Books to Look Forward to from Atlantic Books and Corvus Press

July 2020

The Girl from Widow Hills is by Meghan Miranda. Everyone knows the story of the girl from Widow Hills. When Arden Maynor was six years old, she was swept away in terrifying storm and went missing for days. Against all odds, she was found alive, clinging to a storm drain. A living miracle. Arden's mother wrote a book, and fame followed. But so did fans, creeps and stalkers. It was all too much, and as soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and left Widow Hills behind. Now, a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden is known as Olivia. With the twentieth anniversary of her rescue looming, media interest in the girl who survived is increasing. Where is she now? The stress brings back the night terrors of Olivia's youth. Often, she finds herself out of bed in the middle of the night, sometimes outside her home, even streets away. Then one evening she jolts awake in her yard, with the corpse of a man at her feet.  The girl from Widow Hills is about to become the centre of the story, once again.

August 2020

The Viper is by Christobel Kent.  Forty years have passed since Sandro Cellini last set foot in La Vipera. But when two bodies are discovered on a hillside just south of Florence, he must come out of retirement to unravel the mystery. La Vipera, a strange, derelict farm house, was once home to a free-living commune, but nobody knows what shady activities took place there.  Now, Cellini hopes his investigation of the recent murders will shed light on the past. But in order to reach the truth, he must face traumatic memories of his own as he sifts through the chaos and lies.

The Nothing Man is by Catherine Ryan Howard.  I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man.  Now I am the woman who is going to catch him...  You've just read the opening pages of The Nothing Man, the true crime memoir Eve Black has written about her obsessive search for the man who killed her family nearly two decades ago. Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle is reading it too, and with each turn of the page his rage grows. Because Jim was - is - the Nothing Man. The more Jim reads, the more he realises how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won't give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first...

Clean Hands is by Patrick Hoffman.  Corporate Lawyer Elizabeth Carlyle is under pressure. Her prestigious New York law firm is working on a high-stakes case, defending a prominent bank that's been accused of fraud. When Elizabeth gets the news that one of her junior associates has lost his phone - and the secret documents that were on it - she needs help.

Badly.  Enter ex-CIA officer Valencia Walker, a high-priced fixer who gets called in when wealthy corporations, people and governments need their problems solved discreetly. But things get complicated when the missing phone is retrieved: somebody has already copied the documents, and now they're blackmailing the firm. The situation gets murkier still when stories about the documents start appearing in the press and a tragic suicide appears staged, hinting that darker forces may be churning below the surface. With billions of dollars on the line, Elizabeth and Valencia must outmanoeuvre their tormentors, all the while keeping their hands clean.  In a world of private security, private diplomacy and private justice, a sharply-drawn cast of characters - including dirty lawyers, black-market traders and Russian criminals - take part in this breakneck tour through New York. Authentic, tense and impossible to put down, Clean Hands offers a vivid perspective on the connections between corporations, government and the underworld.

October 2020

The Scarlet Code is by C S Quinn.  1789. The Bastille has fallen...  As Parisians pick souvenirs from the rubble, a killer stalks the lawless streets. His victims are female aristocrats. His executions use the most terrible methods of the ancient regime.  English spy Attica Morgan is laying low in Paris, helping nobles escape. When her next charge falls victim to the killer's twisted machinations, Attica realises she alone can unmask him. But now it seems his deadly sights are set on her.  As the city prisons empty, and a mob mobilises to storm Versailles, finding a dangerous criminal is never going to be easy. Attica's only hope is to enlist her old ally, reformed pirate Jemmy Avery, to track the killer though his revolutionary haunts. But even with a pirate and her fast knife, it seems Attica might not manage to stay alive.

November 2020

When a homeless man dies in a fire in London, film location scout Rachael Lambert is determined to find out his story.  Following the trail to country house hotel Hare’s Land in in West Cork, she uncovers a girl’s body.  But someone is trying to frighten her and fellow guest Caroline Kelly, away.  Then Hare’s Landing is set alight.  Will Rachael and Caroline discover the truth before one of them is killed?  The Dark Room is by Sam Blake.

After Twenty years of living on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Tamerlane’.  Facing threats to his life and family, Will must rely on the skills of his daughter to create a flawless forgery of the publication regarded as the Holy Grail of American letters.  Part mystery, part case study of the book trader’s seamy side and part homage to the writer who invented the detective tale, The Forger’s Daughter by Bradford Morrow portrays the world of literary forgery as diabolically clever, genuinely dangerous and inescapable to those who have ever embraced it.

Life Before is by Carmel Reilly.  She knew she should talk to him. But what could she say?
Once there had been blame to apportion, rage to hurl. Now she no longer had a sense of that. Who knew what the facts of them being here together like this meant. What was she to make of the situation? Scott lying unconscious here in this bed, unknown to her in almost every way. She a wife, a mother, but in her mind no longer a sister. Not a sister for a very long time now.  Lori Spyker is taking her kids to school one unremarkable day when a policeman delivers the news that her brother, Scott Green, has been injured and hospitalised following a hit and run.  Lori hasn't seen Scott in decades. She appears to be his only contact. Should she take responsibility for him? Can she? And, if she does, how will she tell her own family about her hidden history, kept secret for so long?  Twenty years before, when she and Scott were teenagers, their lives and futures, and those of their family, had been torn to shreds. Now, as Lori tries to piece together her brother's present, she is forced to confront their shared past-and the terrible and devastating truth buried there that had been driven them so far apart.

The Promised Land is by Barry Maitland.  Newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Kathy Kolla investigates a series of brutal murders on Hampstead Heath. Under intense pressure to find answers, she arrests the unlikely figure of Charles Pettigrew, a failing London publisher who lives alone on the edge of the Heath. Pettigrew's lawyer calls on recently retired David Brock for advice, and soon, unable to resist the pull of investigation, the old colleagues, Brock and Kolla, are at loggerheads. At the heart of the gripping mystery of the Hampstead murders lies a manuscript of an unknown novel by one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. Brock believes that its story will unlock the puzzle, but how?

Books to Look Forward to from Atlantic Books & Corvus.

January 2017

You went to bed at home, just like every other night. You woke up in the back of a taxi, 300 miles away. You have no memory of the last ten hours. You have a suicide note in your coat pocket, in your own writing. You know you weren't planning to kill yourself. Your family and friends think you are lying. Someone knows exactly what happened to you. But they're not telling.  Everything You Told Me is by Lucy Dawson.

All of a Winter’s Night is by Phil Rickman.  When Aidan Lloyd's bleak funeral is followed by a nocturnal ritual in the fog, it becomes all too clear that Aidan, son of a wealthy farmer, will not be resting in peace. Aidan's hidden history has reignited an old feud, and a rural tradition begins to display its sinister side. It's already a fraught time for Merrily Watkins, her future threatened by a bishop committed to restricting her role as diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Suddenly there are events she can't talk about as she and her daughter Jane find themselves potentially on the wrong side of the law. In the city of Hereford, DI Frannie Bliss, investigating a shooting, must confront the apparent growth of organised crime, also contaminating the countryside. On the Welsh border, the old ways are at war with the modern world. As the days shorten and the fog gives way to ice and snow, a savage killing draws Merrily Watkins into a conflict centred on one of Britain's most famous medieval churches, its walls laden with ancient symbolism. 

What Dark Clouds Hide is by Anne Holt. On a summer's day, Johanne Vik arrives at the home of her friends Jon and Ellen Mohr and was greeted by a scene of devastation: their young son, left unattended, has tragically fallen to his death. Meanwhile, Oslo is under attack. An explosion has torn the city apart and newly qualified police officer Henrik Holme is the only one available to attend the Mohr household. As Holme investigates, he casts doubt on the claim that the death was a tragic accident and calls upon Johanne's profiling expertise to understand what really happened. But neither realise that those involved are determined to hide the truth - no matter what. Before the summer is over, more shocking deaths will occur...

February 2017

It's been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend,

Corinne, disappeared without trace. Then a letter from her father arrives - 'I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl.' Has her father's dementia worsened, or has he really seen Corinne? Returning home, Nicolette must finally face what happened on that terrible night all those years ago. Then, another young woman goes missing, almost to the day of the anniversary of when Corinne vanished. And like ten years ago, the whole town is a suspect. Told backwards - Day 15 to Day 1 - Nicolette works to unravel the truth, revealing shocking secrets about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne.  All the Missing Girls is by Megan Miranda

Offline is by Anne Holt.  It has been eleven years since Hanne Wilhelmsen's life was forever changed by an assault that left her wheelchair bound. Now, Hanne's self-imposed exile is nearing its end. When Oslo comes under attack from Islamic extremists in a series of explosions, the city is left reeling. A militant group claim responsibility, but the Norwegian police force doubt on the authenticity of the declaration, and the group's very existence. The unfolding drama is brought to Hanne's door by her former partner Billy T., who is convinced that his son, Linus, is involved in the recent events. He begs Hanne for help. But Hanne soon learns that she cannot protect Linus, Billy T. or the people of Oslo. Those bent of destruction are one step ahead, and many lives will be lost before the truth is revealed.

October 1987: the morning after the Great Storm. Fifteen-year-old Tania Mills walks out her front door and disappears. Twenty-seven years later her mother still prays for her return. DS Sarah Collins in the Met's Homicide Command is determined to find out what happened, but is soon pulled into a shocking new case and must once again work with a troubled young police officer from her past, Lizzie Griffiths. PC Lizzie Griffiths, now a training detective, is working in the Domestic Violence Unit, known by cops as the 'murder prevention squad'. Called to an incident of domestic violence, she encounters a vicious, volatile man - and a woman too frightened to ask for help. Soon Lizzie finds herself drawn into the centre of the investigation as she fights to protect a mother and daughter in peril. As both cases unfold, Sarah and Lizzie must survive the dangerous territory where love and violence meet.  Death Message is by Kate London.

March 2017

Tess is visiting friends in rural Vermont when she is driving alone at night and sees a young,

half-dressed toddler in the middle of the road, who then runs into the woods like a frightened deer. The entire town begins searching for the little girl. But there are no sightings, no other witnesses, no reports of missing children. As local police point out, Tess's imagination has played her false before. And yet Tess is compelled to keep looking, in a desperate effort to save the little girl she can't forget.  Where I lost Her is by T Greenwood.

Every Man a Menace, is by Patrick Hoffman and is the inside story of an increasingly ruthless ecstasy-smuggling ring. San Francisco is about to receive the biggest delivery of MDMA to hit the West Coast in years. Raymond Gaspar, just out of prison, is sent to the city by his boss - still locked up on the inside - to check in on the increasingly erratic dealer expected to take care of distribution. In Miami, meanwhile, the man responsible for shipping the drugs from Southeast Asia to the Bay Area has just met the girl of his dreams - a woman who can't seem to keep her story straight. And thousands of miles away, in Bangkok, someone farther up the supply chain, a former conscript of the Israeli army, is about to make a phonecall that will put all their lives at risk. Stretching from the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia to the Golden Gate of San Francisco, Every Man a Menace offers an unflinching account of the making, moving and selling of the drug known as Molly - pure happiness sold by the brick, brought to market by bloodshed and betrayal.

Books to Look forward to from Atlantic Books and Corvus Publishers

The past never stays buried at Bliss House...Rainey Bliss Adams' perfect life came to an end one spring afternoon, when her husband was killed in an explosion that horrifically burned their fourteen year-old daughter, Ariel.  Desperate for a new start, she takes Ariel to live in the beautiful house in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains where the Bliss family has lived for over a century.  Once there, Ariel starts to mysteriously heal.  But as a series of tragedies begins to unfold, it becomes clear that a darkness lurks behind the dignified facade of Bliss House - one which will drive both mother and daughter apart, as each is forced to confront its evil on her own...Richly Gothic, creeping and dark, Bliss House is a haunting tale of loss, love - and the secrets our houses can keep. Bliss House is by Laura Benedict and is due to be published in January 2015.

The purest kind of detective story involves a crime solved by observation and deduction, rather than luck, coincidence or confession.  The supreme form of detection involves the explanation of an impossible crime, whether the sort of vanishing act that would make Houdini proud, a murder that leaves no visible trace, or the most unlikely villain imaginable.  Virtually all of the great writers of detective fiction have produced masterpieces in this genre, including Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, G.K. Chesterton, John Dickson Carr, Dashiell Hammett, Ngaio Marsh, and Stephen King.  In this definitive collection, Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler selects a multifarious mix from across the entire history of the locked room story, which should form the cornerstone of any crime reader's library.  The Locked Room Mysteries is edited by Otto Penzler and is due to be published in January 2015.

In Saint Paul, Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens and his sometime colleague FBI

special agent Carla Windermere witness the assassination of a local billionaire.  The shooter flees the scene, but not before the pair see his face - and the blank expression in his eyes.  Stevens and Windermere investigate and are led across the country, down dead ends and into long-forgotten cold cases, until they finally discover a chilling clue: a high tech murder-for-hire website.  It's a break in the case but only the beginning.  Who is the dead-eyed shooter?  Who recruits the assassins?  And who profits from the fee?  It is a race against the clock, and the killer has his next target in sight...  Kill Fee is by Owen Laukkanen and is due to be published in February 2015.

Rome’s Lost Son is by Robert Fabbri and is due to be published in March 2015.  Rome, AD 51: Vespasian brings Rome's greatest enemy before the Emperor.  After eight years of resistance, the British warrior Caratacus has been caught.  But even Vespasian's victory cannot remove the newly made consul from Roman politics: Agrippina, Emperor Claudius's wife, pardons Caratacus.  Claudius is a drunken fool and Narcissus and Pallas, his freedmen, are battling for control of his throne.  Separately, they decide to send

Vespasian East to Armenia to defend Rome's interests.  But there is more at stake than protecting a client kingdom.  Rumours abound that Agrippina is involved in a plot to destabilise the East.  Vespasian must find a way to serve two masters - Narcissus is determined to ruin Agrippina, Pallas to save her.  Meanwhile, the East is in turmoil.  A new Jewish cult is flourishing and its adherents refuse to swear loyalty to the Emperor.  In Armenia, Vespasian is captured.  Immured in the oldest city on earth, how can he escape?  And is a Rome ruled by a woman who despises Vespasian any safer than a prison cell?"

Nothing Sacred is by David Thorne and is due to be published in February 2015.  A mother's nightmare: her children taken from her, unexplained injuries all over their bodies.  Her only explanation: an evil visitation, the work of malevolent spirits.  Desperate for answers, she turns to Daniel Connell, lawyer and old flame.  But the truth he uncovers is more disturbing than they ever imagined.  From the mountains of Afghanistan to the dark heart of Essex, Daniel finds himself in a terrifying world where monsters are real - and nothing is sacred.

2013: A bomb goes off in As Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.  Veteran photojournalist John Hart and his beautiful Kurdish translator are caught in the blast – and the ensuing chaos.  1198: Johannes von Hartelius, ancestor of John Hart, discovers that the Copper Scroll, the most prized possession of the Knights Templar, has been stolen.  The code-written scroll is said to hold the secret of Solomon’s Treasures.  2013: Hart finds a secret message from his forbear inside the Holy Spear.  Is it possible that the mountain in Iran known as Solomon’s Prison holds the Copper Scroll?  Hart seeks to find out, echoing Von Hartelius’s epic battle, nearly one thousand years earlier.  The Templar Inheritance is by Mario Reading and is due to be published in April 2015. 

At a dive bar in San Francisco’s edgy Tenderloin district, Emily Rosario is drinking whiskey and looking for an escape.  When a mysterious and wealthy Russian approaches her, she thinks she has found an exit from her drifter lifestyle and drug-addict boyfriend.  A week later she finds herself drugged, disoriented and wanted for robbery.  On the other side of town, cop Leo Elias is broke, alcoholic, and desperate.  When he hears about an unsolved bank robbery, the stolen money proves too strong a temptation.  Elias takes the case into his own hands, hoping to find the criminal and the money before anyone else.  The White Van is the debut novel by Patrick Hoffman and is due to be published in January 2015.