Crime Chronicle
JUNE 2017 • Selected Titles • Printable Version
Crime Chronicle - Modern Crime
abbeys.com.au
No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Short Stories
Lee Child
$32.99
Paperback • 224 pages
The complete Jack Reacher short story collection, from the number one bestseller Lee Child.
Jack Reacher, lone wolf, knight errant, ex military cop, lover of women, scourge of the wicked and righter of wrongs, is the most iconic hero for our age. This is the first time all Lee Child's shorter fiction featuring Jack Reacher has been collected into one volume.
A brand-new novella, Too Much Time, is included, as are those previously only published in ebook form- Second Son, Deep Down, High Heat, Not a Drill and Small Wars, as well as every Reacher short story that Child has ever written.
Jack Reacher, lone wolf, knight errant, ex military cop, lover of women, scourge of the wicked and righter of wrongs, is the most iconic hero for our age. This is the first time all Lee Child's shorter fiction featuring Jack Reacher has been collected into one volume.
A brand-new novella, Too Much Time, is included, as are those previously only published in ebook form- Second Son, Deep Down, High Heat, Not a Drill and Small Wars, as well as every Reacher short story that Child has ever written.
Camino Island
John Grisham
$32.99
Paperback • 304 pages
All trails became dead-ends. Tips that had at first seemed urgent now faded away. The waiting game began. Whoever had the manuscripts would want money, and a lot of it. They would surface eventually, but where and when, and how much would they want?
The most daring and devastating heist in literary history targets a high security vault located deep beneath Princeton University.
Valued at $25 million (though some would say priceless) the five manuscripts of F Scott Fitzgerald's only novels are amongst the most valuable in the world. After an initial flurry of arrests, both they and the ruthless gang of thieves who took them have vanished without trace.
Dealing in stolen books is a dark business, and few are initiated to its arts - which puts Bruce Kable right on the FBI's Rare Asset Recovery Unit's watch list.
A struggling writer burdened by debts, Mercer Mann spent summers on Florida's idyllic Camino Island as a kid, in her grandmother's beach cottage. Now she is being made an offer she can't refuse: to return to the peace of the island, to write her novel - and get close to a certain infamous bookseller, and his interesting collection of manuscripts...
The most daring and devastating heist in literary history targets a high security vault located deep beneath Princeton University.
Valued at $25 million (though some would say priceless) the five manuscripts of F Scott Fitzgerald's only novels are amongst the most valuable in the world. After an initial flurry of arrests, both they and the ruthless gang of thieves who took them have vanished without trace.
Dealing in stolen books is a dark business, and few are initiated to its arts - which puts Bruce Kable right on the FBI's Rare Asset Recovery Unit's watch list.
A struggling writer burdened by debts, Mercer Mann spent summers on Florida's idyllic Camino Island as a kid, in her grandmother's beach cottage. Now she is being made an offer she can't refuse: to return to the peace of the island, to write her novel - and get close to a certain infamous bookseller, and his interesting collection of manuscripts...
Defectors
Joseph Kanon
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
From the bestselling author of Leaving Berlin and Istanbul Passage comes a thrilling and richly imagined novel about an American defector in Moscow during the Cold War. Moscow, 1961. Stalin has been dead for eight years. With the launch of Sputnik, the Soviet Union's international prestige is at an all-time high.
Former CIA agent Francis 'Frank' Weeks, the most notorious of the defectors to the Soviet Union, is about to publish his memoirs, and what he reveals is reportedly going to send shock waves through the West. Weeks' defection in the early 50s shook Washington to its core - he had been a beloved member of the OSS and then the CIA, one of the bright young men who'd come out of the war ready to take an early lead in the new American century. His betrayal rippled through the State Department, prompting frantic searches for moles and forcing the resignation of Simon, Frank's brother and best friend. When a Soviet agency approaches Simon, now a publisher in New York City, with a controversial proposition to publish his brother's memoirs, he knows that there's no way the US government will approve the publication of a book clearly intended as propaganda for the KGB.
Yet he finds the offer irresistible since it will finally give him the chance to learn why his brother chose to betray his country. But what he discovers in Moscow is far more than he ever imagined...
Former CIA agent Francis 'Frank' Weeks, the most notorious of the defectors to the Soviet Union, is about to publish his memoirs, and what he reveals is reportedly going to send shock waves through the West. Weeks' defection in the early 50s shook Washington to its core - he had been a beloved member of the OSS and then the CIA, one of the bright young men who'd come out of the war ready to take an early lead in the new American century. His betrayal rippled through the State Department, prompting frantic searches for moles and forcing the resignation of Simon, Frank's brother and best friend. When a Soviet agency approaches Simon, now a publisher in New York City, with a controversial proposition to publish his brother's memoirs, he knows that there's no way the US government will approve the publication of a book clearly intended as propaganda for the KGB.
Yet he finds the offer irresistible since it will finally give him the chance to learn why his brother chose to betray his country. But what he discovers in Moscow is far more than he ever imagined...
The Templars' Last Secret: Bruno #10
Martin Walker
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
In this latest mouthwatering mystery starring country policeman, Bruno, the body of a woman is found outside a cave beneath the ruined Templar chateau of Commarque in the heart of the Dordogne. She died of a broken neck. An accidental fall, or was she pushed?
The victim carries no identification and her fingerprints are not known to the French police or Interpol. The only clue to the woman's identity is that her dentistry looks American, but Bruno's inquiries at local hotels and gites yield no trace of a missing foreign woman.
The chateau of Commarque, begun in the 11th century, was founded by a Bishop of Sarlat and entrusted to the Knights Templar. In the rocks beneath it are caves. It is one of the few Templar sites in France that has never been associated with the fabled hidden treasure of the Templars - never until now, when a local journalist publishes a sensational story around the unknown woman's death and a centuries-old mystery looks like it might finally be solved...
The victim carries no identification and her fingerprints are not known to the French police or Interpol. The only clue to the woman's identity is that her dentistry looks American, but Bruno's inquiries at local hotels and gites yield no trace of a missing foreign woman.
The chateau of Commarque, begun in the 11th century, was founded by a Bishop of Sarlat and entrusted to the Knights Templar. In the rocks beneath it are caves. It is one of the few Templar sites in France that has never been associated with the fabled hidden treasure of the Templars - never until now, when a local journalist publishes a sensational story around the unknown woman's death and a centuries-old mystery looks like it might finally be solved...
The Night Visitor
Lucy Atkins
$32.99
Paperback • 368 pages
How far would you go to save your reputation? The stunning new noir thriller from the author of the bestselling The Missing One and The Other Child. Perfect for fans of I Let You Go and The Ice Twins.
Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life she loves, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children and a talented husband. But as she stands before a crowd at the launch of her new bestseller she can barely pretend to smile. Her life has spiralled into deceit and if the truth comes out, she will lose everything.
Only one person knows what Olivia has done. Vivian Tester is the socially awkward sixty-year-old housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary on which Olivia's book is based. She has now become Olivia's unofficial research assistant. And Vivian has secrets of her own. As events move between London, Sussex and the idyllic South of France, the relationship between these two women grows more entangled and complex. Then a bizarre act of violence changes everything.
The Night Visitor is a compelling exploration of ambition, morality and deception that asks the question: how far would you go to save your reputation?
Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life she loves, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children and a talented husband. But as she stands before a crowd at the launch of her new bestseller she can barely pretend to smile. Her life has spiralled into deceit and if the truth comes out, she will lose everything.
Only one person knows what Olivia has done. Vivian Tester is the socially awkward sixty-year-old housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary on which Olivia's book is based. She has now become Olivia's unofficial research assistant. And Vivian has secrets of her own. As events move between London, Sussex and the idyllic South of France, the relationship between these two women grows more entangled and complex. Then a bizarre act of violence changes everything.
The Night Visitor is a compelling exploration of ambition, morality and deception that asks the question: how far would you go to save your reputation?
The Dark Lake
Sarah Bailey
$32.99
Paperback • 440 pages
There were a few minutes when I was alone with her in the autopsy room. I felt wild. Absent. Before I could stop myself I was leaning close to her, telling her everything. The words draining out of me as she lay there. Her long damp hair hanging off the back of the steel table. Glassy eyes fixed blindly on the ceiling. She was still so beautiful, even in death.
Our secrets circled madly around the bright white room that morning. Rocking back and forth on my heels as I stood next to her, I knew how far in I was again, how comprehensively her death could undo me. I looked at Rosalind Ryan properly for the last time before breathing deeply, readying myself, letting her pull me back into her world, and I sank down, further and further, until I was completely, utterly under.
A beautiful young teacher has been murdered, her body found in the lake, strewn with red roses. Local policewoman Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock pushes to be assigned to the case, concealing the fact that she knew the murdered woman in high school years before.
But that's not all Gemma's trying to hide. As the investigation digs deeper into the victim's past, other secrets threaten to come to light, secrets that were supposed to remain buried. The lake holds the key to solving the murder, but it also has the power to drag Gemma down into its dark depths.
The Dark Lake is an addictive crime thriller, a mesmerising account of one woman's descent into deceit and madness, and a stunning debut that is already causing a stir around the world.
Our secrets circled madly around the bright white room that morning. Rocking back and forth on my heels as I stood next to her, I knew how far in I was again, how comprehensively her death could undo me. I looked at Rosalind Ryan properly for the last time before breathing deeply, readying myself, letting her pull me back into her world, and I sank down, further and further, until I was completely, utterly under.
A beautiful young teacher has been murdered, her body found in the lake, strewn with red roses. Local policewoman Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock pushes to be assigned to the case, concealing the fact that she knew the murdered woman in high school years before.
But that's not all Gemma's trying to hide. As the investigation digs deeper into the victim's past, other secrets threaten to come to light, secrets that were supposed to remain buried. The lake holds the key to solving the murder, but it also has the power to drag Gemma down into its dark depths.
The Dark Lake is an addictive crime thriller, a mesmerising account of one woman's descent into deceit and madness, and a stunning debut that is already causing a stir around the world.
No Man's Land: John Puller #4
David Baldacci
$17.99
Paperback • 368 pages
No Man's Land by David Baldacci is an exciting thriller featuring special investigator John Puller, who is pursuing a case that will send him deep into his own troubled past.
John Puller is the US Army's most tenacious investigator, but he is not equipped to face the truth about his mother's disappearance thirty years ago. New evidence has come to light suggesting that Puller's father - a highly decorated army veteran - may have murdered his wife. When Puller's friend, intelligence operative Veronica Knox, arrives on the scene, he realizes that there is far more to this case than he first thought. He knows that nothing will prevent him from discovering what really happened to his mother - even if it means proving that his father is a killer...
Paul Rogers has just been paroled after spending ten years in a high-security prison for murder. And with his freedom comes a desire to pay back old debts. Harbouring a dark past that changed him in unimaginable ways, Rogers embarks on a journey across the country, set on a path of revenge against the people who took away his humanity. As both men uncover a trail of deception that stretches back decades, they soon realize that the truth will bind them together in ways they could never have imagined.
John Puller is the US Army's most tenacious investigator, but he is not equipped to face the truth about his mother's disappearance thirty years ago. New evidence has come to light suggesting that Puller's father - a highly decorated army veteran - may have murdered his wife. When Puller's friend, intelligence operative Veronica Knox, arrives on the scene, he realizes that there is far more to this case than he first thought. He knows that nothing will prevent him from discovering what really happened to his mother - even if it means proving that his father is a killer...
Paul Rogers has just been paroled after spending ten years in a high-security prison for murder. And with his freedom comes a desire to pay back old debts. Harbouring a dark past that changed him in unimaginable ways, Rogers embarks on a journey across the country, set on a path of revenge against the people who took away his humanity. As both men uncover a trail of deception that stretches back decades, they soon realize that the truth will bind them together in ways they could never have imagined.
Overwatch: Logan West #1
Matthew Betley
$29.99
Paperback
When Logan West impulsively answers a dead man's ringing phone, he triggers a global race against the clock to track down an unknown organisation searching for an Iraqi artifact that is central to a planned attack in the Middle East - one that will draw the United States into a major conflict with Iran.
Logan, a former Marine officer, is quickly contracted as a 'consultant' to assist the FBI as part of a special task force bent on stopping the shadowy operatives, whatever the cost. The battles are nonstop, from the plains of the Midwest, to mansions in northern Mexico, to the war-torn Al-Anbar province, pitting an international team against trained mercenaries employed by the world's largest private security contractor... whose owner has a personal vendetta against the US government. Meanwhile, Logan is battling his own demons, especially the trauma of the ambush that his Force Recon unit suffered at an insurgent torture compound in Fallujah in 2004, which threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
With high-stakes and fully-realised characters, Overwatch is a thriller unlike any you've read before: expertly plotted, up-to-the-minute, and impossible to put down.
Logan, a former Marine officer, is quickly contracted as a 'consultant' to assist the FBI as part of a special task force bent on stopping the shadowy operatives, whatever the cost. The battles are nonstop, from the plains of the Midwest, to mansions in northern Mexico, to the war-torn Al-Anbar province, pitting an international team against trained mercenaries employed by the world's largest private security contractor... whose owner has a personal vendetta against the US government. Meanwhile, Logan is battling his own demons, especially the trauma of the ambush that his Force Recon unit suffered at an insurgent torture compound in Fallujah in 2004, which threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
With high-stakes and fully-realised characters, Overwatch is a thriller unlike any you've read before: expertly plotted, up-to-the-minute, and impossible to put down.
Love Like Blood: Tom Thorne #14
Mark Billingham
$29.99
Paperback • 432 pages
As DI Nicola Tanner investigates what appears to be a series of organised killings, her partner Susan is brutally murdered, leaving the detective bereft, and vengeful. Taken off the case, Tanner enlists the help of DI Tom Thorne to pursue a pair of ruthless killers and the broker handing out the deadly contracts. As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour. From number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a masterful, intense crime novel that pits DI Tom Thorne against an evil beyond comprehension, yet shockingly real.
Die of Shame
Mark Billingham
$19.99
Paperback • 512 pages
Full of betrayal, deceit and suspense, Die of Shame is the spectacular new book from number one bestseller Mark Billingham - author of Time of Death and In the Dark, both soon to be major BBC series. Every Monday evening, six people gather in a smart North London house to talk about addiction. There they share their deepest secrets: stories of lies, regret, and above all, shame. Then one of them is killed - and it's clear one of the circle was responsible. Detective Inspector Nicola Tanner quickly finds her investigation hampered by the strict confidentiality that binds these people and their therapist together. So what could be shameful enough to cost someone their life? And how do you find the truth when denial and deception are second nature to all of your suspects?
The Deepest Grave: Fiona Griffiths #6
Harry Bingham
$32.99
Paperback • 272 pages
'I love Fiona Griffiths' Sharon Bolton A crime from the past. A murder from the future. DS Fiona Griffiths is bored. It's been months since she had a good corpse. Then she gets news; not just of a murder, but of a decapitation, and one committed with an antique sword no less. All that, and, a murder scene laid out like a gruesome crossword clue. Gaynor Charteris was an archaeologist excavating a nearby iron-age site. Genial, respected, well-liked, it was hard to see why anyone would want to kill her. But as Fiona starts to investigate, she finds evidence of a crime that seems to have its origins in King Arthur's greatest battle - a crime so bizarre that getting her superiors to take it seriously is going to be her toughest job. Especially since the crime hasn't yet been committed. Praise for the Fiona Griffiths mystery series: 'Compelling and claustrophobic. Without a doubt, Fiona Griffiths is one of crime's most memorable heroines' Sarah Hilary 'Compelling...a new crime talent to treasure' Daily Mail 'In a word - brilliant. One of the most enjoyable crime novels I've read in a while' James Oswald 'Gritty, compelling...a procedural unlike any other you are likely to read this year' USA Today 'Gripping. ..Fiona Griffiths kept me hooked to the last page and left me hungry for more' Rachel Abbott Fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Ann Cleeves will be gripped by the other titles in the Fiona Griffiths mystery series: 1. Talking to the Dead 2. Love Story, With Murders 3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths 4. This Thing of Darkness 5. The Dead House 6. The Deepest Grave (coming soon!) If you're looking for a crime thriller series to keep you hooked, then go no further: you've just found it. ** Each Fiona Griffiths thriller can be read as a standalone or in series order **
Love Murder: Valerie Hart #2
Saul Black
$19.99
Paperback • 368 pages
Troubled San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart is planning a rare weekend away from the job when she gets the call. A body has been found. A woman, brutally murdered. And the cryptic note left by the body is addressed to Valerie.
The victim is unknown to her, but as Valerie analyses the scene, the clues begin to point in a deeply disturbing direction: to a maximum security prison where a woman called Katherine Glass is awaiting execution for a series of gruesome killings. And Valerie was the cop who put her there.
The last thing Valerie wants to do is re-enter Katherine's twisted world, but when a second body is discovered, with another puzzling clue, she realises she has no choice. Katherine Glass holds the key to the killings, and Valerie needs to find out what she knows before the murders come even closer to home. Even if it means playing a deadly game where once again, the psychopathic killer holds all the cards.
The victim is unknown to her, but as Valerie analyses the scene, the clues begin to point in a deeply disturbing direction: to a maximum security prison where a woman called Katherine Glass is awaiting execution for a series of gruesome killings. And Valerie was the cop who put her there.
The last thing Valerie wants to do is re-enter Katherine's twisted world, but when a second body is discovered, with another puzzling clue, she realises she has no choice. Katherine Glass holds the key to the killings, and Valerie needs to find out what she knows before the murders come even closer to home. Even if it means playing a deadly game where once again, the psychopathic killer holds all the cards.
Lycke: Ellen Tamm #1
Mikaela Bley
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
The missing girl is Lycke, and assigned to report on her story is TV4's hot-headed crime reporter Ellen Tamm. As the police begin their search, Ellen starts her own investigation, delving into Lycke's life- her family, the nanny, the kids who taunted her at school. As Ellen is drawn deeper into a tangle of secrets, lies, and betrayals - and frustrated by the odd behaviour of Lycke's family, as well as corrupt police, her upstart new boss, and the disturbing threats being made against her - she becomes more and more possessed by the task she has been given, tortured by the echoes of her own past, of the darkness that haunts her. Will she find Lycke before it is too late for either of them? Mikaela Bley's debut, Lycke, is the haunting first novel in the Ellen Tamm thriller series, and is an exciting new voice in Swedish crime writing.
The Dark Isle: Sam Coyle #3
Clare Carson
$29.99
Paperback • 416 pages
Sam grew up in the shadow of the secret state. Her father was an undercover agent, full of tall stories about tradecraft and traitors. Then he died, killed in the line of duty. Now Sam has travelled to Hoy, in Orkney, to piece together the puzzle of her father's past. Haunted by echoes of childhood holidays, Sam is sure the truth lies buried here, somewhere. What she finds is a tiny island of dramatic skies, swooping birds, rugged sea stacks and just four hundred people. An island remote enough to shelter someone who doesn't want to be found. An island small enough to keep a secret...
Marlborough Man
Alan Carter
$29.99
Paperback • 304 pages
Nick Chester is working as a sergeant for the Havelock police in the Marlborough Sound, at the top of NZ's South Island. If the river isn't flooded and the land hasn't slipped, it's paradise - unless you are also hiding from a ruthless man with a grudge, in which case, remote beauty has its own kind of danger. In the last couple of weeks, two local boys have vanished. Their bodies are found, but the Pied Piper is still at large. Marlborough Man is a gripping story about the hunter and the hunted, and about what happens when evil takes hold of a small town.
Match Up
Diana Gabaldon , Steve Berry , Lisa Scottoline , Nelson DeMille
$29.99
Paperback • 464 pages
This exciting new collaboration features twenty-two of the world's top thriller authors, who have paired up to write eleven short stories featuring their best-loved characters.
Find out what happens when Lee Child's Jack Reacher meets Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brannan, or how Val McDermid's Tony Hill and Peter James' Roy Grace end up working together on a very unusual case. These are just some of the never-before-seen pairings included in MATCH UP.
Edited by international bestseller Lee Child, this exclusive page-turning collection promises the same thrills and chills brought to you by the previous collection, FACE OFF. Read on to discover the full list of author and character pairings:
Diana Gabaldon's Claire Randall Fraser + Steve Berry's Cotton Malone
Lisa Scottoline's Bennie Rosato + Nelson DeMille's John Corey
Sandra Brown's Lee Coburn + C.J. Box's Joe Pickett
Kathy Reichs's Temperance Brennan + Lee Child's Jack Reacher
Val McDermid's Tony Hill + Peter James's Roy Grace
Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly + Andrew Gross's Ty Hauck
Gayle Lynds's Liz Sansborough + David Morrell's Rambo
Karin Slaughter's Jeffrey Tolliver + Michael Koryta's Lincoln Perry
Lara Adrian's Lucan Thorne + Christopher Rice
J.A. Jance's Ali Reynolds + Eric Van Lustbader's Bravo Shaw
Lisa Jackson's Regan Pescoli + John Sandford's Lucas Davenport
Find out what happens when Lee Child's Jack Reacher meets Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brannan, or how Val McDermid's Tony Hill and Peter James' Roy Grace end up working together on a very unusual case. These are just some of the never-before-seen pairings included in MATCH UP.
Edited by international bestseller Lee Child, this exclusive page-turning collection promises the same thrills and chills brought to you by the previous collection, FACE OFF. Read on to discover the full list of author and character pairings:
Diana Gabaldon's Claire Randall Fraser + Steve Berry's Cotton Malone
Lisa Scottoline's Bennie Rosato + Nelson DeMille's John Corey
Sandra Brown's Lee Coburn + C.J. Box's Joe Pickett
Kathy Reichs's Temperance Brennan + Lee Child's Jack Reacher
Val McDermid's Tony Hill + Peter James's Roy Grace
Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly + Andrew Gross's Ty Hauck
Gayle Lynds's Liz Sansborough + David Morrell's Rambo
Karin Slaughter's Jeffrey Tolliver + Michael Koryta's Lincoln Perry
Lara Adrian's Lucan Thorne + Christopher Rice
J.A. Jance's Ali Reynolds + Eric Van Lustbader's Bravo Shaw
Lisa Jackson's Regan Pescoli + John Sandford's Lucas Davenport
Home
Harlan Coben
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For ten years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken? And most critically: what can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend? Drawing on his singular talent, Harlan Coben delivers an explosive and deeply moving thriller about friendship, family, and the meaning of home.
A Divided Spy: Thomas Kell #3
Charles Cumming
$19.99
Paperback • 432 pages
Former MI6 officer Thomas Kell thought he was done with spying. Until the Russian agent he blames for the death of his girlfriend is spotted at a Red Sea resort - in dangerous company. Taking the law into his own hands, Kell embarks on a mission to recruit his rival. Only to find himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse in which it becomes increasingly difficult to know who is playing whom. As the mission reaches boiling point, rumours of a terrorist attack suggest a massacre on Britain soil is imminent. Kell is faced with an impossible choice. Loyalty to MI6 - or to his own conscience?
The Marsh King's Daughter
Karen Dionne
$29.99
Paperback • 320 pages
'I was born two years into my mother's captivity. She was three weeks shy of seventeen. If I had known then what I do now, things would have been a lot different. I wouldn't have adored my father.' When notorious child abductor - known as The Marsh King - escapes from a maximum security prison, Helena immediately suspects that she and her two young daughters are in danger. No one, not even her husband, knows the truth about Helena's past: they don't know that she was born into captivity, that she had no contact with the outside world before the age of twelve - or that her father raised her to be a killer. And they don't know that The Marsh King can survive and hunt in the wilderness better than anyone...except, perhaps his own daughter. Packed with gripping suspense and powerful storytelling, The Marsh King's Daughter is a one-more-page, read-in-one-sitting thriller that you'll remember for ever.
Dead Letters
Caite Dolan-Leach
$29.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Ava's twin sister is missing, maybe even dead. In order to learn the truth she must follow the clues from A to Z...
Ava Antipova has her reasons for running away: a failing family vineyard, a romantic betrayal, a mercurial sister, an absent father, a mother slipping into dementia. In Paris, Ava renounces her terribly practical undergraduate degree, acquires a French boyfriend and a taste for much better wine, and erases her past. Two years later, she must return to upstate New York. Her twin sister, Zelda, is dead.
Even in a family of alcoholics, Zelda Antipova was the wild one, notorious for her mind games and destructive behaviour. Stuck tending the vineyard and the girls' increasingly unstable mother, Zelda was allegedly burned alive when she passed out in the barn with a lit cigarette. But Ava finds the official explanation a little too neat. A little too Zelda. Then she receives a cryptic message-from her sister.
Just as Ava suspected, Zelda's playing one of her games. In fact, she's outdone herself, leaving a series of clues about her disappearance. With the police stuck on a red herring, Ava follows the trail laid just for her, thinking like her sister, keeping her secrets, immersing herself in Zelda's drama and her outlandish circle of friends and lovers. Along the way, Zelda forces her twin to confront their twisted history and the boy who broke Ava's heart. But why? Is Zelda trying to punish Ava for leaving, or to teach her a lesson? Or is she simply trying to write her own ending?
Featuring a colourful, raucous cast of characters, Caite Dolan-Leach's debut thriller takes readers on a literary scavenger hunt for clues concealed throughout the seemingly idyllic wine country, hidden in plain sight on social media, and buried at the heart of one tremendously dysfunctional, utterly unforgettable family.
Ava Antipova has her reasons for running away: a failing family vineyard, a romantic betrayal, a mercurial sister, an absent father, a mother slipping into dementia. In Paris, Ava renounces her terribly practical undergraduate degree, acquires a French boyfriend and a taste for much better wine, and erases her past. Two years later, she must return to upstate New York. Her twin sister, Zelda, is dead.
Even in a family of alcoholics, Zelda Antipova was the wild one, notorious for her mind games and destructive behaviour. Stuck tending the vineyard and the girls' increasingly unstable mother, Zelda was allegedly burned alive when she passed out in the barn with a lit cigarette. But Ava finds the official explanation a little too neat. A little too Zelda. Then she receives a cryptic message-from her sister.
Just as Ava suspected, Zelda's playing one of her games. In fact, she's outdone herself, leaving a series of clues about her disappearance. With the police stuck on a red herring, Ava follows the trail laid just for her, thinking like her sister, keeping her secrets, immersing herself in Zelda's drama and her outlandish circle of friends and lovers. Along the way, Zelda forces her twin to confront their twisted history and the boy who broke Ava's heart. But why? Is Zelda trying to punish Ava for leaving, or to teach her a lesson? Or is she simply trying to write her own ending?
Featuring a colourful, raucous cast of characters, Caite Dolan-Leach's debut thriller takes readers on a literary scavenger hunt for clues concealed throughout the seemingly idyllic wine country, hidden in plain sight on social media, and buried at the heart of one tremendously dysfunctional, utterly unforgettable family.
Lie with Me
Sabine Durrant
$19.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Twisty, tense, impossible to put down psychological suspense for fans of I Let You Go and The Widow. It starts with a lie. The kind we've all told - to a former acquaintance we can't quite place but still, for some reason, feel the need to impress. The story of our life, embellished for the benefit of the happily married lawyer with the kids and the lovely home.
And the next thing you know, you're having dinner at their house, and accepting an invitation to join them on holiday - swept up in their perfect life, the kind you always dreamed of...Which turns out to be less than perfect. But by the time you're trapped and sweating in the relentless Greek sun, burning to escape the tension all around you - by the time you start to realise that, however painful the truth might be, it's the lies that cause the real damage... well, by then, it could just be too late.
And the next thing you know, you're having dinner at their house, and accepting an invitation to join them on holiday - swept up in their perfect life, the kind you always dreamed of...Which turns out to be less than perfect. But by the time you're trapped and sweating in the relentless Greek sun, burning to escape the tension all around you - by the time you start to realise that, however painful the truth might be, it's the lies that cause the real damage... well, by then, it could just be too late.
A High Mortality of Doves
Kate Ellis
$22.99
Paperback • 368 pages
1919. The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is still reeling from four terrible years of war, and now, just when the village is coming to terms with the loss of so many of its sons, the brutal murder of a young girl shatters its hard-won tranquillity.
Myrtle Bligh is found stabbed and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove, a bird of peace.
During the war Myrtle worked as a volunteer nurse with Flora Winsmore, the local doctor's daughter, caring for badly wounded soldiers at the nearby big house, Tarnhey Court.
When two more women are found murdered in identical circumstances, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London, a man not only wounded in war but damaged in peace by the death of his young son and his cold, loveless marriage. Once in Wenfield, Albert begins to investigate the three recent murders and the Cartwright family of Tarnhey Court and their staff fall under suspicion as their hidden lives and secrets are uncovered.
With rumours of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the murders, the village is thrown into a state of panic - and with the killer still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious angel of death?
Myrtle Bligh is found stabbed and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove, a bird of peace.
During the war Myrtle worked as a volunteer nurse with Flora Winsmore, the local doctor's daughter, caring for badly wounded soldiers at the nearby big house, Tarnhey Court.
When two more women are found murdered in identical circumstances, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London, a man not only wounded in war but damaged in peace by the death of his young son and his cold, loveless marriage. Once in Wenfield, Albert begins to investigate the three recent murders and the Cartwright family of Tarnhey Court and their staff fall under suspicion as their hidden lives and secrets are uncovered.
With rumours of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the murders, the village is thrown into a state of panic - and with the killer still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious angel of death?
Perfect Remains
Helen Fields
$19.99
Paperback • 416 pages
On a remote Highland mountain, the body of Elaine Buxton is burning. All that will be left to identify the respected lawyer are her teeth and a fragment of clothing. In the concealed back room of a house in Edinburgh, the real Elaine Buxton screams into the darkness... Detective Inspector Luc Callanach has barely set foot in his new office when Elaine's missing persons case is escalated to a murder investigation. Having left behind a promising career at Interpol, he's eager to prove himself to his new team. But Edinburgh, he discovers, is a long way from Lyon, and Elaine's killer has covered his tracks with meticulous care. It's not long before another successful woman is abducted from her doorstep, and Callanach finds himself in a race against the clock. Or so he believes... The real fate of the women will prove more twisted than he could have ever imagined.
A Hero in France: Night Soldiers #14
Alan Furst
$19.99
Paperback • 256 pages
Spring, 1941. Britain is losing the war. Paris is occupied by the Nazis, dark and silent at night. But when the clouds part, and moonlight floods the city, a Resistance leader called Mathieu steps out to begin his work. The fighters of the French Resistance are determined not to give up. These courageous men and women - young and old, aristocrats and nightclub owners, teachers and students - help downed British airmen reach the border with Spain. In farmhouses and rural churches, in secret hotels, and on the streets, they risk everything to open Europe's sealed doors and lead Allied fighters to freedom. But as the military police heightens surveillance, Mathieu and his team face a new threat, dispatched from the Reich to destroy them all.
The Girl in Kellers Way
Megan Goldin
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
A heart-stopping novel of deception and delusion from an exciting new Australian author of domestic noir.
When a body is found buried near the desolate forest road of Kellers Way, Detective Melanie Carter must identify the victim if she is to have any chance of finding the killer. That's no easy task with fragmentary evidence from a crime committed years earlier and a conspiracy of silence from anyone who might have information.
The one person who may be able to help is Julie West. In a troubled marriage, Julie often jogs along Kellers Way to clear her mind and escape the confines of her suffocating suburban life. Until one day, something happens there that shakes Julie to the core, making her question everything she ever believed about her life, her marriage and even her sanity...
When a body is found buried near the desolate forest road of Kellers Way, Detective Melanie Carter must identify the victim if she is to have any chance of finding the killer. That's no easy task with fragmentary evidence from a crime committed years earlier and a conspiracy of silence from anyone who might have information.
The one person who may be able to help is Julie West. In a troubled marriage, Julie often jogs along Kellers Way to clear her mind and escape the confines of her suffocating suburban life. Until one day, something happens there that shakes Julie to the core, making her question everything she ever believed about her life, her marriage and even her sanity...
Still Dark: Lorimer #14
Alex Gray
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
New Year's Eve should be a time for celebrating. But for Detective Superintendent William Lorimer, this is one night he will never forget... Called to a house after gunshots are reported, the carnage Lorimer finds there leaves him traumatised and questioning his future with Police Scotland. Meanwhile, the body count is rising on Glasgow's streets. A number of known addicts are dying from accidental overdoses, but something's not adding up. Where would the city's poorest residents get hold of high-quality morphine? As Lorimer struggles to return to duty, he spots a link between the deaths and a previous case involving the euthanasia of vulnerable patients. It seems the man responsible has resurfaced - and this time he's got the backing of a dangerous criminal from Glasgow's underworld. Can Lorimer and his team get the killer off the streets for good before more innocent people die?
The Vanished: Konrad Simonsen #3
Lotte Hammer , Soren Hammer
$16.99
Paperback • 448 pages
Lying at the bottom of his apartment stairs, a postman is found dead. At first glance, his death appears to be a tragic accident. However, when Detective Superintendent Konrad Simonsen is called to investigate, he notices that something doesn't add up. Did he fall? When life-sized images of a vanished girl are discovered plastering the walls of the dead man's attic, the case takes a new and sinister turn. Who is she? Could she be alive? Soon the homicide team find themselves delving into the past, but as they approach the truth, Simonsen is forced to confront long-hidden skeletons in his own cupboard.
Frost at Midnight: Frost #4
James Henry
$27.99
Paperback • 320 pages
August, 1983. Denton is preparing for a wedding. Detective Sergeant Waters should be on top of the world with less than a week to go until he marries Kim Myles. But the Sunday before the big day, instead of a run-through with his best man, the church is sealed off. The body of a young woman has been found in the churchyard, and their idyllic wedding venue has become a crime scene. Detective Sergeant Jack Frost has been homeless for the past three months, ever since his wife's family sold the matrimonial house. He's been staying with Detective Constable Sue Clarke but with a baby to take care of and the imminent arrival of her mother, she's given him his marching orders. But as best man to Waters, he's got a responsibility to solve the mystery of the dead girl in the churchyard. Can he put his own troubles aside and be the detective they need him to be? All in all, August looks set to be a wicked month in Denton...
Sleep Baby Sleep: Pieter Vos #4
David Hewson
$29.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Annie Schrijver is just twenty-two-years-old. She works in the picturesque Albert Cuyp flower market where her father has a stall. Brimming with personality, she’s always been popular with the customers. But then she goes missing, only to be found barely alive, tied to a stone angel in agraveyard, surrounded by a ring of fire. Her body contains traces of a drug which connect the police to a previous case: the Sleeping Beauty murders.
But Annie seems to have been the lucky one, as a body is found nearby, freshly tattooed with three words: Sleep Baby Sleep.
It is summer and Amsterdam is full of tourists drunk or high on all that it has to offer. The drum of music from a make-shift DJ booth near the zoo is deafening, and empty frites cones and beer cans litter the streets. But the atmosphere has sinister undercurrents as a killer is at work in a city where crime pays and tensions run high.
Detective Pieter Vos knows that if he is to outwit the murderer, he will need to employ everything he has to avert a greater tragedy.
But Annie seems to have been the lucky one, as a body is found nearby, freshly tattooed with three words: Sleep Baby Sleep.
It is summer and Amsterdam is full of tourists drunk or high on all that it has to offer. The drum of music from a make-shift DJ booth near the zoo is deafening, and empty frites cones and beer cans litter the streets. But the atmosphere has sinister undercurrents as a killer is at work in a city where crime pays and tensions run high.
Detective Pieter Vos knows that if he is to outwit the murderer, he will need to employ everything he has to avert a greater tragedy.
Magpie Murders
Anthony Horowitz
$19.99
Paperback
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the tattered manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has little idea it will change her life. She's worked with the revered crime writer for years and his detective, Atticus Pund, is renowned for solving crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s. As Susan knows only too well, vintage crime sells handsomely. It's just a shame that it means dealing with an author like Alan Conway...
But Conway's latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but hidden in the pages of the manuscript there lies another story: a tale written between the very words on the page, telling of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition and murder.
From Sunday Times bestseller Anthony Horowitz comes Magpie Murders, his deliciously dark take on the vintage crime novel, brought bang- up-to-date with a fiendish modern twist.
But Conway's latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but hidden in the pages of the manuscript there lies another story: a tale written between the very words on the page, telling of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition and murder.
From Sunday Times bestseller Anthony Horowitz comes Magpie Murders, his deliciously dark take on the vintage crime novel, brought bang- up-to-date with a fiendish modern twist.
The Nowhere Man: Orphan X #2
Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
$19.99
Paperback • 544 pages
He was once called Orphan X. As a boy, Evan Smoak was taken from a children's home, raised and trained as part of a secret government initiative buried so deep that virtually no one knows it exists. But he broke with the programme, choosing instead to vanish off grid and use his formidable skill set to help those unable to protect themselves.
One day, though, Evan's luck ran out... Ambushed, drugged, and spirited away, Evan wakes up in a locked room with no idea where he is or who has captured him. As he tries to piece together what's happened, testing his gilded prison and its highly trained guards for weaknesses, he receives a desperate call for help.
With time running out, he will need to out-think, out-manoeuvre, and out-fight an opponent the likes of whom he's never encountered to have any chance of escape. He's got to save himself to protect those whose lives depend on him.
Or die trying...
One day, though, Evan's luck ran out... Ambushed, drugged, and spirited away, Evan wakes up in a locked room with no idea where he is or who has captured him. As he tries to piece together what's happened, testing his gilded prison and its highly trained guards for weaknesses, he receives a desperate call for help.
With time running out, he will need to out-think, out-manoeuvre, and out-fight an opponent the likes of whom he's never encountered to have any chance of escape. He's got to save himself to protect those whose lives depend on him.
Or die trying...
Need You Dead: Roy Grace #13
Peter James
$29.99
Paperback • 432 pages
Roy Grace, creation of the CWA Diamond Dagger award winning author Peter James, faces his most mysterious case yet in Need You Dead. Lorna Belling, desperate to escape the marriage from hell, falls for the charms of another man who promises her the earth. But, as Lorna finds, life seldom follows the plans you've made. A chance photograph on a client's mobile phone changes everything for her. When the body of a woman is found in a bath in Brighton, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is called to the scene. At first it looks an open and shut case with a clear prime suspect. Then other scenarios begin to present themselves, each of them tantalizingly plausible, until, in a sudden turn of events, and to his utter disbelief, the case turns more sinister than Grace could ever have imagined.
Breakdown: Alex Delaware #31
Jonathan Kellerman
$19.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Dr. Alex Delaware first meets beautiful and emotionally fragile actress Zelda Chase when called upon to evaluate her young son.
Years later, Alex is unexpectedly reunited with Zelda when she is committed after a bizarre psychotic episode. But tragedy strikes and after her release, Zelda is discovered dead in the grounds of a palatial L.A. Estate, and her son missing. Having experienced more than enough of the city's dark side to recognise the scent of evil, Alex turns to his friend, LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, for help in finding the perpetrator.
And when other victims vanish from the same upscale neighborhood, worry turns to terror. As Alex and Milo unveil each devastating revelation and damning clue, Alex's brilliant mind is challenged as never before - and his determination grows to see a killer caged and the truth set free.
Years later, Alex is unexpectedly reunited with Zelda when she is committed after a bizarre psychotic episode. But tragedy strikes and after her release, Zelda is discovered dead in the grounds of a palatial L.A. Estate, and her son missing. Having experienced more than enough of the city's dark side to recognise the scent of evil, Alex turns to his friend, LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, for help in finding the perpetrator.
And when other victims vanish from the same upscale neighborhood, worry turns to terror. As Alex and Milo unveil each devastating revelation and damning clue, Alex's brilliant mind is challenged as never before - and his determination grows to see a killer caged and the truth set free.
The Day She Disappeared
Christobel Kent
$29.99
Paperback • 416 pages
Your best friend will always be there for you... won't she? Have you ever had that sense that you're being watched? And you turn, suddenly, but it's just a curtain, blowing in the wind? Or the dress hanging in the doorway? Nat knows something's wrong. Her best friend, Beth, would never have upped and left without saying goodbye to her. But no one believes that Beth was taken - she is a fly-by-night, a party girl who can't be trusted. No one's listening to Nat. But someone is definitely watching her...
Stalker: Joona Linna #5
Lars Kepler
$19.99
Paperback • 656 pages
A film arrives at Stockholm's National Crime Investigation Department showing a woman in her own home, plainly unaware she is being watched. The police don't take it seriously... until she is found murdered. When the next video arrives, Detective Margot Silverman frantically attempts to identify the victim. But it's already too late. Because at the time the video was sent, the killer was already inside their house... Soon Stockholm is in the grip of terror. Who will the Stalker target next?
Every Last Lie
Mary Kubica
$29.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident...until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon. Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out - and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit. Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara's investigation and Nick's last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date - one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.
Death at the Boston Tea Party: John Rawlings #16
Deryn Lake
$29.95
Paperback • 224 pages
A new business opportunity in America leads to a case of cold-blooded murder for Apothecary John Rawlings 1773. Following a long and perilous journey, John Rawlings has arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, to pursue a new business venture. He finds the place riven with tension and unrest. There are many who feel it's time the colonies sought freedom from British rule, and the seething resentment erupts into outright rebellion during the notorious Boston Tea Party. But has someone taken advantage of the chaos to commit cold-blooded murder? Called in to examine a body fished out of Boston Harbour, Rawlings recognizes one of his fellow travellers from England. If he could unearth the truth about the victim's past and the reason why they'd come to Boston, he would be one step closer to catching the killer. But has Rawlings become a pawn in an altogether bigger game?
The Unfortunate Englishman: Joe Wilderness #2
John Lawton
$19.99
Paperback • 368 pages
Having shot someone in what he believed was self-defence in the chaos of 1963 Berlin, Wilderness finds himself locked up with little chance of escape. But an official pardon through his father-in-law Burne-Jones, a senior agent at MI6, means he is free to go - although forever in Burne-Jones's service. His newest operation will take him back to Berlin, which is now the dividing line between the West and the Soviets. A backstory of innocence and intrigue unravels, one in which Wilderness is in and out of Berlin and Vienna like a jack-in-the-box. When the Russians started building the Berlin wall in 1961, two 'Unfortunate Englishmen' were trapped on opposite sides. Geoffrey Masefield in the Lubyanka, and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov) in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965 there is a new plan. To exchange the prisoners, a swap upon Berlin's bridge of spies. But, as ever, Joe has something on the side, just to make it interesting, just to make it profitable. The Unfortunate Englishman is a thrilling tale of Khrushchev, Kennedy, a spy exchange... and 10,000 bottles of fine Bordeaux. What can possibly go wrong?
Lies
T. M. Logan
$29.99
Paperback
What if your whole life was based on lies? A gripping new psychological thriller of secrets and revenge.
When Joe Lynch stumbles across his wife driving into a hotel car park while she's supposed to be at work, he's intrigued enough to follow her in.
And when he witnesses her in an angry altercation with family friend Ben, he knows he ought to intervene. But just as the confrontation between the two men turns violent, and Ben is knocked unconscious, Joe's young son has an asthma attack - and Joe must flee in order to help him.
When he returns, desperate to make sure Ben is OK, Joe is horrified to find that Ben has disappeared.
And that's when Joe receives the first message... Gripping, unputdownable and packed with twists and turns from the first page to the very last, this stunning thriller will make you question whether we can ever really trust the ones we love...
When Joe Lynch stumbles across his wife driving into a hotel car park while she's supposed to be at work, he's intrigued enough to follow her in.
And when he witnesses her in an angry altercation with family friend Ben, he knows he ought to intervene. But just as the confrontation between the two men turns violent, and Ben is knocked unconscious, Joe's young son has an asthma attack - and Joe must flee in order to help him.
When he returns, desperate to make sure Ben is OK, Joe is horrified to find that Ben has disappeared.
And that's when Joe receives the first message... Gripping, unputdownable and packed with twists and turns from the first page to the very last, this stunning thriller will make you question whether we can ever really trust the ones we love...
Butterfly on the Storm
Walter Lucius
$32.99
Paperback • 432 pages
A young boy is found in woods outside Amsterdam. Broken and bloody, he appears to be the victim of a brutal hit-and-run. When the police at the hospital ask what happened, the one word the boy repeats they don't understand. But journalist Farah Hafez does. She left Afghanistan as a child and she recognizes her native tongue. As the boy is taken into surgery she finds herself visiting the scene of the crime, seeking to discover how a little Afghan boy came to be so far from home. Instead, she comes across a burnt-out car with two bodies inside - a sinister clue to something far darker than a simple road accident. It is just the start of a journey that will lead her from one twisted strand to another in an intricate web of crime and corruption that stretches across Europe and deep into a past that Farah had sought to escape - a past that nearly killed her. Butterfly on the Storm is the first in a tense, atmospheric and gripping new trilogy which has drawn parallels with Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.
Tom Clancy's Point of Contact: Jack Ryan #23
Mike Maden
$32.99
Paperback
Jack Ryan Jr finds out that sometimes the deadliest secret of all may be standing right next to you. Freeze or drown. He wasn't sure which one would come first. It didn't really matter. Either way, Jack Ryan, Jr. knew he was going to die in the next two minutes. When Jack Ryan Jr is sent to Singapore on what seems a routine administrative task, he worries he's being sidelined in the war on terror. But it soon becomes clear there's more to the mission - and his unassuming new partner, Paul Brown - than meets the eye. With North Korean missile testing in full swing and a deadly cyclone bearing down on the island nation, Brown and Ryan are tasked with uncovering a mole threatening an entirely new kind of warfare. And it soon becomes clear someone is willing to kill to cover their tracks. As they race against time to escape both the murderous storm and a team of trained assassins, they must fight against power, prestige, leverage and blackmail to prevent the launch of another worldwide nuclear arms race. And they might not make it out alive.
You Don't Know Me: A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice
Imran Mahmood
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
An unnamed defendant stands accused of murder. Just before the Closing Speeches, the young man sacks his lawyer, and decides to give his own defence speech. He tells us that his barrister told him to leave some things out. Sometimes, the truth can be too difficult to explain, or believe. But he thinks that if he's going to go down for life, he might as well go down telling the truth. There are eight pieces of evidence against him. As he talks us through them one by one, his life is in our hands. We, the reader - member of the jury - must keep an open mind till we hear the end of his story. His defence raises many questions...but at the end of the speeches, only one matters: Did he do it?
Fever
Deon Meyer
$32.99
Paperback • 544 pages
I want to tell you about my Father's murder. I want to tell you who killed him and why. This is the story of my life. And the story of your life and your world too, as you will see. Nico Storm and his father drive across a desolate South Africa, constantly alert for feral dogs, motorcycle gangs, nuclear contamination. They are among the few survivors of a virus that has killed most of the world's population. Young as he is, Nico realises that his superb marksmanship and cool head mean he is destined to be his father's protector. But Willem Storm, though not a fighter, is a man with a vision. He is searching for a place that can become a refuge, a beacon of light and hope in a dark and hopeless world, a community that survivors will rebuild from the ruins. And so Amanzi is born. Fever is the epic, searing story of a group of people determined to carve a city out of chaos.
Boundary
Andree Michaud
$26.99
Paperback
A chilling thriller as compulsive as Emma Cline's The Girls
It's the Summer of 1967. The sun shines brightly over Boundary lake, a holiday haven on the USCanadian border. Families relax in the heat, happy and carefree. Hours tick away to the sound of radios playing 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'. Children run along the beach as the heady smell of barbecues fills the air. Zaza Mulligan and Sissy Morgan, with their long, tanned legs and silky hair, relish their growing reputation as the red and blond Lolitas. Life seems idyllic.
But then Zaza disappears, and the skies begin to cloud over...
It's the Summer of 1967. The sun shines brightly over Boundary lake, a holiday haven on the USCanadian border. Families relax in the heat, happy and carefree. Hours tick away to the sound of radios playing 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'. Children run along the beach as the heady smell of barbecues fills the air. Zaza Mulligan and Sissy Morgan, with their long, tanned legs and silky hair, relish their growing reputation as the red and blond Lolitas. Life seems idyllic.
But then Zaza disappears, and the skies begin to cloud over...
Don't Turn Out the Lights: Servaz #3
Bernard Minier
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
You did nothing. Christine Steinmeyer knows the suicide note she found in her mailbox on Christmas Eve has nothing to do with her. But the man calling in to her radio show seems convinced otherwise. You let her die... That's only the beginning. Bit by bit, her life is turned upside down. But who among her friends and family hates her enough to want to destroy her? And why? Commandant Martin Servaz is on leave when he is sent a key card to a hotel room - the room where an artist committed suicide a year earlier. He soon uncovers evidence of a truly terrifying crime. Could someone really be cruelly, consciously hounding women to death? Both he and Christine will find out... but it may not be in time.
The Fortunate Brother
Donna Morrissey
$27.99
Paperback • 272 pages
The Fortunate Brother is a dark, atmospheric and compelling novel about the aftermath of a murder in a claustrophobic rural community in Newfoundland. When a body is found in the lake suspicion falls on the troubled Now family. As the mystery unfolds other, far deeper, secrets are revealed. Compassionate and wise, beautiful and brutal, The Fortunate Brother is the story of a family and a community in turmoil and confirms Donna Morrissey's place as one of Canada's foremost storytellers.
Bright Shiny Things: Hakim & Arnold #5
Barbara Nadel
$29.99
Paperback
Out of the blue, private investigator and ex-soldier Lee Arnold receives a visit from an old army mate. Abbas al'Barri worked as a translator with him during the Second Iraq War. Now living in Ilford with his family, Abbas is convinced that he's had a message from his estranged son Fayyaad, who was radicalised and was last thought to be fighting for ISIL in Iraq. Does Fayyaad's message indicate a change of heart? Abbas is desperate for Lee's help in establishing some contact with him, a point with which Lee's Muslim assistant Mumtaz might be able to help. From the bright lights of the Western world, to the murky online recruitment techniques of radical Islamism, Lee and Mumtaz have little to guide them in who to trust as they begin a journey into the belly of the beast.
See You in September
Charity Norman
$29.99
Paperback
Cassy smiled, blew them a kiss. 'See you in September,' she said. It was a throwaway line. Just words uttered casually by a young woman in a hurry. And then she'd gone. It was supposed to be a short trip-a break in New Zealand before her best friend's wedding. But when Cassy waved goodbye to her parents, they never dreamed that it would be years before they'd see her again. Having broken up with her boyfriend, Cassy accepts an invitation to stay in an idyllic farming collective. Overcome by the peace and beauty of the valley and swept up in the charisma of Justin, the community's leader, Cassy becomes convinced that she has to stay. As Cassy becomes more and more entrenched in the group's rituals and beliefs, her frantic parents fight to bring her home-before Justin's prophesied Last Day can come to pass. A powerful story of family, faith and finding yourself, See You in September is an unputdownable new novel from this hugely compelling author.
Heretics
Leonardo Padura , Anna Kushner
$26.99
Paperback • 556 pages
In 1939, the Saint Louis sails from Hamburg into Havana’s port with hundreds of Jewish refugees. From the docks, nine-year-old Daniel Kaminsky watches as the passengers, including his parents, become embroiled in a fiasco of Cuban corruption. But the Kaminskys have a treasure that they hope will save them: a Rembrandt portrait of Christ. Yet six days later the vessel is forced to leave the harbour with the family, bound for the horrors of Europe. The Kaminskys, along with their priceless heirloom, disappear.
Seven decades later, the Rembrandt reappears in a London auction house, prompting Daniel’s son to travel to Cuba to track down the story of the lost masterpiece. He hires Mario Conde, and together they navigate a web of deception and violence in the morally complex city of Havana. In Heretics , Leonardo Padura takes us from the tenements and beaches of Cuba to Rembrandt’s gloomy studio in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. A grand detective story and a moving historical drama, Padura’s novel is as compelling, mysterious, and enduring as the painting at its centre.
Seven decades later, the Rembrandt reappears in a London auction house, prompting Daniel’s son to travel to Cuba to track down the story of the lost masterpiece. He hires Mario Conde, and together they navigate a web of deception and violence in the morally complex city of Havana. In Heretics , Leonardo Padura takes us from the tenements and beaches of Cuba to Rembrandt’s gloomy studio in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. A grand detective story and a moving historical drama, Padura’s novel is as compelling, mysterious, and enduring as the painting at its centre.
The Women of the Souk: Mamur Zapt #19
Michael Pearce
$29.95
Paperback • 176 pages
Pearce's engrossing story successfully juxtaposes the volatile atmosphere of early twentieth-century Cairo against a tale full of culture, history, charm, humor, and romance. A fine addition to this excellent series Booklist Starred Review The kidnapping of an innocent schoolgirl throws a glaring light on the tensions and injustices of pre-War Egyptian society in this absorbing historical mystery. Cairo, Egypt, 1913. When schoolgirl Marie Kewfik is kidnapped, snatched away as she strolled through the bustling bazaars of the Souk, the Khedive insists that the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Secret Police, takes charge of the negotiations for her safe return. The Kewfiks are one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Egypt but, as the Mamur Zapt discovers, not everyone thinks it's worth the trouble to secure the release of a mere girl. He also learns that there is more to Marie's kidnapping than meets the eye - and the subsequent fallout will shine a glaring light on the dangerous tensions running through Egyptian society.
The Assassin on the Bangkok Express
Roland Perry
$29.95
Paperback • 256 pages
A sequel to Perry's first book, The Honourable Assassin (2016) in a new series of thrillers that incorporate actual events, criminal organisations and key figures in the underworld of Asia as they play out globally, involving international law enforcement and intelligence operations. The Honourable Assassin finishes with the main protagonist, Victor Cavalier, learning from former Thai supercop and boxer, Jacinta Cin Lai, that his daughter may be alive although a mysterious video sent to him which seemed to show that she had been decapitated by Mexican drug warlord, Mendez. Now, in The Assassin on the Bangkok Express, he learns that the video may have been doctored to ensure that Cavalier accepted the assassination assignment to eliminate Mendez. However, Cavalier has now heard that his daughter is alive but is a sex slave for the Mexican drug gang operating in the Golden Triangle.
Fierce Kingdom
Gin Phillips
$32.99
Paperback • 336 pages
Lincoln is a good boy. At the age of four, he is curious, clever and well behaved. He does as his mum says and knows what the rules are. The rules are different today. The rules are that we hide and do not let the man with the gun find us. When an ordinary day at the zoo turns into a nightmare, Joan finds herself trapped with her beloved son. She must summon all her strength, find unexpected courage and protect Lincoln at all costs - even if it means crossing the line between right and wrong; between humanity and animal instinct. It's a line none of us would ever normally dream of crossing. But sometimes the rules are different. Unbearably tense and yet beautifully written, Fierce Kingdom demands to be read in one sitting.
Rat Run: Anderson & Costello #7
Caro Ramsay
$29.95
Paperback • 256 pages
A macabre discovery throws disturbing new light on a 20-year-old murder case in the latest tense and twisting Anderson and Costello mystery. In August 1992, a young mother and her two small sons were brutally murdered in the woods behind their home. Her neighbour Andrew Gyle was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment. Now, twenty-three years later, a macabre discovery throws new light on the case. Could there have been a shocking miscarriage of justice? Having only just returned to work following an enforced leave of absence, DCI Colin Anderson knows he must make a success of his comeback case. But, as he and his partner, DI Costello, uncover serious discrepancies in the original investigation, it becomes clear that not everyone is telling them the truth. Meanwhile, Costello worries that Anderson is struggling to cope - and his increasingly odd behaviour causes her to begin to think the unthinkable: can she trust her own partner?
Rather be the Devil: Rebus #21
Ian Rankin
$19.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Some cases never leave you. For John Rebus, forty years may have passed, but the death of beautiful, promiscuous Maria Turquand still preys on his mind. Murdered in her hotel room on the night a famous rock star and his entourage were staying there, Maria's killer has never been found. Meanwhile, the dark heart of Edinburgh remains up for grabs. A young pretender, Darryl Christie, may have staked his claim, but a vicious attack leaves him weakened and vulnerable, and an inquiry into a major money laundering scheme threatens his position. Has old-time crime boss Big Ger Cafferty really given up the ghost, or is he biding his time until Edinburgh is once more ripe for the picking? In a tale of twisted power, deep-rooted corruption and bitter rivalries, Rather be the Devil showcases Rankin and Rebus at their unstoppable best.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms: Jack West Jr #4
Matthew Reilly
$29.99
Paperback
Jack West Jr and his family are living happily on their remote farm when Jack is brutally kidnapped. he awakes in an underground cell to find a masked attacker with a knife charging at him. Jack, it seems, has been chosen - along with a dozen other elite soldiers - to compete in a series of deadly challenges designed to fulfil an ancient ritual. With the fate of the Earth at stake, he will have to traverse diabolical mazes, fight cruel assassins and face unimaginable horrors that will test him like he has never been tested before. In the process, he will discover the mysterious and powerful group of individuals behind it all: the four legendary kingdoms. He might also discover that he is not the only hero in this place...
Amnesia
Michael Ridpath
$29.99
Paperback • 368 pages
Alastair Cunningham wakes up in hospital with almost total amnesia. But he knows that something terrible happened in his past, something that haunts him still. A young family friend, Clemence, is called in to help rekindle his memory. Retreating with Alastair to his remote cottage by a Scottish loch, Clemence finds a peculiar manuscript hidden away from prying eyes. Reading the prologue, she discovers a murder by someone very much like a young Alastair. The victim? Clemence's grandmother, Sophie. Could this kindly old man truly be a killer? Clemence becomes determined to find out what happened all those years ago, even if she must risk everything to do so...
The Ultimatum: Guardian #1
Karen Robards
$29.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Bianca St. Ives is smart, talented and beautiful. She's also a high-end thief, a master manipulator, a card shark, and a genius of disguise. A femme fatale Robin Hood running a multinational firm with her father, she makes a living swindling con men out of money they stole and giving it back to those who should rightfully have it. Her father has prepared her well to carry on the family business, and now the prodigy has surpassed the master.
But her latest mission didn't go to plan - millions of dollars and top secret government documents went missing, and her father was supposedly killed. But not everyone believes in his death, including the US government. They'll stop at nothing to capture Richard St. Ives - a high-value target who has been on most-wanted lists all over the world - even if it means using Bianca as bait.
With only a fellow criminal for backup and her life on the line, it's up to Bianca to uncover the terrifying truth behind what really happened... and set it right, before it's too late.
But her latest mission didn't go to plan - millions of dollars and top secret government documents went missing, and her father was supposedly killed. But not everyone believes in his death, including the US government. They'll stop at nothing to capture Richard St. Ives - a high-value target who has been on most-wanted lists all over the world - even if it means using Bianca as bait.
With only a fellow criminal for backup and her life on the line, it's up to Bianca to uncover the terrifying truth behind what really happened... and set it right, before it's too late.
When the Music's Over: Inspector Banks #23
Peter Robinson
$22.99
Paperback • 496 pages
Two young girls. Two unspeakable crimes. Fifty years separate them - their pain connects them. When the body of a 15-year-old is found in a remote countryside lane, beaten and broken, DI Annie Cabbot is brought in to investigate how the child could possibly have fallen victim to such brutality. Newly promoted Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is faced with a case that is as cold as they come. Now in her 60s, Linda Palmer was attacked aged 14 by celebrity entertainer Danny Caxton, yet the crime has never been investigated - until now. As each steps closer to uncovering the truth, they'll unearth secrets much darker than they ever could have guessed...
The Seventh Plague: Sigma Force #12
James Rollins
$22.99
Paperback • 448 pages
If the biblical plagues of Egypt truly happened could they happen again on a global scale.
Two years after vanishing into the Sudanese desert, the leader of a British archeological expedition, Professor Harold McCabe, comes stumbling out, but he dies before he can tell his story. The mystery deepens when an autopsy uncovers a bizarre corruption: someone had begun to mummify the professor’s body while he was still alive.
Professor McCabe had vanished while searching for proof of the ten plagues of Moses. And when the medical team who performed the man’s autopsy falls ill with an unknown disease, a disturbing question arises.
Are those plagues starting again?
Seeking answers, Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force travel from the plague-ridden streets of Cairo to an ancient tomb buried under the sands of the Sudan to a remote Arctic engineering complex housing a mad genius. But time is running out to confront a threat born of the ancient past and made real by the latest science a danger that will unleash a cascading series of plagues, culminating in a scourge that could kill all of the world’s children... decimating humankind forever.
Two years after vanishing into the Sudanese desert, the leader of a British archeological expedition, Professor Harold McCabe, comes stumbling out, but he dies before he can tell his story. The mystery deepens when an autopsy uncovers a bizarre corruption: someone had begun to mummify the professor’s body while he was still alive.
Professor McCabe had vanished while searching for proof of the ten plagues of Moses. And when the medical team who performed the man’s autopsy falls ill with an unknown disease, a disturbing question arises.
Are those plagues starting again?
Seeking answers, Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force travel from the plague-ridden streets of Cairo to an ancient tomb buried under the sands of the Sudan to a remote Arctic engineering complex housing a mad genius. But time is running out to confront a threat born of the ancient past and made real by the latest science a danger that will unleash a cascading series of plagues, culminating in a scourge that could kill all of the world’s children... decimating humankind forever.
The City in Darkness: Stefan Gillespie #3
Michael Russell
$19.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Christmas 1939. In Europe the Phoney War hides carnage to come. In Ireland Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie keeps tabs on Irishmen joining the British Forces. It's unpleasant work, but when an IRA raid on a military arsenal sends Garda Special Branch in search of guns and explosives, Stefan is soon convinced his boss, Superintendent Terry Gregory, is working for the IRA.
At home for Christmas, Stefan is abruptly called to Laragh, an isolated mountain town. A postman has disappeared, believed killed, and Laragh's Guards are hiding something. Stefan is the nearest Special Branch detective, yet is he only there because Gregory wants him out of the way?
Laragh is close to the lake where Stefan's wife Maeve drowned years earlier, and when events expose a connection between the missing postman and her death, Stefan realizes it wasn't an accident, but murder. And it will be a difficult, dangerous journey where Stefan has to finally confront the ghosts of the past not only in the mountains of Wicklow, but in Spain in the aftermath of its bloody Civil War, before he can return to Dublin to find the truth.
At home for Christmas, Stefan is abruptly called to Laragh, an isolated mountain town. A postman has disappeared, believed killed, and Laragh's Guards are hiding something. Stefan is the nearest Special Branch detective, yet is he only there because Gregory wants him out of the way?
Laragh is close to the lake where Stefan's wife Maeve drowned years earlier, and when events expose a connection between the missing postman and her death, Stefan realizes it wasn't an accident, but murder. And it will be a difficult, dangerous journey where Stefan has to finally confront the ghosts of the past not only in the mountains of Wicklow, but in Spain in the aftermath of its bloody Civil War, before he can return to Dublin to find the truth.
A Traitor in the Family
Nicholas Searle
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
'While her husband prepared to murder a young man he had never met, Bridget O'Neill completed her packing for Christmas with her in-laws.' Francis O'Neill is a terrorist, trained to kill for his cause. Bridget is his wife, expected to be loyal and stand by her husband. She has learned not to hope for much more, until the day she glimpses, for the first time, the chance of a new life. A life without violence, without secrets, and without knocks on the door in the dead of night. A life without her husband. But what if freedom for Bridget means grave danger for Francis? In A Traitor in the Family, bestselling author, Nicholas Searle, tells a story of shocking, intimate betrayal. Can a treacherous act of the most personal kind ever be, in this darkly violent world, an act of mercy?
Cambodia Noir
Nick Seeley
$19.99
Paperback
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Lawless, drug-soaked, forgotten - it’s where bad journalists go to die. For once-great war photographer Will Keller, that’s kind of a mission statement: he spends his days floating from one score to the next, taking any job that pays; his nights are a haze of sex, drugs, booze, and brawling. But Will’s downward spiral is interrupted by Kara Saito, a beautiful young woman who shows up and begs Will to help find her sister, June, who disappeared during a stint as an intern at the local paper.
There’s a world of bad things June could have got mixed up in: the Phnom Penh underworld is in an uproar after a huge drug bust; a local reporter has been murdered in what looks like a political hit; and the government and opposition are locked in a standoff that could throw the country into chaos at any moment. Will’s best clue is her diary: an unsettled collection of experiences, memories, and dreams, reflecting a young woman at once repelled and fascinated by the chaos of Cambodia. As Will digs deeper into June’s past, he uncovers one disturbing fact after another about the missing girl and her bloody family history. In the end, the most dangerous thing in Cambodia may be June herself.
There’s a world of bad things June could have got mixed up in: the Phnom Penh underworld is in an uproar after a huge drug bust; a local reporter has been murdered in what looks like a political hit; and the government and opposition are locked in a standoff that could throw the country into chaos at any moment. Will’s best clue is her diary: an unsettled collection of experiences, memories, and dreams, reflecting a young woman at once repelled and fascinated by the chaos of Cambodia. As Will digs deeper into June’s past, he uncovers one disturbing fact after another about the missing girl and her bloody family history. In the end, the most dangerous thing in Cambodia may be June herself.
Maigret is Afraid: Maigret #42
Georges Simenon
$16.99
Paperback • 176 pages
In book forty-two Maigret's impromptu visit to an old college friend draws him into a murky investigation in a small provincial town ruled by snobbery, fear and intimidation. 'This was natural. It is the same everywhere. Rarely, however, had Maigret had such a strong sense of a clique. In a small town like this, of course there are the worthies, who are few and who inevitably meet each other several times a day, even if it is only in the street. Then there are the others, like those who stood huddled on the sidelines looking disgruntled.' Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations.
Exile: Marc Dane #2
James Swallow
$29.99
Paperback
NOMAD was explosive. This is nuclear. The outstanding new thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author James Swallow. A vicious Serbian gang whose profits come from fake nuclear weapons A disgraced Russian general, with access to the real thing. A vengeful Somali warlord, with a cause for which he'd let the world burn. A jaded government agency, without the information to stop him. Only one man sees what's coming. And even he might not be able to prevent it... Racing breathlessly from uncharted CIA prisons to the skyscrapers of Dubai, from stormbeaten oil rigs off the African coast to the ancient caverns beneath the city of Naples, Marc Dane returns in the explosive new thriller from the internationally bestselling author of NOMAD.
Party Girls Die in Pearls: Oxford Girl #1
Plum Sykes
$27.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Brideshead, bon-bons, cucumber sandwiches - and now a murder Pimm's, punting and ball gowns are de rigeur. Ursula Flowerbutton, a studious country girl, arrives for her first term anticipating nothing more sinister than days spent poring over history books - and, perhaps, an invitation to a ball. But when she discovers a ghastly crime, she is catapulted into a murder investigation. Determined to unravel the case - and bag her first scoop for the famous student newspaper Cherwell - Ursula enlists the help of her fellow Fresher, the glamorous American Nancy Feingold. While navigating a whirl of black-tie parties and secret dining societies, the girls discover a surfeit of suspects. From broken-hearted boyfriends to snobby Sloanes, lovelorn librarians to dishy dons, none can be presumed innocent. Clueless meets Agatha Christie in this wickedly funny tale of high society, low morals and a middle-class girl, the first book in Plum Sykes's irresistible new series.
Out of the Ice
Ann Turner
$19.99
Paperback
By the bestselling author of The Lost Swimmer, a tense, eerie thriller set in the icy reaches of Antarctica.
When environmental scientist Laura Alvarado is sent to a remote Antarctic island to report on an abandoned whaling station, she begins to uncover more than she could ever imagine.
Reminders of the bloody, violent past are everywhere, and Laura is disturbed by evidence of recent human interference. Rules have been broken, and the protected wildlife is behaving strangely.
On a diving expedition, Laura emerges into an ice cave where she is shocked to see an anguished figure, crying for help. But in this freezing, lonely landscape there are ghosts everywhere, and Laura wonders if her own eyes can be trusted. Has she been in the ice too long?
Back at base, Laura’s questions about the whaling station go unanswered, blocked by scientists unused to outsiders. And Laura just can’t shake what happened in the cave.
Piecing together a past and present of cruelty and vulnerability that can be traced around the world, from Norway, to Nantucket, Europe and Antarctica, Laura will stop at nothing to unearth the truth. As she comes face to face with the dark side of human progress, she also discovers a legacy of love, hope and the meaning of family. If only Laura can find her way...
When environmental scientist Laura Alvarado is sent to a remote Antarctic island to report on an abandoned whaling station, she begins to uncover more than she could ever imagine.
Reminders of the bloody, violent past are everywhere, and Laura is disturbed by evidence of recent human interference. Rules have been broken, and the protected wildlife is behaving strangely.
On a diving expedition, Laura emerges into an ice cave where she is shocked to see an anguished figure, crying for help. But in this freezing, lonely landscape there are ghosts everywhere, and Laura wonders if her own eyes can be trusted. Has she been in the ice too long?
Back at base, Laura’s questions about the whaling station go unanswered, blocked by scientists unused to outsiders. And Laura just can’t shake what happened in the cave.
Piecing together a past and present of cruelty and vulnerability that can be traced around the world, from Norway, to Nantucket, Europe and Antarctica, Laura will stop at nothing to unearth the truth. As she comes face to face with the dark side of human progress, she also discovers a legacy of love, hope and the meaning of family. If only Laura can find her way...
Testimony
Scott Turow
$29.99
Paperback • 496 pages
Bill ten Boom has walked out on everything he thought was important to him: his career, his wife, even his country. Invited to become a prosecutor at The Hague's International Criminal Court, it was a chance to start afresh.
But when his first case is to examine the disappearance of four hundred Roma refugees - an apparent war crime left unsolved for ten years - it's clear this new life won't be an easy one...
Whispered rumours have the perpetrators ranging from Serb paramilitaries to the U.S. Army, but there's no hard evidence to hold either accountable, and only a single witness to say it happened at all.
To get to the truth, Boom must question the integrity of every person linked to the case - from Layton Merriwell, a disgraced US Major General, to flirtatious barrister, Esma Czarni - as it soon becomes apparent that every party has a vested interest and no qualms in steering the investigation their way...
But when his first case is to examine the disappearance of four hundred Roma refugees - an apparent war crime left unsolved for ten years - it's clear this new life won't be an easy one...
Whispered rumours have the perpetrators ranging from Serb paramilitaries to the U.S. Army, but there's no hard evidence to hold either accountable, and only a single witness to say it happened at all.
To get to the truth, Boom must question the integrity of every person linked to the case - from Layton Merriwell, a disgraced US Major General, to flirtatious barrister, Esma Czarni - as it soon becomes apparent that every party has a vested interest and no qualms in steering the investigation their way...
The Lying Game
Ruth Ware
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Four friends. One promise. But someone isn't telling the truth. The twisting new mystery from bestselling phenomenon Ruth Ware. The text message arrives in the small hours of the night. It's just three words: I need you. Isa drops everything, takes her baby daughter and heads straight to Salten. She spent the most significant days of her life at boarding school on the marshes there, days which still cast their shadow over her. At school Isa and her three best friends used to play the Lying Game. They competed to convince people of the most outrageous stories. Now, after seventeen years of secrets, something terrible has been found on the beach. Something which will force Isa to confront her past, together with the three women she hasn't seen for years, but has never forgotten. Theirs is no cosy reunion: Salten isn't a safe place for them, not after what they did. It's time for the women to get their story straight...
Six Stories
Matt Wesolowski
$19.99
Paperback • 280 pages
1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who took that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby.2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure.In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries' mysterious death. And who's to blame...As every interview unveils a new revelation, you'll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth. A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending.
Faithless: Oslo Detectives #2
Kjell Ola Dahl
$19.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Oslo detectives Gunnarstranda and Frølich are back and this time, it’s personal...
When the body of a woman turns up in a dumpster, scalded and wrapped in plastic, Inspector Frank Frølich is shocked to discover that he knows her and their recent meetings may hold the clue to her murder.
As he ponders the tragic events surrounding her death, Frølich’s colleague Gunnarstranda investigates a disturbingly similar cold case involving the murder of a young girl in northern Norway and Frølich is forced to look into his own past to find the answers – and the killer – before he strikes again.
Dark, brooding and utterly chilling, Faithless is a breathtaking and atmospheric page-turner that marks the return of an internationally renowned and award-winning series, from one of the fathers of Nordic Noir.
When the body of a woman turns up in a dumpster, scalded and wrapped in plastic, Inspector Frank Frølich is shocked to discover that he knows her and their recent meetings may hold the clue to her murder.
As he ponders the tragic events surrounding her death, Frølich’s colleague Gunnarstranda investigates a disturbingly similar cold case involving the murder of a young girl in northern Norway and Frølich is forced to look into his own past to find the answers – and the killer – before he strikes again.
Dark, brooding and utterly chilling, Faithless is a breathtaking and atmospheric page-turner that marks the return of an internationally renowned and award-winning series, from one of the fathers of Nordic Noir.
Triple Crown: Dick Francis Novels #6
Felix Francis
$19.99
Paperback • 448 pages
THE RICHEST PRIZE IN RACING. THE PERFECT MOTIVE TO KILL. Jeff Hinkley, a British Horseracing Authority investigator, has been seconded to the US Federal Anti-Corruption in Sports Agency (FACSA) where he has been asked to find a mole in their organisation, an informant who is passing on confidential information to fix races. Jeff goes in search of answers, taking on an undercover role as a groom on the backstretch at Belmont Park racetrack in New York. But he discovers far more than he was bargaining for, finding himself as the meat in the sandwich between FACSA and corrupt individuals who will stop at nothing, including murder, to capture the most elusive and lucrative prize in the world - the Triple Crown. The Francis brand of thrillers are bigger and bolder for a new generation! Praise for Felix Francis: 'The Francis flair is clear for all to see' Daily Mail 'From winning post to top of the bestseller list, time after time' Sunday Times 'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life 'A tremendous read' Woman's Own
Crime Chronicle - Cosy Crime
abbeys.com.au
Pushing Up Daisies: Agatha Raisin #28
M. C. Beaton
$19.99
Paperback • 240 pages
Allotment wars!
Lord Bellingham, Carsely's biggest landholder, has enraged locals by saying he is going to sell off their allotments to make way for a new housing development. So when he turns up dead, poisoned by antifreeze, nobody mourns his passing.
On another fine summer's day Agatha visits Carsley's allotments where everything looks peaceful and perfect: people of all ages digging in the soil and working hard to grow their own fruit and veg. Agatha feels almost tempted to take on a strip herself... but common sense soon prevails. She doesn't really like getting her hands dirty.
She is introduced to three oldtimers who have just taken over a new strip; Harry Perry, Bunty Daventry and Josephine Merriweather are lamenting the neglected condition of the patch. But as Harry starts to shovel through the weeds and grass his spade comes across something hard so he bends down and tries to move the object. And then he starts to yell...
The body is that of Peta Currie, a newcomer to the village - but who would want to murder her? Blonde and beautiful she's every local male's favourite. And then Lord Bellingham's son engages Agatha to do some digging of her own and very soon Agatha is thrown into a world of petty feuds, jealousies and disputes over land. It would seem that far from being tiny gardens of Eden, Carsley's allotments are local battlefields where passions - and the bodycount - run high!
Lord Bellingham, Carsely's biggest landholder, has enraged locals by saying he is going to sell off their allotments to make way for a new housing development. So when he turns up dead, poisoned by antifreeze, nobody mourns his passing.
On another fine summer's day Agatha visits Carsley's allotments where everything looks peaceful and perfect: people of all ages digging in the soil and working hard to grow their own fruit and veg. Agatha feels almost tempted to take on a strip herself... but common sense soon prevails. She doesn't really like getting her hands dirty.
She is introduced to three oldtimers who have just taken over a new strip; Harry Perry, Bunty Daventry and Josephine Merriweather are lamenting the neglected condition of the patch. But as Harry starts to shovel through the weeds and grass his spade comes across something hard so he bends down and tries to move the object. And then he starts to yell...
The body is that of Peta Currie, a newcomer to the village - but who would want to murder her? Blonde and beautiful she's every local male's favourite. And then Lord Bellingham's son engages Agatha to do some digging of her own and very soon Agatha is thrown into a world of petty feuds, jealousies and disputes over land. It would seem that far from being tiny gardens of Eden, Carsley's allotments are local battlefields where passions - and the bodycount - run high!
Live and Let Growl: Melanie Travis #19
Laurien Berenson
$14.95
Paperback • 304 pages
When her Aunt Peg lands a gig as judge at a Kentucky dog show, Melanie Travis welcomes the opportunity for a road trip. Once there, Aunt Peg reconnects with an old friend, Ellie Gates Wanamaker, a former Standard Poodle exhibitor and a member of a well-heeled Kentucky family. Miss Ellie has been out of the dog show world for more than a decade, but when Melanie invites her to spectate at the Louisville Kennel Club dog show, she's eager to accompany her.
Miss Ellie's presence at the expo center, however, provokes mixed reactions from exhibitors she hasn't seen in years, including some outright animosity. The following day Melanie learns that Miss Ellie has suffered a fatal accident while exercising her dogs. Aunt Peg, however, suspects foul play. Wishing to avoid any scandal, Miss Ellie's pedigreed family prefers to let sleeping dogs lie, but as Melanie begins to sniff around, she discovers Miss Ellie had many secrets, both in the dog show world and amongst her Kentucky kin...
Miss Ellie's presence at the expo center, however, provokes mixed reactions from exhibitors she hasn't seen in years, including some outright animosity. The following day Melanie learns that Miss Ellie has suffered a fatal accident while exercising her dogs. Aunt Peg, however, suspects foul play. Wishing to avoid any scandal, Miss Ellie's pedigreed family prefers to let sleeping dogs lie, but as Melanie begins to sniff around, she discovers Miss Ellie had many secrets, both in the dog show world and amongst her Kentucky kin...
Patterned After Death: Southern Sewing Circle #12
Elizabeth Lynn Casey
$14.95
Paperback
Murder hits close to home for the Southern Sewing Circle in the latest mystery from national bestselling author Elizabeth Lynn Casey. Everyone in Sweet Briar, South Carolina, knows former high school football stars Jake Davis and Noah Madden. The two were fierce rivals once and now, twenty years later, the dueling quarterbacks haven't lost their luster. So townsfolk are surprised when Jake and Noah team up for a business venture. And there's only one suspect when Noah turns up murdered. Margaret Louise, Jake's mother and one of the founding members of the sewing circle, isn't about to take the attack on her son's reputation lying down. In fact, she's in full mama-bear mode. And Tori and the rest of the Sweet Briar gang are more than willing to help her sharpen her claws to catch a killer. PATTERN AND SEWING TIPS INCLUDED
Yews with Caution: Flower Shop #19
Kate Collins
$14.95
Paperback
Flower shop owner Abby Knight is out to help a friend in need but soon finds herself in the weeds... The Spring of Abby's Discontent It's April in New Chapel, and Abby and her husband, Marco, are off to buy shrubs for their new house. But the owner of the local landscaping company is nowhere to be found. Abby's best friend, Nikki, meanwhile, believes she unwittingly helped a group of her hospital coworkers conspire to kill the man. After the police get involved, Nikki becomes a suspect. Abby digs deeper for clues to save her friend only to discover bushels of folks bearing a deep-rooted hatred for the two-faced business owner. Marco attempts to help Abby with the case but soon falls critically ill. Now Abby must find the real culprit on her own before everything goes to pot...
Death by Vanilla Latte: Bookstore Cafe #4
Alex Erickson
$14.95
Paperback • 320 pages
Ever since cafe owner Krissy Hancock settled into a relationship and mostly forgot about old flames, life has become surprisingly serene. Too bad her father, famed mystery writer James Hancock, had to pay an unexpected visit to Death by Coffee and brew up a batch of trouble...
While caught off-guard by her dad's presence, Krissy never dreamed he'd become the biggest murder suspect in town. But that's exactly what happens when James's boorish agent - a man he allegedly fired just hours earlier - is found cold and lifeless, a still-warm vanilla latte resting by his hand...
With Pine Hills divided over her father's innocence and a fanatical fan keen on locking the author away for safe keeping, Krissy must end the madness and identify the real criminal - even if that means meeting an ex or two along the way. But as her social life becomes increasingly chaotic, Krissy may be caught in a case that's far too hot to handle...
While caught off-guard by her dad's presence, Krissy never dreamed he'd become the biggest murder suspect in town. But that's exactly what happens when James's boorish agent - a man he allegedly fired just hours earlier - is found cold and lifeless, a still-warm vanilla latte resting by his hand...
With Pine Hills divided over her father's innocence and a fanatical fan keen on locking the author away for safe keeping, Krissy must end the madness and identify the real criminal - even if that means meeting an ex or two along the way. But as her social life becomes increasingly chaotic, Krissy may be caught in a case that's far too hot to handle...
One Fete in the Grave: Liv And Di In Dixie #3
Vickie Fee
$14.95
Paperback • 352 pages
Party planner Liv McKay has outdone herself this time. She's put together an unforgettable Fourth of July celebration for the town of Dixie, Tennessee - including breathtaking fireworks and an exciting Miss Dixie Beauty Pageant. Maybe a little too exciting. As the party is winding down, Liv's sense of triumph fizzles when the body of town councilman Bubba Rowland is discovered on the festival grounds. And now the prime suspect in his murder is Liv's mother's fiance, Earl, who had a flare-up recently with Bubba. To clear Earl's name, Liv and her best friend Di burst into action to smoke out the real killer before another life is extinguished...
The Black Cat Sees His Shadow: Bad Luck Cat #3
Kay Finch
$14.95
Paperback
The town of Lavender, Texas, is buzzing with tourists, and local businesses are pulling out all the stops for the fun-filled fall event. On the eve of opening day, Sabrina comes face-to-face with her doppelganger, Tia Hartwell, a caricature artist at the festival. The similarities between the two women are striking, including their matching black cats. Sabrina learns that her new twin Tia has an enemy: bad-tempered jewelry vendor Calvin Fisher. When Fisher is found slumped over dead in his pickup, Tia tops the suspect list. With the help of her feline sidekick, Sabrina must clear her new look-alike friend before she finds herself in a deadly case of double jeopardy.
French Fried: Ethnic Eats #2
Kylie Logan
$14.95
Paperback
Poison du Jour. The Statue of Liberty is 130 years old, and for the struggling residents of Hubbard, Ohio, any opportunity to bring in tourists is reason enough for a celebration. Laurel Inwood and her aunt, Sophie, are pitching in. Sophie's Terminal at the Tracks, a former greasy spoon turned charming ethnic eatery, will be offering French cuisine for the entire week. For expert help with their quiche and escargot, the ladies turn to Raquel Rocky Arnaud, a former French chef and friend of Sophie. What looks like a match made in heaven turns rank as quickly as buttermilk on a summer's day. Rocky turns up dead and when her nightly red wine shows notes of oak, cinnamon, and poison, Laurel turns from souffle to sleuth. INCLUDES A RECIPE.
Sidney Chambers and the Persistence of Love: Grantchester #6
James Runcie
$28.00
Hardback • 368 pages
It is May 1971 and the Cambridgeshire countryside is bursting into summer. Archdeacon Sidney Chambers is walking in a bluebell wood with his daughter Anna and their ageing Labrador Byron when they stumble upon a body. Plunged into another murder investigation, Sidney discovers a world of hippies and psychedelic plants, where permissive behaviour seems to hide something darker. This is the first of many disturbing secrets that Sidney unearths beneath the tranquil surface of the diocese: a celebrated photographer is accused of rape; a priceless religious text vanishes from a Cambridge college; the authentication of a lost masterpiece proves a slippery business; and Sidney's own nephew goes missing. Endeavouring to fit in his clerical duties around sleuthing, Sidney continues to reflect on the divine mysteries of love, life and faith, while wrestling with the earthly problems of parish scandals, a progressive new secretary, the challenges of parenthood, and a great loss.
Murder on the Pilgrims Way: Whitstable Pearl #4
Julie Wassmer
$22.99
Paperback • 304 pages
Pearl receives a surprise present from her mother, Dolly - an early summer break at a riverside manor house that has been recently transformed into an exclusive hotel - the newly named Villa Pellegrini.
Pellegrini - the Italian word for pilgrims - reflects the fact that the building lies on the old Pilgrims Way into Canterbury, and Pearl is looking forward to the break, not least because DCI Mike McGuire has been neglecting her due to his work. But when she discovers that she's actually booked in for a cookery course from the Italian celebrity chef, Nico Caruso, she begins to think again . . .
Pearl doesn't welcome instruction on cookery at the best of times, and certainly not from an arrogant chef like Caruso. She goes along, intent on challenging Caruso's egotism - and a long tradition of men dominating gastronomy - but soon finds herself distracted, not only by her enchanting surroundings but by the disparate selection of guests.
She even begins to enjoy Caruso's attentions - and his cookery - until one of the guests goes missing and it becomes clear that murder is on the menu.
Pellegrini - the Italian word for pilgrims - reflects the fact that the building lies on the old Pilgrims Way into Canterbury, and Pearl is looking forward to the break, not least because DCI Mike McGuire has been neglecting her due to his work. But when she discovers that she's actually booked in for a cookery course from the Italian celebrity chef, Nico Caruso, she begins to think again . . .
Pearl doesn't welcome instruction on cookery at the best of times, and certainly not from an arrogant chef like Caruso. She goes along, intent on challenging Caruso's egotism - and a long tradition of men dominating gastronomy - but soon finds herself distracted, not only by her enchanting surroundings but by the disparate selection of guests.
She even begins to enjoy Caruso's attentions - and his cookery - until one of the guests goes missing and it becomes clear that murder is on the menu.
Bearly Departed: Teddy Bear #1
Meg Macy
$27.95
Paperback • 288 pages
The Silver Bear Shop and Factory might be the cutest place around, but there's nothing warm and fuzzy about murder...
As manager of the family teddy bear shop and factory, thirty-one-year-old Sasha Silverman leads a charmed life. Well, except for the part about being a single divorcee with a ticking biological clock in small-town Silver Hollow. And that's just kid's stuff compared to Will Taylor, the sales rep who's set on making drastic changes to the business her parents built from scratch-with or without Sasha's approval...
But before Will digs his claws in, someone pulls the stuffing out of his plan... and leaves his dead body inside the factory. Reeling from shock, Sasha's hit with more bad news-police suspect her hot-tempered Uncle Ross may have murdered him. Sasha knows her uncle would never do such a thing, and she's launching her own little investigation to expose the truth. As she tracks Will's biggest rivals and enemies for clues, Sasha can't get too comfy - or she'll become the next plaything for a killer...
As manager of the family teddy bear shop and factory, thirty-one-year-old Sasha Silverman leads a charmed life. Well, except for the part about being a single divorcee with a ticking biological clock in small-town Silver Hollow. And that's just kid's stuff compared to Will Taylor, the sales rep who's set on making drastic changes to the business her parents built from scratch-with or without Sasha's approval...
But before Will digs his claws in, someone pulls the stuffing out of his plan... and leaves his dead body inside the factory. Reeling from shock, Sasha's hit with more bad news-police suspect her hot-tempered Uncle Ross may have murdered him. Sasha knows her uncle would never do such a thing, and she's launching her own little investigation to expose the truth. As she tracks Will's biggest rivals and enemies for clues, Sasha can't get too comfy - or she'll become the next plaything for a killer...
Marriage is Pure Murder: Blossom Valley #6
Staci McLaughlin
$14.95
Paperback • 352 pages
Wedding bells are ringing at the O'Connell Organic Farm and Spa in California's postcard-perfect Blossom Valley. The entire staff is pitching in to send one of their own down the aisle. But no one knew the nuptials could turn up so many secrets - or that marriage and murder could go hand in hand... Dana Lewis is marrying Jason Forrester, a talented reporter and the love of her life. She couldn't dream of a better venue than the farm where she works, and her friends are determined to give her the wedding of her dreams. Even her florist, Bethany Lancaster, is making sure she has just the right flowers. But Dana's happiness wilts when she finds Bethany shot dead - and discovers her friend was a busybody with a blackmail list longer than a cathedral veil. With so many enemies, finding Bethany's killer seems all but impossible. And when Dana herself is eyed as a suspect, she'll have to chase down the culprit faster than she can say, I do - or she'll be trading in her wedding dress for prison stripes...
Crime Chronicle - Historical Crime
abbeys.com.au
Solving Sherlock Holmes: Puzzle Your Way Through the Cases
Pierre Berloquin
$27.99
Hardback • 192 pages
Puzzles have been companions of human culture since the dawn of history. Always a teasing parallel to science and official knowledge, puzzledom has served as a pleasant workshop for creativity and unconventional thinking. The human mind not only loves puzzles, but feeds on puzzle solving for its immediate reward. In Solving Sherlock Holmes, author Pierre Berloquin takes readers on a whodunit investigation with cryptograms, crosswords, labyrinths, jigsaws, and riddles to keep readers on the edge and constantly thinking.
Mrs Jeffries Pinches the Post: Mrs Jeffries #35
Emily Brightwell
$19.99
Paperback • 240 pages
Harrison Nye may have been involved in some dubious business dealings, but no one ever expected him to be murdered. Now Inspector Witherspoon must root out the perpetrator of the underhanded deed. Nye's business associate visited him just hours before the murder and seems to know more than he's letting on. And when his maid disappears, this dirty business gets even deadlier. Now, Mrs. Jeffries and her staff must root through the sins of Nye's past to discover which one caught up with him.
Sherlock Holmes's School for Detection
Simon Clark
$22.99
Paperback • 448 pages
It's 1890. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson return to Baker Street after a night pursuing a vicious criminal. Inspector Lestrade is waiting for Holmes with a proposition of national importance.
Lestrade tells Holmes that a school of detection has been formed to train a new breed of modern investigators that will serve in Great Britain and the Empire. Most students will become police officers. Some, however, will become bodyguards and spies. Holmes begins instructing his decidedly curious assortment of students from home and abroad. He does so with his customary gusto and inventiveness.
Scotland Yard, in the main, allocates crimes to solve and Holmes mentors his students. Occasionally, he shadows them in disguise in order to assess or even directly test their abilities with creative scenarios he devises. Certain crimes investigated by the students might appear trivial, such as the re-positioning of an ornament atop a garden wall, yet it will transpire an assassin has moved the ornament to create good sightlines in order to commit murder with a sniper's rifle.
Other mysteries are considered outside the domain of the police. For example, the inexplicable disappearance of a stone gargoyle, which is linked to an ancient family curse. Or a man suffering from amnesia who discovers that not only has he acquired a secret life but also gained an implacable enemy, too. Holmes, with the ever- trustworthy Doctor Watson in his wake, is kept busy with his students' cases, ranging from minor to serious, sometimes rectifying their mistakes and saving them from a variety of disasters.
These eleven wonderful new adventures and intrigues include tales such as 'The Gargoyles of Killfellen House', 'Sherlock Holmes and the Four Kings of Sweden' and 'The Case of the Cannibal Club'.
Lestrade tells Holmes that a school of detection has been formed to train a new breed of modern investigators that will serve in Great Britain and the Empire. Most students will become police officers. Some, however, will become bodyguards and spies. Holmes begins instructing his decidedly curious assortment of students from home and abroad. He does so with his customary gusto and inventiveness.
Scotland Yard, in the main, allocates crimes to solve and Holmes mentors his students. Occasionally, he shadows them in disguise in order to assess or even directly test their abilities with creative scenarios he devises. Certain crimes investigated by the students might appear trivial, such as the re-positioning of an ornament atop a garden wall, yet it will transpire an assassin has moved the ornament to create good sightlines in order to commit murder with a sniper's rifle.
Other mysteries are considered outside the domain of the police. For example, the inexplicable disappearance of a stone gargoyle, which is linked to an ancient family curse. Or a man suffering from amnesia who discovers that not only has he acquired a secret life but also gained an implacable enemy, too. Holmes, with the ever- trustworthy Doctor Watson in his wake, is kept busy with his students' cases, ranging from minor to serious, sometimes rectifying their mistakes and saving them from a variety of disasters.
These eleven wonderful new adventures and intrigues include tales such as 'The Gargoyles of Killfellen House', 'Sherlock Holmes and the Four Kings of Sweden' and 'The Case of the Cannibal Club'.
Dark Dawn Over Steep House: Gower St Detective #5
M. R. C. Kasasian
$29.99
Paperback • 432 pages
London, 1884: 125 Gower Street, the residence of Sidney Grice, London's foremost personal detective, and his ward March Middleton, is at peace. Midnight discussions between the great man and his charge have led to a harmony unseen in these hallowed halls since the great frog disaster of 1878. But harmony cannot last for long. A knock on the door brings mystery and murder once more to their home. A mystery that involves a Prussian Count, two damsels in distress, a Chinaman from Wales, a gangster looking for love and the shadowy ruin of a once-loved family home, Steep House...
Mary Russell's War: Mary Russell #15
Laurie R. King
$19.99
Paperback
In nine short stories, seven of which have never previously been available in print, and one brand new, never-before-seen Sherlock Holmes mystery - available together for the first time - Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand. At the heart of the collection is a prequel novella that begins with England's declaration of war in 1914. As told in Mary Russell's teenage diaries, the whip-smart girl investigates familial mysteries, tracks German spies through San Francisco, and generally delights with her extraordinary mind - until an unimaginable tragedy strikes.
Penance of the Damned: Sister Fidelma #27
Peter Tremayne
$19.99
Paperback • 352 pages
When news comes to Cashel that Chief Bishop and advisor to King Colgu of Muman has been murdered within the fortress of the Ui Fidgente, it is a shock for all concerned. The Ui Fidgente are the long-time enemies of King Colgu's family, and terrible conflict is threatened when the King learns that the culprit will be executed under new ecclesiastical rules. As Colgu dispatches his sister Fidelma and her companion, Eadulf, to investigate, it seems there there is no uncertainty about the person who killed the abbot. But the man facing death is Gorman, commander of the King's elite bodyguard and son of Fidelma's closest friend. Now Fidelma and Eadulf must face old enemies as they struggle to find an alternative to the apparent fact of Gorman's guilt. And with the threat of war looming, time is running out to the allotted moment of Gorman's execution...
Crime Chronicle - True Crime
abbeys.com.au
Pistols and Petticoats: 175 Years of Lady Detectives in Fact and Fiction
Erika Janik
$29.99
Paperback • 248 pages
A lively exploration of the struggles faced by women in law enforcement and mystery fiction for the past 175 years
In 1910, Alice Wells took the oath to join the all-male Los Angeles Police Department. She wore no uniform, carried no weapon, and kept her badge stuffed in her pocketbook. She wasn't the first or only policewoman, but she became the movement's most visible voice.
Police work from its very beginning was considered a male domain, far too dangerous and rough for a respectable woman to even contemplate doing, much less take on as a profession. A policewoman worked outside the home, walking dangerous city streets late at night to confront burglars, drunks, scam artists, and prostitutes. To solve crimes, she observed, collected evidence, and used reason and logic-traits typically associated with men. And most controversially of all, she had a purpose separate from her husband, children, and home. Women who donned the badge faced harassment and discrimination. It would take more than seventy years for women to enter the force as full-fledged officers.
Yet within the covers of popular fiction, women not only wrote mysteries but also created female characters that handily solved crimes. Smart, independent, and courageous, these nineteenth- and early twentieth-century female sleuths (including a healthy number created by male writers) set the stage for Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, as well as TV detectives such as Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison and Law and Order's Olivia Benson. The authors were not amateurs dabbling in detection but professional writers who helped define the genre and competed with men, often to greater success.
Pistols and Petticoats tells the story of women's very early place in crime fiction and their public crusade to transform policing. Whether real or fictional, investigating women were nearly always at odds with society. Most women refused to let that stop them, paving the way to a modern professional life for women on the force and in popular culture.
In 1910, Alice Wells took the oath to join the all-male Los Angeles Police Department. She wore no uniform, carried no weapon, and kept her badge stuffed in her pocketbook. She wasn't the first or only policewoman, but she became the movement's most visible voice.
Police work from its very beginning was considered a male domain, far too dangerous and rough for a respectable woman to even contemplate doing, much less take on as a profession. A policewoman worked outside the home, walking dangerous city streets late at night to confront burglars, drunks, scam artists, and prostitutes. To solve crimes, she observed, collected evidence, and used reason and logic-traits typically associated with men. And most controversially of all, she had a purpose separate from her husband, children, and home. Women who donned the badge faced harassment and discrimination. It would take more than seventy years for women to enter the force as full-fledged officers.
Yet within the covers of popular fiction, women not only wrote mysteries but also created female characters that handily solved crimes. Smart, independent, and courageous, these nineteenth- and early twentieth-century female sleuths (including a healthy number created by male writers) set the stage for Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, as well as TV detectives such as Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison and Law and Order's Olivia Benson. The authors were not amateurs dabbling in detection but professional writers who helped define the genre and competed with men, often to greater success.
Pistols and Petticoats tells the story of women's very early place in crime fiction and their public crusade to transform policing. Whether real or fictional, investigating women were nearly always at odds with society. Most women refused to let that stop them, paving the way to a modern professional life for women on the force and in popular culture.
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
$32.99
Paperback • 336 pages
The gripping true story of a young law student, an unspeakable crime and a past that refuses to stay buried.
Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working on the retrial defence of death-row convicted murderer and child molester, Ricky Langley, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti death penalty. But the moment Ricky's face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes, the moment she hears him speak of his crimes, she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case, realizing that despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
Crime, even the darkest and most unspeakable acts, can happen to any one of us, and as Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky's childhood. And by examining minute details of Ricky's case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, to reckon with how her own past colours her view of his crime.
As enthralling as true-crime classics such as In Cold Blood and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and broadcast phenomena such as Making a Murderer and Serial, The Fact of a Body is a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is personal, composed of individual stories and proof that arriving at the truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.
Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working on the retrial defence of death-row convicted murderer and child molester, Ricky Langley, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti death penalty. But the moment Ricky's face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes, the moment she hears him speak of his crimes, she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case, realizing that despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
Crime, even the darkest and most unspeakable acts, can happen to any one of us, and as Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky's childhood. And by examining minute details of Ricky's case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, to reckon with how her own past colours her view of his crime.
As enthralling as true-crime classics such as In Cold Blood and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and broadcast phenomena such as Making a Murderer and Serial, The Fact of a Body is a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is personal, composed of individual stories and proof that arriving at the truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.
Rule on Crime: One of Australia's Top True Crime Writers and Co-Author of the Bestselling Underbelly Series
Andrew Rule
$29.99
Paperback • 160 pages
This is a carefully curated and updated collection of 10 of Andrew Rules best Australian true crime and corruption stories. Compelling, unsettling, and 100% true, Rule takes the reader inside some of the most famous crimes ever committed on our shores, the cases that gripped and shocked the nation.
Dying on Easey Street: The 1977 murders of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett in Collingwood, Melbourne have gone unsolved to the present day.
Billy The Texan Longley: One of few to survive the Melbourne dock wars that infl icted more casualties than the Eureka Rebellion around 40 men dead and many more wounded during a decade that spawned the now-notorious saying, We catch and kill our own.
Girls who like bad boys: Sylvia Radev, Roberta Williams, Judy Moran... women married to the mob.
Still looking for the Beaumont Children: In 2017 Jim and Nancy Beaumont turned 91 and 89. For more than 50 years they have woken every day to face the nightmare that their three children vanished from a crowded beach on Australia Day, 1966.
Dying on Easey Street: The 1977 murders of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett in Collingwood, Melbourne have gone unsolved to the present day.
Billy The Texan Longley: One of few to survive the Melbourne dock wars that infl icted more casualties than the Eureka Rebellion around 40 men dead and many more wounded during a decade that spawned the now-notorious saying, We catch and kill our own.
Girls who like bad boys: Sylvia Radev, Roberta Williams, Judy Moran... women married to the mob.
Still looking for the Beaumont Children: In 2017 Jim and Nancy Beaumont turned 91 and 89. For more than 50 years they have woken every day to face the nightmare that their three children vanished from a crowded beach on Australia Day, 1966.
The Serial Killer Files
Paul Simpson
$22.99
Paperback • 416 pages
There are many myths about serial killers: that they are all dysfunctional loners; all white males; only motivated by sex; that they all travel and operate across a wide area; cannot stop killing; are all insane, or evil geniuses; and that they all want to get caught.
Of course, there are some serial killers who fit into these categories, but the married Green River Killer was not a dysfunctional loner; there are plenty of female and non-Caucasian serial killers; Dr Harold Shipman was certainly not motivated by sex; many serial killings (such as the Ipswich prostitute murders carried out by Steve Wright) happen within a confined area; the 'BTK Killer', Dennis Rader, stopped killing in 1991, but wasn't caught until fourteen years later. Many serial killers may have a low animal cunning, or be 'street smart', but few of them are Mensa-level geniuses.
Each of the thirty cases covered here is unusual in some respect, perhaps in the way in which the killer carried out their crimes, the choice of victims, the way in which they were apprehended, or the method of their execution.
The cases are presented alphabetically by country - from Australia via Colombia, Great Britain, Indonesia, Iran, South Africa and elsewhere to the United States - and then chronologically. They come from across history and from all over the world. The author has gone back as far as possible to contemporary source material - newspaper accounts, trial evidence, interviews with perpetrators or survivors - rather than rely on the increasingly blurred truth to be found online and in far too many collections.
Of course, there are some serial killers who fit into these categories, but the married Green River Killer was not a dysfunctional loner; there are plenty of female and non-Caucasian serial killers; Dr Harold Shipman was certainly not motivated by sex; many serial killings (such as the Ipswich prostitute murders carried out by Steve Wright) happen within a confined area; the 'BTK Killer', Dennis Rader, stopped killing in 1991, but wasn't caught until fourteen years later. Many serial killers may have a low animal cunning, or be 'street smart', but few of them are Mensa-level geniuses.
Each of the thirty cases covered here is unusual in some respect, perhaps in the way in which the killer carried out their crimes, the choice of victims, the way in which they were apprehended, or the method of their execution.
The cases are presented alphabetically by country - from Australia via Colombia, Great Britain, Indonesia, Iran, South Africa and elsewhere to the United States - and then chronologically. They come from across history and from all over the world. The author has gone back as far as possible to contemporary source material - newspaper accounts, trial evidence, interviews with perpetrators or survivors - rather than rely on the increasingly blurred truth to be found online and in far too many collections.
Murder in Plain English: From Manifestos to Memes--Looking at Murder Through the Words of Killers
Michael A. Arntfield , Marcel Danesi
$39.90
Hardback • 325 pages
This is the first book to examine murder through the written word not only the writings of the killers themselves, but also the story of murder as told in literary fiction and the crime dramas that are now a staple of film and television. The authors a criminologist specializing in cold cases, written evidence, and forensic science, and an anthropologist who has dealt with the signs and ciphers of organized crime and street gangs in his previous work - are widely recognized experts in this emerging specialty field.
Based on extensive research and interviews with convicted murderers, the book emphasizes the often-overlooked narrative impulse that drives killers, with the authors explaining how both mass and serial murderers perceive their crimes as stories and why a select few are compelled to commit these stories to writing whether before, during, or after their horrific acts.
The book also analyzes the written work of killers, using a combination of machine-based linguistic patterning, predictive modeling, and symbolic interpretation, to make sense of the screeds of everyone from the Son of Sam and the Zodiac Killer to the Columbine attackers, the Unabomber, and the recent spate of mass shooters using social media as their preferred narrative platform. They present a theoretical perspective of murder that is based on both the criminological evidence and written works. In addition, the authors examine famous literature that has dealt ingeniously with murder and its relationship with real crime, from the Greek tragedians to Truman Capote to modern-day productions such as Making a Murderer.
This unique approach offers a new means to penetrate the minds of murderers, revealing their motives as well as the wider social meanings of this age-old crime and our continuing fascination with it.
Based on extensive research and interviews with convicted murderers, the book emphasizes the often-overlooked narrative impulse that drives killers, with the authors explaining how both mass and serial murderers perceive their crimes as stories and why a select few are compelled to commit these stories to writing whether before, during, or after their horrific acts.
The book also analyzes the written work of killers, using a combination of machine-based linguistic patterning, predictive modeling, and symbolic interpretation, to make sense of the screeds of everyone from the Son of Sam and the Zodiac Killer to the Columbine attackers, the Unabomber, and the recent spate of mass shooters using social media as their preferred narrative platform. They present a theoretical perspective of murder that is based on both the criminological evidence and written works. In addition, the authors examine famous literature that has dealt ingeniously with murder and its relationship with real crime, from the Greek tragedians to Truman Capote to modern-day productions such as Making a Murderer.
This unique approach offers a new means to penetrate the minds of murderers, revealing their motives as well as the wider social meanings of this age-old crime and our continuing fascination with it.
Killing Goldfinger: The Secret, Bullet-Riddled Life and Death of Britain's Gangster Number One
Wensley Clarkson
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Killing Goldfinger charts the extraordinary rise and spectacular bullet-riddled fall of John Palmer, the richest, most powerful criminal ever to have emerged from the modern British underworld. During the late 1990s, Palmer was rated as rich as The Queen by the Sunday Times Rich List.
Palmer earned his nickname Goldfinger after smelting (in his back garden) tens of millions of pounds worth of stolen gold bullion from the 20th century's most lucrative heist; the Brink's-Mat robbery. Palmer then used his share of the millions to become the vicious overlord of a vast illegal timeshare property empire in Tenerife. At the same time, Goldfinger financed huge international drugs shipments as well as some of the most notorious UK robberies of the past 30 years, including the 50m Securitas heist in Kent in 2006 and, many believe, the Hatton Garden heist in 2015.
Palmer vowed to hunt down all his underworld enemies. But in the end it was those same criminals who decided to bring his life to an end. Murdered in June 2015, with charges of fraud, money laundering and worse pending, this book tells his murky story for the first time.
As outrageous and bullet-riddled as the hit Netflix series Narcos, Killing Goldfinger tells the true story of Britain's underworld kingpin, who turned the sunshine holiday island of Tenerife into his very own Crime Incorporated and then paid the ultimate price.
Palmer earned his nickname Goldfinger after smelting (in his back garden) tens of millions of pounds worth of stolen gold bullion from the 20th century's most lucrative heist; the Brink's-Mat robbery. Palmer then used his share of the millions to become the vicious overlord of a vast illegal timeshare property empire in Tenerife. At the same time, Goldfinger financed huge international drugs shipments as well as some of the most notorious UK robberies of the past 30 years, including the 50m Securitas heist in Kent in 2006 and, many believe, the Hatton Garden heist in 2015.
Palmer vowed to hunt down all his underworld enemies. But in the end it was those same criminals who decided to bring his life to an end. Murdered in June 2015, with charges of fraud, money laundering and worse pending, this book tells his murky story for the first time.
As outrageous and bullet-riddled as the hit Netflix series Narcos, Killing Goldfinger tells the true story of Britain's underworld kingpin, who turned the sunshine holiday island of Tenerife into his very own Crime Incorporated and then paid the ultimate price.
