comeback album where she was born and raised. Spirits are high among her team at the wrap party, though Karen is less than impressed with the simpering singer. The next morning, Luna is nowhere to be found.

Nothing goes unnoticed in the tight-knit community - certainly not the arrival, or disappearance, of a world-famous singer. So, while the rest of the force is frantically searching for a suspect whose brutal attacks on women are increasing in intensity and frequency, a reluctant Karen is tasked with discreetly looking into Luna's whereabouts.

As time ebbs away so does the possibility of finding Luna alive, while Karen faces seemingly impossible choices, ones that could spell life or death, both for herself and others.


Allen, Jo - Death on the Crags (ebook only) #9 DCI Jude Satterthwaite, Lake District

Everybody loves Thomas Davies. Don’t they?

When policeman Thomas Davies falls from a crag on a visit to the Lake District in full view of his partner, Mia, it looks for all the world like a terrible but unfortunate accident — until a second witness comes forward with a different story.

Alerted to the incident, DCI Jude Satterthwaite is inclined to take it seriously — not least because of Mia’s reluctance to speak to the police about the incident. As Jude and his colleagues, including his on-off partner DS Ashleigh O’Halloran, tackle the case, they’re astonished by how many people seem to have a reason to want all-round good guy Thomas out of the way.

With the arrival of one of Thomas’s colleagues to assist the local force, the investigation intensifies. As the team unpick the complicated lives of those who claim to care for Thomas but have good reasons to want him dead, they find themselves digging deeper and deeper into a web of blackmail and cruelty … and investigating a second death.


Belsham, Alison & Higgins, Nick - Death in Helmand #2 MacKenzie and Khan

One man murdered, another missing. A race against time…

Helmand, 2004: Afghanistan’s most lawless province, where nearly 90 per cent of the world’s opium is grown. Pink and lilac poppies flutter innocently in the breeze in fields that stretch for miles and miles along the Helmand River south of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Gangsters and warlords battle for supremacy in the lucrative trade, territories well-known, and fiercely contested.

Well Diggers, an Anglo-Dutch NGO helping the farming community, comes under attack. One man is dead and another man is missing – suspected kidnapped, so head of security Ginger Jameson calls in his old friend Alasdair ‘Mac’ MacKenzie to help.

But when the expected ransom demand fails to materialise, rumours blossom, creating a web of deceit and a multitude of false leads. Embarking on a rescue mission into the no-go reaches of southern Helmand might look like a major scoop to Mac’s girlfriend, investigative reporter Baz Khan, but it puts the whole team in danger. And if they don’t find him soon, they won’t find him at all…

From Helmand’s shimmering poppy fields to the blistering Desert of Death and the opium bazaars of Bahram Char, where nothing is as cheap as a man’s life, this is the gripping sequel to Death in Kabul.


Benn, James R - From the Shadows #17 Billy Boyle, WW2

Following their mission in the Soviet Union, Billy, Kaz, and Big Mike are sent to southern France for what should be a simple assignment: to serve as security for Royal Navy Commander Gordon Stewart, head of the Special Operations Executive's Section F in Algiers. Stewart's mission is to work with Resistance leaders in liberated areas to gather information that will help track down Vichy officials and other traitors who escaped with the retreating Germans. Stewart has received multiple death threats, and there has already been one attempt on his life in Algiers. Over the course of his investigation, Billy learns that Stewart has many enemies in both the SOE and the Resistance, linked to a fatal Resistance uprising. Diana Seaton, Billy's wartime lover, crosses paths with him as she and legendary SOE agent Christine Granville embark on a humanitarian mission on behalf of those killed while helping the SOE. The race to find an important witness leads Billy to the legendary 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit made up of Nisei soldiers that went on to become the most highly decorated unit in the history of the US Army. With sacrifice and betrayal afoot, Billy doesn't know who he can trust, or how close to death this case may bring him.


Cowley, Katherine - The Lady's Guide to Death and Deception #3 Mary Bennet, Spy

What is a spy willing to do when both her heart and her country are at risk?


Life changes once again for British spy Miss Mary Bennet when Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from the Isle of Elba. Mary quickly departs England for Brussels, the city where the Allied forces prepare for war against the French. But shortly after her arrival, one of the Duke of Wellington’s best officers is murdered, an event which threatens to break the delicate alliance between the Allies.

Investigating the murder forces Mary into precarious levels of espionage, role-playing, and deception with her new partner, Mr. Withrow—the nephew and heir of her prominent sponsor, and the spy with whom she’s often at odds. Together, they court danger and discovery as they play dual roles gathering intelligence for the British. But soon Mary realizes that her growing feelings towards Mr. Withrow put her heart in as much danger as her life. And then there’s another murder.

Mary will need to unmask the murderer before more people are killed, but can she do so and remain hidden in the background?

Day, Shirley - Reap What You Sow 

Sophie regrets leaving her much-loved ex-boyfriend over Christmas, but she can’t pass up the opportunity of a lifetime: writing a personal history for the enigmatic billionaire Tim Henderson.


A pioneer in the early days of fertility treatment, Henderson now lives a reclusive life on his private Greek island. Sophie soon discovers that the ancient labyrinth on Henderson’s property has a dark history, steeped in myth and legend. Even more worrying is the island’s equally sinister present. Can Sophie find a way out of Henderson’s delusional trap before her future is destroyed?



Dranfield, Wendy - Catch Her Death #5 Detective Madison Harper

“Mommy, wake-up,” he cries, pulling at her beautiful blonde hair. She’s silent, and her skin is deathly white. Tears roll down his cheeks as he realizes something is very wrong…

As snow falls on the small town of Lost Creek, Colorado, a three-year-old boy is found playing quietly in his car seat, his mother, cold as ice, slumped against the steering wheel in front. Tearing herself away from reconnecting with her special agent father who abandoned her for his career, Detective Madison Harper is haunted by the fear in the boy’s sky-blue eyes, and vows to find justice for this innocent child, left motherless just days before Christmas.

Madison works around the clock on her only clue: a perfect circle of clean glass found on the car’s rear window. But she’s stopped in her tracks the moment another mother is found dead outside a church during Midnight Mass, her young boy left sucking his thumb on the frozen ground beside her. It can’t be a coincidence.

The need to spare the children might hint to the suspect being a woman, but the deeper Madison digs, the closer she gets to a serial killer her own father spent a lifetime chasing. Has the killer followed her father here? Could Madison, single mother to a son herself, be next?

As a blizzard closes in, wreaking havoc on the investigation, Madison hits the same dead ends her father did all those years ago. But when her closest friend goes missing, Madison must dive into the mind of this twisted soul and risk it all to stop another heart-shattering tragedy. But will she make it in time?


Gayle, Katie - Murder in the Library #2 Julia Bird, Cotswolds

Julia Bird’s picturesque Cotswolds life is everything she’d dreamed of. Until, that is, she discovers a dead body in the library…


Julia Bird had imagined the quiet of rural life would be soothing after years in the city, but she finds she can’t just sit still.Determined to throw herself into village activities, she joins the library just in time to attend a talk by celebrated local author Vincent Andrews.

Charming, devilishly handsome and talented, Vincent teases the crowd with a reading from his forthcoming novel. Set in a village bearing strange similarities to Berrywick, with characters the audience start to recognise, Vincent hints of dark secrets to be revealed, to gasps of outrage from the room. The meeting ends in uproar, and, just hours later, Vincent’s dead body is discovered behind the bookshelves …

As one of the last people to see him alive, Julia feels morally bound to help the police investigate. With her trusty Labrador, Jake, at her side, she decides to do her own sleuthing on the sly and quickly discovers that Vincent’s personal life is messy, his finances are in disarray and his book sales are declining. But most of all, remembering her neighbours’ faces at the book reading, Julia wonders if one of them could have lost the plot enough to kill…

As Julia interrogates the suspects, she walks straight into another scene of murder and mayhem, and realises Vincent’s manuscript is now missing. There’s someone out there who’s deadly serious about keeping their secrets unpublished… Will Julia be able to stop them, before anyone else gets hurt?


Greenwood, Ross - The Santa Killer #6 DI Barton

The Santa Killer is coming to town…

One night less than two weeks before Christmas, a single mother is violently assaulted. It’s a brutal crime at the time of year when there should be goodwill to all. When DI Barton begins his investigation, he’s surprised to find the victim is a woman with nothing to hide and no reason for anyone to hurt her. 

A few days later, the mother of the woman attacked rings the police station. Her granddaughter has drawn a shocking picture. It seems she was looking out of the window when her mother was attacked. And when her grandmother asks the young girl who the person with the weapon is, she whispers two words. 

Bad Santa.

The rumours start spreading, and none of the city’s women feel safe - which one of them will be next?

He’s got a list. It’s quite precise. It won’t matter even if you’re nice. 


Harrison, Cora - Murder in the Cathedral #9 Reverend Mother Aquinas, Cork, 1920s

The Reverend Mother's investigative skills are called into action again when one of her young pupils is found murdered at St Fin Barre's Cathedral.


1920s. Cork, Ireland. The Reverend Mother's Christmas Day festivities are shattered when the protestant bishop of Cork arrives at the convent with terrible news: one of the Reverend Mother's pupils, the troublesome seven-year-old Edna O'Sullivan, has been found murdered in St Fin Barre's Cathedral. Furthermore, the cathedral's archdeacon, Dr Hearn, is also dead after succumbing to a suspected heart attack in the middle of a service.

When it is revealed that both Edna and the archdeacon were poisoned, the Reverend Mother is drawn into another puzzling mystery. Was the boy used as part of an elaborate plot to murder the archdeacon? And if so, why was he willing to risk his life to do so? As she investigates, the Reverend Mother makes a series of disturbing and intriguing discoveries. Can she uncover the truth behind these heinous crimes?


Heald, Ruth - The Nanny

I clutched baby Chloe’s blanket, tears streaming down my face as I remembered the night she disappeared. Looking up at the apartment block I once called home, I knew I’d never be welcome here again. One mistake had ruined everything.


When I accepted a job working as a nanny for 
David and Julie and their young children, I couldn’t believe my luck. I bonded with baby Chloe instantly and would have done anything for her. She had David's thick, dark hair and smiling eyes. I fell in love with her and was excited about the future.

But when a terrible mistake led to Chloe disappearing, I was instantly blamed. With no evidence, I was let go and I returned home to try and rebuild my life.

Twenty years later and I am still haunted by what happened. I have a family of my own now and I’ve worked hard to be the best wife and mother I can be, but I’ve never forgotten the child who stole my heart.

Then a young woman arrives on my doorstep and the past secret that I have kept from my family comes hurtling into my present.

I try to tell myself that I am overreacting. But the woman in front of me looks so much like David. Who is she and why is she here? And if I welcome her in, will she want to be a part of my life, or destroy it?


Hood, D K - Her Bleeding Heart #16 Detectives Kane and Alton

Rain soaks her clothes as she runs from the large, isolated family home and hides behind the beaten-up pickup truck parked out front. Miles from safety, her heart thuds as footsteps draw closer. He’s found her…

The rain has been falling for weeks when Black Rock Falls Sheriff, Jenna Alton, receives a panicked phone call from a local forest ranger. The lifeless body of a woman has washed up on the banks of a swollen river.

Rushing to the scene, Jenna and her deputy, David Kane, find the young girl laying face up in the dirt, her long brown hair spilling out around her, her perfect pale skin showing no signs of struggle. Leaning in for a closer look, she finds a jack of hearts playing card tucked into the girl’s underwear. This was no accident—someone killed this innocent soul, and left a twisted calling card…

Days later, another young woman is found slumped in the back of car at a local truck stop on the outskirts of town, angry red marks around her neck. Jenna’s head spins when she finds a second playing card in her clothing. Is this killer escalating? And does he have a next victim already in his sights?

As a landslide shuts the town off from the outside world, Jenna and her team battle raging storms in their search for answers. Jenna is convinced the playing cards link these victims to a twisted serial killer the FBI have been hunting for over a decade. If she’s right, she’s chasing America’s most dangerous and elusive killer. Can she catch him before Black Rock Falls loses another innocent young life?


Nickson, Chris - A Dark Steel Death #10 Detective Inspector Tom Harper, Leeds Police, 1890s

Tom Harper must catch a traitor intent on disrupting the war effort and bringing terror to the streets of Leeds in this page-turning mystery.


Leeds. December, 1916. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is called out in the middle of the night when a huge explosion rips through a munitions factory supplying war materials, leaving death and destruction in its wake. A month later, matches and paper to start a fire are found in an army clothing depot. It's a chilling discovery: there's a saboteur running loose on the streets of Leeds.

As so many give their lives in the trenches, Harper and his men are working harder than ever - and their investigation takes a dark twist with two shootings, at the local steelworks and a hospital. With his back against the wall and the war effort at stake, Harper can't afford to fail. But can he catch the traitor intent on bringing terror to Leeds?


Oldham, Nick - Demolition #28 DCI Christie

Secrets, lies, murder . . . and planning permission. 
Henry Christie is pulled into two chilling murder investigations and uncovers dark secrets dating back to the Second World War in this unflinching thriller.

Henry Christie is focused on running his pub, the Tawny Owl, where he learns of the Kendleton protest group's fury with James Twain, a local property developer, and the keen desire of some residents to solve a murder that stretches back to the Second World War.

When James is viciously killed in his barn, and another body is found in similar disturbing circumstances nearby, Henry is drawn into the investigations and the villagers' dark wartime secrets. Pulled out of retirement once more to lead a double murder inquiry for Lancashire police, can he uncover the truth behind chilling events both past and present?


Raybourn, Deanna - Killers of a Certain Age

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that's their secret weapon.


Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. But now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates their real-world resourcefulness in an age of technology.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses-paid trip to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realise they've been marked for death.

To get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman - and a killer - of a certain age.

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