Books to Look Forward to From Orion Publishing

 

July 2021

Claire Griffith seems to have it all, a thriving career, a gorgeous, successful boyfriend, a glamorous circle of friends. She always knew she was destined for more than the life her deeply conservative parents preached to her. Arriving in Los Angeles as a flat broke teenager, she has risen to become a popular fitness coach and social media influencer. Having rebranded herself as Cleo Ray, she stands on the threshold of achieving her most cherished dreams. One summer day, Cleo and a young woman named Beck Alden set off in a canoe on a quiet, picture-perfect mountain lake. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water, her face cut and bruised, and Cleo is missing. Authorities suspect foul play and news about Cleo's involvement goes viral. Who was Beck and what was the nature of her and Cleo's relationship? Was Beck an infatuated follower who took things too far? If Cleo is innocent, why did she run? Was it an accident? Or was it murder? As evidence of Cleo's secret life surfaces, the world begins to see just how hard she strived to get to the top- and how fast and far the fall is from celebrity to infamy. The Anatomy of Desire is by L R Dorn. 

The Lying Squad is by Adam Simcox.. Dying is hell... Solving your own murder is purgatory. When Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus storms a Lincolnshire farmhouse, he expects to bring down a notorious drug gang; instead, he discovers his own dead body and a spirit guide called Daisy-May. She's there to enlist him to the Dying Squad, a spectral police force made up of the recently deceased. Joe soon realises there are fates far worse than death. To escape being stuck in purgatory, he must solve his own murder. A task made all the more impossible when his memories start to fade. Reluctantly partnering with Daisy-May, Joe faces dangers from both the living and the dead in the quest to find his killer - before they kill again.

August 2021

The Guide is by Peter Heller and is about a young man escaping his own grief and an elite fishing lodge in Colorado hiding a plot of shocking menace. Kingfisher Lodge, nestled in a canyon on a mile and a half of the most pristine river water on the planet, is known by locals as 'Billionaire's Mile.' Sandwiched between barbed wire and a meadow with a sign that reads 'Don't Get Shot,' the Colorado resort boasts boutique fishing at its finest and a respite for wealthy clients. Now, it also promises a second chance for Jack, a return to normalcy after a young life filled with loss. When he is assigned to guide a well-known singer, his only job is to rig her line, carry her gear and steer her to the best trout he can find. But then a human scream pierces the night, and Jack soon realizes that this idyllic fishing lodge may be merely a cover for a far more sinister operation.

The Manic is by Daniel Cole. In life she was his muse . In death she'll be his masterpiece. 1989: DS Benjamin Chambers and DC Adam Winters are on the trail of a serial killer with a twisted passion for recreating the world's greatest works of art through the bodies of his victims. After Chambers nearly loses his life, the case goes cold due to lack of evidence. The killer lies dormant, his collection unfinished. 2006: DS Marshall has excelled through the ranks of the Metropolitan Police Service, despite being haunted by the case that defined her teenage years. Having obtained new evidence, she joins Chambers and Winters to reopen the case. However, their resurrected investigation brings about a fresh reign of terror, the team treading a fine line between delivering justice and becoming vigilantes in their pursuit of a monster far more dangerous and intelligent than any of them had anticipate.

Now I'm in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rule sIt's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered. But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all... You can't keep a good woman down. A Narrow Room is by Joanne Harris.

Another Kind of Eden is by James Lee Burke.. The American West in the early 1960s appears to be a pastoral paradise: golden wheat fields, mist-filled canyons, frolicking animals. Aspiring novelist Aaron Holland Broussard has observed it from the open door of a boxcar, riding the rails for both inspiration and odd jobs. Jumping off in Denver, he finds work on a farm and meets Joanne McDuffy, an articulate and fierce college student and gifted painter. Their soul connection is immediate, but their romance is complicated by Joanne's involvement with a shady professor who is mixed up with a drug-addled cult. When a sinister businessman and his son who wield their influence through vicious cruelty set their sights on Aaron, drawing him into an investigation of grotesque murders, it is clear that this idyllic landscape harbors tremendous power-and evil. Followed by a mysterious shrouded figure who might not be human, Aaron will have to face down all these foes to save the life of the woman he loves and his own. 

Shirley Steadman, a 70 year old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long dead abusive husband, she doesn't like being alone much. One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before. It is a pirate radio station, and as she listens as the presenter starts reading the news. But there is one problem - the news being reported is tomorrows. Shirley first thinks it is a mere misunderstanding - a wrong date. But she watches as everything reported comes true. At first, Shirley is in awe of the station, and happily tunes in to hear the news. But then the presenter starts reporting murders - murders that happen just the way they were reported. Half Past Tomorrow is by Chris McGeorge. 

If we remove all our natural impulses, how long do we have before our true personalities bite back? Trapped inside a secure hospital after what may not be her first suicide attempt, Mya Dala's only contact with the outside world is a TV screen. One day it starts to show videos of her sweet, gentle boyfriend Marco - hand-in-hand with her doppelganger. Convinced she has been replaced by a perfect clone, Mya plots how to get back to Marco with the help of a violently troubled inmate known as the Madboy. But as she plans her escape, her memories of Marco become conflicted. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a long-forgotten version of Marco is emerging...Has his personality been replaced - or is this all in her head? A clever speculative thriller for fans that asks whether one day technology could perfect our brains, just as plastic surgery perfects our bodies. And whether we should let it.. Replace You is by Andrew Ewart.

Running from her past, Rachel answers an advert to be a live-in assistant to glamorous and eccentric author Dorothy Winters. But behind the closed doors of Dorothy's house, she quickly discovers that nothing is as it seems. When Dorothy's manuscript throws up striking similarities to events in Rachel's own life, she becomes convinced that the pasts he's tried to hide is catching up with her.Then the phone calls start. The parcel arrives. The blood shows up in the bathroom.And Dorothy's friend disappears.Terrified of being blamed for murder, Rachel has nobody left to turn to. Because who can she believe when she doesn't even trust herself...? The Vacancy is by Elizabeth Carpenter.

September 2021

The Shadowing is by Rhiannon Ward. When well-to-do Hester learns of her sister Mercy's death at a Nottinghamshire workhouse, she travels to Southwell to find out how her sister ended up at such a place. Haunted by her sister's ghost, Hester sets out to uncover the truth, when the official story reported by the workhouse master proves to be untrue. Mercy was pregnant - both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn't had an outbreak for years. Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse? As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost...

November 2021

A missing child. Ten years ago, the disappearance of firearms police officer Jonah Colley’s young son almost destroyed him. A gruesome discovery. A plea for help from an old friend leads Jonah to Slaughter Quay, and the discovery of four bodies. Brutally attacked and left for dead, he is the only survivor. A search for the truth. Under suspicion himself, he uncovers a network of secrets and lies about the people he thought he knew — forcing him to question what really happened all those years ago. No one is safe. And there are some very dangerous people watching him... The Lost is by Simon Beckett.

December 2021

We are all Liars is by Carys Jones. We're best friends. We trust each other. But... We are all liars. Allie, Stacie, Diana, Emily and Gail have been by each other's sides for as long as they can remember. The Fierce Five. Best friends forever. But growing up has meant growing apart. And little white lies have grown into devastating secrets. When Gail invites the increasingly estranged friends to reunite at her Scottish cabin, it could be the opportunity to mend old wounds and heal the cracks in their friendship. But when a freak snowstorm rocks the cabin and one of the girls is found dead on the ice, their weekend away becomes a race against time - and each other - to get off the mountain alive. And in the end, whose story can you trust, when everything was founded on lies to begin with?

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

January 2017

Under the Harrow is by Flynn Berry.  When Nora takes the train from London to visit her sister in the countryside, she expects to find her waiting at the station, or at home cooking dinner. But when she walks into Rachel's familiar house, what she finds is entirely different: her sister has been the victim of a brutal murder. Stunned and adrift, Nora finds she can't return to her former life. An unsolved assault in the past has shaken her faith in the police, and she can't trust them to find her sister's killer. Haunted by the murder and the secrets that surround it, Nora is under the harrow: distressed and in danger. As Nora's fear turns to obsession, she becomes as unrecognizable as the sister her investigation uncovers.

On its surface, life in Houston is as you would expect: drive-in restaurants, souped-up cars, jukeboxes, teenagers discovering their sexuality. But beneath the glitz and superficial normalcy, a class war has begun, and it is nothing like the conventional portrayal of the decade. Against this backdrop Aaron Holland Broussard discovers the poignancy of first love and a world of violence he did not know existed. When Aaron spots the beautiful and gifted Valerie Epstein fighting with her boyfriend, Grady Harrelson, at a Galveston drive-in, he inadvertently challenges the power of the Mob and one of the richest families in Texas. He also discovers he must find the courage his father had found as an American soldier in the Great War. Written in evocative prose, The Jealous Kind may prove to be James Lee Burke's most encompassing work yet. As Aaron undergoes his harrowing evolution from boy to man, we can't help but recall the inspirational and curative power of first love and how far we would go to protect it.  The Jealous Kind is by James Lee Burke.

February 2017

You Can Run is by Steve Mosby.  When a car crashes into a garage on an ordinary street, the attending officer is shocked to look inside the damaged building and discover a woman imprisoned within. As the remains of several other victims are found in the attached house, police believe they have finally identified the Red River killer – a man who has been abducting women for nearly twenty years and taunting the police with letters about his crimes. but now the main suspect, John blythe, is on the run. As the manhunt for blythe intensifies, DI Will Turner finds himself fighting to stay involved in the investigation. The Red River killings hold a personal significance to him, and he must be the one to find the killer . . .

Homicide inspector Gavin Cain is standing by a grave when he gets the call. Cain knows there's something terrible in the coffin they're about to exhume. He and his team have received a dying man's confession and it has led them here. Cain is summoned by Mayor Castelli, who has been sent sinister photographs of a woman that he claims he doesn't know and a note threatening that worse are on their way. As Cain tries to identify the woman in the pictures, and looks into the mayor's past, he finds himself being drawn towards a situation as horrifying and as full of secrets as the grave itself.  The Dark Room is by Jonathan Moore.

Ragdoll is by Daniel Cole.  A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together, nicknamed by the press as the 'Ragdoll'. Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William 'Wolf' Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter. The 'Ragdoll Killer' taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them. With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?

March 2017

Kings of America is by R J Ellroy.  Fleeing to America following a terrible crime, Irish-born fighter, Danny McCabe, throws in his lot with Nicolas and Lucia Mariani, siblings who have emigrated from Corsica in search of their fortunes. Adrift in the tough and unforgiving world of 1930s New York, they rely on Danny's bareknuckle fighting skills to survive. While Nicolas is tempted ever deeper into the underworld, Lucia can think of little but her obsessive drive to succeed in Hollywood. When Danny McCabe's dreams of boxing stardom become a terrifying nightmare, fate compels them to escape westwards to Los Angeles. On the run, the trio are bound together by blood, by shared secrets, and finally by love, as Danny and Lucia embark upon an affair that is as profound as it is dangerous. Nicolas, driven by greed, soon finds a welcome home in the dark world of corruption and vice that lies behind the glitzy facade of America's city of dreams. Danny McCabe is desperate to bury the dark secret of his past, while Lucia is caught in the crossfire between her brother and the man she loves.

The Bitter Season is by Tami Hoag.  A middle-aged couple - hacked to death in their own home - with a samurai sword. Normal people. Who were they? And why were they targeted? Twenty years ago a policeman was murdered in his own back garden and the killer was never caught. One woman might link these mysteries. But she is being watched. Can Detectives Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac find her before it is too late?

Tattletale is by Sarah J Naughton.  One day changes Jody's life forever. She has shut herself

down, haunted by her memories and unable to trust anyone. But then she meets Abe, the perfect stranger next door and suddenly life seems full of possibility and hope. One day changes Mags's life forever. After years of estrangement from her family, Mags receives a shocking phone call. Her brother Abe is in hospital and no-one knows what happened to him. She meets his fiance Jody, and gradually pieces together the ruins of the life she left behind. But the pieces don't quite seem to fit.

April 2017

Don’t Let Go is by Michel Bussi.  In an idyllic resort on the island of La Reunion, Liane Bellion and her husband Martial are enjoying the perfect moment with their 6-year-old daughter. Turquoise skies, blue sea, palm trees, a warm breeze. Then Liane disappears. She went up to her hotel room between 3 and 4pm and never came back. Her husband, worried, had gone to the room along with the concierge - the room was empty but there was blood everywhere. Despite his protestations of innocence, the police view Martial as their prime suspect. He was the only other person who went to the hotel room between 3 and 4pm according to the staff of the hotel. Then he disappears along with his daughter. With Martial as prime suspect, helicopters scan the island, racial tensions surface, and more corpses are found. Is he really his wife's killer? And if he isn't, why does he appear to be so guilty?

Don't look for me. It was a simple instruction. And for six years Carter Blake has kept his word. He hasn't looked for the woman he once loved and lost. But now her life is in danger and Blake is forced to break that promise. Trenton Gage is a hitman with a talent for finding people - dead or alive. His latest job is to track down a woman who's on the run, harbouring a secret many would kill for. It turns out Blake and Gage are after the same person - but who will get to her first? Don’t Look For Me is by Mason Cross.

May 2017

A missing child. When wealthy businessman Leonard Howell's daughter is kidnapped, the police jump on it straight away. But Howell knows this won't be straightforward - he needs someone willing to break the rules. A criminal lawyer. Once a con artist, now a hotshot lawyer, Eddie Flynn's learnt that fast talk and sleight of hand are just as important in the courtroom are they are on the street. Knowing what it's like to lose a daughter, he'll stop at nothing to save Howell's. A corrupt case. With a client on trial for his life, and the body count rising, Eddie Flynn is starting to fear that the whole thing was a set-up from the very beginning. The only question is who is deadlier - the man who knows the truth, or the one who believes a lie? A missing girl, a desperate father and a case that threatens to destroy everyone involved - Eddie Flynn's got his work cut out.  The Liar is by Steve Cavanagh.

June 2017

A Twist of the Knife is by Becky Masterman.  It takes a strong woman to be able to watch someone die. Brigid Quinn is tough, determined, steely and sharper than sharp. As an ex-agent of the FBI she has seen it all, and survived. But nothing can cut her closer to the bone than family...When Brigid gets a call from her mother saying her father is in hospital with pneumonia, she decides to check on her former colleague Laura Coleman who is living nearby. Having saved Brigid's life, Laura is now working on an 'innocence project', investigating cold cases. And one in particular seems to have caught her attention. Fifteen years before, Marcus Creighton was accused of killing his wife and three children. Now the state governor has signed the warrant for his execution. Worried that her friend is getting in too deep, Brigid promises to help. But what if her instincts are betraying her? If she can't even trust her memories of her own childhood, how can she make a call on some stranger's story that took place over fifteen years before?

DC Fiona Griffiths is bored. It's been months since she had a good corpse, let alone a decent murder to deal with, and it's frankly driving her nuts. And then comes the news, and she has to literally stop herself from jumping with joy: not just a murder, but a decapitation, with an antique sword no less, and a murder scene that has been laid out like a particularly gruesome crossword clue. Gaynor Charteris was an archaeologist leading a team excavating a nearby iron-age site. Genial, respected, well-liked, it was hard to see why anyone would want to kill her in such a brutal way. But as Fiona starts to dig beneath the surface, she finds evidence of a crime that leads back to King Arthur and his final battle - a crime so bizarre that getting her superiors to take it seriously is going to be her toughest job. Especially since the crime hasn't yet been committed.  The Deepest Grave is by Harry Bingham.

The Boy is by Tami Hoag and she returns with a gripping suspense thriller starring detectives Broussard and Fourcade. Mother 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. Liar 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. Murderer? 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? A unbearable loss or an unthinkable crime? 

July 2017

Denise Ang, a thirty year-old researcher at a Newcastle hospital, sees a story in the paper about a young woman’s death. Stories emerge to say she was an escort favoured by top political figures, but as Denise finds herself getting more involved in the investigations, she realises that she’s in deeper than she first thought.  You Don’t Know Me is by Brooke Magnanti