Books to Look Forward to From Orion Publishing

July 2019

What happens when a private investigator ends up being the one uncovered?  Having lost everything after a failed marriage, Beverley Saunders now lodges in the basement flat of a house owned by her best friend Sophie and her husband, Tim. With Bev's former glittering marketing career in the gutter, she begins to do investigative work for other wronged women, gathering dirt on philanderers, bosses and exes.  But when Beverley takes on the case of Sophie's friend Angela, who is seeking to uncover grounds for divorce from her controlling husband, Jerry, the shadow Science Minister, she soon discovers that she isn't the only one doing the investigating... Beverley has a secret history she doesn't want coming out - but will she manage to stay hidden long enough to give Angela the freedom she deserves?  Tight Rope is by Marnie Riches.

Never Look Back is by A L Gaylin. She was the most brutal killer of our time. And she may have been my mother...  When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it's a business matter. It's not. Quentin's podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin's own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.  Robin thinks Quentin's claim is absurd. But is it? The more she researches the Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin's beloved parents are the one absolute she's always been able to rely upon, especially now amid rising doubts about her husband and frequent threats from internet trolls. Robin knows her mother better than anyone. But then her parents are brutally attacked, and Robin realises she doesn't know the truth at all...

Victim, survivor, abductor, criminal.  You will each become one. Your phone rings.  A stranger has kidnapped your child.  To free them you must abduct someone else’s child.  Your child will be released when your victim’s parents kidnap another child.  If any of these don’t happen your chid will be killed.  You are now part of the chain. The Chain is by Adrian McKinty.

August 2019

Four unsolved murders. In 1959, The Walker family murders shook Florida. At one time, 587 people were considered suspects - but 60 years later the investigation remains unsolved.   An FBI Agents final job. Former FBI agent Brigid Quinn is trying to enjoy life after work. But when the intriguingly complex Walker case comes up, she's only too happy to postpone retirement for a little longer.  A long forgotten killer.  At first, Quinn is reluctant to draw comparisons with another high-profile investigation of the time: the Clutter family murders, made infamous in Capote's In Cold Blood. But the similarities are impossible to ignore, and she is convinced that Perry Smith and Dick Hickok, executed at the time, weren't acting alone - in both cases . . .  We Were Killers Once is by Becky Masterman.

Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.  In the lucrative world of Wall Street finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam are the ultimate high-flyers. Ruthlessly ambitious, they make billion-dollar deals and live lives of outrageous luxury. Getting rich is all that matters, and they'll do anything to get ahead.  When the four of them become trapped in an elevator escape room, things start to go horribly wrong. They have to put aside their fierce office rivalries and work together to solve the clues that will release them. But in the confines of the elevator the dark secrets of their team are laid bare. They are made to answer for profiting from a workplace where deception, intimidation and sexual harassment thrive.  Tempers fray and the escape room's clues turn more and more ominous, leaving the four of them dangling on the precipice of disaster.  If they want to survive, they'll have to solve one more final puzzle: which one of them is a killer? The Escape Room is by Megan Goldin.

Sanctuary is by V V James.  Sanctuary. It's the perfect town. . . to hide a secret.  To Detective Maggie Knight, the death of Sanctuary's star quarterback seems to be a tragic accident. Only, everyone knows his ex-girlfriend is the daughter of a witch - and she was there when he died.  Then the rumours start. Bereaved mother Abigail will stop at nothing until she has justice for her dead son. Her best friend Sarah will do everything in her power to protect her accused daughter. And both women share a secret that could shatter their lives.  It falls to Maggie to prevent her investigation - and Sanctuary itself - from spiralling out of control.

The Darker Arts is by Oscar de Muriel. Madame Katerina, Detective 'Nine Nails' McGray's most trusted clairvoyant, hosts a seance for three of Edinburgh's wealthiest families.  The following morning everyone is found dead, with Madame Katerina being the only survivor. When questioned she alleges a tormented spirit killed the families for revenge.  McGray, even though he believes her, must find a rational explanation that holds up in court, else Katerina will be sentenced to death.  Inspector Ian Frey is summoned to help, which turns out to be difficult as he is still dealing with the loss of his uncle, and has developed a form of post-traumatic stress (not yet identified in the 19th century).  This seems an impossible puzzle. Either something truly supernatural has occurred - or a fiendishly clever plot is covering a killer's tracks...

'Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?'  On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He's an A&R man, she's an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel. But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.  When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice - fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago - starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won't settle for his mother pushing him aside once again...  Mine is by Clare Empson.

September 2019

A locked room. A dead body. A secret that went to the grave.  When retired police officer Finlay Shaw is found dead in a locked room, everyone thinks it's suicide. But disgraced detective William 'Wolf' Fawkes isn't so sure. Together with his former partner Detective Emily Baxter and private detective Edmunds, Wolf's team begin to dig into Shaw's early days on the beat. Was Shaw as innocent as he seemed? Or is there more to his past than he'd ever let on?  But not everyone wants Wolf back - and as his investigation draws him ever deeper into police corruption, it will not only be his career on the line - but the lives of those he holds closest as well...  Endgame is by Daniel Cole.

Set in a remote valley town in the heart of Norway's ancient fjords, Lake Child is by Isabel Ashdown and centres on the mystery of 16-year-old Eva Olsen, as she wakes after an accident and finds herself confined to the attic room of her family's forest home.  When a young Norwegian woman wakes from an accident robbed of her most recent memories, she trusts her parents' advice that she must stay confined to her attic bedroom while she recuperates. But when Eva decides the time has come to break free of their caring incarceration, she discovers a world of secrets and lies, and a journey to discover her true identity begins.

Degrees of Guilt is by H S Candler.  Maria is on trial for attempted murder. 

She has confessed to the crime and wanted her husband dead.   Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate.  She embarks on an illicit affair with a stranger, and her husband can never find out.   You will think you know who is guilty and who is innocent. You will be wrong. 

Philocles and his troupe of actors have taken their play, The Builders, on the road to Corinth. But when their local contact dies of a suspicious poison only hours after they arrive in the city, Philocles needs to start asking questions.  But in one of the busiest trading cities in the ancient world, with rival gangs roaming the streets and a seemingly ruthless poisoner on the loose.  Scorpions in Corinth is by J M Alvey.

The Postmaster looked over my shoulder. As I turned to look I saw a flicker of movement from across the street. I felt unseen eyes peer at me. He walked away without another word. I watched as he climbed onto his bicycle and sped away down the street. I turned back and looked over my shoulder. Someone had been watching us. 1904. Thomas Bexley, one of the first forensic photographers, is called to the sleepy and remote Welsh village of Dinas Powys, several miles down the coast from the thriving port of Cardiff. A young girl by the name of Betsan Tilny has been found murdered in the woodland - her body bound and horribly burnt. But the crime scene appears to have been staged, and worse still: the locals are reluctant to help.  As the strange case unfolds, Thomas senses a growing presence watching him, and try as he may, the villagers seem intent on keeping their secret. Then one night, in the grip of a fever, he develops the photographic plates from the crime scene in a makeshift darkroom in the cellar of his lodgings. There, he finds a face dimly visible in the photographs; a face hovering around the body of the dead girl - the face of Betsan Tilny.  A Shadow of the Lens is by Sam Hurcom.

October 2019

Under Occupation is by Alan Furst.  Occupied Paris in 1942, a dark, treacherous city now ruled by the German security services, where French resistance networks are working secretly to defeat Hitler. Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands off to Paul Ricard a strange looking drawing. It looks like a part for a military weapon; Ricard realizes it must be an important document smuggled out of Germany to aid the resistance. As Ricard is drawn deeper and deeper into the French resistance network, his increasingly dangerous assignments lead him to travel to Germany, along the underground safe houses of the resistance - all the way to the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy.

A tragic death. A dark family secret. A past you can't escape. How well do you really know those closest to you?  Sarah's world has descended into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to find out the truth of what happened, and make sure the guilty are brought to justice. She is haunted by her dad's death, consumed by her grief and the memories of a cruel day that changed her life forever... she doesn't even know who she is anymore. But the future holds some hope for Sarah, as she tries to move forward. Nicola's future is not looking so hopeful. Since her husband died, the secret she's been keeping from her family - especially her daughter, Sarah - is eating away at her. The past is catching up with her, and the consequences will be devastating.  Bad Seed is by Jessica Eames.

When Gabriella is found unconscious on the banks of the canal, the first person DS Kate Munro wants to talk to is Gabi’s identical twin, Thea. There’s no evidence, but this attack seems personal.   The twins met for the first time in over a decade just last week. So what brought them back together so suddenly? With the attacker on the loose, no leads, and the victim still in a coma, DS Munro is determined to find out.  Ask Me No Questions is by Louisa de Lange.

The Night Fire is by Michael Connelly.  LAPD Detective Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor - but was this flame kept alive, or a secret that was meant to be snuffed out?  Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, J.J. Thompson, is dead, but after his funeral his widow hands Bosch a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD 20 years before - the unsolved killing of a troubled young man in an alley used for drug deals.  Bosch brings the murder book to Renee Ballard and asks her to help him find what about the case lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. That will be their starting point.  The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a worrying question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?

November 2019

Not saying Goodbye is the final novel in the internationally bestselling Erast Fandorin series by Bois Akunin..  Spring 1918. The young Soviet state is in a fever after the Revolution. For more than three years, Erast Fandorin has lain in a coma, faithfully cared for by his Japanese servant Masa. Now they are returning from the latest treatment with Dr Chang, a Chinese healer. Five months of séances have had a positive effect, but doctors remain cautious in their predictions – even if the state councillor does wake up, no one can say how his once prodigious mind might have been affected... 

False Value is by Ben Aaronovitch. Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with emigre Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son.  Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological - and just as dangerous.

Remember Me is by Amy McLellan.  Last night my sister was murdered. The police think I killed her. I was there. I watched the knife go in. I saw the man who did it.  And heard him laugh when he said he'd never be caught.  Because he knows I have prosopagnosia - I can't recognise faces. And if I don't find the man who killed my sister, I'll be found guilty of murder.

December 2019

For the Dead is by Lena Bengtsdotter.  She must find the truth about Francesca.   Before the past catches up with her...  DI Charlie Lager returns to investigate a long-buried disappearance.  A tragic past. Thirty years ago, the body of a teenage boy was found in Gullspang's lake, and his best friend vanished from her home. Paul Bergman's death was ruled a suicide; Francesca was never found.  An unsolved case.  Drawn back to Gullspang, Detective Inspector Charlie Lager is haunted by the strange house she knew as a child, and by the missing girl who once lived there. Convinced that the original investigation was flawed, Charlie is determined to uncover what really happened all those decades ago.  A crime that won’t stay buried.  But her interest in Francesca's disappearance begins to stir up long-hidden resentments, and half-forgotten memories. And if the truth is revealed, what will it mean for the living - and for the dead?

January 2020

Poison Ink is by Alison Belsham.  After old remains resurface in a heatwave, a young woman is attacked and left fighting for her life in hospital. Twenty-four hours later she dies and a deadly tattoo is discovered on her body. When another young woman disappears, Detective Francis Sullivan and his team fear a serial killer walks the streets of Brighton.   His team identify a suspect, Alex Mullins, son of his lover, Marni. Can Francis forget their shared past and save the next victim before it is too late? 

Can you ever really know your neighbours?  When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years. Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building.  Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on.  As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it's clear that someone isn't telling the truth about what went on all those years ago... The Woman Downstairs is by Elisabeth Carpenter.

Books to Look Forward to from Orion Publishing Group

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July 2018

In the slums of Nairobi there is a place where the fires burn constantly and the stench of decay never fades. Dandora, the city's dumping ground, is filled with shadowy figures the world has left behind. Here too are rumours of the night runners - those said to be possessed by spirits, or the devil.  Detective Mollel understands what it means to be an outsider. Born in a Maasai village and forever at odds with the corrupt ranks of the city police, he is drawn to the case of a Fatima, a young girl who has gone missing in the slum. His search takes him deep into Nairobi's underworld, from rap clubs to voodoo healers, and to the lair of the self-styled overlord of Dandora. He learns that Fatima is not the first person to have disappeared, and to find out what has happened to her, Mollel must open his mind to things he cannot see...  Night Runners is by Richard Crompton

The White Devil is by Domenic Stansberry.  Vittoria, as she's known in Italy, is a small-time actress who left behind a dark past in her native Texas and followed her fading writer husband to the Eternal City.

Guided by her controlling, obsessive brother Johnny, Vittoria soon enters the upper circles of Roman society, becoming a paparazzi darling and mingling with shady cardinals and corrupt senators. Among them is Paolo Orsini, who quickly falls prey to Vittoria's charms. Too bad he's married; too bad his wife, an aging film icon, is murdered.  From the ravishing beauty of Rome - a city of dark secrets held within the frescoed walls of glamorous palazzos - to the pristine beaches of Malibu and the dangerous alleys of a mysterious South American city, Vittoria finds herself at the heart of a lethal chase, spiralling dangerously out of control...

EVERY STEP...  Paul Davis forgets things - he gets confused, he has sudden panic attacks. But he wasn't always like this.  TAKES YOU CLOSER...  Eight months ago, Paul found two dead bodies in the back of a co-worker's car. He was attacked, left for dead, and has been slowly recovering ever since. His wife tries her best but fears the worst...  TO THE TRUTH...  Therapy helps during the days, but at night he hears things - impossible things - that no one else can. That nobody else believes. Either he's losing his mind - or someone wants him to think he is.  Just because he's paranoid doesn't mean it's not happening...  A Noise Downstairs is by Linwood Barclay.

August 2018

A Double Life is by Flynn Berry.  Some wounds need more than time. They crave revenge.Claire's father is a privileged man: handsome, brilliant, the product of an aristocratic lineage and an expensive education, surrounded by a group of devoted friends who would do anything for him.  But when he becomes the prime suspect in a horrific attack on Claire's mother - an outsider who married into the elite ranks of society and dared escape her gilded cage - fate and privilege collide, and a scandal erupts.  Claire's father disappears overnight, his car abandoned, blood on the front seat.  Thirty years after that hellish night, Claire is obsessed with uncovering the truth, and she knows that the answer is held behind the closed doors of beautiful townhouses and country estates, safeguarded by the same friends who all those years before had answered the call to protect one of their own.  Because they know where Claire's father is.  They helped him escape.  And it's time their pristine lives met her fury.

How far would you go...  Gina Mills is desperate to be a newsreader, but her boss - the director of the struggling Channel Eight, won't help.  Walking home one night, Gina stumbles upon a dead body, and after calling the police, she makes the split-second decision to report the murder live.  When questioned by the police, Gina can't remember specific details about her discovery, but these memory gaps are explained away as shock.  ...to uncover your family's deadly secret?  But when Gina finds a second body, it's clear she's being targeted. But why?  And how is this connected to the death of Gina's younger sister so many years ago?  The Other Sister is by Elle Croft

Private Investigator Alma is caught up in another impossible murder. One of the world's four richest people may be dead - but nobody is sure which one. Hired to discover the truth behind the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the ultra-rich, Alma must juggle treating her terminally ill lover with a case which may not have a victim. Inspired by the films of Kubrick, this stand-alone novel returns to the near-future of The Real Town Murders, and puts Alma on a path to a world she can barely understand.   By The Pricking of Her Thumbs is by Adam Roberts.

September 2018

Anna Byrne is a jailhouse librarian. Most days, she loves her job and shares the life-affirming power of books to people who would have no hope without them. Often, she can get too close and forget some of these men are dangerous criminals.  But some of them never had a chance. Like Michael Hudson, who's been locked up awaiting trial before his sudden release. He's happy and relieved but can't shake the question preying on his mind: how comes the witness who put him behind bars is suddenly refusing to testify?  There's a man who might have the answer, but he wants something first. Phil Ornazian is a private investigator who moonlights as a petty criminal. He's not exactly proud of it, but times are hard in Washington D.C. People have to change to survive, or die trying.  But everything comes at a price and, at some point, everyone has to pay.  The Man Who Came Upstairs is by George Pelecanos.

John Rebus is not as young as he was, but his detective instincts have never left him. And after the daughter of a murder victim turns up outside his flat, he's going to need them at their sharpest. Enlisting the help of his old friend DI Siobhan Clarke, Rebus is determined to solve this cold case once and for all. But Clarke has problems of her own, problems that will put her at odds with her long-time mentor and push him into seeking help from his age-old adversary: 'Big Ger' Cafferty.This haunting story takes Rebus to places he has never been before, sets him and his long-time foe on a collision course and takes us deeper into one of the most satisfying conflicts in modern fiction.  Rebus: Long Shadows is by Ian Rankin and Rona Munro.

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of eleven-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner's full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita. Sally Horner's story echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves. By diving deeper in the publication history of Lolita and restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novel's creation, The Real Lolita is by Sarah Weinman and casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.

October 2018

In a house of lies, who can ever know the truth?  John Rebus might be retired, but he's far from finished. In this brand new mystery from the peerless Ian Rankin, the ex-DI returns alongside series stalwart Detective Siobhan Clarke in a case that will dredge up the secrets of the past and disrupt an even murkier present.  In a House of Lies is by Ian Rankin.

In a thrilling new partnership, Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly picks up the story of  detective Harry Bosch in the first novel in a new series, pairing Bosch’s talents with that of Renee Ballard, who made her entrance in the Ballard series-opener The Late Show.At the end of a long, dark night Detectives Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch cross paths for the very first time.  Detective Renee Ballard is working the graveyard shift again, and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours only to find that an older man has snuck in and is rifling through old file cabinets. The intruder is none other than legendary LAPD detective Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch, working a cold case that has crept under his skin.  Unimpressed, Ballard kicks him out, but eventually Bosch persuades her to help and she reluctantly relents. Because Bosch is on the trail of a cold-case which refuses to stay buried; investigating the death of fifteen-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway who was brutally murdered. It’s a case that haunts Bosch - who crossed paths with Daisy’s devastated mother on a previous case. As Bosch and Ballard are drawn deeper into the mystery of her murder, they find there are more surprises awaiting them in the darkness.

Annie is the dream wife. Supportive, respectful, mild-mannered - everything her husband wants her to be. But underneath, she is so much more. Annie is a prisoner in her own life. Her finances, her routine and her contact with the outside world are all controlled by him. Only her love for her little boy keeps her sane, and at night she escapes into a dream world where she is free.  But Annie is about to do a very bad thing.  And you won’t believe how she is going to do it.  A Good Wife is by Louisa de Lange.

November 2018

Crimea, 1914.  When the Tzar's head of security is assassinated, Fandorin is called to investigate: the killer has been overheard mentioning a 'black city' so Fandorin and his trusty companion, Masa, head to Baku, the burgeoning capital of oil.  But as soon as they arrive, they are attacked and Fandorin almost drowns in an oil well. Saved by a stranger who hides him in the labyrinth of Baku's Old City, Fandorin begins to suspect the plot might be part of something larger - and much more dangerous.  With war brewing in the Balkans, and Europe's empires struggling to contain the threat of revolution, Fandorin must try and solve his difficult case yet before time runs out.  Black City is by Boris Akunin.

'It was the news they had all been dreading, confirmation of a fourth victim.'  When the body of a young woman is found by a Northumberland railway line, it's a baptism of fire for the Murder Investigation Team's newest detective duo: DCI David Stone and DS Frankie Oliver. The case is tough by anyone's standards, but Stone is convinced that there's a leak in his team - someone is giving the killer a head start on the investigation. Until he finds out who, Stone can only trust his partner.  But Frankie is struggling with her own past. And she isn't the only one being driven by a personal vendetta. The killer is targeting these women for a reason. And his next target is close to home….  The Insider is by Mari Hannah.

 

Dark Sky Island is by Lara Dearman.  DCI Michael Gilbert is called out to Sark - the world's first dark sky island - after bones are found on Derrible Bay. He is followed by journalist Jennifer Dorey, driven by a secret in her own past. The remains are decades old, but after a body is discovered Jennifer and Michael fear there may be a killer on the island. Together they follow a dark trail of bad blood and a conspiracy of silence.  Everyone on the island is under suspicion. No one is what they seem. And the murderer could strike again at any time... 

Lies Sleeping is by Ben Aaronovitch.  Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.  But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan. A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.  To save his beloved city Peter’s going to need help from his former best friend and colleague–Lesley May–who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in.  And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch…

December 2018

For The Missing is by Lina Bengtsdotter.  She must find Annabelle. Before it's too late.  When a teenage girl goes missing from a small town, the local police start to buckle under the pressure.  Enter Charlie Lager, the brilliant but conflicted Detective Inspector sent from Stockholm to solve the mystery of Annabelle's disappearance.  Her superiors don't know that Charlie grew up in this very town - and she's determined to keep it that way. But as she gets closer to the truth, cracks begin to form in her own lies.  Can Charlie find Annabelle before her darkest secrets are brought to light? FOR THE MISSING, time is running out

ONLY A MOTHER . Erica Wright lives a quiet, lonely life in her two-bed end of terrace. Her front door hasn't been graffitied in more than a year but that's soon about to change - her son, Craig, is being released from prison.  COULD BELIEVE HIM.  Local journalist, Luke Harding is determined to warn the public. As the person who covered the arrest and trial all those years ago, he knows the kind of predator Craig really is.  COULD BURY THE TRUTh.  Luke's worst fears are realised after a girl goes missing days after Craig's release and he becomes obsessed with trying to prove that Craig was behind it.  COULD FORGIVE WHAT HE HAS DONE.  Erica is worried, too - but how can a mother turn her back on her son? And how far will she go to protect him?  Only a Mother is by Elizabeth Carpenter.

January 2019

Only she knows what happened.  Only I can make her speak.  Alicia Berenson shoots her husband in the head five times, and then never speaks again.  Forensic psychotherapist Theo Faber must find a way to get Alicia Berenson to talk if he wants to treat her. Only then can he unravel the shocking events of that night five years before.  The Silent Patient is by Alex Michaelides.

I've been watching you DS Alice Parr.  I saw you trying to save the poor young woman you found in the park.  The woman I tried to kill.  I've been waiting for you to find her family. To find someone who cares about her.  But you can't can you?  You've never had a case like this.  I know everything about you. You know nothing about me.  Even though I'm the man you're looking for.  And you will never catch me...  To Catch a Killer is by Emma Kavanagh.

Books to look forward to from Orion

July 2017

Renee Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she’s been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. But one night she catches two cases she doesn’t want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner’s wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine, they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won’t give up her job no matter what the department throws at her. The Late Show is by Michael Connelly.

Miri Goldstein was a call girl with connections to powerful men. Now that she's dead, some can   You Don’t Know Me is by Brooke Magnanti.
breathe more easily. But the grave is not always good at keeping secrets. As the media dig into Miri's past, her old friend Denise worries that her own will rise to the surface. Meanwhile in Scotland, controversial forensic pathologist Harriet Hitchin is put in a bind when the body turns up on her patch. Police think they have their killer but Harriet is certain they made a mistake. If she's wrong, it will end her career. If she's right it could cost her life.The case will play games with all who come near and force them to ask - how many of us are living a lie?

August 2017

Bad Move is by Linwood Barclay.  Zack Walker is a writer with an overactive imagination and two teenage children. After a murder on their street, he uproots his family from the city - insisting it's for their own good - and heads for the security of the suburbs. However, his peaceful new life is soon shattered when he finds a body while out walking by the creek. Zack recognizes the dead man - and knows who his killer might be. Things go from bad to worse as Zack follows a trail of deceit that leads right to his front door. To protect his family - and so he doesn't get framed for a crime he didn't commit - he's going to have to track down the killer himself. Suddenly the suburbs are not looking nearly so safe.

September 2017

Much to his family's relief, stay-at-home writer Zack Walker finally gets a job outside of the house. Surely, becoming a journalist will keep his overactive imagination in check . . . Now in full-time employment, Zack's protective instincts must work over-time to keep his kids safe from dangers real and imagined.  But while writing his feature article, Zack stumbles into the centre of a web of murder and deceit. What seems like a tragic accidental hit-and-run may actually be a far darker crime. And Zack will find himself in the dark about who the good guys are, what the bad guys want, and what he's started to uncover . . .  Bad Guys is by Linwood Barclay.

The Furthest Station is by Ben Aaronovitch.  There's something going bump on the Metropolitan line and Sergeant Jaget Kumar knows exactly who to call. It's PC Peter Grant's speciality . . . Only it's more than going 'bump'. Traumatised travellers have been reporting strange encounters on their morning commute, with strangely dressed people trying to deliver an urgent message. Stranger still, despite calling the police themselves, within a few minutes the commuters have already forgotten the encounter - making the follow up interviews rather difficult. So with a little help from Abigail and Toby the ghost hunting dog, Peter and Jaget are heading out on a ghost hunting expedition.  Because finding the ghost and deciphering their urgent message might just be a matter of life and death.

October 2017

Eliza Altairsky-Lointaine is the toast of Moscow society, a beautiful actress in an infamous theatre troupe. Her love life is a colourful as the parts she plays. She is the estranged wife of a descendant of Genghis Khan. And her ex-husband has threatened to kill anyone who courts her. He appears to be making good on his promise. Fandorin is contacted by concerned friend - the widowed wife of Chekhov - who asks him to investigate an alarming incident involving Eliza. But when he watches Eliza on stage for the first time, he falls desperately in love . . . Can he solve the case - and win over Eliza - without attracting the attentions of the murderer he is trying to find?  All the World’s a Stage is by Boris Akunin.  He TV rights for the Fandorin series have been optioned by the BBC.

Journalist, family man, and paranoid writer Zack Walker visits his father's lakeside fishing camp. But the fresh air, childhood memories and peaceful contemplation are ruined when a body is found.  Locals say the mutilated corpse must have been the victim of a random bear attack. But Zack Walker, as always, fears the worst. When another body is discovered, it seems there is a more deadly predator on the prowl. A Lone Wolf killer who is hell-bent on laying siege to the idyllic town. The fuse is lit and time is running out. Zack must face down a madman - or find out first-hand what the grand finale is . . .  Bad Luck is by Linwood Barclay.

Harry Bosch works cold cases as a volunteer for the San Fernando police department when he's called out to a local drug store where a young pharmacist has been murdered. Bosch and the town's three-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big business world of prescription drug abuse. Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch's LAPD days comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him and that there's new evidence which proves it. Bosch left the LAPD on bad terms, so his former colleagues aren't keen to protect his reputation. He must fend for himself in clearing his name and keeping a clever killer in prison.  The two unrelated cases wind across each other like strands of barbed wire, and Bosch learns that there are two kinds of truth: the kind that sets you free and the kind that leaves you buried in darkness.  Two Kinds of Truth is by Michael Connelly.

The Shadow Man is the debut novel by Margaret Kirk.  Two brutal killings rock Inverness, and bring ex-Met Detective Inspector Lukas Mahler the biggest challenge of his career...The body of the queen of daytime TV, Morven Murray is discovered by her sister, Anna, on the morning of her wedding day. But does Anna know more about the murder than she's letting on?Police informant Kevin Ramsay's murder looks like a gangland-style execution. But what could he have stumbled into that was dangerous enough to get him violently killed? Mahler has only a couple of weeks to solve both cases while dealing with his mother's fragile mental health. But caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, is ex-Met DI Lukas Mahler hunting one killer, or two?

November 2017

Bad News is by Linwood Barclay.  Journalist Zack Walker has a dangerous habit of finding deadly stories. But this is one his good friend Trixie Snelling doesn't want told. It turns out Trixie has her fair share of skeletons in her closet and, as Zack discovers, a dead body in her basement.  With other journalists circling the story - and no sign of Trixie, who has gone missing - Zack could find himself implicated in a murder, unless he finds out the truth fast. The bad news is: it will cost him his job, and teach him that everything he knows about his friend, his town, and even his marriage, is a lie. The good news? It hasn't cost him his life . . . yet.

My Little Eye is by Stephanie Marland.  A young woman is found dead in her bedroom

surrounded by rose petals - the latest victim of 'The Lover'. Struggling under the weight of an internal investigation, DI Dominic Bell is no closer to discovering the identity of the killer and time is running out. AND MAKE THEM DIE... As the murders escalate, Clementine Starke joins an online true crime group determined to take justice in their own hands - to catch the killer before the police. Hiding a dark secret, she takes greater risks to find new evidence and infiltrate the group. As Starke and Bell get closer to cracking the case neither of them realise they're being watched. The killer is closer to them than they think, and he has his next victim - Clementine - firmly in his sights.

Portrait of a Murder: The Mill is by M B Shaw.  Meet portrait painter and amateur sleuth Iris Grey, who sees the truths of others while struggling to find her own way. Iris Grey arrives at The Mill in Hampshire, commissioned to paint a portrait of Dominic Wetherby, a celebrated author. She quickly finds herself drawn into a world of village gossip, romantic intrigue, buried secrets and a murder.

Jennifer Dorey thinks she is safe. Following a traumatic incident in London, Jennifer has returned to her childhood home in Guernsey, taking a job as a reporter at the local newspaper. After the discovery of a drowned woman on a beach, she uncovers a pattern of similar deaths that have taken place over the past fifty years. Together with DCI Michael Gilbert, an officer on the verge of retirement, they follow a dark trail of island myths and folklore to 'Fritz', the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier. His work, painstakingly executed, has so far gone undetected. But with his identity about to be uncovered, the killer now has Jennifer in his sights. And home is the last place she should be.  The Devil’s Claw is by Lara Dearman.

December 2017 

The Boy is by Tami Hoag.  Mother, liar, murderer? In the sleepy Lousiana town of Bayou

Breaux, a mother runs to her neighbour - bloody and hysterical. The police arrive to find Genevieve Gauthier cradling her seven-year-old son in her arms as he bleeds to death. Detective Nick Fourcade finds no evidence of a break-in. His partner Detective Annie Broussard is troubled by parts of Genevieve's story that don't make sense. Twenty four hours later teenager Nora Florette is reported missing. Local parents fear a maniac is preying on their children, and demand answers from the police. Fourcade and Broussard discover something shocking about Genevieve's past. She is both victim and the accused; a grieving mother and a woman with a deadly secret. Could she have something to do with the disappearance of teenager Nora Florette?

January 2018

Naomi Cottle finds missing children. When the police have given up their search and an investigation stalls, families call her. She possesses a rare, intuitive sense, born out of her own experience, that allows her to succeed when others have failed. Young Madison Culver has been missing for three years. She vanished on a family trip to the mountainous forests of Oregon, where they'd gone to cut down a tree for Christmas. Soon after she disappeared, blizzards swept the region and the authorities presumed she died from exposure. But Naomi knows that Madison isn't dead. As she relentlessly pursues the truth behind Madison's disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce defences that have protected her for so long. If she finds this child, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?  The Child Finder is by Rene Denfeld.

Fear is by Dirk Kurbjuweit. You'd die for your family. But would you kill for them? Family is everything.  So what if yours was being terrorised by a neighbour - a man who doesn't listen to reason, whose actions become more erratic and sinister with each passing day? And those you thought would help - the police, your lawyer - can't help you.  You become afraid to leave your family at home alone. But there's nothing more you can do to protect them.  Is there?'

'Do you ever think there's maybe something that's gone wrong with the world?' A man is found dead in one of the city's luxury homes. Homicide detective Ross Carver arrives at the scene when six FBI agents burst in and forcibly remove him from the premises. Two days later...Carver wakes in his bed to find Mia a neighbour he's hardly ever spoken to, reading aloud to him. He has no recollection of the crime scene, no memory of how he got home, and no idea that two days have passed. Carver knows nothing about this woman but as he struggles to piece together what happened to him, he soon realises he's involved himself in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation. And Mia just might know more than she's letting on...  The Night Market is by Jonathan Moore.

The Guilty Wife is by Elle Croft.  WIFE. MISTRESS. MURDERER. If you were being framed for murder, how far would you go to clear your name? I'm not guilty of murder. Bethany Reston is happily married. But she's also having an affair with a famous client.  And no one can ever know. But that doesn't make me innocent.  When Bethany's lover is brutally murdered, she has to hide her grief from everyone. But someone knows her secret. And then one day the threats begin. With an ever-growing pile of evidence pointing to her as the murderer, the only way she can protect her secrets is to prove her innocence. And that means tracking down a killer.