Crime & Thriller
Fifty Fifty, Steve Cavanagh ( paperback, Jul 2020)
£9.99
TWO SISTERS ON TRIAL FOR MURDER. THEY ACCUSE EACH OTHER. WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
'911 what's your emergency?''My dad's dead.
My sister Sofia killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.''My dad's dead.
My sister Alexandra killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'One of them is a liar and a killer.
But which one?
'Very clever, darkly funny, moving, fast-paced.' Jane Casey
Addictive, clever, pacy. Eddie Flynn is one of my heroes.' Jo Spain
Long Bright River by Liz Moore ( paperback 31 Dec 2020)
£8.99
SELECTED BY BARACK OBAMA AS ONE OF HIS BEST BOOKS OF 2020
Once inseparable, sisters Mickey and Kacey are on different paths, but they walk the same streets. Mickey on her police beat and Kacey in the shadows of the city's darkest corners where the drug addicts and sex workers preside.
When a string of murders coincides with Kacey's disappearance, Mickey is terrified her sister could be next. But in a community where death and murder is rife, will Mickey be able to save her sister before it's too late?
A remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It's also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced.
Leave The World Behind, Rumaan Alam (pb, June 1st 2021)
£9.99
Easily the best thing I have read all year' KILEY REID, AUTHOR OF SUCH A FUN AGE'
Intense, incisive, I loved this and have still not quite shaken off the unease' DAVID NICHOLS
A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong. Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G.
H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter. But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable.
Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
The System, Ryan Gattis ( paperback,August 2021)
£9.99
Longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2021
'Excellent, lucid, intelligent and gripping' - Scotsman
December 1993. A drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother's lawn in South Central Los Angeles. Two local gang members, Wizard and Dreamer, are arrested.
The problem is: one is guilty, the other wasn't even there. It had to be a frame-up. And the cops had to be responsible, didn't they? Narrated by the characters involved - the suspects, the victim, the families who love them, and those simply doing their jobs - The System tells the story of one crime, from the moments before shots are fired to the verdict and its violent aftershocks.
It's a breakneck journey through the American criminal justice system. A system that can save you, or break you.
Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnett ( paperback 2022)
£9.99
"I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself in danger." London, 1965. An unworldly young woman believes that a charismatic psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite, has driven her sister to suicide. Intent on confirming her suspicions, she assumes a false identity and presents herself to him as a client, recording her experiences in a series of notebooks.But she soon finds herself drawn into a world in which she can no longer be certain of anything. Even her own character. In Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet presents these notebooks interspersed with his own biographical research into Collins Braithwaite.
The result is a dazzling - and often wickedly humorous - meditation on the nature of sanity, identity and truth itself, by one of the most inventive novelists writing today.
The Maid, Rita Prose ( paperback from end April 2023 )
£8.99
THE NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER
I am your maid. I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.
But what do you know about me? Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She's used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through.
She's just a maid - why should anyone take notice? But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn't a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there.
She's just a maid - but what can she see that others overlook? Escapist, charming and introducing a truly original heroine, The Maid is a story about how the truth isn't always black and white - it's found in the dirtier, grey areas in between . . .
She And I, Hannah King (paperback 19 Jan 23)
£8.99
She and I : gripping psychological suspense from a fantastic new Northern Irish voice
Not only beautifully written but gripping and full of soul' SARAH PEARSE, author of THE SANATORIUM'
Best friends share everything. But murder is different. Isn't it? Keeley and Jude are closer than blood. They share everything: clothes, secrets, drinks - and blame. So when they wake up after a New Year's party to find Keeley's boyfriend stabbed to death beside them, they agree to share one more thing: the story they'll tell the police. But who is their story really meant to protect? As the murder investigation begins to send uncomfortable ripples through their community, the history of the girls' claustrophobic relationship comes under scrutiny, will the girls find there's such a thing as sharing too much?'
A taut and unrelenting mystery, expertly woven with the bruising drama of girlhood' ANNA BAILEY, author of TALL BONES
The Anomaly, Herve LeTellier ( paperback August 2022)
£9.99
The mind-bending thriller that has sold 1 million copies
No one knows how it happened.
But it'll change their lives forever... During a terrifying storm, Air France flight 006 - inexplicably - duplicates. For every passenger, there are now two: a double with the same mind, body and memories.
Only one thing sets them apart - while one plane lands in March, the other doesn't arrive until June. But if there are two of them, which one will get to keep the life they've built?As they prepare to meet, they must decide just how far they'll go to fight for what's theirs . .
Just when you think you've worked it out . .
. well, you probably haven't' DAILY MAIL'Mind-bending. Written with page-turning conviction' THE TIMES
Outside, Ragnar Jonasson ( paperback Sept 22)
£9.99
Four friends. One night. Not everyone will come out alive .
. . The gripping new stand-alone mystery from 'world-class crime writer' Ragnar Jonasson, soon to be a major motion picture.
Is this the best crime writer in the world today' THE TIMES
In a deadly Icelandic snowstorm, four friends seek shelter in an abandoned hunting lodge.
Miles from help, and knowing they will die out in the cold, they break in, hoping to wait out the storm until morning. But nothing can prepare them for what's inside . .
. With no other option, they are forced to spend a long and terrifying night in the cabin: watching as intently and silently as they themselves are being watched. As the night darkens, old secrets spill into the light, and tensions rise between the four friends.
Soon it's clear that what they've discovered in the cabin is far from the only mystery lurking there. Nor the only thing to be afraid of . .
'A wonderful atmospheric thriller. A real page turner.
The End of Men, Christina Sweeney ( paperback June 2022)
£8.99
The year is 2025.Mankind is under threat. Men are dying, but women remain safe. As the sickness spreads to every corner of the globe, people fight to protect the men they love against all odds.
Can they find a cure before it's too late? Will this be the story of the end of the world - or its salvation? Compelling and devastating, The End of Men is the pulse-pounding thriller everyone is talking about.
Run Time, Catherine Ryan Howard ( hardback August 2022)
£8.99
Movie-making can be murder. The project is Final Draft, a psychological horror, being filmed at a house deep in a forest, miles from anywhere in the wintry wilds of West Cork.
The lead Former soap-star Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute. She can't help but hope that this opportunity will be her big break - and she knows she was lucky to get it, after what happened the last time she was on a set. The problem Something isn't quite right about Final Draft.
When the strange goings-on in the script start to happen on set too, Adele begins to fear that the real horror lies off the page...
CRH writes a fantastic, page turning accessible crime novel - try her others too!
Outside, Ragnar Jonasson ( paperback Sept 2022)
£9.99
When a deadly snowstorm strikes the Icelandic highlands, four friends seek shelter in a tiny, abandoned hunting lodge. A terrifying discovery . .. Far from offering relief, however, they find something truly shocking. Yet they dare not leave.
A haunting darkness . . .
As the night lengthens, their fears intensify. Old secrets and past tragedies spill into the light. And, slowly, these four friends begin to turn on one another.
Outside, a murderous storm rages. But is inside even deadlier?_________Praise for Ragnar Jonasson'An intensely gripping mystery, Ragnar Jonasson is a poet of the "dark, wet and cold", of the "gloom, cold and rain". The climactic revelations are credible and moving
Miss Marple ; Twelve New Stories ( paperback June 2023)
£9.99
A brand new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Crime's legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors. *The first print run will be a true collector's edition with a gold foiled design on the cover board* This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie's Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.
* Naomi Alderman* Leigh Bardugo* Alyssa Cole* Lucy Foley* Elly Griffiths* Natalie Haynes* Jean Kwok* Val McDermid* Karen M. McManus* Dreda Say Mitchell* Kate Mosse* Ruth Ware Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930's The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie's last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.
Breaking, Amanda Cassidy ( paperback April 2023)
£9.99
Shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award
Breaking : A compelling debut from a new voice in Irish crime fiction
Yet the police are immediately suspicious of Mirren. She was drinking at a bar - alone - shortly before reporting that her youngest child had disappeared. As rumours abound about Mirren's past a trial-by-media ensues, and she is turned from a figure of pity to the villain of the piece.
And then a small body is found dumped in the ocean. Is Mirren a heartbroken mother, or the architect of her daughter's fate? A stunning debut from a brilliant new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Ashley Audrain. Breaking will see readers question their own notions of motherhood, guilt and the inescapable consequences of the past.
Praise for Breaking 'A rich, gut-punch of a crime thriller that delivers a confronting examination of maternal love and the expectations that weigh so heavily on women, even in their most unthinkably dark moments. In both pace and prose, Breaking is a hugely satisfying debut.' Ashley Audrain,
Home, Chilean Stead (paperback JULY 2023)
£8.99
Someone has broken into Zoe's flat. A man she thought she'd never have to see again. They call him the Hand of God.
He knows about her job in the cafe, her life in Dublin, her ex-girlfriend, even the knife she's hidden under the mattress. She thought she'd left him far behind, along with the cult of the Children and their isolated compound Home - but now he's found her, and Zoe realises she must go back with him if she's to rescue the sister who helped her escape originally. But returning to Home means going back to the enforced worship and strict gender roles Zoe has long since moved beyond.
Back to the abuse and indoctrination she's fought desperately to overcome... Going back will make her question everything she believed about her past - and risk her hard-won freedom. Can she break free a second time?'An absolute triumph....
Absorbing, moving, and alarmingly believable, Home is an unforgettable story about identity, family, and the terrifying dynamics of a cult' Carole Johnstone, author of Mirrorland
The Whispering Muse, Laura Purcell ( paperback Jan 2024)
£9.99
Be careful what you wish for... it may just come true. At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse.
It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees. What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in nature.
On stage, it's as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the Muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders if the rumours are true, and fears that when the Muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.
"Spooky, atmospheric and brilliant" Bridget Collins
Preorder Paperback January 2024 ....
Exiles, Jane Harper ( paperback Sept 23)
£9.99
A mother disappears from a busy festival on a warm spring night. Her baby lies alone in the pram, her mother's possessions surrounding her, waiting for a return which never comes.A year later, Kim Gillespie's absence still casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather to welcome a new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations on a rare break from work is federal investigator Aaron Falk, who begins to suspect that all is not as it seems. As he looks into Kim's case, long-held secrets and resentments begin to come to the fore, secrets that show that her community is not as close as it appears.
Falk will have to tread carefully if he is to expose the dark fractures at its heart, but sometimes it takes an outsider to get to the truth. . .
An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man and The Survivors. Jane Harper is originally from the UK but writes in and about Australia.
Strange Sally Diamond, Liz Nugent ( paperback end March 2024)
£8.99
Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember.As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don't always mean what they say. But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally's trust issues are about to be severely challenged . .
The Furies, John Connolly (paperback March 2023)
£8.99
The Furies: mythological snake-haired goddesses of vengeance, pursuers of those who have committed unavenged crimes. Now, private investigator Charlie Parker is drawn into a world of modern furies in two linked stories.
In The Sisters Strange, the return of the criminal Raum Buker to Portland, Maine brings with it chaos and murder, as an act of theft threatens not only to tear apart his own existence but also that of Raum's former lovers, the enigmatic sisters Dolors and Ambar Strange.
And in The Furies Parker finds himself fighting to protect two more women as the city of Portland shuts down in the face of a global pandemic, but it may be that his clients are more capable of taking care of themselves than anyone could have imagined . .
From the number one Sunday Times and multi-million-copy bestselling author John Connolly comes the most compelling and unsettling Charlie Parker novel yet. 'Masterly genre-splicing thrillers .
Two Nights in Lisbon, Chris Pavone ( paperback April 2023)
£9.99
A woman wakes up to discover her new husband is missing and sets out on a wild race of power, politics, and revenge in this international thriller from New York Times bestselling author Chris Pavone. You think you know a person... Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon, alone.Her husband is gone - no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong. She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the US embassy, at each confronting questions she can't fully answer: What exactly is John doing in Lisbon? Why would he drag her along on his business trip? Who would want to harm him? And why does Ariel know so little about her new husband?The clock is ticking.
Ariel is running out of time. But the one person in the world who can help her is the one person she doesn't want to ask... An intelligent, multi-layered thriller, Two Nights in Lisbon is filled with twists, turns, husbands, wives, secrets and lies - and it will linger long after you turn the surprising final page.
Daisy Darker, Alice Feeney ( paperback April 2023)
£8.99
Daisy Darker is an all-consuming tale of psychological suspense with a spectacular twist from the internationally bestselling author Alice Feeney, inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Isolated on their private island in Cornwall, the Darker family have come together for the first time in over a decade. When the tide comes in, they'll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again. Nothing - because one of the family is a killer . .
. As the leaves of autumn fall, Daisy Darker arrives at her grandmother's house for eightieth birthday celebrations. Seaglass, the Darker's ancestral home, is a crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island.
Every member of the family has their secrets. Nana, alone for so long. Daisy's absent father, Frank.
Her cold-hearted mother, Nancy. Her siblings, Rose and Lily, and her niece, Trixie, full of questions and without a father of her own. Daisy has never had an easy relationship with her family, but some secrets are much darker than others.
The Accomplice, Steve Cavanagh ( paperback April 2023)
£9.99
Daniel Miller murdered fourteen people before he vanished. His wife, Carrie, now faces trial as his accomplice. The FBI, the District Attorney, the media and everyone in America believe she knew and helped cover up her husband's crimes.Eddie Flynn won't take a case unless his client is innocent. Now, he has to prove to a jury, and the entire world, that Carrie Miller didn't know her husband's dark side. But so far, Eddie and his team are the only ones who believe that she had no part in the murders.
With his wife on trial, Daniel Miller is forced to come out of hiding to save her from a life sentence. He will kill to protect her and everyone involved in the case is a target. Even Eddie Flynn...
The Lock Up, John Banville ( paperback Jan 2024)
£9.99
1950s Dublin. in a lock-up garage in the city, the body of a young woman is discovered - an apparent suicide.
But pathologist Dr Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford soon suspect foul play. The victim's sister, a newspaper reporter from London, returns to Dublin to join the two men in their quest to uncover the truth. But, as they explore her links to a wealthy German family in County Wicklow, and to investigative work she may have been doing in Israel, they are confronted with an ever-deepening mystery.
With relations between the two men increasingly strained, and their investigation taking them back to the final days of the Second World War, can they join the pieces of a hidden puzzle?Praise for the Strafford and Quirke series:'Crime writing of the finest quality, elegant, distinctive and utterly absorbing.' Daily Mail.
No One Saw A Thing, Andrea Mara ( paperback Feb 2024)
£8.99
No one saw it happen. You stand on a crowded tube platform in London. Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you.
As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind. Everyone is lying. By the time you get to the next stop, you've convinced yourself that everything will be fine.
But you soon start to panic, because there aren't two children waiting for you on the platform. There's only one. Someone is to blame.
Has your other daughter got lost? Been taken by a passing stranger? Or perhaps the culprit is closer to home than you think? No one is telling the truth, and the longer the search continues, the harder she will be to find... Everyone is talking about No One Saw a Thing:'I was hooked by the end of chapter one.' Jane Casey
Paperback February 2024
A Flaw in the Design, Nathan Oates ( paperback Dec 2023)
£9.99
A nephew. An uncle. A psychopath - but which of them is it? Gil knows his nephew Matthew is dangerous.The signs were there early - on a family holiday Gil's daughter was discovered nearly drowning at the bottom of a swimming pool, while Matthew looked on from the deck. Now seventeen, Matthew is orphaned when his parents die in a car crash. He must leave his Upper East Side Manhattan life behind, to live with Gil, his wife and daughters in rural Vermont.
He is insolent, bored, disconnected. At least that's Gil's take. To the women in the family he is charming, intelligent, wry.
But when he disdainfully joins Gil's writing classes at the local university, Matthew's fiction shows a vivid and macabre imagination spilling onto the page. Matthew is clearly announcing his intentions to Gil, taunting him before he does something awful to his family. But why is Gil the only one who can see this? As Gil begins to follow Matthew around, his own behaviour becomes increasingly unstable.
Good Husbands, Cate Ray ( paperback May 23)
£9.99
Jess, Priyanka and Stephanie are all happily married to men they think they know inside out. Then each woman receives a letter accusing her husband of involvement in a sexual assault that took place 20 years ago.Who do they believe, what should they do and can they come together as their lives are upended?A compelling, beautifully crafted thriller about consent, friendship and prejudice which asks - would you sacrifice your family life in support of another woman?'In AN EMOTIONAL AND POWERFULLY EVOCATIVE STORY, three women grapple with a discovery that could shatter their lives.
The Enigma of Room 622, Joel Dicker ( paperback June 2023)
£9.99
It all starts with an innocuous curiosity: at the Hotel de Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, there is no Room 622. This anomaly piques the interest of Joel Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary star, who flees to the Verbier to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his publisher, and begin his next novel.
Before he knows it, he's coaxed out of his slump by a fellow guest, who quickly uncovers the reason behind Room 622's erasure: an unsolved murder. The attendant circumstances: a love triangle and a power struggle at the heart of Switzerland's largest private bank, a mysterious counter-intelligence unit known only as P-30, and a shadowy emigre with more money than God. A Russian doll of a mystery crafted with the precision of a Swiss watch, The Enigma of Room 622 is Joel Dicker's most diabolically addictive thriller yet.
Translated from French.
The Scarlet Papers, Matthew Richardson (hardback May 2023)
£14.99
VIENNA, 1946: A brilliant German scientist snatched from the ruins of Nazi Europe.MOSCOW, 1964: A US diplomat caught in a clandestine love affair as the Cold War rages. RIGA, 1992: A Russian archivist selling secrets that will change the twentieth century forever. LONDON, THE PRESENT DAY: A British academic on the run with the chance to solve one of history's greatest mysteries.
Their stories, their lives, and the fate of the world are bound by a single manuscript. A document feared and whispered about in capitals across the globe. In its pages, history will be rewritten.
It is only ever known as . . .
THE SCARLET PAPERSThe 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 always credible, always startling and almost painfully human. A total triumph' TONY PARSONS
In the Dark, Claire Allan ( paperback July 2023)
£8.99
My name is Nora Logue. You've probably heard of me - most people have. I am the mother of Daisy Logue.Seven years ago, I took her for a walk in the woods. Only I came out. I have no memory of what happened that day.
I have tried to rebuild my life. Met a man, had another child - Luca. But I can't let go of Daisy, or give up hope of seeing her again.
And now, I have the chance to find out what happened to her. But what if pursuing the truth about my daughter risks my son's life? A whiplash-inducing, unputdownable crime thriller from the author of The Nurse, perfect for fans of CLARE MACKINTOSH and LISA JEWELL.
The Whispers, Ashley Audrain ( hardback July 2023)
£14.99
The whispers started long before the accident on Harlow Street .
. . Was it at the party, when Whitney screamed blue murder at her son?Or after neighbour Blair started prowling Whitney's house, uninvited?Or once Rebecca and Ben's childlessness finally puts a crack in their marriage?But on the terrible night of the accident, the whispers grow louder, more insistent.
Neighbours gather round. Questions are asked. Secrets are spilled.
And the gloss on everything begins to rub off. Everyone is drawn into the darkness. Because there's no smoke without fire.No friendship without envy.And no lie that does not conceal a devastating truth .
The captivating new novel from the author of the explosive Sunday Times bestseller, THE PUSH'Spellbinding, a shimmering, visceral ride through the dark side of family' LISA JEWELL
One of Us is Back, Karen McManus ( paperback March 2024))
£8.99
From international bestseller, Karen McManus, comes the explosive third and final thrilling instalment in the acclaimed Bayview series. Life hasn't been easy for the Bayview Crew. First they had to prove they weren't killers.Then a new generation had to outwit a vengeful copycat. Now, it's beginning again. At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview.
But when a member of the crew disappears, it's clear this 'game' just got serious - and no-one understands the rules. Everyone's a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things are starting to get deadly.
Simon was right about secrets - they all come out in the end. Praise for One of Us is Next:'Given that her high-school-based murder mysteries read like bingeworthy Netflix dramas, it's easy to see why queen of teen crime Karen McManus is a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.
Kill for Me Kill for You, Steve Cavanagh ( hardback August 2023)
£14.99
One dark evening in New York City, two strangers meet by chance.Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realise they have so much in common. They both feel alone. They both drink alone.
And they both desperately want revenge against the two men who destroyed their families. Together, they have the perfect plan. If you kill for me, I'll kill for you...
'Steve Cavanagh's twists hit you between the eyes. You never seem them coming' ANTONY HOROWITZ'This guy is the real deal. Trust me' LEE CHILD'Steve Cavanagh writes the best hooks in the business' MICK HERRON'Steve Cavanagh is one of my very favourite authors, but even by his high standards this is an extraordinary book.
Red Queen, Juan Gomez-Jurado ( paperback November 2023)
£9.99
Red Queen is the first in Juan Gomez-Jurado's internationally bestselling thriller series, translated by Nick Caistor.Antonia Scott is special. Very special. She is not a policewoman or a lawyer.
She has never wielded a weapon or carried a badge, and yet, she has solved dozens of crimes. But it's been awhile since Antonia left her attic in Madrid. The things she has lost are much more important to her than the things awaiting her outside.
She also doesn't receive visitors. That's why she really, really doesn't like it when she hears unknown footsteps coming up the stairs. Whoever it is, Antonia is sure that they are coming to look for her. And she likes that even less.
Rogues, Patrick Radden Keefe ( paperback July 2023)
£10.99
'Eminently bingeable, religiously fact-checked and seductively globetrotting . . .A preternaturally attentive reporter at work' - The Observer' A new book by Keefe means drop everything and close the blinds; you'll be turning pages for hours . . .
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue by one of the most decorated journalists of our time. Patrick Radden Keefe's work has been recognised by prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US to the Orwell Prize and the Baillie Gifford in the UK, for his meticulously reported, hypnotically engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from the New Yorker.
As Keefe observes in his preface: 'They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.' Keefe explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines; examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist; spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain; chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black-market arms merchant; and profiles a passionate death-penalty attorney who represents the 'worst of the worst', among other bravura works of literary journalism. The appearance of his byline in the New Yorker is always an event; collected here for the first time readers can see how his work forms an always enthralling yet also deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up to them.
The Bleeding, Johana Gustawsson ( paperback August 2023)
£9.99
Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson returns with a spell-binding, dazzlingly dark gothic thriller that swings from Belle Epoque France to 21st-century Quebec, with an extraordinary mystery at its heart... FIRST in a spell-binding new series 'A wonderfully dark, intricately woven historical thriller spanning three generations ... it will have you hooked from the very first page' B A Paris
Gustawsson slowly weaves together three seemingly disparate strands of her narrative with a skill that shows why she is such an admired crime writer in her native France.
1899, Belle Epoque Paris. Lucienne's two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them. 1949, Post-War Quebec.
Teenager Lina's father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina's life in the darkest way imaginable. 2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband - a famous university professor - to death.
Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation. Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism ... and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love...
Everybody Knows, Jordan Harper ( paperback Sept 2023)
£8.99
THE SUNDAY TIMES 'CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH'
Cinematic and insightful. Everybody Knows is a tour de force.' GUARDIAN'
In Hollywood, nobody talks. But everybody whispers.
Welcome to Mae Pruett's LA. A 'black-bag' publicist at one of Hollywood's most powerful crisis PR firms, Mae's job isn't to get good news out, it's to keep the bad news in and contain the scandals. But just as she starts to question her job and life choices, her boss is gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and everything changes.
Investigating with the help of an ex-boyfriend, Mae dives headlong into a neon joyride through the jungle of contemporary Hollywood. Pitted against the twisted system she's worked so hard to perpetuate, she's desperately fighting for redemption, and her life.
Arguably the year's best detective novel.
The Body In the Blitz, Robin Stevens (paperback October 2023)
£7.99
The second thrilling and unputdownable mystery starring a new generation of the Detective Society, from the million-copy-bestselling author Robin Stevens.
March 1941. Britain is at war, and a secret agency called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up children as spies - because grown-ups always underestimate them.
Enter May, Eric and Nuala: courageous, smart, and the Ministry's newest recruits. May's big sister Hazel has arranged for them to stay on a quiet street close to the Ministry, home to an unlikely collection of people thrown together by the war. And it is in the basement of the bombed-out house at the end of that street that they discover something mysterious.
Something that was not there when the Blitz wreckage was first combed through. Something that has been placed there recently. A body...
Could this be the missing Ministry spy that Daisy Wells is on a dangerous mission in France to find? Or could it be someone else - someone a resident of the street wanted silenced . . .
The Prey, Yrsa Sigurdardottir (hardback Oct 2023)
£20.00
Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 2023
Kolbeinn has been called to his old home. The new owners uncovered some photos, and a muddied child's shoe bearing the name 'Salvor'. A name Kolbeinn doesn't recognise. Soon after, he hears news of his mother's deteriorating health. Her carers say she has been asking for her daughter, his sister: Salvor.
THE SECOND TRACKS TWO MISSING COUPLES. Jóhanna is working with the search and rescue team in Höfn to find two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location has been pinpointed to the road leading up into the highlands.
In a harsh winter, the journey is treacherous, and they soon find the first body. More troubling, Johanna senses her team is being tracked through the snow.
A THIRD FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE? Hjörvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands.
He's alone when the phone connected to the gate rings: the first time it's done so since he began working there five months ago. When he answers, he can only hear interference, and what sounds like a child's voice asking for her mother. How are these events connected? And what may be searching for its prey out on the ice?
The New Wife, JP Delaney ( paperback Jan 2024)
£9.99
When Finn Hensen gets a call from his sister Jess to say their father has died, neither is heartbroken. Their parents divorced many years ago, after which their father, Jimmy, continued to live a bohemian lifestyle in sun-soaked Mallorca. Ownership of his beautiful but dilapidated farmhouse in the mountains now passes to Finn and his sister.The only problem is that Jimmy recently remarried and his new wife, Ruensa, is still living there. The pair agree that Finn should go to Mallorca and tactfully take possession of their inheritance. When he arrives, however, Finn is surprised to find that Finca Siquia has been completely transformed into a chic Mediterranean bolthole by Ruensa and her twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Roze.
The Spanish police, meanwhile, are asking awkward questions about Jimmy's death . . .
Are Ruensa and Roze the helpless victims of circumstance? Or will they stop at nothing to get Finca Siquia for themselves?
A Little Luck, Claudia Pineiro ( paperback July 2023)
£9.99
From the author of Elena Knows , finalist for the 2022 International Booker Prize20 years after a shocking accident, Mary Lohan returns to the Buenos Aires suburb she escaped in a fugue of guilt and isolation. She is not the same—not her name or voice, not even the color of her eyes. The neighborhood looks different too, but she’s still the same woman and it’s still the same place, and as the past erupts into view, they slowly collide. A Little Luck is the story about the debilitating weight of lies, the messy line between bravery and cowardice, and the tragedies, big and small, that can ripple out from a single decisive event.In a place she had determined to forget forever, both anticipated encounters and unanticipated revelations show her, and us, that sometimes life is neither fate nor chance: perhaps it’s nothing more than a little luck.
