Monday, October 10, 2022

Published 1-9 October 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. Here are 15 books published between 1 and 9 October 2022.

Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.

Anthology - Black is the Night (ed. Maxim Jakubowski)

A gritty and thrilling anthology of 28 new short stories in tribute to pulp noir master, Cornell Woolrich, author of 'Rear Window' that inspired Alfred Hitchock's classic film.

Featuring Neil Gaiman, Kim Newman, James Sallis, A.K. Benedict, USA Today-bestseller Samantha Lee Howe, Joe R. Lansdale and many more.

An anthology of exclusive new short stories in tribute to the master of pulp era crime writing, Cornell Woolrich. Woolrich, also published as William Irish and George Hopley, stands with Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and Dashiell Hammett as a legend in the genre.

He is a hugely influential figure for crime writers, and is also remembered through the 50+ films made from his novels and stories, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, I Married a Dead Man, Phantom Lady, Truffaut's La Sirene du Mississippi, and Black Alibi.

 
Alexander, Tasha - Secrets of the Nile #16 Lady Emily

In a brilliant homage to Agatha Christie, critically acclaimed author Tasha Alexander sends Lady Emily to Egypt during British colonial rule to investigate a crime that leads back to the era of the Pharaohs.

In Secrets of the Nile, Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, have joined his formidable mother on a holiday to visit the exotic treasures of Egypt. Their host, Lord Bertram Deeley, is a renowned amateur British collector of antiquities, who has invited his closest friends on a lavish cruise up the Nile to his home at Luxor. But on the first night of their journey, he suddenly collapses after offering a welcome toast, a victim of the lethal poison cyanide. Who amongst this group of his nearest and dearest would want to kill their generous host?

Emily and Colin's investigation soon reveals that even his closest friends had reasons to want him dead: was it the archeologist whose dig Deeley was poised to fund until he suddenly withdrew support? The powerful politician whose career Deeley had secretly destroyed? The dyspeptic aristocratic English spinster whose hired travelling companion seems determined to protect her employer? Or could it be Mrs. Hargreaves herself, who may have spurned the advances of Lord Deeley when they were both younger?

A key clue may lie with several ancient ushabtis, exquisite three-thousand-year-old sculptures that played a role in a hidden story from the time of Ancient Egypt, one of a sister's unshakeable loyalty to her brother, a tale of betrayal and revenge. In an unforgettable finale, Emily and Colin gather their fellow travelers together to unmask a killer whose motive is as shocking as it is brilliant.


Beckler, David - A Long Shadow #1 Antonia Conti 

In this dystopian vision of London, public safety is in private hands―and nobody is beyond the reach of the ‘law’.

The constant threat of terrorism has left London under round-the-clock surveillance and in the tightening grip of privatised security firms. Journalist Antonia Conti suspects one such organisation―GRM―not only of being behind several women’s disappearances, but of financing the widespread violence it claims to fight.

When a gang of hitmen use rampant state surveillance to track Antonia down, she narrowly escapes with her life. But then one of them turns up dead―covered in her DNA―and Antonia finds herself the prime suspect in his murder.

DS Russell Chapman needs to bring her in. But evidence that Antonia has been framed quickly stacks up and when a personal grudge between her and GRM’s shadowy head of security is revealed, he begins an uncomfortable partnership with her.

Together, the pair delve beneath the surface of the corporate machine and soon find themselves embroiled in a dark and violent underworld even they had barely dared imagine. Will they find the evidence to bring GRM down? And can they keep Antonia’s name off the list of missing women?


Cassidy, Amanda - Breaking

On a sun-hazed afternoon in the Florida Keys, a child goes missing from the beach. Dr Mirren Fitzpatrick appeals to the world to help find her eight-year-old daughter. The family are on holiday from Ireland, far from home and desperate to return there as they arrived – together.

Yet the police are immediately suspicious of Mirren. She was drinking at a bar – alone – shortly before reporting that her youngest child had disappeared. As rumours abound about Mirren’s past a trial-by-media ensues, and she is turned from a figure of pity to the villain of the piece.

And then a small body is found dumped in the ocean. Is Mirren a heartbroken mother, or the architect of her daughter’s fate?

A stunning debut from a brilliant new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Ashley Audrain. Breaking will see readers question their own notions of motherhood, guilt and the inescapable consequences of the past.


Dean, Will - Wolf Pack #5 Tuva Moodyson, Sweden 

When there’s a pack on the hunt, nobody’s safe

A closed community

Rose Farm is home to a group of survivalists, completely cut off from the outside world. Until now.

A missing person

A young woman goes missing within the perimeter of the farm compound. Can Tuva talk her way inside the tight-knit group to find her story?

A frantic search

As Tuva attempts to unmask the culprit, she gains unique access to the residents. But soon she finds herself in danger of the pack turning against her – will she make her way back to safety so she can expose the truth?

Will Dean’s most heart-pounding Tuva Moodyson thriller yet takes Tuva to her absolute limits in exposing a heinous crime, and in her own personal life. Can she, and will she, do the right thing?


Edwards, Martin - The Traitor (ebook only) (Novella)

The exciting new title in the Death Sentences series of mysteries set in the world of books, by critically acclaimed author Martin Edwards.

The passion of book collectors might be termed 'a gentle madness' by some, but the affliction is, in truth, not always so gentle. This is the case with Felix de Lisle, a wealthy man rumored to have dealings with the mob, whose collection of espionage writer Simon Verity exhibits a dangerous obsession. When de Lisle discovers that there might have been a variant dust jacket, destroyed by the publisher, for his favourite of Verity's titles, he becomes fixated on owning a copy. And he hires book scout Benny Morgan to track it down.

On the hunt for information, Benny calls upon an array of rare book dealers and collectors – and the bag of cash supplied by de Lisle helps find answers from sources who might be reluctant to share their knowledge. But the search soon takes a dark turn, uncovering a dark trail of betrayal, desire, and destruction that leads to the missing jacket art – and to a secret too terrible to be ignored. Ultimately, Benny will have to confront a deadly choice: loyalty to de Lisle, or to his own personal moral code.



Ellis, Joy - Solace House #9 DI Rowan Jackman & DS Maria Evans, Lincolnshire

AN ISOLATED HOUSE WITH A TERRIBLE PAST. IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF FOR THE NEW FAMILY LIVING THERE?


Holly Stewart moved into Solace House wanting a fresh start for her and her family. She knew the property was cheap because a tragic murder had taken place there, but she didn’t know its full ghastly history.

Now, her husband’s lost his job, the children are bullied at school, and someone’s prowling around the garden at night. Someone who wants them gone.

Detective Jackman wants to help. Instead he’s pulled into a twenty-year-old cold case: the gruesome murder of a young woman whose head was never found. A new witness comes forward, claiming to have crucial evidence on what really happened that night.

Days later, a group of litter-pickers uncover black sacks containing dismembered human limbs. Attending the scene, Detective Marie Evans is shocked to see a strange symbol carved into the victim’s flesh:
 the same symbol found on the headless girl all those years ago.

The murders must be connected. But why has the killer struck again — after twenty years?

As the threats to the Stewart family escalate, Jackman must choose between helping people in the present and solving the crimes of the past.


Holliday, Susi - The Hike

When sisters Cat and Ginny travel with their husbands to the idyllic Swiss Alps for a hiking holiday, it’s not just a chance to take in the stunning scenery. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with each other after years of drifting apart―and patch up marriages that are straining at the seams.

As they head into the mountains, morale is high, but as the terrain turns treacherous, cracks in the relationships start to show. With worrying signs that someone might be following them, the sun begins to set and exhaustion kicks in. Suddenly, lost high on a terrifying ridge, tensions spill over―with disastrous consequences.

When only two of the four hikers make it down from the mountain, the police press them for their story―but soon become suspicious when their accounts just don’t add up.

What really happened up on that ridge? Who are the survivors? And what secrets are they trying to hide?




Jecks, Michael - The Merchant Murderers #7 Jack Blackjack, Tudor Era 

August, 1556.
 Jack Blackjack is on a simple mission: make it back home to his beloved London. It should be simple, right? Wrong. He's made it as far as Exeter, but before he can secure a fresh steed in that hellish city, he's faced with a dead priest, ruthless thieves, and a devious Dean who's determined to see the back of Jack. That suits Jack just fine - he wants to leave!

So when wealthy merchant Wolfe, offers passage to London via sea, Jack jumps at the chance . . . and unwittingly into further danger! With thieves, pirates and potential murderers at every turn who can Jack trust? Will he uncover the truth behind the dead priest and missing merchant ships? But more importantly, will he 
ever make it home to London with his purse strings and limbs intact?

Set during the brief but exceedingly troubled reign of Queen Mary I, elder half-sister to the future Elizabeth I, (1553-1558) the Bloody Mary series features the amoral former cutpurse turned paid assassin, Jack Blackjack, as its cowardly, lecherous, yet strangely likeable amateur sleuth protagonist. The joke is always on Jack as he lurches from one crisis to the next, never quite sure what's going on, yet always just about managing to keep one step ahead of his many enemies and those who, for whatever reason, are trying to kill him.

Kane, Alex - The Mother

A decade ago, Cara Fraser, wife to one of Glasgow’s most notorious gangsters, was left a widow after Kyle Fraser was slain on the city streets.

The intervening years haven’t been easy – not least as Kyle’s murder left her to bring up little Ryan and Shaun alone.

Now, Ryan and Sean are adults, and honouring their father’s memory by rising up to become the top gangsters on the dark streets of Glasgow.

Cara’s kept her head down, but spent the last decade years vowing to take vengeance on the crime family who killed her beloved husband and left her children without a father.

Glasgow gangland is about to discover that a mother will do anything for her family… even murder.


Kelleher, Casey - Only Child

The police are here. The feeling of pure dread swirls in my stomach as a million scenarios start playing out in my head. My whole life I’ve expected something bad to happen to my daughter. It is as if part of me has been expecting it. As if I deserve it.


Fifteen-year-old 
Kayla is the apple of her parents’ eyes, their beautiful only daughter. They tried for so long to have her that she was even more precious when she arrived. But deep down, her mother Sherrie has always been terrified that their worst fear would come true: that Kayla would be taken from them.

Then one day – just as Sherrie had dreaded – Kayla fails to return home after a sleepover. In desperation, Sherrie and her husband 
Richard call Kayla’s friends. They scour the streets, their search becoming more and more frantic. Until the police arrive and deliver the shocking news, when their worst nightmare comes true: someone has their daughter.

As Sherrie and Richard grill friends, family, and even each other, Sherrie starts to wonder, has the secret they’ve been hiding all these years finally caught up with them?

Because Sherrie and Richard are living a lie. A lie so huge, so shocking, that it could destroy the one thing they hold most dear – their daughter.

And if the truth comes out, their family will never be the same. But if it doesn’t, they will never see their precious girl again…


Longworth, M L - Disaster at the Vendome Theater #10 Verlaque and Bonnet, Aix-en-Provence 

When Jean-Marc Sauvet, successful lawyer and the best friend of Aix-en-Provence's examining magistrate Antoine Verlaque, accepted a small role in a local theater's summer production of Marcel Pagnol's Cigalon, he had no idea that the lead actress would be played by the great Liliane Poncet. But Jean-Marc's excitement about rubbing elbows with one of France's legendary film stars is quickly extinguished. The lead actor, Gauthier Lesage, is rude and unenthusiastic, and nobody understands how he got the part. Chaos reigns backstage thanks to the absentminded theater director. And everyone seems to be harboring a secret. When one of the actors goes missing for good, it's up to the soon-to-be-a-father Verlaque and his police commissioner, Bruno Paulik, to untangle the threads of a mystery that seems to get more complicated every day...



Mulrooney, Gretta - The Lost Brother #10 Tyrone Swift 

You stare hard at the man in the photo, you’re sure that’s your brother. But he’s been dead for years . . . hasn’t he?


Steve was just four years old when he was told his two-year-old brother Zac had died. Steve remembers his brother’s strawberry-shaped birthmark and the missing little finger on his left hand.

Now, over twenty years later, Steve stumbles across a photo of a man with the exact same birthmark and missing left finger. He looks the same age as Zac would have been — could this mysterious man be Steve’s 
lost brother?

Detective Tyrone Swift is called in to investigate. But Steve and Zac’s mother is dead, their father long gone, and there’s no official record of Zac’s death. But when Swift finds letters belonging to their mum, his whole investigation is turned on its head.

Swift is also battling his own increasingly complicated personal life as he deals with his daughter moving away.

Swift must focus and find out the truth, 
no matter what the cost . . .


Ripley, Mike - Mr Campion's Mosaic #10 Albert Campion 

Albert Campion travels to Dorset as he attempts to get to the bottom of a series of shocking events connected to a TV adaptation of one of Evadne Childe's famous novels.


London, 1972. The Evadne Childe Society has gathered in honour of what would have been the author's eighty-second birthday, and Albert Campion is there as a reluctant guest speaker and ceremonial birthday cake cutter.

But Campion's oratory skills aren't the only thing in demand. A TV remake of a twenty-year-old film adaptation of one of Evadne's classic novels, 
The Moving Mosaic, has been derailed by someone attempting to murder the leading man - the latest in a series of increasingly disturbing incidents - and the society wants Campion to investigate. Who is determined to sabotage the production at any cost, and why?

Travelling to the picturesque village of Kingswalter Manor in Dorset where filming is due to start, Campion soon stumbles upon dark secrets, ghosthunters, an impressive mosaic, and murder.


Robb, Candace - A Fox in the Fold #14 Owen Archer

Owen Archer suspects an old adversary is on his tail as he seeks to solve the mystery surrounding a dead body found on the road to York.


October, 1376. Owen Archer is summoned by sheriff Sir Ralph Hastings regarding a stripped and bloodied body discovered on the road north to York. Could it be connected to an attack on a carter and his labourers who were transporting stone destined for St Clement's Priory? The carter fled, but his men stayed to fight and are now missing. Is the victim one of them?

At first Owen believes the catalyst for murder and menace in York is the arrival of the political pariah William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester. But he soon suspects that a formidable and skillful adversary from his past has arrived in the city, thrusting him and his family into grave danger, and his investigation becomes a race to uncover the truth before his old nemesis destroys all he holds dear.

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