Penguin Modern Classics to publish three Eric Ambler novels

On 26th January 2023, Penguin Modern Classics will publish three wildly enjoyable novels from the father of the spy thriller, Eric Ambler: Passage of Arms, The Light of Day and A Kind of Anger. Ambler is often said to have invented the modern suspense novel, and his disciples include John le Carré, Alfred Hitchcock, Graham Greene and Len Deighton. These are a must-read for fans of the genre.

Eric Ambler (1909-98) was born in London to parents who were part-time entertainers. He studied engineering but left college without taking a degree and became a copywriter in the advertising industry. Between 1937 and 1940, he published his great anti-fascist spy thrillers: Uncommon Danger, Epitaph for a Spy, Cause for Alarm, The Mask of Dimitrios, and Journey into Fear. In 1940, he joined the Royal Artillery and was later transferred to the army film unit. After the war he worked as a screenwriter in England and Hollywood and married his second wife, a leading Hollywood producer. Passage of Arms, The Light of Day and A Kind of Anger are his post-war novels.

A Kind of Anger

The last time anyone saw Lucia Bernardi, she was driving at top speed away from a Swiss villa - leaving the body of her murdered Iraqi lover behind. Now she has vanished, along with a potentially explosive set of papers, and disgraced journalist Piet Maas has been sent to follow her trail to the South of France. But finding her is just the start of his problems. Soon, amid a cast of con men, secret agents and revolutionaries, he must decide whether to land the scoop of his lifetime - or follow Lucia into ever more dangerous waters.

A Passage to Arms

An Indian clerk, Girija Krishnan, sees the opportunity of his lifetime when he stumbles on an abandoned cache of arms hidden in the Malayan jungle. If he can sell the weapons, he will be able to achieve his lifelong dream of owning a bus company - although the penalty for gun-running is death. Soon his decision becomes the catalyst for a chain of events involving an entrepreneurial Chinese family, a corrupt Colonel and, finally, a naïve couple of American tourists who find themselves horribly out of their depth.

The Light of Day

Small-time hustler Arthur Abdel Simpson ekes out a living in Athens by robbing gullible tourists. But when an attempted theft backfires, he finds himself out-smarted and blackmailed into driving a highly suspicious car across the border to Istanbul. Then the Turkish secret police get involved, and Simpson becomes embroiled in something far deeper, and more dangerous, than he could imagine. Featuring a heart-stopping jewel heist, this compulsive, morally complex thriller became the basis for the classic filmTopkapi.

Call For Papers: Teaching Crime Fiction as Creative Writing: Call for Submissions

 

As crime fiction continues to dominate sales and its critical reception grows, it has become an increasingly important part of Creative Writing courses. At the same time, Creative Writing is going from strength to strength as an academic discipline, and a program of study in schools and other learning spaces.

Are you teaching crime, detective, or mystery fiction as a creative discipline? Have you expanded teaching it as a literary or sociological phenomenon to incorporate creative elements? Have you come from a creative background to incorporate the practice of writing crime and detective fiction? What has changed about your approach in recent years, and what changes do you anticipate?

Clues: A Journal of Detection is looking for 500-750 word contributions for a new regular feature for the journal, a forum on teaching. The topic will change each year. Accounts from all classroom spaces (college, high school, graduate school, prisons, etc.) and teachers at all stages of their careers are welcome. Student voices are also welcome!

Submissions are due February 1, 2023. For more information or to submit essays, please contact Jamie Bernthal- Hooker (j.bernthal-hooker@uos.ac.uk).

Forthcoming Crime Books From Michael Joseph

 January 2023

The Drift is by C J Tudor. Survival can be murder... During a deadly snowstorm, Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. Evacuated from a secluded boarding school, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors. Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She's in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board. Carter is gazing out of the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, the threat of something lurking in the chalet's depths looms larger. Outside, the storm rages. Inside one group, a killer lurks. But which one? And who will make it out alive?

Blood is thicker than water . . . and murder is best kept in the family. At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the arrival of medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate's messages from the Beyond give their dreams hope, and her mother's potions cure their ills - for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut they offer to a better life. And why shouldn't Kate's family prosper? They're careful. It's only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh. But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft - or vanish themselves . . .All the Blood We Share is by Camilla Bruce.

You Should Have Told Me is by Leah Konen. When Janie and Max welcomed their newborn daughter, they hoped life would be complete. But six weeks in, Janie is sleep-deprived and struggling to adjust - she relies on Max more than ever. Until the night he doesn't come home. Alone with her baby and desperate for answers, Janie searches for Max. But when a woman's body is found, his disappearance raises serious alarms - for Janie, and for the police. The harder she looks for him, the more Janie realises how much Max has been hiding. And when it becomes clear he's the prime suspect in the murder, Janie faces an awful question: How much does she really know about the man she loves? . . 

February 2023

As a child, Evan Smoak was plucked out of a group home, raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program and went deep underground, he left with a lot of secrets in his head that the government would do anything to make sure never got out. When he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, Evan found himself slowly back on the government's radar. Having eliminated most of the Orphans in the program, the government will stop at nothing to eliminate the threat they see in Evan. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of his pursuers. Until he makes one little mistake . . . Now the President has him in her control and offers Evan a deal - eliminate a rich, powerful man she says is too dangerous to live and, in turn, she'll let Evan survive. But when Evan left the Program he swore to only use his skills against those who really deserve it. Now he has to decide what's more important - his principles or his life. The Last Orphan is by Gregg Hurwitz.

March 2023

The Half Burnt House is by Alex North. Katie always looked after her beloved younger brother Chris - until she left him alone for one selfish afternoon, and their picture-perfect family fell apart. Although Chris survived the attack, the scars ran deeper than the ones left across his face. Now they're adults, and they haven't spoken in years. Then she gets a call, from Detective Laurence Page. Page is facing an unusually disturbing crime scene. Alan Hobbes, a distinguished and wealthy philosophy professor, has been brutally murdered. Hobbes was living in a sprawling mansion - but one that remains half-ruined by a decades-old fire, wind and rain howling through the gaping, creaking roof. Page only has one suspect: Chris, caught on CCTV at the house. But he has plenty of questions. What could cause a man as wealthy as Hobbes not to repair his home? Why did he seem to know his death was coming, yet do nothing to stop it? And why was he obsessed with a legendary local serial killer? But Katie only has one thing on her mind. She knows this is her last, best chance to finally save her brother, and make up for her negligence all those years ago. But she can't possibly imagine just how much danger he's in...

April 2023

Aisling's two sons, Ethan and Finn, mean everything to her. Ever since becoming estranged from her own parents, though, she's always felt like a piece of her is missing. Desperate to find answers - about her family, and herself - Aisling uploads her DNA to an ancestry website, and is thrilled when it finds a match. But instead of finding answers, she comes face to face with a detective. Aisling's DNA is a match for a recent crime scene - the latest in a string of murders by a dangerous serial killer, known as 'the bonfire killer'. And the police have three lead suspects: her father, or one of her two sons. Aisling would do anything for her family - but can she protect a killer? A Killer in the Family is by Gytha Lodge.

May 2023

Just Another Missing Person is by Gillian McAllister. Olivia: 22 years old. No history of running away. Last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again. Missing for one day and counting . . . Julia is the detective heading up the case. She knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her daughter. But Julia has no idea how close to home it's going to get. Because her family's safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia - and must frame somebody else for her murder . . . What would you do?

Vienna, 1946 A brilliant German scientist spirited out of the ruins Nazi Europe in search of a new life. Moscow, 1964 A rising star of the British diplomatic service whose job is not what it seems. London the Present day. A once promising academic offered an opportunity to seal his place in history. Their stories, their lives, and the fate of the world, are bound by a single document: The Scarlet Papers. The devastating secrets contained within teased by a brief invitation: Tomorrow 11AM. Take a cab and pay in cash. Tell no one. The Scarlet Papers is by Matthew Richardson.

June 2023

The Last Goodbye is by Tim Weaver. One day ago … On the night Tom Brenner and his nine-year-old son Leo visit the Seven Peaks theme park, they head straight for the ghost house. They go in. But they don't come out. Somewhere inside the ride, impossible as it seems, the two of them simply vanish. Forty Years ago....When Rebekah Murphy was three, her mother walked out of their childhood home and never returned. Nearly four decades on, Fiona Murphy is still missing. But then, out of the blue, a letter arrives in the post. It says it's from Fiona. What is the connection? Missing persons investigator David Raker is hired by Rebekah to find out if the letter is actually from Fiona - and, if it isn't, why someone would pretend to be her. But this is a mystery whose secrets were never meant to be found. And as Raker starts to connect the dots from Fiona to the Brenners, he begins to realise he can't trust anyone - even the people closest to him...

When she's gifted a once-in-a-lifetime Antarctic cruise, Olivia has never been anywhere so spectacular. Huge cliffs of ice loom up to the sky. The sun never sets over the sparkling sea. And there's a killer on board... Unable to sleep in the endless eerie daylight, Olivia has no idea who she can trust. And if she can't figure it out soon, she won't make it back alive. Midnight is by Amy McCulloch.

Night Will Find You is by Julia Heaberlin. Vivvy Bouchet saved a boy's life when she was a child, after a premonition. That boy is now a Texas police officer, who has always believed Vivvy is psychic. He convinces her to help him solve a high-profile cold case: three-year-old Lizzie Solomon disappeared in broad daylight from her home. A body was never found, but the child's mother, Nicolette, is in prison for the disappearance, loudly proclaiming her innocence. When a popular podcaster hears of Vivvy's involvement in the case, his conspiracy theories about the missing child, and Vivvy too, have an army of fans hanging on every dangerous word. But when it becomes clear there may be a kidnapper - or killer - still on the loose, Vivvy knows there's more to lose than her reputation. Because the difference between the truth and a lie can mean life or death . . .

January Books From Bookouture

The Stay-At-Home Mother is by Nicole Trope. Her chest tightens, her heart speeding up. The kitchen is chaos. She steps on something hard, and looks down. Toy dinosaurs are scattered everywhere. But her son is nowhere – her baby boy is gone. The police arrive. She can’t look at her husband. Instead, she studies the network of lines on her shaking hands. Then her phone beeps with a voice message. ‘Listen to it on speaker,’ says the detective. A woman’s voice fills the air. ‘I’m assuming this is the Andrea Gately listed as a contact on the Missing Children of the World website. I’m calling to let you know that I’ve given your details to the police. Why are you using a picture of my son on a missing children’s website? Why are you using it and where did you get it?’

What if the chance of a perfect life… put your daughter in grave danger? Being a single mother is tough, but I’d do anything for my little girl Scarlet. I’d given up on my career as a voice actor when the call came, but suddenly I was the new narrator for a secret book from bestselling author Philippa Roberts, who has been missing for eight months. It was a lifeline for me and my daughter. I hated that it meant leaving Scarlet with my ex in his perfect new home with his perfect new girlfriend. But I knew it was the right thing to do. But as I start reading Philippa’s new novel, I start to wonder if it’s no coincidence that I’ve been chosen to narrate it. There’s something hidden in the pages of this book, I’m sure of it. Some clue to Philippa’s disappearance. And I don’t feel safe. I think I’m being watched. My room has been searched. And then my ex’s girlfriend calls in tears and everything starts to click together. If I don’t find answers fast, I’ll lose more than my second chance. I’ll lose my daughter. The Narrator is by K L Slater.

The Engagement is by Samantha Hayes. You thought you had escaped him. Until he proposed to your daughter. ‘There’s someone I want you to meet,’ Belle says, as a man draws up to her side. He’s tall with dark hair and stubble on his square jaw. He’s not exactly smiling, but the corner of his mouth curls upwards as he slides his hand around my daughter’s waist. I grab my husband’s arm to steady myself, as the room spins around me. I stare into the man’s eyes – jet black. Nothing and everything hidden behind them. Fear prickles my skin as I remember what he did. How I only just escaped. All the lies I’ve had to tell since. ‘I want you to meet Jack,’ Belle says, brimming with excitement. ‘He’s my fiancé.’ She rests her head on his shoulder. ‘Isn’t it exciting? We’re engaged!’ Fear hammers in my chest. I have to stop this. My daughter’s life is in danger, and it’s all because of me…

I emerge from the trees, drenched in sweat, my voice lost as I take in the scene in front of me. The blood. The body. Emma’s eyes meet mine for a second. “It was an accident,” she whispers. Emma and I were childhood best friends. We did everything together. Until that terrible night in the woods. I couldn’t tell anyone what I’d seen. We never discussed it, but our bond was too strong; I could never betray my best friend. Even if she had killed someone. But I also couldn’t stay in town and watch her live a normal life, knowing what she’d done. So I left. Now, ten years later, I’m back. The guilt and the fear have stayed with me. And I have realized I need to reveal the truth if I’m ever going to move on. But I never get the chance. Because the day I turn up, Emma is found dead, and the way she died means I start to doubt everything I thought I knew about that night all those years ago. As my grief turns to anger at all those lost years of friendship, I realise with horror that Emma might not have been the only killer. Someone else is out there. Someone who was close to us both, someone who knew the smallest details of what had happened back then. Who from our small town could have murdered not once, but twice? And who’s next…? Best Friends Forever is by Shannon Hollinger.

Only Girl Alive is by Holly S Roberts. As day breaks over the Tanner family home, the house is deadly silent and the door is firmly closed. Upstairs, the whole family lie cold and lifeless in their beds. All with the same look of fear in their unblinking eyes… Detective Eve Bennet takes a steadying breath as she enters the main bedroom of the Tanners’ modest home in the tight-knit town of Hilldale, Utah. Mrs Tanner’s high-collared nightgown and her long plaited blonde hair are soaked in blood. Next to her, Mr Tanner’s hands are clasped together in a final prayer. Filled with dread, Eve forces herself towards the children’s rooms. But instead of two children, she only finds one. Where is the youngest daughter, Hannah? And why are there long scratches across the walls? Eve tracks Hannah down to her uncle’s house nearby. But he won’t let her step foot in the house. Eve knows what it’s like to be held captive by a family member, and fears for Hannah’s safety. What is he terrified Hannah might reveal? Back at the Tanner home, Eve makes a shocking discovery in the dust covered attic. Mr Tanner was hiding a dark secret from the rest of the community—the kind of secret someone would kill for. Realizing another family could be in danger, Eve runs from the house and stumbles into the path of the one man she spent years trying to forget— and he won’t let her get away this time. Can Eve escape the evil that has haunted her whole life? And will she catch the killer before another innocent family is murdered?

On a warm spring evening, guests gather in a perfectly manicured garden to celebrate Maggie and Len’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Maggie leans against the apple tree, watching her fun-loving husband and darling children as her heart swells with pride. As the joyful party atmosphere disappears into the night, close by, the lifeless body of a young woman is pulled from a river. Slipping upstairs to find the special gift for her adoring husband, Maggie stumbles across something else hidden amongst the dusty boxes of family keepsakes… A printed pink silky scarf that doesn’t belong to her. She holds it up to her face, breaths in the sweet sickly perfume, it’s scent familiar, and tendrils of fear snake through her body. The scarf is stained with blood. As Maggie rejoins the party and tries to ignore her churning stomach, she pours herself a glass of champagne to toast the man she’s enjoyed decades of happy marriage with. Then she catches a news flash of the local girl’s murder. She stares at the girl with the beautiful face, long ice-blonde hair and, draped loosely around her neck, Maggie recognises it instantly. She’s wearing the scarf. The Lie in Our Marriage is by Anna-Lou Weatherley.

Kitty Underhay is dancing… with death. Winter 1934. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a night off from wedding planning as she attends a charity ball at the home of Lady Eliza Foxley. She’s excited to see her father, roguish Edgar Underhay, who is also a guest in the house. But the evening of cocktails and waltzing turns into a dance macabre when Edgar finds their lively, fun-loving hostess dead, strangled by her own silk stocking. Who has made this uncharitable donation to the evening’s entertainments? When suspicion falls on Edgar and he is arrested for murder, Kitty has to act fast if she doesn’t want her father walking her down the aisle in shackles. Together with her fiancé Matthew, they vow to clear Edgar’s name and discover who used hosiery to commit homicide. Lady Eliza’s widowed sister is the main beneficiary of her will, but before Kitty and Matt can question her, she is struck down by a severe case of poisoning. Time is running out for Kitty to solve this case and make it to the church on time. But with a devious killer on the loose, will she end up leaving as a newlywed, or newly dead…? Murder at the Charity Ball is by Helena Dixon.

She’s the daughter you never knew… But how far will she go to get the life she never had? Today I’m hosting a family party. One that’s different to every celebration we’ve had before. Because I’ve invited my secret daughter to it. I’ve never forgiven myself for abandoning her as a baby, with just a scrawled note tucked into her soft yellow blanket, saying her name was Hope. As soon as she reached out, I knew I had to meet her. My family all seem ready to accept her with open arms, their forgiveness a blessing I barely deserve. And I dare to believe that maybe we are all going to have a happy ending after all. So I try to put all those small, strange things that have been happening to me in recent weeks out of my mind. The missing money, my lost charm bracelet, the broken window, the fire… But as the drinks are poured and everyone’s talking animatedly, I hear a knock at the door. And something in my heart tells me this family is about to be torn apart. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it… The Family Reunion is by Karen King.

She wanted the perfect wedding. But someone would kill to keep them apart… Taking a deep breath of the fresh, leafy air, Abigail promises herself: today she is going to make her parents accept her future husband Pete’s family. She’s planned three days away from it all in a beautiful, forested nature reserve. Out here, with almost no one else around, their families will have nowhere to run. They might have clashed from the moment they met—with their stark differences in backgrounds and personalities—but now, Abigail thinks, they will have to get along. They barely have a chance to bond though, before the trip starts to go wrong. Precious possessions go astray, including Abigail’s father’s medicine; dark family secrets are exposed; and threatening messages are found. One says ‘Watch your back’… Abigail had been so sure that getting them all together and showing everyone that she and Pete are the perfect couple was the answer to all their problems. But the wedding isn’t the only thing under threat. Because one of their party won’t make it out alive… The In-Laws is by Laura Wolfe.

Julia Bird can’t wait to attend the annual village party at the local stately home, with its tea tents, cake stalls, and… dead body in the maze? The annual village celebration at Berrywick House is underway, complete with over-decorated cake stalls, fiercely contested flower competitions, and even a maze for the disappointed losers to hide in. Julia Bird, now a well-known – even notorious – member of the community, with her trusty Labrado Jake, has thrown herself headlong into the festivities. But her reputation for adding drama to any event stands up yet again when she discovers a dead body in the maze… It seems Ursula Benjamin, village know-it-all and prickly baking competition participant, has been strangled – and the killer has to be someone at the fete. As Julia grapples with finding yet another murder in Berrywick, she starts to wonder, could one of the competitive cake-bakers have taken the contest to deadly new heights? Or is there something darker in Ursula’s life that led to her untimely demise? Embroiled once again in a murder enquiry, Julia isn’t about to leave the investigation to the police. Like it or not, she’s involved, and she’s going to help them solve the mystery. But when there’s another death, and it’s clear the murders aren’t isolated incidents, the stakes become even higher. Can Julia figure out the identity of the killer, and prevent any further dastardly deeds, before the wholesome spirit of the village is ruined forever? A Village Fete Murder is by Katie Gayle.

To save the lost children of the city, she must put herself into terrible danger… On the streets of Philadelphia, as the snow falls and black ice settles in dark back alleys, lost and vulnerable teenagers are being snatched off the streets. When one of them is found alive, Private Investigator Lucy Kendall knows she will never forget the sight of the boy’s brown eyes, forever dulled. She vows to find the monster behind the suffering. Desperate to save the lost children of the city, Lucy goes into the dark places where the police cannot. But when a key witness is found dead, and a strand of Lucy’s long red hair is located near her body, Lucy suddenly finds herself under suspicion and on the run. The chief of police knows all about Lucy’s own dark past and is convinced she’s guilty. Hiding in the shadows, unable to trust anyone, Lucy continues her search for the real killer. At last, in a dangerous suburb of the city, she befriends vulnerable fifteen-year-old Riley, who claims to know who the murderer is. But when Riley disappears, Lucy must race to find the twisted soul responsible for snuffing out the lives of these little lost souls before another innocent girl is taken. Lucy is determined to get justice even if it costs her freedom… or her life. Little Lost Souls is by Stacey Green.

My baby girl. This morning she was so excited for school. I bought her new shoes last night. Pink, sparkly shoes. She loved them so much. She wore them for the first time today. And now she is gone… It is every mother’s worst nightmare. Eight-year-old Kailey Richardson skips out of the school gates in her brand-new pink shoes and never makes it home. Between the school and the safety of her shiny red front door, someone has taken her. Private Investigator Lucy Kendall sees the fliers of a smiling gap-toothed Kailey and knows she won’t be able to sleep until the little girl is found. Having lost her own sister to the darkest evil, she is determined to help find Kailey before it is too late. As Lucy talks to Kailey’s friends, desperate to find out who has taken the happy little girl, she begins to form a worrying picture of the days before Kailey’s disappearance. The blue car idling in the street outside the school. The friendly man across the road. And Kailey’s mother, Jenna, hollow-eyed and jumpy, clutching Kailey’s teddy bear and not telling Lucy everything. Lucy has promised Jenna she will do everything to find her daughter. But then she discovers Jenna has a connection to the prime suspect in Kailey’s disappearance… and one which brings Lucy’s past rushing back to haunt her. Time is running out to find Kailey, but will Lucy be able to save this innocent little girl before her own demons destroy her? The Girl in The Pink Shoes is by Stacy Green.

The Girl in The Cabin is by Stacy Green. She can stop the killing. But at what price? When the body of a sixteen-year-old girl is found in a remote hunting cabin in the middle of the snowy Maryland woods a shiver runs down Private Investigator Lucy Kendall’s spine. The handprints around her neck, her broken bones, and the incense left burning at the scene are vital clues to who committed this terrible crime—Mary Weston, a notorious serial killer. She has outwitted the police for many years and left many parents without daughters. Is the girl in the cabin a sign she is killing again? Working closely with the police, Lucy is determined to catch this evil woman. But when the bodies of three other teenage girls are found in remote locations, it’s almost like Mary is toying with them. Lucy is determined to bring her to justice before more innocent lives are snuffed out. But then Mary’s son Chris—one of Lucy’s closest friends—disappears. Lucy is convinced Mary is responsible, and she will do anything to find him. So when Mary sends Lucy a message asking to meet her alone, Lucy knows that she must face her darkest fears and risk her own life. She is the only person who can stop Mary. But what will she need to sacrifice?

The room spun and my legs gave way as I looked at my name scrawled in blood-colored lipstick on the mirror above the girl’s broken body. Was this young girl dead because of me? When the body of a vulnerable teenage girl is found on a remote farm in the Maryland hills, Private Investigator Lucy Kendall knows her past has come back to haunt her. Lucy’s sister died when she was a young girl, and the dead teenager looks exactly like her—her dark hair dyed blonde, her wrists slashed. Lucy’s name is scrawled on the bathroom mirror above the girl’s body, and the dead girl is clutching a silver coin in her small, fragile hand, identical to the one which has just been mailed to Lucy. Lucy is shaken to her very core, determined to find out why a cruel murderer wants her to feel responsible for this girl’s death. Lucy vows to track down this twisted killer who seems to know so much about her family’s tragic past. But when her closest friend Kelly is abducted and Lucy receives a phone call saying she has forty-eight hours to find her, she knows the evil perpetrator won’t stop until she comes face to face with him. As the clock ticks and Lucy frantically tries to track him down, she is sent messages showing her friend growing weaker and weaker. Lucy cannot let another innocent life be taken. But can she find Kelly in time? And what will her abductor want in return? The Lonely Girls is by Stacy Green.

He thinks his secret is safe. But she knows the truth… My husband is a doctor. He’s smart and charming and everybody trusts him. Except me. On the surface, it looks like I have it all – the perfect marriage, the perfect husband, the perfect life. But it’s far from the truth. Doctor Drew Devlin is not the respectable figure he makes out to be. The reason we moved to this beautiful, old property with a gorgeous view of the sea was because we needed to put our past behind us. It should’ve been a fresh start for us both. Except I’ve discovered my husband has been lying to me again. He’s using the power he has in his job to mess with people’s lives, and to get exactly what he wants – no matter who it hurts. But he’s underestimated me. I’ve had plenty of time, in this big, isolated house, to think about all of his mistakes. And my husband has no idea what’s about to happen next… The Doctor's Wife is by Daniel Hurst.

Forthcoming Crime Books from Century (Incl Cornerstone)

January 2023

The Other Guest is by Heidi Perks. She thinks she knows the truth. But what if she's wrong? Laila and her husband arrive for a week's holiday in Greece in desperate need of a reset. As Laila sits by the pool she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the other family staying in their resort. Em has no idea who Laila is, or that she has been watching her and her teenage sons and husband so intently. Five days later their worlds will be blown apart by a horrifying event. Laila thinks she knows the truth of what happened. But in telling Em what she's seen, she stands to lose everything she holds dear. And what if she's got it wrong?

February 2023

One house. Nine guests. Endless motives for murder... In the seaside town of Hamlet Wick, nine guests assemble for a New Year's Eve party to remember. The owner of Hamlet Hall has organised a murder mystery evening with a 1920s twist, and everyone has their own part to play. But the game has barely begun when one guest is found dead - killed by a fatal injury to the head. With no phone signal and no way out of the house, the others are trapped with a killer in their midst. Someone is playing by their own rules. And in a close-knit community, old rivalries run deep... The Murder Game is by Tom Hindle.

Unnatural History is by Jonathan Kellerman. When a photographer is found inside an LA warehouse slumped in bed, shot to death, it sets in motion a complex and dangerous case for Lieutenant Milo Sturgis and Psychologist Alex Delaware. The victim had just received rave media attention for his latest project - images of homeless people living out their 'dreams'. But there were many who saw the work as crass exploitation. Did anger turn to homicidal rage? Or do the roots of violence reach down to the victim's own family? As new murders arise, Alex and Milo must peel back the layers of the case - and will find themselves coming up against in one of the deadliest threats they've ever faced...

The Chase is by Ava Glass.Move fast. Stay Dark. These are the instructions sent to new operative Emma Makepeace. She's been assigned to track down a man wanted by the Russians and bring him into MI5. It should be easy. But the Russians have eyes everywhere. Emma knows that if spotted she and her target will be killed. What follows is a perilous chase through London's night-time streets. But in a city full of cameras, where can you hide?

March 2023

David and Cheryl Burroughs are living the dream - married, a beautiful house in the suburbs, a three year old son named Matthew - when tragedy strikes one night in the worst possible way.David awakes to find himself covered in blood, but not his own - his son's. And while he knows he did not murder his son, the overwhelming evidence against him puts him behind bars indefinitely. Five years into his imprisonment, Cheryl's sister arrives - and drops a bombshell. She's come with a photograph that a friend took on vacation at a theme park. The boy in the background seems familiar - and even though David realizes it can't be, he knows it is. It's Matthew, and he's still alive. David plans a harrowing escape from prison, determined to do what seems impossible - save his son, clear his own name, and discover the real story of what happened that devastating night. I Will Find You is by Harlan Coben.

May 2023

The Fall is by Gilly Macmilan. Be careful what you wish for... Nicole and Tom's lives are changed overnight by a ten-million-pound lottery win. Before they know it they've moved into a state-of-the-art Glass Barn conversion in the stunning grounds of Lancaut Manor in Gloucestershire. But their dream quickly turns into a nightmare when Tom is found dead in the swimming pool, with a nasty wound on the back of his head. Someone close to home must be responsible. But other than the young couple who live in the Manor, and their housekeeper in the Coach House next door, there's no one around for miles. Who among them is capable of murder?

June 2023

The Trial is by Rob Rinder. Meet Adam Green. Misfit. Purveyor of justice. Barrister-in-training. When hero policeman Grant Cliveden dies from a poisioning in the Old Bailey, it threatens to shake the country to its core. Who is responsibl? And can they be found before theystrike again? The evidence points to one man. Jimmy Knight has been convicted of multiple offences before and defending him will be no easy task. Not least because this is trainee barrister Adam Green's first case. But it will quickly become clear that Jimmy Knight is not the only person in Civeden's past with an axe to grind. Follow Adam on his first gripping case that will take him from the murky world of Chambers to the splendour of the Old Bailey.

Forthcoming Crime Books from Simon & Schuster

 January 2023

In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye. DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat's instincts come up against Lock's logic. But when the two missing person's cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal. AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic? In The Blink of an Eye is by Jo Callaghan.

Cold People is by Tom Rob Smith. What if the only hope for survival becomes the greatest threat? The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist... Antarctica. Cold People follows the journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they must also confront the urgent challenge: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity's future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold?

A riveting, decades-in-the-writing memoir from the determined young prosecutor who, in two of America's most celebrated trials, managed to convict famed mob boss John Gotti-and subsequently took down the Mafia altogether. John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashion-with the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement's radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname "The Dapper Don;" his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: "The Teflon Don." This is the captivating story of Gotti's meteoric rise to power and his equally dramatic downfall. Every step of the way, Gotti's legal adversary-John Gleeson, an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn-was watching. When Gotti finally faced two federal racketeering prosecutions, Gleeson prosecuted both. As the junior lawyer in the first case-a bitter seven-month battle that ended in Gotti's acquittal-Gleeson found himself in Gotti's crosshairs, falsely accused of serious crimes by a defense witness Gotti intimidated into committing perjury. Five years later, Gleeson was in charge of the second racketeering investigation and trial. Armed with the FBI's secret recordings of Gotti's conversations with his underboss and consigliere in the apartment above Gotti's Little Italy hangout, Gleeson indicted all three. He "flipped" underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, killer of nineteen men, who became history's highest-ranking mob turncoat-resulting in Gotti's murder conviction. Gleeson ended not just Gotti's reign, but eventually that of the entire mob. An epic, page-turning courtroom drama, The Gotti Wars is by John Gleeson is a brilliantly told crime story that illuminates a time in our nation's history when lawyers and mobsters dominated the news, but it's also the story of a tenacious young man, in the glare of the media spotlight, who mastered the art of becoming a great attorney.

February 2023

The Only Suspect is by Louise Candlish. There's the obvious story. And then there's the truth. Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he's not the most outgoing guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he's a good husband and an easy-going neighbour. That's until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that's been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he's always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread... As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex's twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil. And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed. And it still isn't.

March 2023

The Favour is by Nicci French. A good deed can turn deadly... When Liam unexpectedly turns up in Jude's life after ten years of no contact, asking her for a favour, she just can't say no. He was her first love, and even though she is now a successful doctor and about to get married, he will always be someone special to her. But after she does the favour, she is contacted by the police, informing her that Liam has been found dead, and suddenly she is caught up in a murder investigation. And she realises this one decision could cost her everything - even her life...

April 2023

1978, Rhode Island: A freshman senator is gunned down, sending shockwaves through Washington that are still reverberating over four decades later. Now: In a world on the brink of war facing rampant inflation, political division, and shocking assassinations, a secret cabal of global elites are ready to assume control. And with the world's most dangerous man locked in solitary confinement, the conspirators believe the final obstacle to complete domination has been eliminated. They're wrong. From the firms of Wall Street to the corridors of power in Washington, DC and Moscow, secrets from the past have the uncanny ability to rise to the surface and with the odds stacked against him, James Reece is on a deadly mission that is generations in the making. But for a man on the warpath, odds are not important. Only The Dead is by Jack Carr.

May 2023

Conviction is by Jack Jordan. He trusts his lawyer with his life... He shouldn't. Wade Darling stands accused of killing his wife and teenage children as they slept and burning their house to the ground. When the case lands on barrister Neve Harper's desk, she knows it could make her career. A matter of days before the case, as Neve is travelling home for the night, she is approached by a man. He tells her she must throw the case or the secret about her husband's disappearance will be revealed. Failing that, he will kill everyone she cares about, until she does as she is told. Neve must make a choice - go against every principle she has ever had, or the people she loves will die.

Independence Square is by Martin Cruz Smith. Arkady Renko is back . . . Renko has been confined to a desk job by his superiors to keep him out of the way. Although he's more disillusioned with policing and the general state of Russia than ever, he feels an odd sense of hope. A rebellion is bubbling in the country, with new values butting heads against old-school regimes. People want change and politician Leonid Lebedev could be the man to do it. When Karina, a staunch supporter of Lebedev and member of the Forum, goes missing, Renko is asked by her father to find her. Soon after his investigation begins, Alex, a close friend of Arkady's son, is found dead. He was also a member of the Forum. The night before his murder, Alex sent Arkady a cryptic message, simply containing three pictures of Russian writers. The link between the pictures is there, if only Renko could see it. But Arkady has just been diagnosed with Parkinson's and the physical and psychological effects of the disease are taking their toll. This time, he must fight more than the impenetrable Russian regime to get answers - he will need to fight himself.

The Devil You Know is by Chris Hauty. A Supreme Court justice is murdered and a conspiracy with potentially cataclysmic effects is uncovered in the latest of the nationally bestselling 'edge-of-your-seat' (Book Riot) Hayley Chill series. When a justice of the Supreme Court is killed by the police officer assigned to protect him, the country is shocked. Hayley Chill's superiors suspect the assassination is part of a major conspiracy. In Maui, where one member of the Supreme Court owns a vacation home, a busload of children is taken hostage with the justice's death as ransom. Together with a deputy US marshal, Hayley embarks on the monumental task of rescuing the children while also protecting the justice. But with danger around every corner and no one to trust, has Hayley finally bitten off more than she can chew?

June 2023

'I wasn't always crazy, but I was never sane.' How do you solve your own murder before it happens? That's the question that haunts three women. Convinced that a mysterious urban myth called the rule of three is real, they must find a way to break the curse or be doomed to die like those who came before them. But when you're not sure if what you think is happening is even the truth, how do you know if you are actually in danger?
And if you don't know, how will you be able to protect yourself? Amy. Ila. Zoe. Death comes in threes. Who will survive and who will solve the rule of three? The Rule of Three is by Sam Ripley.

Forthcoming Crime Books from Titan Books (Incl Hard Case Crime)

 January 2023

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Deathly Relics is by Sam Siciliano. Sherlock Holmes and Henry Vernier are visiting Rome on a diplomatic mission when the Pope asks the world’s greatest detective to help find a stolen relic: the forefinger of “doubting” Saint Thomas. But when the relic is quickly and mysteriously returned, and all seems to be easily resolved, the forefinger is stolen again in a brutal attack. Holmes and Vernier must follow the trail of a sacrilegious murderer through the streets of Rome and the halls of the Vatican, uncovering dark ties between members of the church and an Italian crime family.

February 2023

The Self-Made Widow is by Fabian Nicieza. After mother of five and former FBI profiler Andie Stern solved a murder—and unraveled a decades old conspiracy—in her New Jersey town, both her husband and the West Windsor police hoped that she would set aside crime-fighting and go back to carpools, changing diapers, and  lunches with her group of mom-friends, who she secretly calls The Cellulitists. Even so, Andie can’t help but get involved when the husband of Queen Bee Molly Goode is found dead. Though all signs point to natural causes, Andie begins to dig into the case and soon risks more than just the clique’s wrath, because what she discovers might hit shockingly close to home. Meanwhile, journalist Kenny Lee is enjoying a rehabilitated image after his success as Andie’s sidekick. But when an anonymous phone call tips him off that Molly Goode killed her husband, he’s soon drawn back into the thicket of suburban scandals, uncovering secrets, affairs, and a huge sum of money. Hellbent on justice and hoping not to kill each other in the process, Andie and Kenny dust off their suburban sleuthing caps once again.

Private investigators Bertha Cool and Donald Lam, stars of five of Hard Case Crime’s most popular novels, return to solve their toughest case yet. Hired to prevent a socialite from poisoning her husband, Donald Lam dreams up an ingenious scheme involving a carton of anchovy paste and a fictitious national ad campaign. But when the whole thing backfires spectacularly and bodies, witnesses, and suspects start piling up, it’ll take every ounce of Donald’s brainpower and Bertha’s bruising ruthlessness to keep the police at bay – and a killer from getting away with murder. Fools Die on Friday is by Erle Stanley Gardner.

April 2023

Mad Money is by Max Allan Collins. Nolan and Jon have put their lives of crime behind them – but when a cruel adversary from their past resurfaces, they’re forced back into the heist game with a brutal ultimatum: pull off an insanely ambitious overnight robbery or Nolan’s kidnapped lover won’t live to see the morning. Appearing in bookstores for the first time in 35 years, this is Nolan’s biggest and deadliest job – and Mad Money also features, for the first time ever in the same volume, the bonus full-length novel Mourn the Living, offering a look back at Nolan’s early years as a professional thief.

May 2023

A serene walking holiday in the Lake District becomes a far more sinister excursion for Dr Watson when disappearances and murders start occurring in the small town of Wermeholt. Local legends, rumours of large slithering reptiles and spooked palaeontologists have the denizens paranoid and terrified, so it is up to Watson and his inbound companion Sherlock Holmes to uncover the truth and discover what is really lurking in the lake… The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Monster of the Mere is by Philip Purser-Hallard.

June 2023

Introducing a new series from the creator of the beloved Vinyl Detective novels.Cordelia Stanmer knows books. An addict-turned-dealer of classic crime paperbacks, she spends her days hunting for the rarest of the rare in the charity shops and book sales of suburban London, pining for the woman of her dreams and avoiding her landlord’s latest demand for the rent. The most elusive prize of all, her white whale, a set of Sleuth Hound novels. A complete set of those would solve all her problems. By chance she discovers such a set. The only problem? They’re not for sale. Still, nothing a little burglary can’t solve. But when the owner of the books turns out to be a violent criminal, and Cordelia’s best laid plans to pay rent, buy weed and woo the object of her affections start to fall apart, she realises she may have placed herself in the crosshairs of a villain torn straight from the pages of her precious novels. The Paperback Sleuth :Death in a Fine Condition is by Andrew Cartmel.