Monday, October 17, 2022

Published 10-17 October 2022

I've expanded on my monthly listing. Here are 20 books published between 10 and 17 October 2022.

Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.

Bolton, R P - My Lovely Daughter

My precious daughter. You have no idea how dangerous the world is. No idea of the horrors I’ve shielded you from. The things I’ve endured . . . our past.

We’ve been happy. We’ve been hidden. We’ve been safe.

But our perfect life is about to come crashing down.

Because they’ve found me. And they’re about to reveal my darkest secret . . . to you.

I’ll do anything to protect you, darling, because if you knew – I’d lose you forever.

You can never discover what I’ve done . . . or what I’m willing to do to keep you safe.


Broadribb, Steph - Death at Paradise Palms #2 The Retired Detectives Club

It looks like an open-and-shut case―until one of the Retired Detectives disappears…

When movie producer Cody Ziegler goes missing from The Homestead’s Millionaires’ Row, his wife, retired actress Olivia, immediately claims there’s foul play afoot. A million-dollar ransom demand soon follows, with clear instructions not to involve the cops. In desperation she enlists the help of Moira, Rick, Philip and Lizzie, aka the Retired Detectives Club.

Racing against the clock, the four retirees set to work. Sure, Cody had enemies―there’s a disgruntled employee, a jilted film-maker and a hundred other people who know how much he’s worth. But when it emerges that Cody’s apparently perfect marriage isn’t what it seems, even Olivia isn’t above suspicion.

When Cody’s car turns up in a nearby lake with a shocking surprise inside, the case becomes even more complicated. But with Philip and Lizzie’s marriage on the rocks, and threatening notes sending Moira into a spin, the Retired Detectives Club risks falling apart before getting any closer to the truth.

Can Moira and the gang find Cody before it’s too late? Or will this case see them lose in more ways than one?



de la Motte, Anders - Deeds of Autumn #Seasons Quartet tr. Marlane Delargy

ONE TRAGIC NIGHT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING


SOUTHERN SWEDEN, 1990
Five lifelong friends gather for a last farewell to their childhoods and each other at an abandoned quarry. The mood is effervescent, but under the surface tensions run deep as not everyone is ready to let go - or be left behind. When dawn breaks, only four remain alive. The police rule the death a tragic accident, but not everyone is convinced, and the incident remains an open wound in the community.

AUTUMN, 2017
When the old chief of police is replaced by Anna Vesper, a newly arrived detective from Stockholm, whispers and rumours about that night can no longer be silenced. Soon Anna is left with no choice but to ignore all warnings and reopen the case - while hoping her own sins won't catch up with her.

BUT SOMEONE WILL DO ANYTHING TO HIDE THE TRUTH . . .


Gradidge, Claire - A Conflict of Interests #3 Josephine Fox

June 1944, Romsey, England.


Josephine 'Jo' Fox is at an impasse since the unwelcome return of her wayward husband Richard. So, when he disappears again, she is neither concerned nor surprised - until a burning car is discovered with a body inside. And there are signs that Richard is somehow involved.

Jo is determined to find both her husband and answers, yet with her friend Bram Nash in hospital suffering an infection of his old war wound, she must do so alone. When information comes to light that implicates Bram too, Jo finds herself on a dangerous path to the truth.

But what will be left for her when all is revealed?


Halsall, Rona - The Wife Next Door

It was meant to be the perfect break-up…


Just because it’s over between us, doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. My ex-husband and I still care for each other a lot, and we are determined to put our sweet little boy, 
Toby first.

Now we’ve moved into houses right next door to each other, with each of our new partners and their children. We’ve even knocked down the garden fence, so Toby can easily run between our homes.

But it seems not everyone is happy about this big, blended stepfamily. I try to ignore the viciously-worded note in the ‘new home’ card, the red pen scrawled through my divorce paperwork, and the day I find myself locked into my house, all the keys suddenly missing…

But I can’t pretend it’s all in my head when a false accusation is made against me that could destroy my life – and Toby’s – forever.

Someone doesn’t like what’s happening under these two neighbouring roofs.

What they don’t know is that they’re messing with the wrong person. And that hell hath no fury like the wife next door…


Holten, Noelle - 6 Ripley Avenue

ONE HOUSE
EIGHT KILLERS
NO WITNESSES

Jeanette is the manager of a probation hostel that houses high risk offenders released on license.

At 3am one morning, she receives a call telling her a resident has been murdered.

Her whole team, along with the eight convicted murderers, are now all suspects in a crime no one saw committed…



Kaya, Kerry - Betrayal #1 The Tempests

A brand new gangland series by bestselling author Kerry Kaya!


Meet the Tempest family – and get ready for the storm.

Tracey Tempest adores her husband, Terry. But when on his 50th birthday, tragedy strikes, Tracey must face the terrifying prospect of a future without him. Desperate for answers and boiling with rage, Tracey wants revenge…

Together with her beloved sons, Ricky and Jamie, the Tempest family dig deeper into Terry’s past - who would want to kill him, and why?

But what they discover changes everything they knew about the man they loved and risks tearing their own family apart.

Can the Tempests weather the storm or will the past destroy them all?


Kitson, Bill - Skeletons in the Closet #15 Detective Mike Nash, Yorkshire

SOME FAMILIES HAVE MORE SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET THAN OTHERS . . .


Detective Mike Nash thought that moving back to Yorkshire from London would give him a quieter life. Little did he know . . .

A dead woman tied to a chair is found in a crumbling old cottage in the Yorkshire moors. She’s been there a long time.

Detective Mike Nash investigates. He soon uncovers a second body, down a well in the garden.

Then Nash’s team makes an even more grisly discovery. How many more skeletons are hidden in this tumbledown old cottage?

The suspicious death of the solicitor dealing with the property turns this cold-case investigation into an active hunt for a murderer.

Someone is killing to keep their secrets from coming to light. Detective Mike Nash must track them down before they strike again.


Leitch, Fiona - A Cornish Recipe for Murder #5 Jodie 'Nosey' Parker, Chef

Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is back!

When popular TV baking contest and national institution ‘The Best of British Baking Roadshow’ rolls into town and sets up camp in the grounds of Boskern House, a historic stately home near Penstowan, former police officer Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker finds herself competing to represent Cornwall in the grand final.

But with a fellow contestant who will stop at nothing to win and a drag queen host with secrets of their own, Jodie discovers that the roadshow doesn’t just have the ingredients for the perfect showstopper cake, but also for the perfect murder…

And when a body is found in the grounds of the house, Jodie is drawn into another high-stakes case along with local DCI Nathan Withers.

Can Jodie expose the culprit? Or will the murderer become the real showstopper?


MacBird, Bonnie - What Child is This? #5 Sherlock Holmes Adventure

It’s the season of peace and goodwill, but a Victorian Christmas is no holiday for the world’s most popular detective in this new book from Bonnie MacBird, author of the bestselling Sherlock Holmes novel Art in the Blood.

It’s Christmastime in London, and Sherlock Holmes takes on two cases. The angelic three-year-old child of a wealthy couple is the target of a vicious kidnapper, and a country aristocrat worries that his handsome, favourite son has mysteriously vanished from his London pied à terre. Holmes and Watson, aided by the colourful Heffie O’Malley, slip slide in the ice to ensure a merry Christmas is had by nearly everybody . . .





Martin, Lucy - The Choice #2 DS Ronnie Delmar, Halesworth

A stolen child. A missing woman. You can only save one.

A distressed young woman arrives at Halesworth police station in fear for her life, then vanishes.

Meanwhile, a local boy is snatched from his school playground.

But the answer to one lies with the other, and soon DS Ronnie Delmar is submerged deep in a world she could never have imagined.

Because to those who have created their own moral code, the truth is worth killing for...




Moncrieff, Ada - A Murder at the Theatre Royale #1 Daphne King, 1935

It's Christmas at London's Theatre Royale and journalist Daphne King is determined to solve an extraordinary mystery...


December 1935. Director Chester Harrison's production of A Christmas Carol has had a troubled run on its tour of regional theatres. With tensions amongst the cast running high, the company reach their final stop - London's Theatre Royale - a few days before Christmas.

Catastrophe, however, strikes on opening night: 'Scrooge' dies on stage, seemingly due to a heart attack. But the show must go on. Until, that is, an old rival of Chester's is murdered in a dressing room. Are those associated with the production being picked off one by one? Journalist Daphne King is determined to reveal the truth...


Moray, Keith - Death of a Poet #1 Ancient Egypt Murder Mysteries

Hanufer follows a trail of revenge…


275 BC, Alexandria

Hanufer of Crocodilopolis, newly appointed Overseer of the Police in Alexandria, is keen to prove himself worthy to both the citizens of the city and to the Pharaoh, Ptolemy Philadelphus.

When an altar is desecrated with a poem intended to insult the Pharaoh and his wife, Queen Arsinoe, Hanufer and his trusted sergeant 
Sabu are tasked with discovering who committed the outrage.

As the poet himself, Sotades the Obscene, was recently executed, Hanufer sets about finding out who else is familiar with his poetry.

Before long another poet is found murdered – a poem by Sotades left near the corpse as a macabre calling card.

With a growing number of murders to be investigated, Hanufer must make his mark and solve the mysteries.

But just where — and how high up — will the clues lead him?

Did Sotades really drown? Is there a serial killer on the loose in Alexandria?

And can Hanufer appease both the Pharoah and the gods?

Odden, Karen - Under a Veiled Moon #2 Inspector Corravan, Victorian London

September 1878.
 One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule. 
 
For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion, and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.

Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.
 
As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.

O'Reilly, Jude - Sleep When You're Dead #3 Michael North

In thirty-six hours, thousands of innocent people will die. There's not a second to waste. And no time for sleep...

Michael North has a bullet lodged in his brain which could kill him any second. That makes him the perfect MI5 asset: he's ruthless, loyal, brave. And, best of all, disposable.

Teenage computer expert Fangfang Yu does not feel the same way. She's determined to keep her friend out of danger – however many cyber laws she has to break to keep him alive.

Now North has been sent undercover into a doomsday cult on a remote Scottish island. He has thirty-six hours to stop their charismatic leader from inciting the murder of thousands. He can only do it with Fangfang's help – but when they uncover a shocking link between the cult and the dark heart of the US defence establishment, it doesn't just put North's life at risk... it threatens Fangfang too.


Perry, Anne - A Christmas Deliverance

The festive season is fast approaching, and Dr Crowe and his young apprentice Scuff are busy, as always, tending London's sick and wounded. This year, however, Crowe is increasingly distracted by memories of a former patient, Eliza Hollister, for whom he cared deeply.

When Crowe sees Ellie being bullied by her domineering fiancé in the street, he is convinced that she is marrying a man she doesn't love, and he is determined to find out why. While Crowe starts his investigations, Scuff is left to run the clinic - with a little help from a rather unexpected source. Forced to enter a dangerous world of blackmail and deception, will Crowe manage to reveal the truth before the bells ring out for Christmas?

A Christmas Deliverance is a heart-warming festive mystery set in Victorian London from the pen of the New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry.


Pine, Alex - The Winter Killer #3 DI James Walker, Cumbria

Christmas has arrived in Cumbria, and wedding bells are ringing.
But an ice-cold killer is waiting in the fells…

As the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, DI James Walker receives a phone call that puts paid to his Christmas break. During the wedding of the year at a lakeside hotel, the bride’s sister has vanished.

When Rachel left the wedding breakfast before her speech, newly-wed Libby was furious. But as the night went on with no sign of her maid-of-honour, Libby started to realise something was very, very wrong…

Before the wedding night is out, the lake is being searched for a body.

Something old, something new. One guest is a killer. The question is: who?


Rankin, Ian - A Heart Full of Headstones #24 Inspector Rebus, Edinburgh

John Rebus had been in court plenty of times, 
but this was his first time in the dock...


John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. Although it's not the first time the legendary detective has taken the law into his own hands, it might be the last.

What drove a good man to cross the line? Or have times changed, and the rules with them?

Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke faces Edinburgh's most explosive case in years, as a corrupt cop goes missing after claiming to harbour secrets that could sink the city's police force.

But in this investigation, it seems all roads lead to Rebus - and Clarke's twin loyalties to the public and the police will be tested to their limit.

A reckoning is coming - and John Rebus may be hearing the call for last orders...


Sigurdardottir, Lilja - Red as Blood #2 Arora tr. Quentin Bates 

When entrepreneur Flosi arrives home for dinner one night, he discovers that his house has been ransacked, and his wife Gudrun missing. A letter on the kitchen table confirms that she has been kidnapped. If Flosi doesn’t agree to pay an enormous ransom, Gudrun will be killed. 

Forbidden from contacting the police, he gets in touch with Áróra, who specialises in finding hidden assets, and she, alongside her detective friend Daniel, try to get to the bottom of the case without anyone catching on.

Meanwhile, Áróra and Daniel continue the puzzling, devastating search for Áróra’s sister Ísafold, who disappeared without trace. As fog descends, in a cold and rainy Icelandic autumn, the investigation becomes increasingly dangerous, and confusing. 

Chilling, twisty and unbearably tense, 
Red as Blood is the second instalment in the riveting, addictive An Áróra Investigation series, and everything is at stake…


Viner, P D - The Choice

To save your life

You must kill the one you love

Can you do it?

Sarah is madly in love with boyfriend Theo, and can’t wait to go on their first weekend away.

But by the end of the first night, Theo is dead. And Sarah has killed him. But she swears she had no choice.

She was forced to kill Theo because of something that happened a lifetime ago … something buried in her past.

Now, Sarah has one week to find the truth of what happened back then and prove her innocence, before she’s turned over to the police.

She’s spent years running from the truth – but now the choices of her past might destroy her future.

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.

Monday, October 03, 2022

New Releases - October 2022

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in October 2022 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). A quieter month with just under seventy titles released. October and future months can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything or got the date wrong, do please leave a comment.

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

• Anthology - Black is the Night (ed. Maxim Jakubowski)
• Alexander, Tasha - Secrets of the Nile #16 Lady Emily
• Atkinson, Heather - The Cursed Heir (ebook only) #2 The Alardyce Trilogy
• Beaton, M C - Agatha Raisin: Devil's Delight (with R W Green) #33 Agatha Raisin, Retired PR person, Cotswolds
• Beckler, David - A Long Shadow #1 Antonia Conti
• Beevis, Keri - The Sleepover (ebook only)
• Bolton, R P - My Lovely Daughter
• Brittany, Amanda - I'm Watching You (ebook only)
• Broadfoot, Neil - Violent Ends #5 Connor Fraser, Stirling
• Broadribb, Steph - Death at Paradise Palms #2 The Retired Detectives Club
• Brody, Frances - A Mansion for Murder #13 Kate Shackleton, Bradford, 1920s
• Buchanan, Tracy - Secrets Between Friends
• Cambridge, Colleen - A Trace of Poison #2 Phyllida Bright, housekeeper to Agatha Christie.
• Cassidy, Amanda - Breaking
• Child, Lee - No Plan B (with Andrew Child) #27 Jack Reacher, ex MP, USA
• Comley, M A - To Punish Them (ebook only) #6 DI Sam Cobbs
• Dalgliesh, J M - Angel of Death (ebook only) #12 Tom Janssen, Norfolk
• de la Motte, Anders - Deeds of Autumn #2 Seasons Quartet tr. ???
• Dean, Will - Wolf Pack #5 Tuva Moodyson, Sweden
• Dixon, Helena - Murder on Board (ebook only) #10 Miss Underhay
• Edwards, Martin - The Traitor (ebook only) - Novella
• Ellis, Joy - Solace House (ebook only) #9 DI Rowan Jackman & DS Maria Evans, Lincolnshire
• Giuliani, C P A - Treasonous Path (ebook only) #2 Tom Walsingham
• Gradidge, Claire - A Conflict of Interests #3 Josephine Fox
• Gray, Lisa - The Dark Room
• Halsall, Rona - The Wife Next Door
• Hampton, Graeme - Shame the Devil #5 DI Denning and DS Fisher
• Hill, Reginald - Dalziel and Pascoe Hunt the Christmas Killer & Other Stories
• Holliday, Susi - The Hike
• Holten, Noelle - 6 Ripley Avenue
• Jecks, Michael - The Merchant Murderers #7 Jack Blackjack, Tudor Era
• Kane, Alex - The Mother
• Kaya, Kerry - Betrayal #1 The Tempests
• Kelleher, Casey - Only Child
• Kitson, Bill - Skeletons in the Closet (ebook only) #15 Detective Mike Nash, Yorkshire
• Lawler, Liz - The Nurse's Secret
• Leitch, Fiona - A Cornish Recipe for Murder #5 Jodie 'Nosey' Parker, Chef
• Lloyd, Robert J - The Poison Machine #2 Hunt and Hooke, C17
• Longworth, M L - Disaster at the Vendome Theater #10 Verlaque and Bonnet, Aix-en-Provence
• MacBird, Bonnie - What Child is This? #5 Sherlock Holmes Adventure
• Marrs, John - Keep It in the Family
• Marston, Edward - The Railway Detective's Christmas Case #20 Det. Insp Colbeck, Scotland Yard, mid 19th Century
• Martin, Lucy - The Choice #2 DS Ronnie Delmar, Halesworth
• McKenna, Clara - Murder at the Majestic Hotel #4 Stella and Lyndy, 1905
• Moncrieff, Ada - A Murder at the Theatre Royale #1 Daphne King, 1935
• Moray, Keith - Death of a Poet (ebook only) #1 Ancient Egypt Murder Mysteries
• Morris, Vera - Death by the Sea #6 Anglian Detective Agency series
• Mulrooney, Gretta - The Lost Brother (ebook only) #10 Tyrone Swift
• Nattrass, Leonora - Blue Water #2 Laurence Jago, C18
• O'Connor, Carlene - No Strangers Here #1 Dimpna Wilde
• Odden, Karen - Under a Veiled Moon #2 Inspector Corravan, Victorian London
• O'Reilly, Judith - Sleep When You're Dead (as Jude O'Reilly) #3 Michael North
• Perry, Anne - A Christmas Deliverance
• Pine, Alex - The Winter Killer #3 DI James Walker, Cumbria
• Rankin, Ian - A Heart Full of Headstones #24 Inspector Rebus, Edinburgh
• Rhodes, Kate - The Brutal Tide #6 DI Ben Kitto
• Ripley, Mike - Mr Campion's Mosaic #10 Albert Campion
• Robb, Candace - A Fox in the Fold #14 Owen Archer
• Ross, L J - Lady's Well (ebook only) #20 DCI Ryan
• Sherratt, Mel - Twisted Lives (ebook only) #6 DS Allie Shenton
• Sigurdardottir, Lilja - Red as Blood #2 Arora tr. Quentin Bates
• Slater, K L - The Girlfriend (ebook only)
• Stafford, David - Skelton's Guide to Blazing Corpses #3 Arthur Skelton, Barrister
• Tuomainen, Antti - The Moose Paradox #2 Rabbit Factor Trilogy tr. David Hackston
• Viner, P D - The Choice
• Watson, Sue - The Nursery
• Wright, Susan Elliot - All You Ever Wanted
• Yarwood-Lovett, Sarah - A Cast of Falcons (ebook only) #2 Nell Ward