Holly Seddon on Why Crime Fiction loves to play with memory?

I was around nine, my sister was around five and we were walking home from school one day. (This was the eighties, so that’s not as alarming as it now sounds.) Our flat was in view. I remember looking forward to Round The Bend and Count Duckula so it must have been a Tuesday. 

An old lady came out of the green grocer’s shop to my right. I remember the sheet of metal on the pavement that was covering a missing paving slab, I remember her winter coat buttoned up and the smile she gave me. I remember her lying flat on the floor, so suddenly that I didn’t have time to see her foot catch the uneven edge of the metal sheet. A wet pink tooth had skittered from her mouth and across the pavement. 

I remember my terrified sister, flying off as fast as she could to find our dad. I remember squatting down, utterly unequipped, next to the old lady. Because she had smiled at me, I felt a kinship or obligation. As she lay, toothless and crying, I said, “Are you okay?” She did not have time to answer me because the green grocer had run out to help, and an off duty fireman. Maybe my dad by then. For the next thirty years I would, from time to time, torture myself about asking such a stupid question. She was very obviously not okay and she needed help, not polite inquiries. 

There are other memories from that era, of arguably more significant events, that I have forgotten even though I know from family or public record that they occurred. Memory does not work like a zip drive, it’s more a lucky dip bucket. I should remember crucial events affecting our family or our country, but I remember the smile, coat, tooth and shame. I still felt the shame. 

But, when I checked just now, I can see I got some details wrong. There was no green grocer’s shop. So the man I remember in a green tabard, helping, was probably not really there. I also realised that the off duty fireman I remembered helping, had actually helped with a completely different incident during a school trip. Someone helped the old lady but all I really know is that it wasn’t me. 

I have no idea if it was even a Tuesday. Count Duckula and Round The Bend were my favourite shows and I probably have other clear memories of racing home to watch those, which I’ve folded in. I don’t remember racing home to watch Blue Peter because I didn’t. It was boring.

My sister and I had not discussed this experience since 1989 but when we finally talked about it recently, she remembered it just as vividly. But she did not remember it exactly the same. And by comparing our memories we dropped some incorrect details, confirmed others, and a clearer picture developed. And when I squirmed in my shame, she said, “but you were nine”. She’d been there too, and she had not thought I’d done anything wrong and then, suddenly, maybe I hadn’t. 

Memories feel unshakable, we can see them in our minds and watch them over again like a video. They feel concrete because they are ours, like documents in our mental filing cabinet. And so, when evidence comes along that those memories are flawed, incomplete or even entirely false, that’s pretty terrifying. 

We deny it. “I was there, I know what I saw”. 

Or we rationalise it. “You think that because you were further away/drunk/short sighted”. 

Or, and this is the most unsettling of all, we accept that our memories were wrong in this case. And if these memories are wrong, what other memories might we remember incorrectly? Can we ever trust our memories, our brains, ourselves? 

Not really, says Elizabeth Loftus, a leading expert on memory. In her 2013 TED Talk How reliable is your memory, Loftus says that rather than a “recording device”, memory is “constructive” and “reconstructive". She likens it to a Wikipedia page. “You can go in there and change it, but so can other people.” 

Crime fiction loves to play with memories. A crack in the psyche is rich compost for unease and fear. What is more frightening than not even trusting yourself? 

Some of the biggest crime books of the last decade feature protagonists battling memory issues. From SJ Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep to Paula Hawkins’s The Girl On the Train to In The Woods by Tana French. Fear of our memories failing us, or painting us the wrong picture, is a universal concern.

In The Short Straw, I wanted to play with childhood memories and the long tendrils they can have. My three main characters – adult sisters - have contrasting and confusing childhood memories of a particular day that appear to show one thing and then - when finally put together - tell an altogether different and more sinister story. It takes them returning to an abandoned mansion they have not seen for thirty years, for the memories to surface fully. And when they do, they realise they are in terrible danger. 

But I also wanted to give the sisters what my sister gave to me. Reassurance and forgiveness. Look, I was there too, and it wasn’t your fault. You were nine. 

We can often feel like we are our memories. But maybe, more importantly, we are a combination of perceptions. Our own and other people’s, the documented evidence and the nebulous anecdotal evidence of how we made others feel. Maybe this is why it is so important, so valuable, to share memories with each other. Maybe, without sharing, we will never be able to see the full picture.

The Short Straw by Holly Seddon (Orion Publishing) Out Now

Three troubled sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked. They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable truth that will tear the family apart.

More information about Holly Seddon and her work can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @hollyseddon on Instagram @hollyseddonauthor and on Facebook.

Books to Look Forward to From Orion Publishing

January 2022

The end is here. Jack West Jr has made it to the Supreme Labyrinth. Now he faces one last race - against multiple rivals, against time, against the collapse of the universe itself - a headlong race that will end at a throne inside the fabled labyrinth. An impossible maze. But the road will be hard. For this is a maze like no other: a maze of mazes. Uncompromising and complex. Demanding and deadly. A cataclysmic conclusion. It all comes down to this. It ends here - now - in the most lethal and dangerous place Jack has encountered in all of his many adventures. And in the face of this indescribable peril, with everything on the line, there is only one thing he can do. Attempt the impossible. The One Impossible Labyrinth is by Matthew Reilly. 

February 2022

The Goodbye Coast: A Philip Marlowe Novel is by Joe Ide. The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler's detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he's a quiet, lonely, and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective, famous throughout the city, who's given in to drink after the death of Marlowe's mother. Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases, the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the center of COAST is Marlowe's troubled and confounding relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad, and a dad who's unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown boy. Together, they will realise that one of their clients may be responsible for murder of her own husband, a washed-up director in debt to Albanian and Russian gangsters, and that the client's trouble-making daughter may not be what she seems.

Notes on an Execution is by Danya Kukafka. Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he's done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn't want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. But this is not his story. As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel's mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly. This is the story of the women left behind.

Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose is by T A Willberg. The envelope was tied with three delicate silk ribbons: "One of the new recruits is not to be trusted..." It's 1959 and a new killer haunts the streets of London, having baffled Scotland Yard. The newspapers call him The Florist because of the rose he brands on his victims. The police have turned yet again to the Inquirers at Miss Brickett's for assistance, and second year Marion Lane is assigned the case. But she's already dealing with a mystery of her own, having received an unsigned letter warning her that one of the three new recruits should not be trusted. She dismisses the letter at first, focusing on The Florist case, but her informer seems to be one step ahead, predicting what will happen before it does. But when a fellow second-year Inquirer is murdered, Marion takes matters into her own hands and must come face-to-face with her informer-who predicted the murder-to find out everything they know. Until then, no one at Miss Brickett's is safe and everyone is a suspect.

Was it an accident? Or was it murder? Marc Mercier appears to have it all - a successful business man with a loving family who has risen above his upbringing. So when he vanishes while on a hunting trip in the Atchafalaya Basin, the mystery appears to be nothing more than a tragic accident. But all is not what it seems in Marc Mercier's life. As detectives launch the investigation into his death, the picture of his perfect life begins to unravel. Family members begin to make accusations, his wife and best friend change their stories, and the police are left floundering as the secrets begin to pile up. The clock is ticking - can detectives Nick and Annie discover the truth before someone else ends up as a case number? Bad Liar is by Tami Hoag.

Disappeared is by Laura Jarrett. Let it burn. Let everything burn. One day Cerys walks out of her comfortable life, never to return. Standing on a hillside at night with no phone and no possessions, watching her car set alight, she believes this is the end. And then Lily walks into her life. Lily is desperate for a new start for herself and her child. More than that, she knows she has to disappear in order to keep them both safe. The two women strike a fierce bond, and are both running from things that soon threaten to catch up with them. Can these two women keep each other safe... Can they trust each other ? Or are the pasts they've escaped too much for either of them to bear?

In the dead of winter, even brothers become strangers... Running from a troubled childhood, Jack Devereaux left home as soon as he could and never looked back - until the day a stranger calls, begging him to return to his hometown of Jasperville, Quebec. Jack's brother Calvis - the little boy he left behind more than twenty years ago - has viciously attacked a man and left him for dead. Nobody knows why he did it, though Jack suspects it has something to do with the Jasperville girls who were lost all those years ago.  But as he begins the long journey home through the frozen, unforgiving landscape, Jack isn't wondering why his little brother lost his mind. He's wondering why it took so long . . .The Darkest Season is by R J Ellory.

March 2022

Hidden Depths is by Araminta Hall. Passenger... Lily is pregnant, travelling onboard the Titanic to her beloved family in the United States, hoping she can get there before her mind and body give up. For a long time now she's known her husband is not the man he's pretending to be and she's not safe. So, when she meets widower Lawrence she knows he's her last chance for help. Or Prisoner... But Lawrence knows he hasn't got time to save Lily. Lawrence is the only person on board the unsinkable ship who knows he will not disembark in New York. And the danger is much worse than either of them could imagine. Can Lily and Lawrence help each other to safety before it's too late?

For The Lost is by Lina Bengtsdotter. A missing child. In Karlstad, nine-month-old Beatrice is missing from her pram. Her parents are in shock and the media is in a frenzy. A personal struggle. DI Charlie Lager is struggling with her own demons when she's called to investigate, forced to push them aside as the case intensifies. A clock running down. As lead after lead goes nowhere, Charlie starts to feel like nobody actually wants the truth to come out about Beatrice as reluctant locals shut down in the face of her questions. And with each passing hour, the chance of finding Beatrice alive becomes less and less likely...

The Clockwork Girl is by Anna Mazzola. Paris, 1750. In the midst of an icy winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, chambermaid Madeleine Chastel arrives at the home of the city's celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter. Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose: to discover the truth of the clockmaker's experiments and record his every move, in exchange for her own chance of freedom. For as children quietly vanish from the Parisian streets, rumours are swirling that the clockmaker's intricate mechanical creations, bejewelled birds and silver spiders, are more than they seem. And soon Madeleine fears that she has stumbled upon an even greater conspiracy. One which might reach to the very heart of Versailles...

Jodie Martindale and her boyfriend were kidnapped a decade ago. Her boyfriend was found dead the next week. Jodie was never seen again. Journalist David Kelman, once a hotshot but now washed up, illegally comes into possession of Jodie's brother's old phone. And on that phone is an unheard voicemail from two weeks ago. The voice is unmistakeably that of Jodie Martindale. The message begins an obsession for Kelman - which takes him down a rabbit hole of lies, to a dark and deadly truth... Never Seen Again is by Paul Finch. 

Sorry Isn't Good Enough is by Jane Bailey. 'The trouble is, we don't recognise every danger when we see it. And that's how Mr Man manages to creep into our lives.' It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is 9 years old, and she has plans: 1. Get Jesus to heal her wonky foot 2. Escape her spiteful friend Dawn 3. Persuade her mum to love her. But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her - but more than one of them is lying. May 1997, and Stephanie has spent her life trying to bury the events of that terrible summer. When a man starts following her on the train home from London, she realises the dark truth of what happened may have finally caught up with her.

April 2022

Paris Requiem is by Chris Lloyd. Paris, 1940. As the city adjusts to life under Nazi occupation, Detective Eddie Giral struggles to reconcile his job as a policeman with his new role enforcing a regime he cannot believe in but must work under. He's sacrificed so much in order to survive in this new world, but the past is not so easily forgotten. When an old friend and an old flame reappear, begging for his help, Eddie must decide how far he will go to help those he loves. He can remain a good man and do nothing, or risk it all in a desperate act of resistance...

June 2022

Complicit is by Winnie M Li. You know what it's like. A comment here, a closed door there, turning a blind eye to get ahead. My name is Sarah Lai. You won't have heard of me. A decade ago I was on the cusp of being a big deal. But that was a long time ago. Now, instead of working in Hollywood, I teach students about it. And these are the two most important lessons you need to know about the film industry: 1) Those with the money have all the power. 2) Those with the power get whatever they want. Ignore these rules and the whole system will crumble. Stick to the rules and you'll succeed. But at what cost? Ask yourself, what would you have done?

Keep your family safe whatever the cost. Jamie and Victoria are expecting their first baby. With a few weeks to go, they head off for a final weekend break in a remote part of the North Pennines. The small and peaceful guesthouse is the ideal location to unwind together before becoming parents. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Barry and Fiona, the older couple who run the guesthouse. They cook them dinner and show them to their room before retreating to bed themselves. The next morning, Jamie and Victoria wake to find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen. All the doors are locked. Both their mobile phones and car keys have disappeared. Even though it's a few weeks early, Victoria knows the contractions are starting. The baby is coming, and there's no way out. The Guest House is by Robin Morgan Bentley.

July 2022

The Red Notebook is by Michel Bussi. Leyli Maal is a beautiful Malian woman, mother of three, living in a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Marseille. Her quiet life as a well-integrated immigrant is suddenly shaken when her beautiful eldest daughter, Bamby, becomes the main suspect in two murders linked to a lethal illegal immigration racket. Is Bamby really involved? And why is everyone desperate to get their hands on Leyli’s mysterious red notebook? 

On the worst night of her life, in the middle of nowhere, lonely Charlotte Wilderwood saves a runaway bride from falling to her death. Soon Maggie is staying in Charlotte's home, safely hidden from the man that she was so desperate to escape. The immediate bond between the two women eclipses anything they've ever known and before long they will go to extreme lengths to protect each other. But is Maggie the best friend Charlotte has always dreamed about, or the nightmare she never saw coming... The Woman on the Bridge is by Holly Seddon.

The Starlings is by Isabel Ashdown. They were perfect neighbours. Now they are prime suspects. Security, a sparkling sea view and the best kind of neighbours - The Starlings gated community has it all. The residents are like family to each other, in a place where doors are left open and children run free. But that all changes when an idyllic street party takes a dark turn. Who knows what really happened to him? And what answers are harboured within the old building, a former asylum?

The tiny outback town of Dead Tree Creek is a rough place - and the locals are even rougher - but they've never seen anything like this . . . When a man is found gruesomely murdered in the local pub, all fingers point to the backpackers working behind the bar that night - two American girls who skipped town before the body was discovered. Despite all the evidence against them, rookie cop Tara Harrison knows there must be more to this case than a pair of sorority sisters who couldn't take a joke. She's determined to uncover the truth, and is soon on the trail of a devastating secret that could tear her hometown apart. But sorority sisters Lauren and Beth have their own dark secrets and they've made an oath to take them to the grave - which they will, all too soon, unless Tara can stop it . . . Blood Sisters is by Cate Quinn.

Books to Look Forward to from Orion Publishing

 January 2021

Kim and Jim: Philby and Angleton, Friends and Enemies in the Cold War by Michael Holman. Kim Philby's life and career has inspired an entire literary genre: the spy novel of betrayal. He was one of the leaders of the British counter-intelligence efforts, first against the Nazis, then against the Soviet Union. He was, arguably, the KGB's most valuable double agent, so highly regarded that today his image is on the postage stamps of the Russian Federation. Philby was the son of St. John Philby, an Arabist contemporary and sometime colleague of T. E. Lawrence. Kim Philby benefited from his father's connections when he worked as a journalist - in Spain, during the Civil War; in France, during the first months of the Second World War; and in the Middle East after the Suez Crisis of 1956 until his escape to Moscow in 1963. There, in retirement, he helped train the last generation of Soviet spies. Philby was the mentor of James Jesus Angleton, one of the main figures in the early years of the CIA who became the long-serving chief of the counter-intelligence staff of the Agency. Angleton developed the CIA's worldwide network of alliances with other secret intelligence agencies from Australia to Israel, supervised the opening of all overseas mail and telegrams, and served as the CIA's liaison to the Warren Commission. James Angleton and Kim Philby were friends for six years, or so Angleton thought. They were then enemies for the rest of their lives. Both agreed about that. This is the story of their intertwined careers, and the dramatic effect of these on the Cold War.

A Violent Gentleman is by Danny O'Leary. He does what's right. Not what's easy. Jeremiah O'Connell made his name solving problems in London and now does the same in LA. The problems other people can't or won't touch? They're the ones that end up at Jerry's door. Suddenly Jeremiah has problems of his own when he sets out to right a wrong and finds himself on the hitlist of one of LA's most feared drug gangs. As the stakes rise, so does the body count, and Jerry has the fight of his life on his hands. Now, with high-class escort Noah in tow, Jeremiah must revisit his old London stomping grounds and assemble his team in order to wage all-out war on the streets on Tinseltown...

The Two Lost Mountains is by Matthew Reilly. An incredible victory but at a terrible price. Against all the odds, Jack West Jr found the Three Secret Cities but at a heartbreaking cost. His beloved daughter Lily, it appeared, was slaughtered by Jack's mortal enemy, Sphinx in a cruel ancient ritual. To the mountains and the fall. With his rivals far ahead of him, Jack must now get to one of the five iron mountains-two of which have never been found-and perform a mysterious feat known only as 'The Fall'. Although what is this object on the moon that is connected to it? A new player arrives. Amid all this, Jack will discover that a new player has entered the race, a general so feared by the four legendary kingdoms they had him locked away in their deepest dungeon. Only now this general has escaped and he has a horrifying plan of his own...

February 2021

Blood Grove is by Walter Mosley. Ezekiel "Easy" Porterhouse Rawlins is an unlicensed private investigator turned hard-boiled detective always willing to do what it takes to get things done in the racially charged, dark underbelly of Los Angeles.But when Easy is approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran- a young white man who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man- he knows he shouldn't take the case. Though he sees nothing but trouble in the brooding ex-soldier's eyes, Easy, a vet himself, feels a kinship form between them. Easy embarks on an investigation that takes him from mountaintops to the desert, through South Central and into sex clubs and the homes of the fabulously wealthy, facing hippies, the mob, and old friends perhaps more dangerous than anyone else. Set against the social and political upheaval of the late 1960s, Blood Grove is ultimately a story about survival, not only of the body but also the soul.

Buenos Aires, 1981. Inspector Alzada's work in the Buenos Aires police force during the Dirty War exposes him to the many realities of life under a repressive military regime: desperate people, angry people and - most of all - missing people. Personally, he prefers to stay out of politics, favouring a steady job and domesticity with his wife Paula over the path taken by his hot-headed revolutionary brother, Jorge. But when Jorge is disappeared, Alzada knows he will stop at nothing to recover him.  Buenos Aires, 2001. Argentina is in the midst of yet another devastating economic crisis. Alzada is still an inspector: he's burnt out, frustrated that he hasn't been able to affect real change, and convinced of the futility of yet another doomed Argentinean attempt at democracy. This time he is determined to remain a detached bystander, to keep his head down in anticipation of a peaceful retirement with Paula and the nephew they've raised together. However, all his plans are derailed as the riots gain traction and a young woman's dead body lands in the dumpster behind the morgue on the same day a woman from one of the city's wealthiest families goes missing. Repentance is by Eloisa Diaz.

Quiet in her Bones is by Nalini Singh. My mother vanished ten years ago. So did a quarter of a million dollars in cash. Now, she's back. Her bones clothed in scarlet silk. When socialite Nina Rai disappeared without a trace, everyone wrote it off as another trophy wife tired of her wealthy husband. But now her bones have turned up in the shadowed green of the forest that surrounds her elite neighborhood, a haven of privilege and secrets that's housed the same influential families for decades. The rich live here, along with those whose job it is to make their lives easier. And somebody knows what happened to Nina one rainy night ten years ago. Her son Aarav heard a chilling scream that night, and he's determined to uncover the ugly truth that lives beneath the moneyed elegance . . . but no one is ready for the murderous secrets about to crawl out of the dark. Even the dead aren't allowed to break the rules in this cul-de-sac.

Proof of Life is by R J Ellory. Stroud's best years are behind him. A former war photographer, he's seen things no one should have to see. He left the front line before his luck ran out. His best friend and mentor, Vincent Raphael, was not so fortunate and died in an explosion. His body was never recovered; his friends buried an empty box. But then Stroud gets a call from his old editor, Marcus Haig. Two months ago Raphael was photographed in Istanbul. Stroud doesn't believe it's him, but there's money on the table for Stroud to go out there and prove he's dead. But the more he looks, the harder that becomes. Stroud's journey will take him from London, to Istanbul, to Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin - on the trail of a shadow. A man who not only should be dead - but may never have existed.

The only thing the three women had in common was their husband. And, as of this morning, that they're each accused of his murder. Blake Nelson moved into a hidden stretch of land - a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah - where he lived with his three wives: Rachel, the chief wife, obedient and doting to a fault. Tina, the other wife, who's everything Rachel isn't. And Emily, the youngest wife, who knows almost nothing else. When their husband is found dead under the desert sun, the questions pile up. What are these women to each other now that their husband is dead? Will the police uncover the secrets each woman has spent her life hiding? And is one of them capable of murder...? Black Widows is by Cate Quinn.

March 2021

In East Long Beach, California, the LAPD is barely keeping up with the neighborhood's high crime rate. Murders go unsolved, lost children unrecovered. But someone from the neighborhood has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the police can't or won't touch. A high school dropout, Isaiah Quintabe's unassuming nature disguises a ferocious intelligence. Most people call him IQ. Word has gotten around: if you've got a problem, Isaiah will solve it, his rates adjustable to your income or lack thereof. Smoke is by Joe Ide.

April 2021

The Hit List is by Holly Seddon. Congratulations, someone wants you dead. When Marianne's husband Greg is knocked off his bike and killed on the way to work, she must unpick the life he left behind. Numb with grief, Marianne consoles herself by scouring Greg's laptop, finding comfort in reading his old emails and tracing his footsteps across the web. Until one day, she discovers that he had been accessing the dark web. Why was Greg, a principled charity worker and dedicated husband, logging on to a website that showcases the worst of humanity's cruel impulses and where anything is available for a price? Marianne steels herself and logs on. After tentative searching, she discovers her name on a hit list. In this fast-paced, powerful and exceptionally plotted novel, Marianne must figure out whether Greg was trying to protect her or whether he was complicit in the conspiracy for her murder. As she is pulled deeper into the depths of the underworld that Greg was seemingly hostage to, she gets closer and closer to coming face to face with Sam - the assassin hired to kill her. The dark truths that Marianne uncovers speak volumes about the dark underbelly of our society and forces us to question how far we would go to protect those we care most about.

Four women.. Orly, Lenny, Mel and Thea have been best friends since school. But now it is 20 years later and inevitably they have drifted apart. One weekend.. It is Lenny's 40th birthday, plus Orly and Mel need cheered up, so Thea suggests a weekend away at a festival in their hometown. It's a chance for them all to reconnect. Not all of them will survive. But their holiday soon takes a sinister turn, and not all of the friends will leave the festival alive... The Festival is by Sarah J Naughton.

Look What You Made Me Do is by Nikki Smith. Sisters Jo and Caroline have it all. Perfect houses. Perfect husbands. Perfect lives. But when their father passes away, the contents of his Will forces them to question what they have always believed to be the truth about their family, their marriages, and themselves. As the stakes grow ever higher, it is clear they are hiding secrets too. Secrets which they'll do anything to protect. And theirs could turn out to be lethal...

May 2021

The Pact is by Sharon Bolton. A golden summer, and six talented friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures. But after a dare-devil game goes horribly wrong, a woman and two children are killed. Eighteen-year-old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a ‘favour’, payable on her release from prison. Twenty years later, it’s payback time. 

Faith Diamond grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. With a family incapable of staying on the right side of the law, her future has always been about survival. Then a series of prostitutes are found murdered, their only connection the pimp, Marshall Vella – a man connected in more ways than one with the Diamond family. And Faith is forced to consider the possibility that the peo- ple she loves might be entrenched in something more evil than even she could ever have imagined . . Loaded is by Niki Mackay.

June 2021

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is the debut novel by T A Wilberg. They were a band of mysterious private detectives who lived beneath the streets of London in a labyrinth of twisted tunnels and ancient hallways, the entrance to which no one had ever found. The Inquirers were something of a myth, a whispered legend that may or may not exist, depending on whom you asked. They were like ghosts, some said, these sleuths who guarded the city... London, 1958: Elaborately disguised and hidden deep beneath the city's streets lies the world of Miss Brickett's, a secret detective agency, training and housing the mysterious Inquirers. From traversing deceptive escape rooms full of baited traps and hidden dangers, to engineering almost magical mechanical gadgets, apprentice detectives at Miss Brickett's undergo rigorous training to equip them with the skills and knowledge they will need to solve the mysteries that confound London's police force. But nothing can prepare 23-year-old apprentice Marion Lane for what happens after the arrest of her friend and mentor Frank on suspicion of murder: he has tasks Marion with clearing his name and saving his life. Her investigation will place Marion and her friends in great peril as they venture beyond The Border and into the forbidden maze of uncharted tunnels that surround Miss Brickett's. Being discovered out of bounds means immediate dismissal, but that is the least of Marion's problems when she discovered that the tunnels contain more than just secrets.

Truth or Dare is by M J Arlidge. A crimewave sweeps through society and no one is safe. The rising tide of crime threatens to drown the city and, along with it, D.I. Helen Grace. A vicious arson at the docks. A violent carjacking near the hospital. A fatal attack in a country park. Crimes without motive, without suspects and without any leads. Each crime is a piece of a puzzle – with many more pieces still to come. And as they all fall into place, Helen Grace will face the case that may be the end of her . 

July 2021

The Wrong Mother is by Michel Bussi. Nothing is as fragile as the memory of a child...
Malone, a child barely four years old, starts to claim that his mother isn't his real mother. It seems impossible. His mother has birth certificates, photos of him as a child and even the pediatrician confirms this is her child. The school psychologist is the only one who believes him and he's in a race against time to find out the truth. He approaches Marianne Augresse, a police captain with better things to do with her time. Hot on the heels of a major criminal, she has little interest in the stories of a child. But what if she's wrong?

Lost is the beginning of a new crime series by Simon Beckett and introduces readers to Jonah Colley, an armed response officer with the Met Police. Ten years ago, the abduction of Colley’s young son ended his career as a police detective and almost destroyed him. A plea for help from an estranged friend leads Jonah to a brutal attack of which he’s the only survivor. Discharged from the force and under suspicion himself, his search for the truth throws doubt on everything he thought he knew. 

The Dying Squad is by Adam Simcox. Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus always believed he could solve any murder, until it came to his own. When Lazarus storms a Lincolnshire farmhouse, he expects to bring down the drug gang within it; instead, he discovers his own bleeding-out body and a spirit guide called Daisy-May. She's there to enlist him to The Dying Squad, a spectral police force who solve crimes their flesh and blood colleagues cannot. Lazarus reluctantly accepts and returns to the Lincolnshire Badlands, where he faces dangers from both the living and the dead in his quest to discover the identity of his killer - before they kill again.

Books to Look Forward to from Orion Publishing

July 2020

Before - A man running along a remote clifftop path on an icy-cold February morning.  A woman standing on the cliff's edge.  A red scarf on the ground between them.  After - The man is alone on the cliff - adrenaline pumping through his veins.  The woman is on the beach below - dead.  The red scarf is also on the beach -   beautifully (and impossibly) wrapped around the woman's broken neck. What happened? Two lives colliding by chance?  Or a revenge decades in the making?  Never Forget is by Michel Bussi.

How to Be Nowhere is by Tim MacGabhann.  Life is finally on the right track for reporter

and recovering addict Andrew: he is slowly coming to terms with the murder of his photographer boyfriend Carlos, pursuing sobriety and building a new home with a new partner. Andrew has almost forgotten about the story that ruined his life - but that story hasn't forgotten about him, and a series of deadly threats forces him into helping the very man whose gang murdered his boyfriend and left him homeless.

The Portland Spy Ring was one of the most notorious spy cases from the Cold War. It seized international attention and revealed the shadowy world of deep cover KGB spies operating under false identities ('illegals').  The CIA's revelation to MI5 that a KGB agent was stealing crucial secrets from the sensitive submarine research base at Portland in Dorset looked initially like a dangerous but contained lapse of security by a British man and his mistress. But the unsuspecting couple passed the secrets to a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale. Lonsdale in turn led MI5's spycatchers to an innocent-looking couple in suburban Ruislip called the Krogers, who were transmitting the vital information to Moscow. A sudden defection forced the arrest of the spy ring.  The Krogers were discovered to be two of the most important Russian 'illegals' ever. The Americans had been searching for them for years. In a previous undercover life they had been a conduit to the KGB atomic spies at Los Alamos. And Lonsdale was no Canadian, but a senior KGB controller called Konon Molody - who years later turned out to have been running other key Soviet agents in the UK.  This astonishing but true story of MI5's spyhunt is straight from the world of John le Carre. It criss-crosses the world between the USSR, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Europe and the UK, and ends with dramatic spy swaps familiar to viewers of Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies. This extraordinary story is a fascinating vignette of the Cold War stand-off between the USSR and the West, and a case that fully justified the West's paranoia about infiltration and treachery.  Dead Doubles: The Portland Spy Ring is by Trevor Barnes.

The only thing the three women had in common was their husband. And, as of this morning, that they're each accused of his murder.  Blake Nelson moved into a hidden stretch of land - a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah - where he lived with his three wives:  Rachel, the chief wife, obedient and doting to a fault.  Tina, the other wife, who's everything Rachel isn't.  And Emily, the youngest wife, who knows almost nothing else.  When their husband is found dead under the desert sun, the questions pile up.   What are these women to each other now that their husband is dead? Will the police uncover the secrets each woman has spent her life hiding? And is one of them capable of murder...?  Black Widows is by Cate Quinn.

Fifty-Fifty is by Steve Cavanagh.  Two sisters on trial for murder. They accuse each other.  Who do YOU believe?  '911 what's your emergency?'  'My dad's dead. My sister Sofia killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'  'My dad's dead. My sister Alexandra killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'  One of them is a liar and a killer.  But which one?

Like Mother, Like Daughter is by Elle Croft.  If what they said was true, then the grotesque and the monstrous ran in her blood. It was imprinted within her very core, her DNA, a part of every cell in her body.   Kat's children are both smart and well-adjusted. On the outside.  Kat has always tried to treat Imogen and Jemima equally, but she struggles with one of her daughters more than the other.   Because Imogen's birth mother is a serial killer. And Imogen doesn't know.  They say you can't choose your family, but what if your family chooses you?

August 2020

'The Sleeping Nymph': a work of art of magnetic beauty, painted by a young partisan fighter during the last days of the Second World War. A painting carrying a shocking secret hidden in the red pigment on the canvas, made with the blood of a human heart. But whose heart?   There is no body, no confession. Only that faint trace of blood. And that's what leads commissioner Teresa Battaglia - herself hiding an unspeakable truth - to the Resia Valley, in the north eastern part of Italy: a perfect genetic enclave protected for centuries from the outside world.   The valley and the portrait are the only clues for a murder that occurred more than 70 years before. A red thread leading to the shadow of someone hell-bent on protecting a sacred secret.  Painted in Blood is by Ilaria Tuti.

Nancy, Eleanor and Mary met at college and have been friends ever since, through marriages, children and love affairs. Nancy married her college sweetheart and is now missing that excitement of her youth.  Eleanor put her career above all else and hasn't looked back, despite her soft spot for Nancy's husband.  Mary fell pregnant far too young and is now coping with three children and a mentally unwell husband.  But when Nancy is killed, Eleanor and Mary must align themselves to uncover her killer. And as each of their stories unfold, they realise that there are many ways, different truths to find, and many different ways to bring justice for those we love...  Imperfect Women is by Araminta Hall.

Inside Out is by Chris McGeorge.  Cara Lockhart has just commenced a life sentence in HMP

New Fern - the newest maximum security woman's prison in the country. She was convicted of a murder she is adamant she didn't commit.   One morning she wakes up to find her cellmate murdered - shot in the head with a gun that is missing. The door was locked all night, which makes Cara the only suspect. There is only one problem - Cara knows she didn't do it and she has no idea who did.   Being the only one who knows the truth, Cara sets about trying to clear her name, unravelling an impossible case, with an investigation governed by a prison timetable. Cara starts to learn more about her fellow prisoners, finding connections between them and herself that she would never have imagined.   Indeed it seems that her conviction and her current situation might be linked in strange ways...

The Dance of the Serpents is by Oscar De Muriel.  There are many bad days in Edinburgh police's subdivision 'The Commission for the Elucidation of Unsolved Cases Presumably Related to the Odd and Ghostly'. And in the pantheon of the worst days - today takes the podium.  Because the English Inspector Ian Frey, and his Scottish boss 'Nine-Nails' McGray are called into a meeting in the middle of the night with none other than the Prime Minister himself.  And he tells them that Queen Victoria - the most powerful woman in the world - wants them both dead.

September 2020

Thomas Bexley has become a drunkard and recluse, haunted by terrible visions of the dead.  But when he learns of a spate of kidnappings – in which his dear friend and former mentor, Elijah hawthorn, is the lead suspect – Thomas embarks on a journey to find the missing Hawthorn and prove his innocence,  Though as the mystery of Hawthorn’s disappearance deepens, so too does Thomas’s apparently growing insanity.  How can Thomas be certain of the truth when he can’t trust anybody around him, not even himself …?  Letters from the Dead is by Sam Hurcom.

The Unwanted Dead is by Chris Lloyd.  Paris, June 1940.   The Nazi occupation of Paris begins. Detective Eddie Giral - a survivor of the last World War - watches helplessly on as his world changes forever. But there is something he still has control over.   Finding whoever is responsible for four murdered refugees: the unwanted dead, forgotten amid the headlines.  To do so, he must tread carefully between the Occupation and the Resistance, all the while becoming whoever he must be to survive in this new and terrible order descending on his home.

October 2020

When struggling photojournalist Harper tries to return a dress she bought that morning for a job that's fallen through something catches her eye: the same little girl who was waiting there that morning is still there.  The sales assistant doesn't know   whose she is. The security guard at the mall hasn't had anyone come looking for her. Same goes for the local police, and the media.   In fact, no one seems to be looking for little May at all.  Harper knows from bitter experience what awaits May in Child Protection Services. But, without any clues, how do you put the needle back in the haystack? And who would just leave a child like this? And what if finding her home was the worst thing   you could do?  Take Me Home is by Alex Hart.

Nowhere to be Found is by Louisa de Lange.  She found the body.  Now Lucy Barker is missing … Lucy Barker has disappeared, and her distraught husband Scott says he has no idea where she is.   But rumours abound about this seemingly perfect couple. Why is Scott behaving so strangely? And why was Lucy lying to him about where she went every Tuesday night?  Then, while investigating the recent murder of man found floating in a lake, DS Kate Munro learns that it was Lucy Barker who discovered the body and called the police.  Now she must find out if the two crimes are connected. Before Lucy's time runs out . . .

Also due to be published in October is the new John Rebus book entitled A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin.

November 2020

33 women...one big secret.  When sisters Celine and Pip get a call telling them their mother has died, the two women are forced to return to their family home in Arundel to pick up the pieces. But someone is missing - their sister, Vanessa, brutally murdered years ago and the victim of an unsolved .  . As the sisters confront ghosts from the past, the discovery of another body in the town throws new light on Vanessa's death. Could there be more to her case than the police first thought? And what do the mysterious women of Two Cross Farm, the women's commune in Arundel, have to do with it? What secrets are lurking behind their gates?  Two Crosses is by Isabel Ashdown.

Murder at the Castle is by M B Shaw.  After uncovering the mystery of the mill, amateur sleuth iris Grey returns with another crime to solve.

December 2020

Fool Me Twice is by Jeff Lindsay.  Riley Wolfe, the master thief and master of disguise is back with Fool Me Twice, with a bigger take and much higher stakes.  Can he steal a fresco in Rome, an actual painted wall, for the arms dealer who has captured him and threatened him in the most personal way?   If anyone can get away with it, it's Riley Wolfe. He's always liked a challenge, and there is nothing more satisfying than robbing, and perhaps even double-crossing, the rich!

Faith Diamond grew up on the wrong sides of the track.  With a family incapable of abiding by the law, her future is more about survival than dreams.  But then a series of prostitutes are murdered, necks broken and stripped naked , their only connection the pimp, Marshall Vella – a man connected in more ways than one with the Diamond family.  And Faith is forced to consider the possibility that the people in her life might be more evil than even she could ever imagined.   Loaded is by Niki Mackay

The List is by Cary Jones. Beth Belmont runs every day, hard and fast on the trail near home. She knows every turn, every bump in the road. So when she spots something out of place - a slip of white paper at the base of a tree - she's drawn to it.  On the paper are five names. The third is her own.  Beth can't shake off the unease the list brings. Why is she on it? And what ties her to the other four strangers?  Then she discovers that the first two are dead. Is she next?  Delving into the past of the two dead strangers, the truth Beth finds will lead her headlong into her darkest, deadliest and most dangerous nightmares...

January 2021

Buenos Aires, 2001:  the streets are overflowing with protestors, frustrated by the Government’s inability to face a mounting economic crisis.  Inspector Alzada is convinced of the futility of yet another doomed Argentinean attempt at democracy and is determined to remain a detached bystander.  But the disappearance of a woman from one of the city’s wealthiest families brings back painful memories of Alzada’s work in the Buenos Aires police force during the Dirty War of the 80s, a war that tore a nation apart and destroyed the inspectors family for ever.  Repentance is by Eloĺsa Dĺaz

The Wanted is by Holly Seddon. What would you do if you found your name on a hit list? And your late husband put it there?  Things go from bad to worse for Marianne when she discovers that not only has her seemingly ordinary late husband, Greg, been accessing the dark web, but that her name is also on a hit list on his laptop.  Marianne must figure out whether Greg was trying to protect her or whether he was complicit in the conspiracy to murder her.  As she is pulled deeper into an underworld that Greg was seemingly hostage to, she gets closer to meeting Sam – the assassin hired to kill her.