Forthcoming Books from Orion Publishing

 January 2025

Notes on a Drowning is by Anna Sharpe. Alex knows she risks getting fired from her law firm if she takes on another unpaid case, but when she hears Rosa's desperate voice at the other end of the phone, she knows she has to help: the body of Rosa's shy teenage sister, Natalia, has been dragged, lifeless, from the Thames. Alex can't help but think of her own missing little sister. She knows how a lack of answers can eat you alive. Kat has worked hard to become Special Adviser to the Home Secretary, and is eager to finally put the dark and tragic part of her past behind her. But when she discovers a series of cover-ups, she begins to wonder whether her seemingly perfect new boss could be involved. Then she she's shocked to discover a letter that raises worrying questions about a girl found drowned in London... Natalia. There are complex and painful reasons for Alex and Kat not to work together, but when it becomes clear that there are powerful people involved in Natalia's death, and that other girls are at risk, Alex and Kat must overcome their differences to find answers. Will they save the girls and discover the truth? Or will the high-powered players in this game stop Alex and Kat for good?

Adrianna, heir to the multimillion dollar Kensington nightclub empire, is planning her dream wedding - a lavish ceremony funded by exclusive sponsors, on the Kensington's private tropical island Elysium. There's only one flaw in her perfect plans. Elysium holds traumatic memories as the place where she was kidnapped and held hostage for three days on her 21st birthday - a case that was never solved... When a bridesmaid is murdered the night before the dress fitting, it soon becomes clear that Adrianna won't be able to get hitched without a hitch. The body is staged in a gruesome display, chillingly reminiscent of Adrianna's kidnapping. When forensic expert Holly becomes embroiled in this alien world, the secrets that have dogged the bride and her bridesmaids since childhood start to come out. The answers lie on Elysium, if Holly can find her way into this playground of the rich and famous - and more importantly, if she can get out of it alive... The Bridesmaid is by Cate Quinn

The Time of the Fire is by Emma Kavanagh Northern California, end of summer. Fire Hazard Severity Zone: Very High. A mysterious death. On the anniversary of her mother's death, CEO-in-waiting Robyn Sandoval goes for a morning run. She knows her father - a local fire fighting hero - is desperate to speak to her, to tell her something he wants her to know before she starts her new job leading the corporation that owns most of their Northern Californian town of Destino. But when Robyn arrives, she finds him dead. A devastating fire. Meanwhile, after months of drought, a freak forest fire ignites on the mountain ridge looming over the town. Destino has never burned; its unique position protected by the seemingly insurmountable barrier of the ridge, a favourable wind direction, and a belief long held by the community that they are categorically safe. A life split in two. Robyn is shaken to the core by her father's death, and her life is shattered in two, the fabric of her reality shorn by the sheer force of her grief. The next time she wakes, everything is different: her father is alive, and there's no sign of the fire on the ridge. To understand what is happening, she has to confront not only the secrets of her past but both versions of her present. Because back in her world, the fire is spreading and the time to find answers is running out...

They've faked your child's death. And if you don't give them what they want, they'll make it a reality. Things have been difficult for annie since her husband left; her teenage daughter, Ifsla, has become a ghost of her former self. Annie's terrified that Isla might do something desperate, and she'll lose her, too. So when Annie receives a video of herself crying at Isla's funeral, her blood runs cold. Confused and horrified, Annie races upstairs to check on Isla, who is alive and well. The video has been faked. But who sent it and what do they want? One dark truth soon becomes clear: Annie is the latest in a string of parents being blackmailed, and Isla will be killed if Annie goes to the police or if she fails to give the sender what they want. Annie has a deadly choice: comply with the demands, or try to unmask the dangerous criminal. Your Child Next is by M J Arlidge and Andy Maslen

February 2025

The Naming of the Birds is by Paraic O'Donnell. 'Some wrong was done long ago. It can never be righted, and it has not been forgotten. Someone remembers it.' London, 1894. Inspector Henry Cutter is in an unconvivial temper. Then the murders begin. The first to die is Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but long-retired civil servant, is found dead amongst his beloved orchid collection, killed by a wound inflicted with surgical precision. Soon, other victims suffer similar fates. More men in powerful positions; more murders that are gruesome but immaculately orchestrated. The perpetrator comes and goes like a ghost, leaving only carefully considered traces. Hot on the tails of this invisible adversary are Inspector Cutter, along with his hapless but endlessly enthusiastic sidekick, Sergeant Gideon Bliss. But as the pressure mounts, victims will start to look like perpetrators, murderers like truth-tellers, long-hidden failings will come resurface, and not even their very selves are safe from suspicion.

It's New Year's Eve in Edinburgh when Emily sees Nicky. Or at least she thinks she does. He looks, laughs, and moves just like Nicky. But how can that be? Nicky died when they were teenagers, in an accident on a remote road up in the Highlands... didn't he? A week later, Emily sees the man again. He says his name Nicholas. This man not only looks like an adult version of her friend, but he also knows things that only Nicky should know. As her encounters with Nicholas become more frequent and her fixation intensifies, the truth becomes murkier, and more unsettling. Is Emily being haunted, is she going mad - or is something altogether darker going on... One Came Back is by Rose McDonagh.

March 2025

Decisions were made: I made them. Violence was done: I did it. Crime scenes were fled: I fled them. People were hurt: I hurt them. Someone was loved: I loved them. Not everything I did was bad. Just most of it. A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she'd be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles. Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for a weekly lesson at the Victors' Beverly Hills mansion to discover pure carnage: the bloody remains of Mr. and Mrs. Victor sullying their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help from within the walls of the family's estate.  Within moments, Evie and the woman go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives. Anointed the new Charles Manson by the press, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter hoping to spark a class war, Evie is finally someone. At the heart of a nationwide manhunt, Evie is desperate to clear her name. But first she'll have to break down the barriers of her new companion - who is inscrutable, surprisingly skilled at being on the run, and quickly becoming the most important person in Evie's upside-down life. Killer Potential is by Hannah Deitch.

The Grapevine is by Kate Kemp. Australia, 1979. It's the height of summer and on a quiet suburban cul-de-sac a housewife is scrubbing the yellow and white chequered tiles of her bathroom floor. But all is not as it seems. For one thing, it's 3 a.m. For another, she is trying desperately to remove all traces of blood before they stain. Her husband seems remarkably calm, considering their neighbour has just been murdered. As the sun rises on Warrah Place, news of Antonio Marietti's death spreads like wildfire, gossip is exchanged in whispers and suspicion mounts. Twelve-year-old Tammy launches her own investigation, determined to find out what happened, but she is not the only one whose well-meaning efforts uncover more mysteries than they solve. There are secrets behind every closed door in the neighbourhood - and the identity of the murderer is only one of them . . .Richly atmospheric and simmering with tension, The Grapevine is an acutely observed debut novel about prejudice and suspicion, the hidden lives of women, and how the ties that bind a community can also threaten .

What brings people together often throws them apart especially when it involves family. Ordinarily a close and loyal unit, the relationnships between detectives David Stone and Frankie Oliver is stretched to a breaking point when, without hwe knowledge he embarks on an investigation into the tragic open-unsolved murder of her sister. The past and present will collide with devastating consequences. A Truth More Painful than Murder is by Mari Hannah.

Murder at the Palace is by N R Daws. When one of the ladies in residence at Hampton Court Palace fails to answer her maid's call in the morning, Mrs Lydia Bramble, palace housekeeper, is called in to investigate. What Mrs Bramble finds sends shockwaves through the whole palace: Miss Philomena Franklin, slumped over her desk, a knife in her back.  With the police determined to bark up the wrong tree, Mrs Bramble decides to take up her own investigation with the help of Miss Franklin's maid. After all, as servants, they know just how many dangerous secrets and secret squabbles the genteel residents of the palace apartments harbour.

April 2025 

A Darker Side of Paradise is by R J Ellory. A masterful, gripping serial-killer thriller covering three killers over four decades, and the dogged police officer who tracks them down across small-town America. Rachel Hoffman enters a cat and mouse chasewith a shadowy killer who taunts her with passages from Dante's inferno. Over forty years of her life will be ripped apart and changed in her search for the truth. 

All Jay wants is to start again, to set himself up in a small, quiet town where no one knows him. Because here, no one will let him forget what they think he did the day his neighbour died in Flat 401. He just needs to keep doing what he's always done: treat people with kindness and respect, and try to stay out of trouble. But when a threatening note makes its way into the hostel he's forced to call home - Everyone is going to know what you really did - his hope for a fresh start begins to crumble. Jay fears that the secret he's fought so hard to hide, that he went to prison to protect, might finally come out. How far is he willing to go to keep his freedom alive? And with a shadowy figure from his past tracking Jay's every move, perhaps it's not just his freedom Jay should be worried about being taken from him, but his life... Flat 401 is by Kingsley Pearson.

The Castle is by John Sutherland. Alex and Pip are in desperate need of an escape. Their stressful roles as hostage negotiators are eased only by the fact that they get to come home to each other every night. When an old friend invites the couple up to the Scottish Highlands for an extended break, Alex and Pip jump at the chance. It's the rest they both need. But soon after they arrive at the castle, they hear the sound of gunshots, and their perfect escape turns into a perfect nightmare. The remote mountainous landscape is now the setting for a terrifying kidnap plot targeting one of the other guests. In the desperate hours that follow, Alex and Pip must call on all their years of negotiating experience to keep everyone alive. But with Pip gravely injured and the net closing in, it might be her life that needs saving most of all...

Venice is alive with the magic and bustle of Carnevale. A city of mysterious masks and gorgeous palaces, of riches, patricians, intellectuals and artists. And amidst it all, something new is being born: magnificent voices are soaring above the spires, astonishing costumes are being crafted, and audiences are being transported, for the first time, by the power of the Opera. And beneath it all: espionage, organised crime, and murder. Swordsman Richard Hughes has arrived on the banks of the Grand Canal looking for a simpler life, only to be plunged - alongside Phillip de Chambray, a remarkable woman unable to show her true self - into the thick of the murkiest, most dangerous European politics, at a moment when someone is trying to destroy the opera, and Venice itself. The Venetian Heretic is by Christian Cameron.

May 2025

Game, Set and Murder is by Judy Murray. Four close friends. One big secret. On a hot midsummer day in the Surrey countryside, close friends Kristin, Vee, Bibi and Hailey are celebrating their Ladies' Team victory at the exclusive Royal Oaks Tennis Club. But when their oh-so-charming coach, Jeremy, collapses after tucking into a carefully decorated sponge cake, it seems the season isn't just ending with a championship trophy - but with a murder. Off the court, it's clear that each of the four women has been keeping a dark secret, but surely no one would wish Jeremy dead? Or perhaps revenge truly is a cake best served cold...

You love your family. They make you feel safe. You trust them. But should you...? Exhausted mum Natalie struggles to put baby Erin down for the night, her tiredness exacerbated by the party preparations for her eldest's 16th birthday. It's supposed to be a joyful celebration, but the family is stretched to breaking point. As the alcohol flows at the birthday party, tensions come to a head. Later, there is widespread horror and panic when baby Erin disappears. Eventually the missing child is found in nearby woods, but any relief is short lived. Erin is rushed to ICU at the local hospital, a criminal investigation into her abduction and attempted murder begins. SIO Max Fleming tears this once loving family apart, as he investigates the crime. Minute by minute, hour by hour, he dissects the events of that fateful night, as a host of secrets and lies are revealed. This will be a party to remember. For all the wrong reasons. The Mistake is by MJ Arlidge and Lisa Hall 

June 2025

Death on Set (Location) is by Richard Coles. Canon Daniel Clement is back. In the spring of 1990, we return to Champton, where the characters we've come to love are all aflutter as a glamorous movie set takes over the village. As the actors don their bonnets, gowns and crowns, a murder interrupts filming on set - and it's an ingenious murder. Can Daniel solve the mystery with help from his sidekick Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo - even when things are so sticky between them?

Margate is in the grip of a heatwave when David Whitehouse stumbles across the mysterious story of a local woman who lived on the ground floor of Saltwater Mansions, a block of flats not far from the sea. On paper, Caroline Lane was unremarkable. She paid her mortgage every month. She always paid her bills. But nobody had seen or heard from her for 13 years, and no one had ever come looking. She had disappeared completely. David quickly becomes as fascinated by this missing woman as the residents of Saltwater Mansions, all of whom have their own theories to share, and their own unique stories to tell. As his obsession grows, David unearths vital clues that private detectives and amateur investigators alike have failed to spot. But the closer he gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that this mystery was never meant to be solved, and that some stories don't want to be told. What if this one was never about Caroline Lane at all? From acclaimed and award-winning author David Whitehouse, Saltwater Mansions is an astonishing work of creative non-fiction blending reportage and memoir to explore the extraordinary hidden lives of ordinary people, the impact of grief, and the dangerous allure of taking true crime stories into our own hands.

After an accident that nearly kills her, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a beautiful Dartmoor country house called Larkin Lodge. The house is gorgeous, striking―and to Emily, something about it feels deeply wrong. Old boards creak at night, fires go out, and books fall from the shelves, and all of it stems from the terrible presence she feels in the third-floor room. But these things happen only when Emily's alone, so are they happening at all? She's still medically fragile; her postsepsis condition can cause hallucinatory side effects, which means she can't fully trust her own senses. Freddie doesn't notice anything odd and is happy with their chance at a fresh start. Emily, however, starts to believe that the house is being haunted by someone who was murdered in it, though she can find no evidence of a wrongful death. As bizarre events pile up and her marriage starts to crumble, Emily becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Larkin Lodge. But if the house has secrets, so do Emily and her husband. And they live here now. We Live Here Now is by Sarah Pinborough.

July 2025

Into the Fire is by M J Arlidge. Nowhere to hide. No-one to turn to. Nothing to lose.Helen Grace is sure she made the right decision to quit the force. Until the day she looks out from her window to see a desperate young woman being beaten by two thugs. Still a force to be reckoned with, Helen races into the night and strikes the men down. For a moment, it feels like she doesn't need her badge to do good, but as she leads the girl to safety, she's struck from behind, regaining consciousness just in time to see the victim being dragged into a white van. Helen's determined to find the woman and save her, but even begging her former colleagues to help gets her nowhere. It's clear it'll be up to her alone to make the rescue. Taking matters into her own hands, Helen uncovers more women connected to the first who need her help. But fighting crime as a maverick is a dangerous game. One that could cost Helen her life, and the life of those she holds most dear...

At the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world. Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie's spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy. A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie is by James Lee Burke and is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.

Matchmaking for Psychopaths is by Tasha Coryell. Alexandra was expecting a nice evening with her fiancé for her birthday. Instead, her best friend is sitting next to her man, and what's worse: They're in love. To escape her relationship troubles, Alexandra throws herself into her job where she works as a matchmaker for psychopaths-a label that the clients themselves are unaware of-and becomes entangled with two of her most recent clients, both of whom have mysterious pasts that inspire Alexandra to breech work protocol and spend time with them outside of the office. One of them, Rebecca, becomes a candidate to take on the role of Alexandra's new best friend, while the other, Aidan, claims that he's her soulmate, despite her insistence that her significant other is going to return in time for their scheduled wedding. When her fiancé goes missing and threatening packages begin arriving at her doorstep, Alexandra has to figure out who is trying to target her and how it relates to her own dark past. Can she trust her instincts as a matchmaker or has she set herself up with her enemy?

When Isla Hanson's husband, Jerry, dies, leaving his entire estate to her, she knows she'll be set for life. But contrary to the belief of his wealthy friends and business associates, who all seem to think she was only ever interested in him for the money, Isla truly loved Jerry and struggles to imagine life without him. With no children of her own, and no real family to speak of, Isla is grateful for the support of her best friend, Tia. But when a strange woman and child appear at the funeral, Isla's entire world is turned upside down, and she is shocked to learn that the loving husband she dedicated fifteen years of her life to might have been living a double-life all along. The Child is by Mandasue Heller.

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - The Reverend Richard Coles

 Name:- Reverend Richard Coles

Job:- Author/Retired cleric/Broadcaster

Website:- Reverend Richard Coles | Official Website

Facebook: ReverendRichardColes

X: @RevRichardColes

Introduction

Reverend Richard Coles up until 2022 was a Church of England priest. Prior to this he was the instrumentalist half of the pop band The Communards. His first book in the Canon Clement series Murder Before Evensong was published in 2022 and was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards Crime & Thriller Book of the Year. His most recent book is Murder at the Monastery.   He is also the co-host of the podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives.

Current book (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing or both)

Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance

Favourite book:

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

Which two musicians would you invite to dinner and why?

Josef Haydn and Nana Mouskouri. I think they’d get on and they had/have impeccable manners.

How do you relax?

Watching niche stuff on YouTube

Which book do you wish you had written and why?

Middlemarch by George Eliot.  Life in all its loveliness and awfulness and quite a lot in between.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer.

Write every day. Doesn’t matter if it comes easily or stickily. Just write.

How would you describe your latest published book?

The winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.

With A Dance to the Music of Crime: the artful crime to murder being the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite albums?

The Smiths (The Smiths)

Last Leaf (The Danish String Quartet)

The Ring of the Nibelungen (Wagner)

If you were given the ability to join a band which would it be and why?

I would have loved to have played in the Burt Bacharach Orchestra. The maestro.

If you were to re-attend a concert which would it be and why?

Chaka Khan, NY 1987. Best I’ve ever heard, I think.

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?

Gossip and drinking with other writers.

Murder at the Monastery by The Reverend Richard Coles (Orion Publishing)

Daniel Clement has suffered a secret humiliation and to recover, takes respite at the monastery where he was a novice. But the monastery doesn't allow Daniel a break, for there are tensions building there too, as the secret past of novice master Father Paul is emerging. Tension mounts and a murder ensues. Meanwhile back at Champton, Daniel is the subject of village gossip, his mother Audrey is up to something again, there's trouble at the dress shop, up at the big house, and the puppies are running riot. Can Daniel be reconciled with detective Neil and solve the mystery?

A Christmas Novella Murder Under The Mistletoe will be published in October.

Murder Under The Mistletoe by The Reverend Richard Coles (Orion Publishing) October 2024

It is Christmas Day and at Champton Rectory, Canon Daniel Clement and his mother Audrey are joined by the residents and guests of the big house to drink, eat and be merry. At the festive feast, peace and goodwill prevail. Until two meet under the mistletoe. One of them falls down dead. And Daniel suspects murder has returned to Champton... Can Daniel and Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo solve the crime and catch the Christmas killer?

Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. #HCFW24

The Wrong Child and the Writer's Room

Writing is a lonely business. Despite feverish bouts of activity during literary festivals and inspiring one-to-one chats with readers at bookshop events, novel writing is essentially a solitary pursuit, the writer spending endless hours alone wrestling with the rigours of plot, character, theme and pay-off. But what if it wasn’t? What if you could lighten the load and banish the loneliness by teaming up with another writer, sharing and exploring all the major decisions about your new story together? Why not draw on the experience, inspiration and narrative nous of a pair of writers, fulfilling the maxim that two heads are better than one?

That was the thinking behind a major new Writers Room style initiative dreamt up by myself and publisher Sam Eades at Orion Fiction, which will see five co-written novels released over the next eighteen months, the first of which – The Wrong Child  - has just launched on Kindle, Amazon and in Waterstones. The genesis of the project was simple. We would take the kernel of an idea I’d had, then find an inspirational, story-savvy crime writer to climb inside it, then watch it blossom into something new and surprising. It was risky for sure – what if we didn’t get on, what if the ideas didn’t “take” – but the results have been exhilarating. Three novels are already in the bag, two more are on the way, and The Wrong Child, co-written with the amazing Julia Crouch, is already getting rave reviews on Good Reads, Amazon and beyond.

So why did we decide to do embark on this co-writing experiment? Partly it was to vanquish a common writer’s fear that good ideas will simply wither and die if left untouched and ignored in our computer files. But it was also a chance for me to explore new and exciting genres. I’m principally known for the DI Helen Grace series and for high concept, serial killer thrillers in general. The Writers Room initiative allowed me to explore unfamiliar worlds, taking bold steps into domestic noir, suburban suspense, twisty procedurals and nail-biting abduction thrillers. There is truly something for everyone in this collection of compelling, innovative mysteries and I loved exploring new worlds, new characters and new approaches to story-telling.

Once we’d decided on our top five ideas, our first job was to identify our crack team of co-writers. Aided by Leodora Darlington at Orion, we set about our task in earnest, spending many happy hours reading the very best of modern crime fiction. Before long, we had our five authors. Julia Crouch, the queen of domestic noir, Steph Broadribb, ex-bounty hunter and international best-seller, Andy Maslen, the prolific, hugely popular creator of the Gabriel Wolfe series, Lisa Hall, the undisputed master of jaw-dropping psychological thrillers and Alex Khan, a nailed-on star of the future, whose DS Mumtaz Ali thrillers had me teetering on the edge of my seat.

So how would this collaboration work? Friends and colleagues were immediately curious. Who would shape the story? Who would create the characters? Would we write one chapter each, firing them back and forth to each other in a blizzard of bodies, betrayals and bloodshed? Drawing on my background in television, I took on the role of producer and show runner, locking myself in a room with my fellow collaborators for an extended bout of “story bashing”, to use the official TV term. Hunkered down in the basement of Carmelite House, Orion’s HQ on the Thames, we set off on a gruelling but exhilarating series of one-to-one ideas sessions, during which we defined, shaped and mapped out our new novel.

The approach was similar on each, starting with a session designed to define the unique selling point of our story – the killer concept – before moving on to bespoke sessions exploring character, setting, plot and pay-off. An exhaustive – and occasionally exhausting – process for sure, but the endless pacing and “What ifs?’ allowed us to dig deeper, to go further in our pursuit of original ideas and surprising narratives. The instant response in the room – be it a big thumbs up or a quizzical “maybe” – is incredibly useful when shaping a new story, allowing you to junk unpromising notions, running instead with those angles and insights that inspire both of you. Writing is often a question of confidence and in the Writers Room a shared idea that electrifies both writers is a sure sign of good things to come.

Of course, the real benefit of co-authorship was revealed when we moved on from the planning stage to the hard graft of crafting chapters of tightly coiled prose. Time and again I was thrilled by the originality, personality, wit and personal experience that my co-writers brought to the table, taking an initial idea and bringing it to life in ways I would never – could never – have thought of. I could cite endless examples of this, but here I’d like to highlight Julia Crouch’s writing in The Wrong Child. A sinister tale of child abduction and dark family secrets, it introduces us to Sarah, a mother of three who’s struggling to bond with her new baby, following a difficult birth. Julia, with her eye for detail and trademark mordant humour, was able to capture the physical, emotional and psychological rigours of childbirth with an honesty, piquancy and wicked wit that would have been way beyond me. Happily, and appropriately, The Wrong Child is dedicated to Julia’s first grandchild, Frank, who arrived safely during the writing of the novel.

There are many more such stories I could tell, but instead I will let the new novels speak for themselves. Don’t miss out on The Wrong Child and brace yourself for Steph Broadribb’s chilling thriller, The Reunion, which will be released on September 5th 2024. Please enjoy them responsibly though, as they are seriously addictive…

 The Wrong Child by M J Arlidge and Julia Crouch (Out Now) Orion Publishing.

When 3-month-old Max is abducted, his parents are plunged into their worst nightmare. Devastated mum Sarah only took her eyes off him for a second, but that doesn't stop her guilt. Even husband Jake can't hide his anger that their little boy went missing on her watch. By contrast there are smiles and celebration at a caravan park in Lincolnshire, as baby Blaze is introduced to the Star family. Jenna and Gary are delighted with the new addition to their family. He is their fourth child and a real object of delight to their eldest - fifteen-year-old Willow - who once again will raise the child. But trouble is brewing for the Star family. Willow is concerned by the desperate online appeals from Sarah and Jake, baby Max has neonatal diabetes and without regular treatment will die. As baby "Blaze" becomes seriously ill, Willow makes a shocking discovery. What is the truth about her family? And how far will they go to hide their deadly secret?

 

 

Social, Cultural and Political climate of Victorian England

How the social, cultural and political climate of Victorian England combined to create a perfect storm of crime, murder and sensationalism.

Kim Donovan, author of The Mysterious Mrs Hood, provides the historical backdrop to her great -great aunt’s murder in 1900.

England 1898 --It has been ten years since Jack the Ripper terrorised the streets of Whitechapel, London. Charles Booth and his team of socialists have been working on a project to map wealth and poverty across the city since 1886, and have recently named Stockwood Street, which was home to Mary Jane and Herbert Bennett, as being one of the ‘lowest class’ streets in Victorian London. It was at this point that Mary Jane and Herbert made a choice: to turn to crime to escape poverty. Mary Jane’s desperate struggle for survival had begun.

Charles Booth’s work would eventually result in a colour-coded map of the city, which carved out and demarcated the poorest streets with thick black lines. Booth classified these areas as being home to the ‘lowest classes.’ The notebooks that accompany Booth’s poverty map add vivid detail about the social character of each street, which helps to give us a sense of the conditions in which people were living at the time. Stockwood Street, a dingy thoroughfare off Plough Street, near Clapham Junction, was described as being awash with ‘drunken, rowdy and troublesome people’. It is easy to imagine the danger that may have lurked on the ‘vicious and semi-criminal’ street after dark. It is no surprise, then, that a heavily pregnant Mary Jane would have urgently sought to liberate herself from these challenging social conditions.

The researchers documenting the conditions on London’s streets would at times be accompanied by the police officer for the district in which they were charting. It was a time when officers walked their beats. Forensic science was in its infancy, and the police still relied heavily on clues to solve crimes. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Scotland Yard had been set up ten years before, and plain clothed police officers, who had originally been thought of as ‘spies’ had made significant strides in winning the trust of the public. Despite this more robust police force, Mary Jane and Herbert would successfully evade the scrutiny of the authorities as they travelled across the country, graduating from fraud to theft, and eventually to arson, while leaving a trail of disgruntled people in their wake.

When relations between the couple eventually began to sour, it is unlikely that they would have considered divorce. Although legal by that time, divorce was expensive and brought with it great shame, especially for women. Mary Jane would have been dependent on her marriage for reasons of reputation, and she would have been reliant on her husband for money.

Despite the great swathes of black on Booth’s map of London, social conditions across the country were being to improve. The Bank holiday Act of 1871 had introduced four regular bank holidays, which gave workers more time for leisure activities, and the development of the railways made it possible to travel longer distances with more ease. Seaside resorts had begun to spring up, and Great Yarmouth in particular became a popular holiday destination. It was here, on a holiday with her infant daughter in September 1900, that Mary Jane would meet her tragic end.

This increase in leisure time coincided with a rise in literacy levels and the development of a more affordable and less regulated press, which, in turn, led to a dramatic rise in newspaper readership. The Victorians had a reputation for being avid consumers of violent entertainments, and a new-fangled form of journalism dubbed ‘Tabloid Journalism’, or ‘Yellow Journalism’ (in North America) had started to develop. Articles in this style had a focus on bold headlines, emotive writing and sensationalist stories. They were, broadly speaking, a development of the Broadside, a type of street literature that had been infamously sold at public executions in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The sensationalist reporting of crime was at odds with a legal system that required impartiality, and there were calls at the turn of the 20th Century to regulate the press through fear that sensationalist reporting would prejudice active cases. It was into this press that the story of Mary Jane’s murder found its way, and it was through a newspaper report that her father would learn of his daughter’s murder. The press whipped up such a frenzy around the case that the ensuing trial attracted attention from across the country and Mary Jane Bennett became a household name. She had escaped poverty, and her desperate struggle for survival had come to an end, but not in the way she would have hoped for.

The Mysterious Mrs Hood by Kim Donovan (Orion Publishing) Out Now

A true Victorian murder mystery... Great Yarmouth, September 1900: A young woman is found dead on the beach, a bootlace tied tightly around her neck. Despite her death attracting national attention in the press, nobody claims her. Detective Inspector Robert Lingwood of the Great Yarmouth police force declares he will not rest until the mystery of the young woman's death is solved. But it's only once the case has been referred to Scotland Yard that the layers of mystery start to peel away... 'Mrs Hood' was in fact Mary Jane Bennett, and this is her story. Following clues and tracking red herrings leads the police to close in on their one and only suspect. With arson, fraud, an affair and a sensation-hungry press, the murder gripped the nation in one of the most eagerly anticipated trials of the early twentieth century.

Kim Donovan can be found on X @Kim_Donovan_

Mari Hannah on the importance of Libraries

My journey to publication is somewhat unusual. I have no degree. No MA in creative writing. No background in journalism as many writers do. In fact, the opposite is true. I’m from an army family. We were transient. My education suffered as a result. I had minimal access to books as a child.

Packing up and moving on every couple of years or so meant that books were low down the priority list for my parents who, every couple of years, had to box up our lives for pastures new. They were seen as luxuries, rather than staples, in our house. Dragged from location to location, I spent a lot of time on my own, lonely, and yet trying to make new friends. I had good teachers, but encouragement without consistency can only go so far.

If I was lucky enough to get hold of a book from the library, I used to devour it, losing myself in its pages. Later, I used my imagination to make up stories of my own. Books, whether borrowed or self-written, became my friends. My passion for writing grew from that feeling of isolation.

Several decades on, I’m still striving to improve the vocabulary that should have been there when I left school. It’s why I visit libraries often to share my work and engage with readers. One of the greatest compliments I was ever paid was from a man who’d never read a book until he was given one of mine. He’s now an avid reader.

During the last twelve years, I have met thousands of library users. Next month, I’ll celebrate the publication of my fifteenth title, The Longest Goodbye. This milestone would never have been possible without their support.

The Longest Goodbye by Mari Hannah (Orion Publishing) Out Now

Lies Cost Lives. Three years ago, police officer Georgina Ioannau was murdered, her killers never brought to justice. Now the prime suspects have been shot dead within hours of their return to the UK. Has someone finally taken the law into their own hands? Seeking out the truth will force Kate Daniels to confront her own past mistakes, and put her career, and her team's lives, on the line.

More information about Mari Hannah and her books can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @Mariwriter

Cover reveal for All The Colours of The Dark by Chris Whitaker

 All The Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion Publishing)

A missing persons mystery, a serial killer thriller, and an epic love story - with a unique twist on each. Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of local teenager Joseph 'Patch' Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who is broken by her best friend's disappearance. Soon, she will eat, sleep, breathe, only to find him. But when she does: it will break her heart. Patch lies in a pitch-black room - all alone - for days or maybe weeks. Until he feels a hand in his. Her name is Grace and, though they cannot see each other, she takes him from the darkness and paints their world with her words. In this hopeless place, they fall in love. But when he escapes: there is no sign she ever even existed. To find her again, Patch charts an epic search across the country. And, to set him free, Saint will shadow his journey: on a darker path to hunt down the man who took them. Even if finding the truth means losing each other forever.

The video for the cover reveal can be found below.

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.

Forthcoming Crime Books from Orion Publishing

January 2023

She Had it Coming is by Carys Jones. 'Someone needs to bring her down a peg or two...' When Pippa's best friend goes missing on a school run, no one thinks twice. Heather is pretty, popular and more than a little wild. Most people think she ran away for the attention... Others say girls like her always get what's coming to them. Pippa's mother, Abbie, has never liked Heather. Or her mother Michelle, a successful doctor who thinks she's too good for the school mums' group. ut when Heather turns up dead, everything changes. Because Pippa was the last person to see her alive... and now Abbie's own house of cards is about to come tumbling down.

February 2023

Paris Requiem is by Chris Lloyd. 'You have a choice which way you go in this war...' Paris, September 1940. After three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the streets. But who is pulling the strings, and why? This question will take Eddie from jazz clubs to opera halls, from old flames to new friends, from the lights of Paris to the darkest countryside - pursued by a most troubling truth: sometimes to do the right thing, you have to join the wrong side...

The Only Child is by Kayte Nunn. 1949 - It is the coldest winter Orcades Island has ever known, when a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for 'fallen women' run by the Catholic Church. She and her baby will disappear before the snow melts. 2013 Frankie Gray has come to the island for the summer, hoping for one last shot at reconnecting with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before starting a job as a deputy sheriff. They are staying with her mother, Diana, at The Fairmile Inn, soon to be a boutique hotel, but when an elderly nun is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and then a tiny skeleton is discovered in the grounds of the house, Frankie is desperate for answers.

March 2023

On the Savage Side is by Tiffany McDaniel. Six women - mothers, daughters, sisters - gone missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this is the story of two sisters, both of whom could be the next victims. Arcade and Daffodil are twin sisters born one minute apart. With their fiery red hair and thirst for an escape, they form an unbreakable bond nurtured by their grandmother's stories. Together they disappear into their imagination and forge a world where a patch of grass reveals an archaeologist's dig, the smoke emerging from the local paper mill becomes the dust rising from wild horses galloping deep beneath the earth, and an abandoned 1950s convertible transforms into a time machine that can take them anywhere. But no matter how hard they try, Arc and Daffy can't escape the generational ghosts that haunt their family. And so, left to fend for themselves in the shadow of their rural Ohio town, the two sisters cling tight to one another. Years later, as the sisters wrestle with the memories of their early life, a local woman is discovered dead in the river. Soon, more bodies are left floating in the water, and as the killer circles ever closer, Arc's promise to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate - and the powerful riptide of the savage side more difficult to survive.

All That Is Mine I Carry With Me is by William Landay.A mother vanished. A father presumed guilty. There is no proof. There are no witnesses. For the children, there is only doubt. One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find the house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom's pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot. So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin? Investigators suspect Jane's husband. A criminal defense attorney, surely Dan Larkin would be an expert in outfoxing the police. But no evidence is found linking him to a crime, and the case fades from the public's memory, a simmering, unresolved mystery. Jane's three children-Alex, Jeff, and Miranda-are left to be raised by a man who may have murdered their mother. Two decades later, the remains of Jane Larkin are found. The investigation is awakened. The children, now grown, are forced to choose sides. With their father or against him? Guilty or innocent? And what if they are wrong?

The Last Highway is by R J Ellory. A sheriff investigates his own brother's murder, deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains... Estranged after a devastating betrayal, brothers Victor and Frank Landis - sheriffs of neighbouring counties - hadn't spoken for years. In truth, Victor didn't care if Frank was alive or dead. Until the day somebody killed him. Crossing county lines in search of answers, Victor is soon on the trail of a sinister conspiracy that takes him deep into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. From the poorest communities to the most powerful and corrupt organisations, he soon becomes ensnared in a dangerous web of drugs, trafficking and murder. For Victor, finding the truth will mean uncovering dark secrets he'd rather have left buried, and risking everything to protect the family his brother left behind...

April 2023

The House of Whispers is by Anna Mazzola. Sometimes the secrets of the past are more dangerous than the present... Rome, 1938. As the world teeters on the brink of war, talented pianist Eva Valenti enters the house of widower Dante Cavallera to become his new wife. On the outside, the forces of Fascism are accelerating, but in her new home, Eva fears that something else is at work, whispering in the walls and leaving mysterious marks on Dante's young daughter. Soon she starts to wonder whether the house itself is trying to give up the secrets of its mysterious past - secrets that Dante seems so determined to keep hidden. However, Eva must also conceal the truth of her own identity, for if she is discovered, she will be in greater danger than she could ever have imagined...

One last chance to become who we were supposed to be... The trip was supposed to be the perfect holiday. Six friends, reuniting after two decades, spending the weekend in a beautiful riad in Marrakesh. Only, these friends are linked by more than their university days. Together, they've kept a dark secret that changed the course of all their lives forever. And as the truth threatens to surface in the stifling Morrocan heat, they all begin to question what really happened that terrible night twenty years ago... The Trip is by Rebecca Ley.

May 2023

Broken Light is by Joanna Harris. A bold and timely novel that explores how women can feel invisible as they grow older- and what happens when they decide to take back control. Bernie Moon's ambitions and dreams have been forgotten by everyone else - including Bernie herself. At 19 she was full of promise, but now facing 50 and going through the menopause, she's a fading light. Until the murder of a woman in a local park unlocks a series of childhood memories, and with them, a talent that she has hidden all her adult life. What happens when the frustrations and power of an older woman are finally given their chance to be revealed?

Are you ready to save a life. Why her? Becca Palmer has just been fired from her job as assistant to Simon Jones - the Policing Minister at the House of Commons. But Becca claims Simon was more than her boss, that she is in love with him. Why here? So when a heartbroken Becca leaves Parliament for the final time, she decides to take matters into her own hands and head to Westminster Bridge to take her own life. Which is where hostage negotiator Alex Lewis meets her, to talk her down off the ledge. Why now? It's clear Becca knows something about the Policing Minister that she shouldn't. Something that could get him in serious trouble if it were to come out. But can Alex save Becca and get to the bottom of a conspiracy that goes deep inside the highest levels of government- before it's too late? The Fallen is by John Sutherland. 

June 2023

A Death in the Parish is by The Reverend Richard Coles. Canon Daniel Clement is back... It's been a few months since murder tore apart the community of Champton apart. As Canon Daniel Clement tries to steady his flock, the parish is joined with Upper and Lower Badsaddle, bringing a new tide of unwanted change. But church politics soon become the least of Daniel's problems. His mother - headstrong, fearless Audrey - is obviously up to something, something she is determined to keep from him. And she is not the only one.And then all hell breaks loose when murder returns to Champton in the form of a shocking ritualistic killing...

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.

Black Fell is by Mari Hannah. The truth can be hidden . . . but secrets always surface.The peace of Kielder Water is shattered when tourists open a barrel they found floating in the reservoir at dawn. Detectives Stone and Oliver are called to examine the skeletal remains inside.The tourists are eliminated from the investigation, but that same day a second body is discovered - this one with skin. Have the police let the killer leave the scene? While Stone investigates the remains, Oliver travels to Iceland to gather evidence and track down the tourists who have fled. Someone will do anything to protect the secrets of the past...

Welcome to The Starlings... sun, sea and neighbours to die for. Security, a sparkling sea view and the best kind of neighbours - The Starlings gated community has it all. Here, doors are left open, children run free, and at the heart of it all is the entrepreneurial Gold Family, who first dreamed up this aspirational vision of 'Dorset's Safest Community'. To the outside world the popular family appears glitteringly blessed... until an idyllic party takes a dark turn and one of their number is found slumped at the foot of the clocktower. Who knows what really happened? And what answers are harboured within the old building, the former Highcap Mother and Baby Home? Homecoming is by Isabel Ashdown. 

July 2023

Paris, a misty night a few days before Christmas: a young woman is saved from the waters of the Seine. She is naked, doesn't remember her name or how she ended up in the river, but is still alive. The mysterious woman is taken to the hospital - and then disappears in thin air. DNA testing reveals her to be celebrated concert pianist Milena Bergman - but that cannot be: Milena died in a plane crash more than a year before. As police captain Roxane begins to investigate, his fate becomes intertwined with that of writer Raphael Batailley, Milena's former boyfriend, and the two men are plunged deep into an impossible enigma: is it possible to be alive and dead at the same time? The Stranger in the Seine is by Guillaume Musso.

Consumed is by Greg Buchanan. On a lonely farmstead, a seventy year old woman falls down outside and, unable to move, is consumed overnight by two of her pigs. It seems like a tragic accident , except the woman was well-known photographer Sophia Bertilak – and inside her house, someone has removed all her photos from their frames seemingly erasing her past. The first photo sophia ever took remains her most famous, a missing girl who was never seen again. Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is darfted in for the autopsy – and slowly becomes obsessed with the victim, her family and the crimes she brought to light decades ago.

The Dead Wife by Sharon Bolton is a suspense thriller that begins when a chance extra marital liason goes disastrously wrong and an injured woman is trapped in a crashed car amid heavy snow. As she waits for a rescue that might never come, we learn more about her diffcult marriage to a high profile MP, her struggles to live in the shadow of his late wife, and the sinsiter secrets that they are all keeping.

Three 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 troubled 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 secret that binds the family together. The Short Straw is by Holly Seddon.