Forthcoming Books from Oneworld Publishing (Incl Point Blank Books)

January 2024

Hotel Arcadia is by Sunny Singh. Sam is a war photographer, famous for her hauntingly beautiful pictures of the dead. After a particularly gruelling assignment she checks into a luxury hotel, hoping to unwind with a few days of solitude. Abhi, the hotel manager, never wanted to be a hero; he just wants to avoid disappointing his father and brother any more than he has already. When they find five-year-old Billy alive under the bodies of his dead parents, Abhi and Sam are forced to work together to protect him from the mounting violence. As the threat of danger moves closer, the bond between this unlikely trio grows ever stronger. If they make it out alive, none of them will ever be the same.

February 2024

 

A Nye of Pheasants is by Steve Burrows. When a street brawl abroad turns deadly, Danny Maik faces a charge of manslaughter, but when evidence emerges that he may have planned the victim’s murder, he is looking at the death penalty. His only hope is reaching out to those he can trust back in the UK. In Norfolk, Maik’s replacement is trying to resurrect his career after a catastrophic error caused injury to a fellow officer. DCI Jejeune should be monitoring his new charge’s progress closely, but he is distracted by Danny’s plight. Others are watching, though, and they are disturbed by what they’re seeing. With the situation heading to a fatal climax, Jejeune must decide whether his duty lies with his old partner or his new. The fate of both men lies in his hands. But he can help only one.

March 2024

She closed her eyes, knowing that the moment he had a name, she would be unable to pretend any longer that this child was not her son. Ever since an ominous palm-reading on her honeymoon, Frankie has suspected that her youngest son, Michael, is different. From an early age he sees things no one else can. As he grows up – academically gifted, a musical prodigy and with an unshakeable religious faith – his mother can no longer deny there is something strange about him, or that it frightens her.   It is only when Frankie learns Michael is sliding into drugs and violence that she realises she can no longer ignore the past. But by confronting her destructive marriage and her own responsibility for all that has gone wrong, she begins to see there is something darker at play. A Proper Mother is by Isobel Shirlaw.

April 2024

Step forward Daphne Devine - you are about to change the course of the war  June 1940. As World War Two rages, Daphne Devine remains in London, performing each night as assistant to stage magician Jonty Trevelyan, aka the Grand Mystique. Then the secret service call. For, aware of Hitler’s belief in the occult, the war office has set up a hidden cohort to exploit this quirk in the enemy’s chain of command. Daphne and Jonty find themselves far from the glitz and glamour of the theatre, deep inside the lower levels of Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here, they join secret ranks of occultists, surrealists, and other eccentrics co-opted to the war effort. There is one goal: to avert invasion on British shores. Soon Daphne realises she must risk everything if there is any chance of saving her country… The Grand Illusion is by Syd Moore.

June 2024

The Vengeance is by Saima Mir. Two years into running her organised crime syndicate in the north of England, Jia Khan stumbles on a notebook her father - the previous Khan - kept on arrival from Pakistan in the 1970s. And what Jia finds in the journal sends her deep into the family's past. But once the sleeping dogs from those years are woken, they are set for attack. Meanwhile, Jia struggles to control unrest amongst those that oppose her. Worst of all, Jia must unravel a puzzling but terrible warning - one of her staff lies brutally slain, his corpse displayed in her garden despite her sophisticated security... Could a traitor be part of her inner sanctum?

CrimeFest Announces Bursary for Crime Fiction Author of Colour

 

Saima Mir has been announced as the first recipient of the CRIMEFEST bursary for a crime fiction author of colour.

Saima Mir’s debut novel The Khan was published by Point Blank in 2021 and is due in paperback this March. It was a Times and Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year in 2021 and has been longlisted for The Portico Prize.

Saima, who grew up in Bradford and lives in London, said: “

As a young girl growing up in inner city Bradford, I dreamt of being a writer, but didn’t see the names of women like me on the covers of books, or between them.  This bursary will allow me to be inspired by the company of seasoned storytellers, fulfil my childhood ambition, and to act as a beacon to other women who dare to dream of being published novelists, but fear the space is not for girls like them.”

One of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, the bursary will cover the cost of a full Weekend Pass to CRIMEFEST this May, a night’s accommodation at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, and a guaranteed panel appearance.

The winning entry for the bursary was chosen by CRIMEFEST organisers in collaboration with author Vaseem Khan, and the freelance crime fiction critic and CWA judge, Ayo Onatade.

Donna Moore, CRIMEFEST co-host, said: "We had incredibly strong entries, and we're thrilled to welcome Saima to CRIMEFEST and to give her the opportunity to introduce her compelling debut novel, with its fabulous protagonist, to an audience of new readers.”

 Hosted in Bristol, CRIMEFEST is one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, and one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors over four days.

Vaseem Khan, author of two award-winning crime series set in India - the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House crime novels set in 1950s Bombay - said: “Saima is a writer with a distinct voice, always fearless in challenging the status quo. She exploded onto the scene in 2021 with The Khan and will be warmly welcomed at CRIMEFEST.”

Three runners-up were also chosen to receive complementary passes to this year’s convention: Elizabeth Chakrabarty, Amita Murray, and Stella Oni.

Elizabeth Chakrabarty’s critically-acclaimed debut crime novel Lessons in Love and Other Crimes was inspired by her own experience of a serious race hate crime in the workplace. It was published by Indigo Press in April 2021.

Amita Murray writes murder mysteries with a feminist, multi-cultural edge. The first of her Arya Winters series - Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death – was published by Agora Books, an imprint of Polis Books, in 2021, and has been optioned for TV.

Stella Oni grew up in Nigeria. Her debut novel Deadly Sacrifice - a fast paced thriller, set in London and Nigeria and about human trafficking and ritualistic killing - was published by Jacaranda Books in September 2020.

Ayo Onatade, who works with Justices at the Supreme Court, and is a well-known blogger and critic, said: “I am delighted that Saima Mir is to be the first recipient of the CrimeFest Bursary. I look forward to seeing her take part in what is always a brilliant convention. I also hope that Elizabeth Chakrabarty, Amita Murray, and Stella Oni have a wonderful time at the convention.”

A 2020 study, Rethinking Diversity in Publishing by the University of London found writers of colour still don’t receive the same industry access, creative freedoms or economic value as their white counterparts. It also found each stage of the publishing process generally amplified the voices of white and middle-class people

Saima added: “I write about being British Asian, being Muslim, and being female, but all of this is incidental to the story. I hope that my readers come to understand that despite our surface differences, more unites us than divides us, and this learning happens in a whisper not a shout, as they are gripped and entertained by story.”

CRIMEFEST was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. It was established in 2008. It follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.

 CRIMEFEST takes place 12-15 May 2022 in Bristol  www.crimefest.com

 

Books to Look Forward to From Oneworld (Point Black - Crime)

 July 2021

Please God, don't let this be about Burrowhead...  An archaeological dig exposes a brutal history and a witness finally speaks. It seems the wickedness swirling in the harsh sea air of Burrowhead might be excised at last.  But before DI Georgie Strachan can lift the veil of evil, a black horse is slaughtered on an altar in the woods and human remains begin to surface. Sinister rituals connect past and present but no one wants to see, or tell, or hear, the truth. Soon Georgie must face the question: where do the missing souls of the village gather?  Where The Missing Gathers is by. Helen Sedgwick

Karolina or The Torn Curtain is by Maryla Szymiczkowa. Easter, 1895.The biggest event in the Catholic calendar is a disaster in Zofia Turbotynska's household. Her maid Karolina has handed in her notice and worse, gone missing. When Karolina's body is discovered, violated and stabbed, Zofia knows she has to investigate.  Following a trail that leads her from the poorest districts of Galicia to the highest echelons of society, Zofia uncovers a web of gang crimes, sex-trafficking and corruption that will force her to question everything she knows.  Set against the backdrop of the women's cause, Karolina, or the Torn Curtain refuses to turn a blind eye to the injustices and inequalities of its era - and ours.

October 2021

The Twelve Even More Days of Christmas is by Syd Moore.  With returning characters from the Essex Witch Museum series and a weirdly wonderful tale for each day of Christmas, these spooky stories are the perfect companion for long, dark winter nights. So wrap up warm and let yourself get lost in the world of the strange, the scary and the supernatural...

It only takes one... A murder.  A resident of small-town Visberg is found decapitated.  A festival.  A cultish hilltop community 'celebrates' Pan Night after the apple harvest.  A race against time.  As Visberg closes ranks to keep its deadly secrets, there could not be a worse time for Tuva Moodyson to arrive as deputy editor of the local newspaper. Powerful forces are at play and no one dares speak out. But Tuva senses the story of her career, unaware that perhaps she is the story...  Bad Apples is by Will Dean

Books to Look Forward to from Oneworld Publishers and Point Blank Books

September 2020

A Fatal Thing Happened on The Way to The Forum is by Emma Southon.  In Ancient Rome all the best stories have one thing in common - murder. Romulus killed Remus to found the city; Caesar was assassinated to save the Republic. Caligula was butchered in the theatre, Claudius was poisoned at dinner and Galba was beheaded in the forum. In one fifty-year period, twenty-six emperors were murdered.  But what did killing mean in a city where gladiators fought to the death to sate a crowd? Emma Southon examines real-life homicides from Roman history to explore how perpetrator, victim and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people. Inside Ancient Rome's unique culture of crime and punishment, we see how the Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human.

Cracow,1893. Desperate to relieve her boredom and improve her social standing, Zofia Turbotynska decides to organise a charity raffle. In a bid to recruit the patronage of elderly aristocratic ladies, she visits Helcel House, a retirement home run by nuns.  But when two of the residents are found dead, Zofia discovers that her real talents lie in solving crimes is solving mysteries.  Inspired by Agatha Christie and filled with period character and zesty charm, series opener Mrs Mohr Goes Missing vividly recreates life in turn-of-the-century Poland, confronting a range of issues from class prejudice to women's rights, and proves that everyone is capable of finding their passion in life, however unlikely their passion may seem.  Miss Mohr Goes Missing is by Maryla Szymiczkowa

October 2020

Secretly Rosie Strange has always thought herself a little bit more interesting than most people – the legacy her family has bequeathed her is definitely so, she’s long believed. The life takes a peculiar turn when the Strange legacy turns out just not to be the Essex Witch Museum, but perhaps some other worldly gifts that Rosie finds difficult to fathom.  Meanwhile Sam Stone, Rosie’s curator is oddly distracted.  Breadcrumb clues as to what happened to his missing younger brother and other abducted boys from the past are poised to lead him and Rosie  deep into the dark wood where something far scarier than Hansel and Gretel’s witch lies in waiting.  Strange Tricks is by Syd Moore.

In The Spotlight - Will Dean

Name:-  Will Dean

Job:- Author

Website:-  https://oneworld-publications.com/will-dean.html

Twitter:- @willrdean

Introduction

Will Dean is the author of currently two books in the Dark Pines series which have been optioned for a television series.  His debut novel Dark Pines was selected by Val McDermid for her New Blood Panel at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Dark Pines was also shortlisted for Not The Booker Prize and was the Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.  Dark Pines was also selected by Selected for ITV's Zoe Ball Book Club. The next book in the Dark Pines series is Snake River that is due to be published in January 2020.

Current Book

I read Mystic River by Dennis Lehane the week before starting draft 1 of Tuva Moodyson book 4. It was a big mistake. I wouldn’t recommend reading anything that brilliant immediately before writing something new. It’s not great for your confidence.  I have a copy of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite on my desk for when I finish this damn draft.

Favourite Book

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I re-read it every year. A masterpiece.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Merricat Blackwood (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of The Lambs). I’d like to watch them eat. Listen to them talk. Observe them.

How do you relax?

Reading and chopping wood.

What book do you wish you’d written and why?

The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark. Because it’s so bloody good. So unsettling.

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

Be patient. Read even more than you already do. Read more diverse books. Don’t eat the lounge food at Gothenburg Airport in February 2018.

How would you describe your series character?

Tuva Moodyson is young, deaf, ambitious, city-loving, acidic, complex, fiercely loyal, and terrified of the great outdoors. 

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Red Snowby Will Dean (Published by Point Blank)

Two bodies. One suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? And who's really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?  Two coins. Black Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man's eyes. The hashtag #Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.  Two weeks. Tuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who's to say the Ferryman will let her go?

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Snake River by Will Dean (Published by Point Blank, January 2020)

Snake River is the third thriller in the Tuva Moodyson series, featuring deaf reporter Tuva Moodyson. After living clean in southern Sweden for several months, Tuva receives a life-changing phone call – her best friend Tammy has gone missing and police fear she’s been kidnapped – and Tuva must return to her home town to help the investigation.

 Information about 2019 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book tickets can be found here.

Books to Look Forward to From Oneworld (Pointblank)

January 2019

Two Bodies - One suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? And who's really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?  Two Coins - Black Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man's eyes. The hashtag #Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.  Two Weeks -Tuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who's to say the Ferryman will let her go?  Red Snow is by Will Dean.

February 2019

A psychopathic former Israeli spy, Agent 10483 is busy trying to shut down the spy organisation he once worked for. At the same time, he is plotting his revenge on the individuals he deemed responsible for betraying him, and trying to hunt down a nuclear warhead.  It cannot end well.  Everyone wants to get their hands on him: the Organisation, two assassins working for Herr Schmidt, who is also trying to get hold of the warhead, and Carmit, who has quite literally been messing with his brain.  Offering a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into the technology of high- level intelligence operations, Nir Hezroni's dark thriller Last Instructions is a chilling exploration of a dark psychotic killer.

March 2019

It took sacrifice, pain, and more than a few dead bodies, but Lola has clawed her way to the top of her South Central Los Angeles neighbourhood. Her gang has grown beyond a few trusted soldiers into a full-fledged empire, and the influx of cash has opened up a world that she has never known. But with great opportunity comes great risk, and as Lola ascends the hierarchy of the city's underworld she attracts the attention of a dangerous new cartel who sees her as their greatest obstacle to dominance. Soon Lola finds herself sucked into a deadly all-out drug war that threatens to destroy everything shes built. But even as Lola readies to go to war, she learns that the greatest threat may not be a rival drug lord but a danger far closer to home: her own brother. American Heroin is by Melissa Scrivner Love.

The Unmourned is by Meg and Tom Keneally.  Not all murder victims are mourned... For Robert Church, superintendent of the Parramatta Female Factory, the most enjoyable part of his job is access to young convict women. Inmate Grace O'Leary has made it her mission to protect the women from his nocturnal visits and when Church is murdered with an awl thrust through his right eye, she becomes the chief suspect.  Recently arrived from Port Macquarie, ticket-of-leave gentleman convict Hugh Monsarrat now lives in Parramatta with his ever-loyal housekeeper Mrs Mulrooney. Monsarrat, as an unofficial advisor on criminal and legal matters to the governor's secretary, is charged with uncovering the truth of Church's murder. Mrs Mulrooney accompanies him to the Female Factory, where he is taking depositions from prisoners, including Grace, and there the housekeeper strikes up friendships with certain women, which prove most intriguing.  Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney both believe that Grace is innocent, but in this they are alone, so to exonerate her they must find the murderer. Many hated Church and are relieved by his death, but who would go as far as killing him?

April 2019

The Chemical Detective is by Fiona Erskine.   Dr Jaqueline Silver blows things up to keep people safe. Dr Jaq Silver. Skier, scientist, international jet-setter, explosives expert.  Working on avalanche control in Slovenia, Jaq stumbles across a problem with a consignment of explosives. After raising a complaint with the supplier, a multinational chemical company, her evidence disappears. Jaq is warned, threatened, accused of professional incompetence and suspended. Taking her complaint to further, she narrowly escapes death only to be framed for murder. Escaping from police custody, she sets out to find the key to the mystery.  Racing between the snowy slopes of Slovenia and the ghostly ruins of Chernobyl, can she uncover the truth before her time runs out?

Cracow, 1893. Thirty-eight-year-old Zofia Turbotynska has assured her husband's rise through the ranks to university professor and is now looking for something to fill her long days at home. To stave off the boredom and improve her social standing, she decides to organise a charity raffle. To recruit the requisite patronage of elderly aristocratic ladies, she visits Helcel House, a retirement home run by nuns.  When two of the residents are found dead, Zofia discovers by chance that her real talents lie in solving crimes. The examining magistrate's refusal to take seriously her insistence that foul play is involved spurs her on to start her own investigation, recruiting her quick-witted servant Franciszka as her assistant. With her husband blissfully unaware of her secret activities, Zofia ruthlessly follows the clues and gradually closes in on the truth.  Drawing on Agatha Christie and filled with period character and charm, Mrs Mohr Goes Missing is by Maryla Szymiczkowa and vividly recreates life in turn-of-the-century Poland, confronting a range of issues from class prejudice to women's rights, and proving that everyone is capable of finding their passion in life, however unlikely it may seem.

May 2019

Strange Tombs is by Syd Moore.  Halloween in Essex, and things are going well for the writers on the Mystery and Suspense course at old Ratchette Hall. Things however take a

turn when early on All Saints Day the course administrator is discovered murdered in the hall. Why would anyone, dead or alive, want to kill mild-mannered Graham?  The Essex Witch Museum investigators are quickly drafted in. As Rosie Strange and Sam Stone's investigation progresses they find more questions than answers: who is making the unearthly howling noises late into the night? What is the strange glimmering glimpsed in the woods about the Hall? Why is one of the church crusaders missing a finger? And what of the enigma of the ancient empty tomb? When another one of the writers turns up dead the pair must use their experience of folklore, mystery and magic as well as their wits to solve the mystery before the body count grows.

June 2019

If only death came with a warning…  Flirtatious American blonde, Miss Hailey Duke, should never have accepted a summer weekend invitation to Fontaburn Hall. But when the Honourable Archibald Cooke Wellingham’s gentrified house party are woken, in the early hours of Sunday morning, it’s too late: Miss Duke’s blood is on their hands.  With the aid of well-mannered Detective Chief Inspector Reynolds, intelligent Sergeant Ayari and loyal friend Dr Toby Cropper, Susie Mahl, on a timely commission drawing six racehorses nearby, seizes the opportunity to play detective for a second time. Her inquisitive nature, tenacity for truth and artist’s eye for detail make her ideally suited to the task in hand, but is she getting carried away by her previous triumph - even to the extent of endangering her reputation and her burgeoning relationship with Toby?  The Colours of Murder is by Ali Carter.

The Van Apfel Girls are Gone is by Felicity McLean.  'We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of some half-remembered song and when one came back, she wasn't the one we were trying to recall to begin with.' Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long hot summer of 1992, growing up in a distant suburb in Australia surrounded by encroaching bushland. That summer, the hottest on record, was when the Van Apfel sisters - Hannah, the beautiful Cordelia and Ruth - mysteriously disappeared during the school's Showstopper concert, held at the outdoor amphitheatre by the river. Did they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters unites the small community, the mystery of their disappearance has never been solved. Now, years later, Tikka has returned home, to try to make sense of that strange moment in time. The summer that shaped her. The girls that she never forgot.