Crime Chronicle
SEPTEMBER 2017 • Selected Titles • Printable Version
Crime Chronicle - Modern Crime
abbeys.com.au
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (#5 Millennium)
David Lagercrantz , George Goulding
$32.99
Paperback • 448 pages
Lisbeth Salander is an unstoppable force.
Sentenced to two months in Flodberga women's prison for saving a young boy's life by any means necessary, Salander refuses to say anything in her own defence. She has more important things on her mind.
Mikael Blomkvist makes the long trip to visit every week - and receives a lead to follow for his pains. For him, it looks to be an important expose for Millennium. For her, it could unlock the facts of her childhood.
Even from a corrupt prison system run largely by the inmates, Salander will stand up for what she believes in, whatever the cost. And she will seek the truth that is somehow connected with her childhood memory, of a woman with a blazing birthmark on her neck - that looked as if it had been burned by a dragon's fire...
The tension, power and unstoppable force of The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye are inspired by Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, as Salander and Blomkvist continue the fight for justice that has thrilled millions of readers across the world.
Sentenced to two months in Flodberga women's prison for saving a young boy's life by any means necessary, Salander refuses to say anything in her own defence. She has more important things on her mind.
Mikael Blomkvist makes the long trip to visit every week - and receives a lead to follow for his pains. For him, it looks to be an important expose for Millennium. For her, it could unlock the facts of her childhood.
Even from a corrupt prison system run largely by the inmates, Salander will stand up for what she believes in, whatever the cost. And she will seek the truth that is somehow connected with her childhood memory, of a woman with a blazing birthmark on her neck - that looked as if it had been burned by a dragon's fire...
The tension, power and unstoppable force of The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye are inspired by Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, as Salander and Blomkvist continue the fight for justice that has thrilled millions of readers across the world.
A Legacy of Spies
John Le Carre
$32.99
$27.99
Paperback • 320 pages
This is the first novel in over twenty-five years to feature George Smiley, le Carré’s most beloved character.
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London.
The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him.
Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself, are to be scrutinised under disturbing criteria by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications.
Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own intense story, John le Carré has spun a single plot as ingenious and thrilling as the two predecessors on which it looks back: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London.
The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him.
Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself, are to be scrutinised under disturbing criteria by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications.
Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own intense story, John le Carré has spun a single plot as ingenious and thrilling as the two predecessors on which it looks back: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The Seagull (#8 Vera Stanhope)
Ann Cleeves
$29.99
Paperback • 416 pages
The Seagull is Ann Cleeves’ searing eighth novel in the bestselling Vera Stanhope series, about corruption deep in the heart of a community, and about fragile, and fracturing, family relationships.
A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper – and Vera played a part in his downfall.
Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body buried close to St Mary’s Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two.
This cold case takes Vera back in time, and very close to home, as Brace and Marshall, along with a mysterious stranger known only as ‘the Prof’, were close friends of Hector, her father. Together, they were ‘the Gang of Four’, and Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. Vera must confront her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth, as the past begins to collide dangerously with the present...
A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper – and Vera played a part in his downfall.
Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body buried close to St Mary’s Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two.
This cold case takes Vera back in time, and very close to home, as Brace and Marshall, along with a mysterious stranger known only as ‘the Prof’, were close friends of Hector, her father. Together, they were ‘the Gang of Four’, and Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. Vera must confront her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth, as the past begins to collide dangerously with the present...
The Mitford Murders
Jessica Fellowes
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
Lose yourself in the gripping first novel in a new series of Golden Age murder mysteries set amid the lives of the glamorous Mitford sisters.
It's 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle.
Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy - an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.
But then a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret...
Based on a real unsolved crime and written by Jessica Fellowes, author of the number one-bestselling Downton Abbey books. This is the perfect new obsession for fans of Daisy Goodwin, Jessie Burton and Agatha Christie.
It's 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle.
Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy - an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.
But then a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret...
Based on a real unsolved crime and written by Jessica Fellowes, author of the number one-bestselling Downton Abbey books. This is the perfect new obsession for fans of Daisy Goodwin, Jessie Burton and Agatha Christie.
Y is for Yesterday (#25 Kinsey Millhone)
Sue Grafton
$29.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Sue Grafton is back with the twenty-fifth book in her Alphabet series, as Kinsey Millhone, discovers what Y is for...
The darkest and most disturbing case report from the files of Kinsey Millhone, Y begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate — and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns in evidence for the state and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.
Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents — until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find...
The darkest and most disturbing case report from the files of Kinsey Millhone, Y begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate — and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns in evidence for the state and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.
Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents — until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find...
The House of Unexpected Sisters (#18 No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency)
Alexander McCall Smith
$29.99
Paperback • 256 pages
Precious Ramotswe has always idolised her father, the late Obed Ramotswe. She feels that she knows all about his life - but does she? Sometimes our parents surprise us, and we discover that things were not quite what we thought them to be. And the same goes for Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramotswe's feisty assistant, who also makes certain discoveries about her own past that cause some surprise.
The placid world of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is further disturbed by the arrival in Gaborone of somebody whom Mma Ramotswe - and Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, for that matter - definitely do not want to see. Of course calm eventually prevails - as it always does in the timeless world of these remarkable ladies. Tea is served, and life continues.
The Ninth Grave (#2 Fabian Risk)
Stefan Ahnhem , Paul Norlen
$19.99
Paperback • 580 pages
The Stockholm and Copenhagen police investigate the death of a Danish TV star and the disappearance of the Swedish Attorney General. As Stockholm freezes over, Sweden's Minister for Justice disappears. That same night, a Danish celebrity is hunted in her snow-bound home. Police in Stockholm and Copenhagen are closing in on their suspects: a surgeon who dissects his victims and a brutal predator who targets women. But as winter darkens, their investigations begin to unravel...
Seeing Red
Sandra Brown
$29.99
Paperback • 416 pages
Twenty-five years ago, Major Franklin Trapper became a national icon when he lead a handful of survivors to safety after the bombing of a Dallas hotel. For years, he gave frequent speeches and interviews but then suddenly dropped out of the public eye, shunning all media. Now, ambitious TV journalist Kerra Bailey is determined to get an exclusive with the Major - even if she has to wrangle an introduction from his estranged son, former ATF agent John Trapper.Trapper wants no association with the Major, but despite himself, he agrees to the meet. But when the interview goes catastrophically awry - with unknown assailants targeting his father and Kerra - Trapper starts a hunt to track down the gunmen... and finally discover who was responsible for the Dallas bombing. Kerra is wary of a man so charming one moment and dangerous the next, and she knows Trapper is withholding evidence from his ATF investigation into the bombing. But having no one else to trust and enemies lurking closer than they know, Kerra and Trapper join forces to expose a sinuous network of lies and conspiracy - and uncover who would want a national hero dead.
A Summer Revenge (#3 Inspector Akyl Borubaev)
Tom Callaghan
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
In the burning heat of the sun, murder is deadly cold.
Having resigned from Bishkek Murder Squad, Akyl Borubaev is a lone wolf with blood on his hands. Then the Minister of State Security promises Akyl his old life back... if Akyl finds his vanished mistress. The beautiful Natasha Sulonbekova has disappeared in Dubai with information that could destroy the Minister's career.
But when Borubaev arrives in Dubai - straight into a scene of horrific carnage - he learns that what Natasha is carrying is worth far more than a damaged reputation. Discovering the truth plunges him into a deadly game that means he might never return to Kyrgyzstan... at least, not alive.
Having resigned from Bishkek Murder Squad, Akyl Borubaev is a lone wolf with blood on his hands. Then the Minister of State Security promises Akyl his old life back... if Akyl finds his vanished mistress. The beautiful Natasha Sulonbekova has disappeared in Dubai with information that could destroy the Minister's career.
But when Borubaev arrives in Dubai - straight into a scene of horrific carnage - he learns that what Natasha is carrying is worth far more than a damaged reputation. Discovering the truth plunges him into a deadly game that means he might never return to Kyrgyzstan... at least, not alive.
The Silver Gun (#1 Art Deco)
L. A. Chandlar
$26.99
Paperback • 336 pages
New York City, 1936. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Big Apple is defiantly striving toward an era infused with art, architecture, and economic progress under the dynamic Mayor La Guardia. But those in City Hall know that tumultuous times can inspire both optimism and deadly danger...
It’s been six months since Lane Sanders was appointed Mayor Fiorello “Fio” La Guardia’s new personal aide, and the twenty-three-year-old is sprinting in her Mary Janes to match her boss’s pace. Despite dealing with vitriol from the Tammany Hall political machine and managing endless revitalization efforts, Fio hasn’t slowed down a bit during his years in office. And luckily for Lane, his unpredictable antics are a welcome distraction from the childhood memories that haunt her dreams—and the silver gun she’ll never forget.
When Lane gets attacked and threatened by an assailant tied to one of most notorious gangsters in the city, even the mayor can’t promise her safety. The corrupt city officials seem to be using Lane as a pawn against Fio for disgracing their party in the prior election. But why was the assailant wielding the exact same gun from her nightmares?
Balancing a clandestine love affair and a mounting list of suspects, Lane must figure out how the secrets of her past are connected to the city’s underground crime network—before someone pulls the trigger on the most explosive revenge plot in New York history...
It’s been six months since Lane Sanders was appointed Mayor Fiorello “Fio” La Guardia’s new personal aide, and the twenty-three-year-old is sprinting in her Mary Janes to match her boss’s pace. Despite dealing with vitriol from the Tammany Hall political machine and managing endless revitalization efforts, Fio hasn’t slowed down a bit during his years in office. And luckily for Lane, his unpredictable antics are a welcome distraction from the childhood memories that haunt her dreams—and the silver gun she’ll never forget.
When Lane gets attacked and threatened by an assailant tied to one of most notorious gangsters in the city, even the mayor can’t promise her safety. The corrupt city officials seem to be using Lane as a pawn against Fio for disgracing their party in the prior election. But why was the assailant wielding the exact same gun from her nightmares?
Balancing a clandestine love affair and a mounting list of suspects, Lane must figure out how the secrets of her past are connected to the city’s underground crime network—before someone pulls the trigger on the most explosive revenge plot in New York history...
The Seagull (#8 Vera Stanhope)
Ann Cleeves
$39.99
Hardback • 416 pages
The Seagull is Ann Cleeves' searing eighth novel in the bestselling Vera Stanhope series, about corruption deep in the heart of a community, and about fragile, and fracturing, family relationships.
A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper - and Vera played a part in his downfall.
Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body buried close to St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two.
This cold case takes Vera back in time, and very close to home, as Brace and Marshall, along with a mysterious stranger known only as `the Prof', were close friends of Hector, her father. Together, they were `the Gang of Four', and Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. Vera must confront her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth, as the past begins to collide dangerously with the present...
A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper - and Vera played a part in his downfall.
Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body buried close to St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two.
This cold case takes Vera back in time, and very close to home, as Brace and Marshall, along with a mysterious stranger known only as `the Prof', were close friends of Hector, her father. Together, they were `the Gang of Four', and Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. Vera must confront her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth, as the past begins to collide dangerously with the present...
Winter's Child (#20 Wind River Reservation)
Margaret Coel
$14.95
Paperback
In the midst of a blizzard, Myra and Eldon Little Shield found an abandoned baby on their doorstep and brought her inside. Five years later, no one has come back to claim the little girl now known as Mary Anne Little Shield. But now that she's old enough to start school, her foster parents fear social services will take her - a white child - away from them. Determined to adopt Mary Anne, the Little Shields hire lawyer Clint Hopkins, who wants Vicky as cocounsel on the case. But before their plans can take shape, a black truck deliberately runs Hopkins down in the street. Enlisting Father John to help investigate who would kill to stop the child's adoption, Vicky unravels a connection between the five-year-old girl and a missing alcoholic Arapaho wanted for robbery - only to uncover one of the darkest secrets in Wind River's history...
The Black Echo: 25th Anniversary Edition (#1 Bosch)
Michael Connelly
$9.99
Paperback
LAPD detective Harry Bosch is a loner and a nighthawk. One Sunday he gets a call-out on his pager. A body has been found in a drainage tunnel off Mulholland Drive, Hollywood. At first sight, it looks like a routine drugs overdose case, but the one new puncture wound amidst the scars of old tracks leaves Bosch unconvinced.To make matters worse, Harry Bosch recognises the victim. Billy Meadows was a fellow 'tunnel rat' in Vietnam, running against the VC and the fear they all used to call the Black Echo. Bosch believes he let down Billy Meadows once before, so now he is determined to bring the killer to justice.
Wake In Fright (Film Tie-In)
Kenneth Cook
$19.99
Paperback • 224 pages
Wake in Fright tells of a young teacher, John Grant, who becomes stranded in the outback mining town of Bundanyabba, or 'the Yabba' - scorchingly hot, eerily desolate and drowning in alcohol, sex and secretsWake in Fright was made into a film in 1971, arguably the greatest film ever made in Australia. It starred Donald Pleasence, Chips Rafferty and Jack Thompson in his first screen role.
Chaos (#24 Scarpetta)
Patricia Cornwell
$19.99
Paperback • 512 pages
In the quiet of twilight, on an early autumn day, twenty-six-year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning - except the weather is perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the Cambridge Forensic Center's director and chief, decides at the scene that this is no accidental Act of God.
Her investigation becomes complicated when she begins receiving a flurry of bizarre poems from an anonymous cyberbully who calls himself Tailend Charlie. When the tenth poem arrives exactly twenty-four hours after Elisa's death, Scarpetta begins to suspect the harasser is involved, and sounds the alarm to her investigative partner, Pete Marino, and her husband, FBI analyst Benton Wesley.
She also enlists the help of her technologically brilliant niece, Lucy. But to Scarpetta's surprise, Lucy can't explain how this anonymous nemesis could have access to private information. To make matters worse, a venomous media is whipping the public into a frenzy, questioning the seasoned forensics chief's judgment and "a quack cause of death on a par with spontaneous combustion".
Her investigation becomes complicated when she begins receiving a flurry of bizarre poems from an anonymous cyberbully who calls himself Tailend Charlie. When the tenth poem arrives exactly twenty-four hours after Elisa's death, Scarpetta begins to suspect the harasser is involved, and sounds the alarm to her investigative partner, Pete Marino, and her husband, FBI analyst Benton Wesley.
She also enlists the help of her technologically brilliant niece, Lucy. But to Scarpetta's surprise, Lucy can't explain how this anonymous nemesis could have access to private information. To make matters worse, a venomous media is whipping the public into a frenzy, questioning the seasoned forensics chief's judgment and "a quack cause of death on a par with spontaneous combustion".
The Romanov Ransom (#9 Fargo Adventures)
Clive Cussler , Robin Burcell
$32.99
Paperback • 480 pages
When a kidnapping captures the attention of treasure-hunting team Sam and Remi Fargo, they find themselves on the trail of the legendary Romanov Ransom - a Russian fortune stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Hunting a neo-Nazi faction across Europe, North Africa and South America is their greatest quest yet. They must prevent the rise of a Fourth Reich, or witness the resurgence of the greatest evil of the modern world.From the finest adventure writer alive, Clive Cussler's dark and thrilling mystery will keep you turning the pages late into the night.
Pirate (#8 Fargo Adventures)
Clive Cussler , Robin Burcell
$19.99
Paperback
An 800-year-old treasure...
An ancient cypher wheel...
A brutal murder...
And a man who will stop at nothing to claim what he considers rightfully his.
Husband-and-wife treasure-hunting team Sam and Remi Fargo have gone on impossible missions before and faced many perils, but never have they faced an adversary as determined as the one before them now. The battle will take them halfway around the world, and at its end will be either one of the most glorious finds in history - or certain death.
An ancient cypher wheel...
A brutal murder...
And a man who will stop at nothing to claim what he considers rightfully his.
Husband-and-wife treasure-hunting team Sam and Remi Fargo have gone on impossible missions before and faced many perils, but never have they faced an adversary as determined as the one before them now. The battle will take them halfway around the world, and at its end will be either one of the most glorious finds in history - or certain death.
The Child Finder
Rene Denfeld
$29.99
Paperback
Naomi Cottle finds missing children. When the police have given up their search and an investigation stalls, families call her. She possesses a rare, intuitive sense, born out of her own experience, that allows her to succeed when others have failed.
Young Madison Culver has been missing for three years. She vanished on a family trip to the mountainous forests of Oregon, where they'd gone to cut down a tree for Christmas. Soon after she disappeared, blizzards swept the region and the authorities presumed she died from exposure.
But Naomi knows that Madison isn't dead. As she relentlessly pursues the truth behind Madison's disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce defences that have protected her for so long. If she finds this child, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
Young Madison Culver has been missing for three years. She vanished on a family trip to the mountainous forests of Oregon, where they'd gone to cut down a tree for Christmas. Soon after she disappeared, blizzards swept the region and the authorities presumed she died from exposure.
But Naomi knows that Madison isn't dead. As she relentlessly pursues the truth behind Madison's disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce defences that have protected her for so long. If she finds this child, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
Close to Home (#5 Tracy Crosswhite)
Robert Dugoni
$29.95
Paperback • 382 pages
New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni's acclaimed series continues as Tracy Crosswhite is thrown headlong into the path of a killer conspiracy. While investigating the hit-and-run death of a young boy, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite makes a startling discovery: the suspect is an active-duty serviceman at a local naval base. After a key piece of case evidence goes missing, he is cleared of charges in a military court. But Tracy knows she can't turn her back on this kind of injustice. When she uncovers the driver's ties to a rash of recent heroin overdoses in the city, she realizes that this isn't just a case of the military protecting its own. It runs much deeper than that, and the accused wasn't acting alone. For Tracy, it's all hitting very close to home. As Tracy moves closer to uncovering the truth behind this insidious conspiracy, she's putting herself in harm's way. And the only people she can rely on to make it out alive might be those she can no longer trust.
Bad to Worse
Robert Edeson
$29.99
Paperback • 264 pages
In Dante, Arizona, a centuries-old feud between the families of Mortiss and Worse is coming to a head. Out in the desert beyond town limits, Walter Reckles emerges unscathed from an air crash in a classified zone. His story about hitting a drone is disbelieved, and his reputation discredited. But Richard Worse is on the case and getting closer to the truth that could save Reckles and destroy the Mortiss empire. Meanwhile, in a cave in the Ferendes, Edvard TIssentern has discovered a wall of ancient hieroglyphs and is endeavouring to crack an uncrackable code.Could it be that the answer to both mysteries lies in the casino of a cruise ship on the Indian Ocean? Things will go from bad to worse before you find out.
Turbo Twenty-Three (#23 Stephanie Plum)
Janet Evanovich
$19.99
Paperback
A killer is out to make sure someone gets his just desserts...Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has been on countless crime scenes, but this is definitely a first. Her fleeing target has left behind a truck loaded with ice cream and a dead body - frozen solid and covered in chocolate.As fate would have it, Stephanie's mentor Ranger needs her to go undercover at the ice cream factory to find out who's killing employees. It's going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It's also going to be hard to explain to Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger...
Summary Justice
John Fairfax
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
The first book in a brilliant new courtroom drama series, set to become a major television drama.
The last time Tess de Vere saw William Benson she was a law student on work experience. He was a twenty-one year old, led from the dock of the Old Bailey to begin a life sentence for murder. He'd said he was innocent. She'd believed him.
Sixteen years later Tess overhears a couple of hacks mocking a newcomer to the London Bar, a no-hoper with a murder conviction, running his own show from an old fishmonger's in Spitalfields. That night she walks back into Benson's life. The price of his rehabilitation - and access to the Bar - is an admission of guilt to the killing of Paul Harbeton, whose family have vowed revenge. He's an outcast. The government wants to shut him down and no solicitor will instruct him.
But he's subsidised by a mystery benefactor and a desperate woman has turned to him for help: Sarah Collingstone, mother of a child with special needs, accused of slaying her wealthy lover. It's a hopeless case and the murder trial, Benson's first, starts in four days. The evidence is overwhelming but like Benson long ago, she swears she's innocent. Tess joins the defence team, determined to help Benson survive. But as Benson follows the twists and turns in the courtroom, Tess embarks upon a secret investigation of her own, determined to uncover the truth behind the death of Paul Harbeton on a lonely night in Soho.
True to life, fast-paced and absolutely compelling, Summary Justice introduces a new series of courtroom dramas featuring two maverick lawyers driven to fight injustice at any cost.
The last time Tess de Vere saw William Benson she was a law student on work experience. He was a twenty-one year old, led from the dock of the Old Bailey to begin a life sentence for murder. He'd said he was innocent. She'd believed him.
Sixteen years later Tess overhears a couple of hacks mocking a newcomer to the London Bar, a no-hoper with a murder conviction, running his own show from an old fishmonger's in Spitalfields. That night she walks back into Benson's life. The price of his rehabilitation - and access to the Bar - is an admission of guilt to the killing of Paul Harbeton, whose family have vowed revenge. He's an outcast. The government wants to shut him down and no solicitor will instruct him.
But he's subsidised by a mystery benefactor and a desperate woman has turned to him for help: Sarah Collingstone, mother of a child with special needs, accused of slaying her wealthy lover. It's a hopeless case and the murder trial, Benson's first, starts in four days. The evidence is overwhelming but like Benson long ago, she swears she's innocent. Tess joins the defence team, determined to help Benson survive. But as Benson follows the twists and turns in the courtroom, Tess embarks upon a secret investigation of her own, determined to uncover the truth behind the death of Paul Harbeton on a lonely night in Soho.
True to life, fast-paced and absolutely compelling, Summary Justice introduces a new series of courtroom dramas featuring two maverick lawyers driven to fight injustice at any cost.
Little Deaths
Emma Flint
$19.99
Paperback • 320 pages
It's the summer of 1965, and the streets of Queens, New York shimmer in a heatwave. One July morning, Ruth Malone wakes to find a bedroom window wide open and her two young children missing. After a desperate search, the police make a horrifying discovery. Noting Ruth's perfectly made-up face and provocative clothing, the empty liquor bottles and love letters that litter her apartment, the detectives leap to convenient conclusions, fuelled by neighbourhood gossip and speculation. Sent to cover the case on his first major assignment, tabloid reporter Pete Wonicke at first can't help but do the same. But the longer he spends watching Ruth, the more he learns about the darker workings of the police and the press. Soon, Pete begins to doubt everything he thought he knew. Ruth Malone is enthralling, challenging and secretive - is she really capable of murder? Haunting, intoxicating and heart-poundingly suspenseful, Little Deaths is a gripping novel about love, morality and obsession, exploring the capacity for good and evil within us all.
Order to Kill (#15 Mitch Rapp)
Vince Flynn , Kyle Mills
$19.99
Paperback • 384 pages
In the thrilling new novel from the bestselling Mitch Rapp series, Rapp heads to Pakistan to confront a mortal threat he may not be prepared for. In fact, this time he might have met his match.
Mitch Rapp is used to winning. But now the CIA operative finds himself chasing false leads from continent to continent in an effort to keep nukes from falling into the hands of terrorists. Together with friend and colleague Scott Coleman, Rapp struggles to prevent the loss of these lethal weapons, and soon it becomes alarmingly clear that forces in Moscow are hell-bent on fomenting even more chaos and turmoil in the Middle East. Rapp must go deep into Russian territory, posing as an American ISIS recruit, to stop a plan much more dangerous and insidious than he ever expected.
Written with breathless tension and heart-pounding action, Mitch Rapp's latest adventure is as timely and provocative as ever.
Mitch Rapp is used to winning. But now the CIA operative finds himself chasing false leads from continent to continent in an effort to keep nukes from falling into the hands of terrorists. Together with friend and colleague Scott Coleman, Rapp struggles to prevent the loss of these lethal weapons, and soon it becomes alarmingly clear that forces in Moscow are hell-bent on fomenting even more chaos and turmoil in the Middle East. Rapp must go deep into Russian territory, posing as an American ISIS recruit, to stop a plan much more dangerous and insidious than he ever expected.
Written with breathless tension and heart-pounding action, Mitch Rapp's latest adventure is as timely and provocative as ever.
The Ice Beneath Her
Camilla Grebe
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
For fans of Jo Nesbo and The Bridge, The Ice Beneath Her is a gripping and deeply disturbing story about love, betrayal and obsession that is impossible to put down. Fast-paced and peopled with compelling characters, it surprises at every turn as it hurtles towards an unforgettable ending with a twist you really won't see coming... A young woman is found beheaded in an infamous business tycoon's marble-lined hallway. The businessman, scandal-ridden CEO of the retail chain Clothes & More, is missing without a trace.But who is the dead woman? And who is the brutal killer who wielded the machete?Rewind two months earlier to meet Emma Bohman, a sales assistant for Clothes & More, whose life is turned upside down by a chance encounter with Jesper Orre. Insisting that their love affair is kept secret, he shakes Emma's world a second time when he suddenly leaves her with no explanation.As frightening things begin to happen to Emma, she suspects Jesper is responsible. But why does he want to hurt her? And how far would he go to silence his secret lover?
The Chalk Pit (#9 Ruth Galloway)
Elly Griffiths
$19.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich's web of underground tunnels. When forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway discovers the bones aren't as old as originally thought, it's time for DCI Nelson to launch a murder inquiry. What was initially just a medieval curiosity has taken a much more sinister nature...
Meanwhile, DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The only trace of her is the rumour that she's gone 'underground'. This might be a figure of speech, but with the discovery of the bones and the stories both Ruth and the police have heard of a vast community of rough sleepers living in the old chalk-mining tunnels under Norwich, the clues point in only one direction. Local academic Martin Kellerman knows all about the tunnels and their history - but can his assertions of cannibalism and ritual killing possibly be true?
As the weather gets hotter, tensions rise. A local woman goes missing and the police are under attack. Ruth and Nelson must unravel the dark secrets of The Underground and discover just what gruesome secrets lurk at its heart - before it claims another victim.
Every Day Above Ground (#3 Van Shaw)
Glen Erik Hamilton
$29.99
Paperback • 384 pages
From the multiple prize-winning author of Past CrimesFormer Army Ranger Van Shaw is recently single, out of money, and struggling to keep on the straight and narrow. So when an old contact, Mick O'Hassan, shows up on his doorstep, fresh out of prison and claiming to know the whereabouts of a hidden stash of gold, Van feels the powerful pull of his past. The trouble is, some things are too good to be true, and before they know it Van and O'Hassan are trapped in a game with few rules and too many deadly players. Turns out, the only easy part of a life of crime is getting sucked back in...
The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes (#9 Stewart Hoag)
David Handler
$27.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Fans of Janet Evanovich and Carl Hiaasen, get ready. If you haven’t yet discovered wisecracking sleuth Stewart “Hoagy” Hoag and his faithful basset hound, Lulu, you’re in for a sharp, hilarious treat.
Once upon a time, hoagy had it all: a hugely successful debut novel, a gorgeous celebrity wife, the glamorous world of New York City at his feet. These days, he scrapes by as a celebrity ghostwriter. A celebrity ghostwriter who finds himself investigating murders more often than he’d like.
And once upon a time, Richard Aintree was the most famous writer in America high school students across the country read his one and only novel, a modern classic on par with The Catcher in the Rye. But after his wife’s death, Richard went into mourning... and then into hiding. No one has heard from him in twenty years.
Until now. Richard Aintree or someone pretending to be Richard Aintree has at last reached out to his two estranged daughters. Monette is a lifestyle queen à la Martha Stewart whose empire is crumbling; Reggie, once upon a time, was the love of Hoagy’s life. Both sisters have received mysterious typewritten letters from their father.
Hoagy is already on the case, having been hired to ghostwrite a tell-all book about the troubled Aintree family. But no sooner does he set up shop in the pool house of Monette’s Los Angeles mansion than murder strikes. With Lulu at his side or more often cowering in his shadow it’s up to Hoagy to unravel the mystery, catch the killer, and pour himself that perfect single-malt Scotch... before it’s too late.
Once upon a time, hoagy had it all: a hugely successful debut novel, a gorgeous celebrity wife, the glamorous world of New York City at his feet. These days, he scrapes by as a celebrity ghostwriter. A celebrity ghostwriter who finds himself investigating murders more often than he’d like.
And once upon a time, Richard Aintree was the most famous writer in America high school students across the country read his one and only novel, a modern classic on par with The Catcher in the Rye. But after his wife’s death, Richard went into mourning... and then into hiding. No one has heard from him in twenty years.
Until now. Richard Aintree or someone pretending to be Richard Aintree has at last reached out to his two estranged daughters. Monette is a lifestyle queen à la Martha Stewart whose empire is crumbling; Reggie, once upon a time, was the love of Hoagy’s life. Both sisters have received mysterious typewritten letters from their father.
Hoagy is already on the case, having been hired to ghostwrite a tell-all book about the troubled Aintree family. But no sooner does he set up shop in the pool house of Monette’s Los Angeles mansion than murder strikes. With Lulu at his side or more often cowering in his shadow it’s up to Hoagy to unravel the mystery, catch the killer, and pour himself that perfect single-malt Scotch... before it’s too late.
Did You See Melody?
Sophie Hannah
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied - by a man and a teenage girl.A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist - but Cara's fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.Cara doesn't know what to trust: everything she's read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?
A Lesson in Violence
Jordan Harper
$29.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Meet Polly: eleven years old and smart beyond her years. But she’s a loner, always on the outside, until she is unexpectedly reunited with her father. Meet Nate: fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car, Nate takes Polly from the safety of her quiet existence into a world of robbery, violence and the constant threat of death.
And he does it to save her life.
A Lesson in Violence is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him.
And he does it to save her life.
A Lesson in Violence is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him.
The Silent Girl
Michael Hjorth , Hans Rosenfeldt
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
An idyllic white, two-storey, beautiful house in Sweden. Inside, a family has been brutally murdered - mother, father and two young children all shot in broad daylight. And the killer has got away.Sebastian Bergman has been brought in to solve the crime, but with no credible suspects, he is at a dead end.Until he discovers that there was a witness to the crime. A young girl who saw it all happen, and she has disappeared.Bergman has to track the young girl down before it's too late. But the killer is chasing her too - and he is determined to finish what he started.
The Word Is Murder
Anthony Horowitz
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she's arranged her own funeral. A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own. A reluctant author drawn into a story he can't control. What do they have in common? Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz's page-turning new thriller. SPREAD THE WORD. THE WORD IS MURDER.
The Caveman (#4 William Wisting)
Jorn Lier Horst
$19.99
Paperback
Only three houses away from the policeman's home, a man has been sitting dead in front of his television set for four months. There are no indications that anything criminal has taken place. Viggo Hansen was a man nobody ever noticed, even though he lived in the midst of a close-knit community.His death doesn't hit the headlines, but there is something about the case that catches the attention of William Wisting's journalist daughter, Line, and she decides to write a newspaper article with a different twist for the festive season: the portrait of a completely anonymous and obscure person whose death goes unremarked and unmourned.
Pretend You're Safe
Alexandra Ivy
$14.95
Paperback • 352 pages
First came the floods. Then came the bodies. The victims - strangled, then buried along the shores of the Mississippi - have finally been unearthed, years after they disappeared. He remembers every satisfying kill... each woman’s terror and agony. But there’s only one he truly wanted. And fate has brought her within reach again...
Jaci Patterson was sixteen when she found the first golden locket on her porch. Inside were a few strands of hair wrapped around a scrap of bloodstained ribbon. Though the “gifts” kept arriving, no one believed her hunch that a serial killer was at work. Now Jaci has returned home... and the nightmare is starting once more.
Back then, Rylan Cooper was an arrogant deputy sheriff convinced that Jaci was just an attention—seeking teen. It was a fatal mistake. There’s a murderer in their midst, someone determined to settle old scores and keep playing a twisted game. And it won’t end until Jaci is his forever...
Jaci Patterson was sixteen when she found the first golden locket on her porch. Inside were a few strands of hair wrapped around a scrap of bloodstained ribbon. Though the “gifts” kept arriving, no one believed her hunch that a serial killer was at work. Now Jaci has returned home... and the nightmare is starting once more.
Back then, Rylan Cooper was an arrogant deputy sheriff convinced that Jaci was just an attention—seeking teen. It was a fatal mistake. There’s a murderer in their midst, someone determined to settle old scores and keep playing a twisted game. And it won’t end until Jaci is his forever...
Codename Villanelle
Luke Jennings
$29.99
Paperback • 224 pages
She is the perfect assassin.A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits.Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her, and the one she answers to.She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness.Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything.Until stopping a ruthless assassin becomes more than her job. It becomes personal.Originally published as ebook singles: Codename Villanelle, Hollowpoint, Shanghai and Odessa.
The Swan Island Connection (#2 Sea-Change)
Dr. Dorothy Johnston
$24.99
Paperback • 300 pages
The murder of a 10-year-old boy, strangled with the lead of his dog, shocks the quiet town of Victoria's Queenscliff to its core. The local senior constable, Chris Blackie and his deputy Anthea Merritt, expect the murder investigation to be handled by Geelong-based detectives from the Criminal Investigation Unit. But they're blind-sided by the interest that personnel from the secret military training base on Swan Island take in the case, strongly suspecting that the Detective Inspector may be taking direction from them. Consigned to the edges of the investigation and fearing an imminent wrongful conviction, Chris and Anthea defy their superiors to follow their own lines of enquiry - at great personal risk. A worthy addition to Dorothy Johnston's sea-change mystery series, 'The Swan Island Connection' once again brings Queenscliff to life with intrigue and exacting description.
Crime Scene
Jonathan Kellerman , Jesse Kellerman
$29.99
Paperback • 416 pages
Crime Scene is the next enthralling psychological thriller from Number One bestsellers and masters of the genre, Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman.
Responding to a call at a mansion in an East Bay neighbourhood, Deputy Coroner Clay Edison comes upon the body of Dr Walter Rennert, a controversial Berkeley psychologist, sprawled at the foot of his stairs. There are no wounds and no signs of intrusion or struggle. Clay knows the obvious diagnosis is natural death.
But ten years ago, Rennert's partner was found dead and to this day, the crime remains unsolved. Tatiana, Rennert's daughter, will not let the case lie. She knows her father has been murdered.
It is not part of Clay's job description to investigate crimes, but he is enthralled by Tatiana, drawn in to her twisted, alternate world. His investigation drives him deep into the dark heart of a long-buried scandal, and it won't be long until he is forced to question where his true loyalties lie.
Responding to a call at a mansion in an East Bay neighbourhood, Deputy Coroner Clay Edison comes upon the body of Dr Walter Rennert, a controversial Berkeley psychologist, sprawled at the foot of his stairs. There are no wounds and no signs of intrusion or struggle. Clay knows the obvious diagnosis is natural death.
But ten years ago, Rennert's partner was found dead and to this day, the crime remains unsolved. Tatiana, Rennert's daughter, will not let the case lie. She knows her father has been murdered.
It is not part of Clay's job description to investigate crimes, but he is enthralled by Tatiana, drawn in to her twisted, alternate world. His investigation drives him deep into the dark heart of a long-buried scandal, and it won't be long until he is forced to question where his true loyalties lie.
Death Ship (#7 Shaw and Valentine)
Jim Kelly
$29.95
Paperback • 240 pages
Engrossing and wonderfully atmospheric Booklist Starred Review An explosion on a Norfolk beach leads to far-reaching consequences for detectives Shaw and Valentine. When an explosion rips across Hunstanton Beach on the north Norfolk coast, an abandoned Second World War bomb is assumed to be the cause... but is it? Could there be a connection with the new pier being built - and the increasingly bitter campaign to halt its construction? At the same time, DI Shaw and DS Valentine are on the hunt for an elderly female killer with a uniquely macabre method of despatch. And a 63-year-old Dutch engineer is missing, presumed drowned... but where is the body? All seemingly unrelated investigations - but in each case nothing is as it seems. To find the answers, Shaw must delve into the past, and a mystery that has remained unsolved for more than sixty years.
Girl in Snow
Danya Kukafka
$29.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Who are you when no one is watching?
When beloved high school student Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched - not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the police officer assigned to investigate. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters - Cameron, Jade, and Russ - must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.
In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka explores the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between reality and memory. Intoxicating and emotionally intense, Girl in Snow is a gripping debut novel that will linger long after the final page is turned.
Good Friday (#3 Tennison)
Lynda La Plante
$32.99
Paperback
In the race to stop a deadly attack just pray she's not too late...March, 1976. The height of The Troubles. An IRA bombing campaign strikes terror across Britain. Nowhere and no one is safe.
When detective constable Jane Tennison survives a deadly explosion at Covent Garden tube station, she finds herself in the middle of a media storm. Minutes before the blast, she caught sight of the bomber. Too traumatised to identify him, she is nevertheless a key witness and put under 24-hour police protection.
As work continues round the clock to unmask the terrorists, the Metropolitan police are determined nothing will disrupt their annual Good Friday dinner dance. Amid tight security, hundreds of detectives and their wives and girlfriends will be at St Ermin's Hotel in central London. Jane, too, is persuaded to attend.
But in the week leading up to Good Friday, Jane experiences a sudden flashback. She realises that not only can she identify the bomber, but that the IRA Active Service Unit is very close to her indeed. She is in real and present danger. In a nailbiting race against time, Jane must convince her senior officers that her instincts are right before London is engulfed in another bloodbath.
Good Me Bad Me
Ali Land
$19.99
Paperback • 352 pages
When Annie hands her mother over to the police she hopes for a new start in life - but can we ever escape our past? 'NEW NAME. NEW FAMILY. SHINY. NEW. ME.' Annie's mother is a serial killer. The only way Annie can make it stop is to hand her in to the police. With a new foster family and a new name - Milly - she hopes for a fresh start. Now, surely, she can be whoever she wants to be. But as her mother's trial looms, the secrets of Milly's past won't let her sleep... Because Milly's mother is a serial killer. And blood is thicker than water...
The Perfect Couple
Lexi Landsman
$32.99
Paperback • 464 pages
SIGNED COPIES SHIPPING NOW!
There are secrets in every marriage... and some are more dangerous than others.
Sarah and Marco Moretti are the perfect couple. Together they have travelled the globe building high-profile careers as archaeologists. Now, at a dig in Florence, they are on the brink of the discovery of a lifetime. However their marriage is not what it seems.
On the very evening that Sarah uncovers the San Gennaro necklace - a long-lost antiquity that will bring them worldwide fame - she witnesses Marco kissing another woman. Blinded by tears, she drives home alone in the dead of night...
When Sarah wakes up in hospital, she has no memory of the car accident that brought her there - or the 48 hours preceding it. Gone is the knowledge of her husband's infidelity. But gone too is all recollection of finding the precious necklace.
And the loss of those two crucial memories will have devastating repercussions - Memory can be the difference between love and hate, survival and death, forgiveness and revenge.
Lexi at Abbey’s Hear more
More of the latest new releases
Unleashed (#2 Matt Hunter)
Peter Laws
$29.99
Paperback
Fifteen years ago, 29 Barley Street in Menham, South London, became notorious as the scene of alleged poltergeist activity and then as a crime scene when young Holly Wasson hanged herself. The shadow cast by the unhuman figure that tormented Holly has never entirely left Menham, or the gang of friends who were so affected by the strange and tragic events. The shadow looms large in the present when one of the group dies in a horrific circumstances.Matt Hunter, former minister and now professor of sociology, is called in to advise the police on the possible ritualistic elements of the death. He can't help being drawn into the potent mix of prayer walkers, spiritualists and talk of demons at large in the town, and drawn into the question: are forces beyond the grave or is a flesh-and-blood killer at work?
A Legacy of Spies
John Le Carre
$49.99
Hardback • 320 pages
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, has retired to his family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London are to be scrutinised by a generation with no memory of the Cold War. Somebody must be made to pay for innocent blood once spilt in the name of the greater good. Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own story, John le Carre has given us a novel of superb and enduring quality.
Exposure
Aga Lesiewicz
$19.99
Paperback • 352 pages
You know that feeling. Your life's on track and all is going well. And then something monumental occurs that turns everything on its head. It happens to everyone but, for Kristin Ryder, it was much, much worse . . . When up-and-coming photographer Kristin begins to receive anonymous emails, her life in a trendy loft in London's Hoxton with Anton, her ultra-cool, street-artist boyfriend, suddenly begins to feel unsafe. The emails come with sinister attachments that suggest the sender has an intimate knowledge of Kristin's past, and soon her life spirals out of control. Who can she trust? And will she be able to discover the sender's identity before it's too late? Breathtaking and shocking, Exposure by Aga Lesiewicz will grip you until the last snap of the camera shutter.
You Don't Know Me
Brooke Magnanti
$32.99
Paperback • 288 pages
A body is found and questions must be answered - the conspiracy runs right to the top...
Miri Goldstein was a call girl with connections to powerful men. Now that she's dead, some can breathe more easily. But the grave is not always good at keeping secrets. As the media dig into Miri's past, her old friend Denise worries that her own will rise to the surface.
Meanwhile in Scotland, controversial forensic pathologist Harriet Hitchin is put in a bind when the body turns up on her patch. Police think they have their killer but Harriet is certain they made a mistake. If she's wrong, it will end her career. If she's right it could cost her life.
The case will play games with all who come near and force them to ask - how many of us are living a lie?
With taut pace and a twisted sense of humour, You Don't Know Me is a sexy thriller from someone who knows exactly what it means to live a double life.
Miri Goldstein was a call girl with connections to powerful men. Now that she's dead, some can breathe more easily. But the grave is not always good at keeping secrets. As the media dig into Miri's past, her old friend Denise worries that her own will rise to the surface.
Meanwhile in Scotland, controversial forensic pathologist Harriet Hitchin is put in a bind when the body turns up on her patch. Police think they have their killer but Harriet is certain they made a mistake. If she's wrong, it will end her career. If she's right it could cost her life.
The case will play games with all who come near and force them to ask - how many of us are living a lie?
With taut pace and a twisted sense of humour, You Don't Know Me is a sexy thriller from someone who knows exactly what it means to live a double life.
The Runner (#5 China)
Peter May
$20.95
Paperback • 448 pages
A prodigious Chinese swimmer kills himself on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. Days later, a champion weightlifter suffers a fatal heart attack prior to competition. Detective Li Yan senses a conspiracy surrounding the fatalities, and finds a female athlete willing to talk. But she will only trust one person: Li's fiancee, Margaret Campbell. When Campbell's contact herself vanishes, the gun is fired on a race against time. And Li must now outrun, and outwit, an enemy bent on pushing him beyond endurance.
Insidious Intent (#10 Hill & Jordan)
Val McDermid
$29.99
Paperback • 464 pages
'Murdered people don't kill themselves...'
A quiet night on a country road. The stillness shattered by a car engulfed in flames, and a burned body discovered in the driver's seat. As the investigation unfolds, DCI Carol Jordan and psychological profiler Tony Hill quickly realise that this is more than just a tragic accident.
And so begins the hunt for a truly terrifying killer, someone who believes he is invisible, untraceable and untouchable.As other victims are found to have met the same terrible fate, and with more women at risk, Tony and Carol are drawn into a dark and twisted web of fear and revenge that will force them to question their own ideas of justice...
Discover the pulse-pounding new novel from the inimitable queen of crime and number one bestseller, Val McDermid, featuring two of the most iconic and unforgettable characters in crime fiction: Tony Hill and Carol Jordan
The Midas Legacy (#12 Wilde & Chase)
Andy McDermott
$19.99
Paperback • 624 pages
The lost city has defined Nina Wilde's life. Her parents' obsession with Atlantis cost them their lives, but finding it brought Nina to her husband Eddie Chase and a series of archaeological treasures.
A decade later, the International Heritage Agency needs their help to locate the Secret Codex, an account of ancient Atlantean explorer Talonor's journeys, thought to be located in the dangerous underwater ruins of Atlantis. Unable to resist one more adventure, the couple join the mission.
But when a long-lost relative reappears in Nina's life, asking her to use the Codex to find a hidden cave containing the secret of King Midas, she is unprepared for the devastation that follows. The promise of unlimited gold has aroused the greed of powerful and ruthless forces... and only Nina and Eddie stand in their way.
A decade later, the International Heritage Agency needs their help to locate the Secret Codex, an account of ancient Atlantean explorer Talonor's journeys, thought to be located in the dangerous underwater ruins of Atlantis. Unable to resist one more adventure, the couple join the mission.
But when a long-lost relative reappears in Nina's life, asking her to use the Codex to find a hidden cave containing the secret of King Midas, she is unprepared for the devastation that follows. The promise of unlimited gold has aroused the greed of powerful and ruthless forces... and only Nina and Eddie stand in their way.
Where Dead Men Meet
Mark Mills
$19.99
Paperback • 448 pages
For fans of William Boyd, Charles Cumming or Robert HarrisParis, 1937. Luke Hamilton - a junior air intelligence officer at the British Embassy - finds himself the target of an assassination attempt. A clear case of mistaken identity, or so it first appears. As Luke is hunted across a continent sliding towards war, he comes to learn that the answers lie deep in a past that predates his abandonment as a baby on the steps of an orphanage twenty-five years ago.From the author of the bestselling THE SAVAGE GARDEN, and set against a terrific backdrop of Europe on the cusp of the Second World War, this is a compelling novel, rich in adventure, espionage, secrets and lies.
The Perfect Stranger
Megan Miranda
$29.99
Paperback
How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own? In the masterful follow-up to the bestseller All the Missing Girls - a journalist sets out to find a missing friend, a friend who may never have existed at all.
Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.
Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend's life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah's credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey - and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.
Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide - including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?
Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.
Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend's life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah's credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey - and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.
Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide - including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?
Pagan
W. F. Morris
$22.99
Paperback • 304 pages
The Casemate Classic War Fiction Series publishes new editions of forgotten classics that perfectly capture their era.
Charles Pagan and Dick Baron, who served together in WWI, embark on a walking holiday in the Vosges Mountains in France, in 1930. En route they meet Cecil and his sister Clare who is recovering from the loss of her fiancé during the war. Pagan and Baron pitch camp at a guesthouse, but the strange behavior of locals piques their interest in the surroundings: in particular the old battlefield nearby. They express an interest in visiting it and are told by their host in no uncertain terms that it is not the place to go at night. When they discover they have been locked in their bedrooms, the pair lose no time in putting a rope out of the window and shinning down it, intent on exploring the forbidden territory and viewing the apparition Pagan thinks he has glimpsed briefly by moonlight.
Pagan, like W. F. Morris’s preceding novel Bretherton, is a mystery story, but one which could only have been written as a result of the war. Bretherton himself is mentioned in passing by his brothers in arms. It is exciting, spine-chilling, funny, and romantic, but the Great War taints all these elements like a color filter on a camera. The war is only a decade away and wounds, both mental and physical, are raw. The novel works brilliantly as a thriller in its own right, and but also a commentary on postwar Europe.
Charles Pagan and Dick Baron, who served together in WWI, embark on a walking holiday in the Vosges Mountains in France, in 1930. En route they meet Cecil and his sister Clare who is recovering from the loss of her fiancé during the war. Pagan and Baron pitch camp at a guesthouse, but the strange behavior of locals piques their interest in the surroundings: in particular the old battlefield nearby. They express an interest in visiting it and are told by their host in no uncertain terms that it is not the place to go at night. When they discover they have been locked in their bedrooms, the pair lose no time in putting a rope out of the window and shinning down it, intent on exploring the forbidden territory and viewing the apparition Pagan thinks he has glimpsed briefly by moonlight.
Pagan, like W. F. Morris’s preceding novel Bretherton, is a mystery story, but one which could only have been written as a result of the war. Bretherton himself is mentioned in passing by his brothers in arms. It is exciting, spine-chilling, funny, and romantic, but the Great War taints all these elements like a color filter on a camera. The war is only a decade away and wounds, both mental and physical, are raw. The novel works brilliantly as a thriller in its own right, and but also a commentary on postwar Europe.
Lightning Men (#2 Darktown)
Thomas Mullen
$32.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Lightning Men follows the multi-award-nominated, highly acclaimed crime debut Darktown into a city on the brink of huge and violent change - and full of secrets. Atlanta, 1950. In a divided city, crime comes home. White officer Denny Rakestraw joins Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith from Atlanta's Negro Officer precinct to face the Klan, gangs and family warfare in their rapidly changing city.Black families - including Smith's sister and brother-in-law - are moving into Rake's formerly all-white neighbourhood, leading Rake's brother-in-law, a proud Klansman, to launch a scheme to 'save' their streets. When those efforts leave a man dead, Rake is forced to choose between loyalty to family or the law. Meanwhile, Boggs has outraged his preacher father by courting a domestic, whose dangerous ex-boyfriend is then released from prison. As Boggs, Smith, and their all-black precinct contend with violent drug dealers fighting for turf in new territory, their personal dramas draw them closer to the fires that threaten to consume Atlanta once again.
The Betrayals: The Richard & Judy Book Club Pick 2017
Fiona Neill , Fiona Neill
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
When Rosie Rankin's best friend has an affair with her husband, the consequences reverberate through the lives of both their families. Relationships are torn apart and friendships shattered. Years later, the arrival of a letter opens old wounds for the Rankins, Daughter Daisy's fragile hold on reality begins to unravel and son Max blames himself for everything that happened that fateful summer. And Rosie's ex-husband Nick has his own version of events. As repressed memories bubble to the surface, the past has never seemed more present and the truth more murky. Sometimes, there are four sides to the story. Who do you believe?
Blue Light Yokohama
Nicolas Obregon
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
Setagaya ward, Tokyo.
Inspector Kosuke Iwata, newly transferred to Tokyo's homicide department, is assigned a new partner and a secondhand case.
Blunt, hard as nails and shunned by her colleagues, Assistant Inspector Noriko Sakai is a partner Iwata decides it would be unwise to cross.
A case that's complicated - a family of four murdered in their own home by a killer who then ate ice cream, surfed the web and painted a hideous black sun on the bedroom ceiling before he left in broad daylight. A case that so haunted the original investigator that he threw himself off the city's famous Rainbow Bridge.
Carrying his own secret torment, Iwata is no stranger to pain. He senses the trauma behind the killer's brutal actions. Yet his progress is thwarted in the unlikeliest of places.
Fearing corruption among his fellow officers, tracking a killer he's sure is only just beginning and trying to put his own shattered life back together, Iwata knows time is running out before he's taken off the case or there are more killings...
Blue Light Yokohama is crime fiction at its very best - gripping, haunting, atmospheric and utterly captivating.
Inspector Kosuke Iwata, newly transferred to Tokyo's homicide department, is assigned a new partner and a secondhand case.
Blunt, hard as nails and shunned by her colleagues, Assistant Inspector Noriko Sakai is a partner Iwata decides it would be unwise to cross.
A case that's complicated - a family of four murdered in their own home by a killer who then ate ice cream, surfed the web and painted a hideous black sun on the bedroom ceiling before he left in broad daylight. A case that so haunted the original investigator that he threw himself off the city's famous Rainbow Bridge.
Carrying his own secret torment, Iwata is no stranger to pain. He senses the trauma behind the killer's brutal actions. Yet his progress is thwarted in the unlikeliest of places.
Fearing corruption among his fellow officers, tracking a killer he's sure is only just beginning and trying to put his own shattered life back together, Iwata knows time is running out before he's taken off the case or there are more killings...
Blue Light Yokohama is crime fiction at its very best - gripping, haunting, atmospheric and utterly captivating.
Nasty Cutter (#4 Raymond Donne Mystery)
Tim O'Mara
$29.95
Paperback
Danger gets a little too close to home for ex-cop Raymond Donne... When his father's former law partner, Harry Stover, is murdered while being celebrated as Williamsburg, Brooklyn's Man of the Year, ex-cop turned schoolteacher Raymond Donne fights his old police instincts and vows to stay out of the investigation. That is until his childhood home is broken into and one of his students is threatened. Has a decades old case of his father's come back to haunt the Donne family? Could the murder have something to do with the victim's charitable work connecting low-income kids with business leaders in Williamsburg? Raymond never has liked unanswered questions, and when the answers come a little too close to his home and school, he decides he's not above giving the cops a little unwanted help.
City of Secrets
Stewart O'Nan
$19.99
Paperback • 208 pages
In 1945, with no homes to return to, Jewish refugees set out for Palestine in their tens of thousands.City of Secrets follows one survivor, Brand, as he tries to regain himself after losing everyone he's ever loved. Now driving a taxi provided - like his new identity - by the underground, he navigates the twisting streets of Jerusalem as well as the overlapping, sometimes deadly loyalties of the resistance. Alone, haunted by memories, he tries to become again the man he was before the war - honest, strong, capable of moral choice.He falls in love with Eva, a fellow survivor and member of his cell, reclaims his faith, and commits himself to the revolution, accepting secret missions that grow more and more dangerous even as he begins to suspect he's being used by their cell's dashing leader, Asher. By the time Brand understands the truth, it's too late, and the tragedy that ensues changes history.A noirish, deeply felt novel of intrigue and identity written in O'Nan's trademark lucent style, City of Secrets asks how both despair and faith can lead us astray, and what happens when, with the noblest intentions, we join movements beyond our control.
Everyday People
Stewart O'Nan
$19.99
Paperback • 304 pages
Crest has lost the use of his legs after falling off a walkway while trying to write graffiti on a roadside wall; his best friend, Bean, fell too and died. Now Crest must try to repair his relationship with Vanessa, the mother of his child, whose night-school class is alerting her to a wider world. Crest's older brother Eugene, an ex-con turned born-again Christian, is facing the temptations of his past, while their parents confront their own crisis.Powerful and moving, tender and resonant, Everyday People is an unforgettable novel that vividly captures the experience of the day-to-day struggle that is life in urban America.
Wish You Were Here
Stewart O'Nan
$22.99
Paperback • 528 pages
A year after the death of her husband, Emily Maxwell gathers her family at Lake Chautauqua for what will be a last holiday at their summer cottage. Joining her is her sister-in-law Arlene, silently mourning both the loss of the lake house and a bygone love affair. Emily's firebrand daughter Meg, a recovering alcoholic recently separated from her husband, brings her children from Detroit. Emily's son Ken, who has quit his job and mortgaged his future to pursue his art, comes accompanied by his children and his wife, who is secretly heartened to be visiting the house for the last time.Memories of past summers resurface, old rivalries flare up and love is rekindled and born anew, resulting in a timeless novel that 'succeeds beautifully [and] showcases some of the finest character studies a contemporary reader could ask for' (Boston Globe).
Deadly Cargo: BookShots
James Patterson
$6.99
Paperback • 144 pages
James Patterson's BookShots. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment.We have to go out, but we don't have to come back. When a distress call is received at the Casco Cove Coast Guard Station in Alaska, Rick O'Neill readies his team for a rescue mission. In the storm-tossed freezing waters they find the foundering Russian cargo ship, but when they try to make contact they receive no response. Boarding what appears to be a deserted vessel, O'Neill begins to realise that nothing on this ship is as it seems, and he may have just led his team into a trap.
Black Market
James Patterson
$19.99
Paperback • 448 pages
A Wall Street crash like never beforeaA shocking explosion at the Wall Street stock exchange injures hundreds of people and brings devastation to one of the world's major trading centres. A terrorist organisation claims responsibility for planting the bomb, but their motive is unclear.As federal agent Archer Carroll and trading enforcement director Caitlin Dillon investigate the attack, all the intelligence points to one thing. The terrorists don't simply want to bring chaos to America - they want to run the entire country.
Glass Houses (#13 Gamache)
Louise Penny
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
One cold November day, a mysterious figure appears on the village green in Three Pines, causing unease, alarm and confusion among everyone who sees it. Chief Superintendent, Armand Gamache knows something is seriously wrong, but all he can do is watch and wait, hoping his worst fears are not realised. But when the figure disappears and a dead body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to investigate.
In the early days of the murder inquiry, and months later, as the trial for the accused begins, Gamache must face the consequences of his decisions, and his actions, from which there is no going back . . .
Gripping, surprising and powerful, Glass Houses is the new ingenious and illuminating novel from number one bestseller, Louise Penny, which will leave you spellbound until the final page.
Glass Houses (#13 Gamache)
Louise Penny
$49.99
Hardback • 400 pages
One cold November day, a mysterious figure appears on the village green in Three Pines, causing unease, alarm and confusion among everyone who sees it. Chief Superintendent, Armand Gamache knows something is seriously wrong, but all he can do is watch and wait, hoping his worst fears are not realised. But when the figure disappears and a dead body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to investigate.In the early days of the murder inquiry, and months later, as the trial for the accused begins, Gamache must face the consequences of his decisions, and his actions, from which there is no going back . . .Gripping, surprising and powerful, Glass Houses is the new ingenious and illuminating novel from number one bestseller, Louise Penny, which will leave you spellbound until the final page.
Grave Errors (#5 Witch City)
Carol J. Perry
$14.95
Paperback • 364 pages
Whose funeral will be next? a For residents of Salem, Massachusetts, the day after Halloween brings empty candy wrappers, sagging pumpkins, and a community-wide identity crisis. That is, until Lee Barrett's TV production class suggests extending the spooky season with the traditional Mexican celebration Dia de Los Muertos. But when the students discover not all of Salem's dead are resting in peace, the post-October blues don't seem so bad after all... As if a series of haunting graveyard visits isn't disturbing enough, Lee and her policeman boyfriend connect the crime to an unsolved missing person case. Driven by a series of chilling psychic visions, Lee calls on her cleverest allies-including her shrewd cat, O'Ryan-to go underground and dig up the evidence needed to put a lid on a cold case forever... before the latest headstone in town has her name on it!
Behind Her Eyes
Sarah Pinborough
$19.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Louise. Since her husband walked out, Louise has made her son her world, supporting them both with her part-time job. But all that changes when she meets...
David. Young, successful and charming – Louise cannot believe a man like him would look at her twice let alone be attracted to her. But that all comes to a grinding halt when she meets his wife...
Adele. Beautiful, elegant and sweet – Louise's new friend seems perfect in every way. As she becomes obsessed by this flawless couple, entangled in the intricate web of their marriage, they each, in turn, reach out to her.
But only when she gets to know them both does she begin to see the cracks... Is David really is the man she thought she knew and is Adele as vulnerable as she appears? Just what terrible secrets are they both hiding and how far will they go to keep them?
David. Young, successful and charming – Louise cannot believe a man like him would look at her twice let alone be attracted to her. But that all comes to a grinding halt when she meets his wife...
Adele. Beautiful, elegant and sweet – Louise's new friend seems perfect in every way. As she becomes obsessed by this flawless couple, entangled in the intricate web of their marriage, they each, in turn, reach out to her.
But only when she gets to know them both does she begin to see the cracks... Is David really is the man she thought she knew and is Adele as vulnerable as she appears? Just what terrible secrets are they both hiding and how far will they go to keep them?
The White City
Karolina Ramqvist , Saskia Vogel
$19.99
Paperback • 176 pages
Karin knew what she was getting herself into when she fell for John, the high-flying criminal and love of her life. But she never imagined things would turn out like this: John is now gone and the coke-filled parties, seemingly endless flow of money and high social status she previously enjoyed have been replaced by cut telephone lines, cut heat and cut cash. All that remains of Karin's former life is the big house he bought for her - and his daughter, the child Karin once swore she would never bring into their dangerous world.
Now Karin is alone with the baby, and the old promise of 'the family' has proved alarmingly empty. With the authorities zeroing in on organized crime, John's shady legacy is catching up with her, and the house is about to be seized. Over the course of a few nerve-wracking days, Karin is forced to take drastic measures in order to claim what she considers rightfully hers.
A slow-burning psychological thriller with a sophisticated, dreamlike atmosphere, The White City is both the portrayal of one woman's struggle to pull herself up from the paralyzing depths of despair, and an unflinching examination of what it means to lose control - over your body, your life and your fate.
Now Karin is alone with the baby, and the old promise of 'the family' has proved alarmingly empty. With the authorities zeroing in on organized crime, John's shady legacy is catching up with her, and the house is about to be seized. Over the course of a few nerve-wracking days, Karin is forced to take drastic measures in order to claim what she considers rightfully hers.
A slow-burning psychological thriller with a sophisticated, dreamlike atmosphere, The White City is both the portrayal of one woman's struggle to pull herself up from the paralyzing depths of despair, and an unflinching examination of what it means to lose control - over your body, your life and your fate.
The Forest of the Hanged
Liviu Rebreanu
$22.99
Paperback • 352 pages
During the First World War, just behind the eastern front, there was a forest, where Austrians and Hungarians used to hang deserters. To this place came Apostol Bologa, a young Romanian officer eager to serve his country. Born in a Romanian region of Transylvania which was then under Hungarian rule, he had naturally enough joined the Austro-Hungarian army. But soon Romania itself entered the war, and Bologa found himself fighting his own people. The Forest of the Hanged asks a fundamental question about war: namely, why does a man fight? Apostol condemns an officer to death for desertion and attempting to give information to the enemy. He watches the execution of the officer with satisfaction until he witnesses a fellow soldier's grief and pity for the dead man. At this point his world shifts. His growing self-doubt and uncertainty lead him to question beliefs he once held without question. Unprepared for his own reaction when he is once again called to sit on a court martial, he finds that he too must go to the forest. This very rare, richly descriptive novel lays bare the inner conflict engendered by a total war, yet seldom expressed.
Offering to the Storm
Dolores Redondo
$29.99
Paperback • 496 pages
The final book in Dolores Redondo's atmospheric Baztan trilogy, featuring Inspector Amaia Salazar. With masterful storytelling and a detective to rival Sarah Lund, this Spanish bestselling series has taken Europe by storm. It begins with a murdered child. It ends in a valley where nightmares are born. When Detective Inspector Amaia Salazar is called in to investigate the death of a baby girl, she finds a suspicious mark across the child's face - an ominous sign that points to murder. The baby's father was caught trying to run away with the body, whether from guilt or grief nobody can be sure. And when the girl's grandmother tells the police that the `Inguma' was responsible - an evil demon of Basque mythology that kills people in their sleep - Amaia is forced to return to the Baztan valley for answers. Back where it all began, in the depths of a blizzard, she comes face to face with a ghost from her past. And finally uncovers a devastating truth that has ravaged the valley for years.
Breaking Cover (# 9 Liz Carlyle)
Stella Rimington
$19.99
Paperback • 368 pages
Recovering from a gruelling terrorist investigation, Liz Carlyle has been posted to MI5's counter-espionage desk. Her bosses hope the change of scene will give her some breathing space, but they haven't counted on Putin's increased aggression towards the West. Soon Liz is on the hunt for a Russian spy who threatens to plunge Britain back into the fraught days of the Cold War. Meanwhile, MI6 has hired Jasminder Kapoor, a controversial young civil rights lawyer, to explain issues of privacy and security to the public. But in this world of shadowy motives and secret identities, Jasminder must be extra-careful about whom she can trust...
Secrets in Death (#45 In Death)
J. D. Robb
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
No one is going to miss Larinda Mars. A ruthless gossip queen with a lucrative sideline in blackmail, there's no lack of suspects when she's murdered in a fashionable New York bar. With so many people wanting her dead, it's going to be a tough case to crack.Lieutenant Eve Dallas may not like this particular victim, but it's her duty to bring the killer to justice. As she digs deeper into Larinda's mysterious past, it becomes clear the reporter had a unique talent for uncovering secrets. Including ones very close to home for Eve and her husband Roarke... Someone was willing to commit murder to keep their secrets hidden. And with Eve now working to uncover the truth, she and her team are heading into serious danger.
BEST DAY EVER
Kaira Rouda
$29.99
Paperback • 384 pages
"I glance at my wife as she climbs into the passenger seat, and I am bursting with confidence. Today will be everything I've promised her... and more."
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he's the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That's why he's planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.
But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and towards the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really? How much do they trust each other? Is Paul the person he seems to be? And what are his secret plans for their weekend at the cottage?
Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter towards its shocking conclusion. In the bestselling, page-turning vein of The Couple Next Door and The Dinner, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage... or a life.
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he's the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That's why he's planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.
But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and towards the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really? How much do they trust each other? Is Paul the person he seems to be? And what are his secret plans for their weekend at the cottage?
Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter towards its shocking conclusion. In the bestselling, page-turning vein of The Couple Next Door and The Dinner, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage... or a life.
Maigret and the Dead Girl (#45 Maigret)
Georges Simenon , Howard Curtis
$16.99
Paperback • 192 pages
A new translation of this devastating tale of a young woman whose new life in Paris is tragically cut short, part of the Maigret series.
Maigret wouldn't have admitted that what intrigued him most was the victim's face. All he had seen of it so far was one profile. Was it the bruises that gave her that sullen air? She looked like a bad-tempered little girl. Her combed-back brown hair was very smooth but naturally wavy. The rain had diluted her make-up a little and, instead of making her older or uglier, it made her younger and more appealing.
Maigret and his fellow inspector Lognon find themselves trying to out-manoeuver each other when they investigate the case of a mysterious young woman whose new life in Paris is tragically cut short.
Maigret wouldn't have admitted that what intrigued him most was the victim's face. All he had seen of it so far was one profile. Was it the bruises that gave her that sullen air? She looked like a bad-tempered little girl. Her combed-back brown hair was very smooth but naturally wavy. The rain had diluted her make-up a little and, instead of making her older or uglier, it made her younger and more appealing.
Maigret and his fellow inspector Lognon find themselves trying to out-manoeuver each other when they investigate the case of a mysterious young woman whose new life in Paris is tragically cut short.
A Promise to Kill (#2 Clyde Barr)
Erik Storey
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
Discover a new hero...
Clyde Barr, the drifter with lethal skills, is alone again, wandering the highways of the American West in search of something to believe in. As summer turns to autumn, he heads for the mountains, planning to clear his head and regain his edge with some hunting. But when he runs across an elderly sick man - a Ute Indian from a nearby reservation - Clyde’s dream of solitude is quickly dashed.
On the reservation, Clyde finds the old man’s daughter, Lawana, and grandson, Taylor, as well as a group of menacing bikers called Reapers running wild in the struggling, half-abandoned village. Gripped by the desire to do good in a hard world, Clyde offers to stay on Lawana’s ranch to help out until her father is better. As tensions rise between the locals and the Reapers, Clyde’s efforts to protect the reservation become a fight for his, Lawana’s and Taylor’s lives...
A Promise to Kill is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, pushing its no-hold-barred hero to new levels of improvisation and bare-knuckled blunt force.
Clyde Barr, the drifter with lethal skills, is alone again, wandering the highways of the American West in search of something to believe in. As summer turns to autumn, he heads for the mountains, planning to clear his head and regain his edge with some hunting. But when he runs across an elderly sick man - a Ute Indian from a nearby reservation - Clyde’s dream of solitude is quickly dashed.
On the reservation, Clyde finds the old man’s daughter, Lawana, and grandson, Taylor, as well as a group of menacing bikers called Reapers running wild in the struggling, half-abandoned village. Gripped by the desire to do good in a hard world, Clyde offers to stay on Lawana’s ranch to help out until her father is better. As tensions rise between the locals and the Reapers, Clyde’s efforts to protect the reservation become a fight for his, Lawana’s and Taylor’s lives...
A Promise to Kill is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, pushing its no-hold-barred hero to new levels of improvisation and bare-knuckled blunt force.
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Matthew Sullivan
$32.99
Paperback • 336 pages
When a bookshop patron commits suicide, it’s his favorite store clerk who must unravel the puzzle he left behind in this fiendishly clever debut novel from an award-winning short story writer.
Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.
But when Joey McGinty, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s back room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions.
Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?
As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left.
Bedazzling, addictive, and wildly clever, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a heart-pounding mystery that perfectly captures the intellect and eccentricity of the bookstore milieu and will keep you guessing until the very last page.
Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.
But when Joey McGinty, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s back room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions.
Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?
As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left.
Bedazzling, addictive, and wildly clever, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is a heart-pounding mystery that perfectly captures the intellect and eccentricity of the bookstore milieu and will keep you guessing until the very last page.
Dark Asylum (#2 Jem Flockhart)
E. S. Thomson
$22.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Set in a crumbling Victorian asylum where a gruesome murder is committed, this novel deals with the early 'science' of brain study and lobotomy, as well as giving a chilling insight into the asylum's workings, inmates and doctors, many of whom are more insane than their poor patients.
The lips had been darned closed with six long, black, stitches. Clumsily executed, they gave the face a crude deaths-head appearance, like a child's drawing scrawled upon a wall...
1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow's inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness.
To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city - from the depths of a notorious rookery, to the sordid rooms of London's brothels, the gallows, the graveyard, the convict fleet and then back to the asylum. In a world where guilt and innocence, crime and atonement, madness and reason, are bounded by hypocrisy, ambition and betrayal, Jem and Will soon find themselves caught up in a web of dark secrets and hidden identities.
The lips had been darned closed with six long, black, stitches. Clumsily executed, they gave the face a crude deaths-head appearance, like a child's drawing scrawled upon a wall...
1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow's inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness.
To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city - from the depths of a notorious rookery, to the sordid rooms of London's brothels, the gallows, the graveyard, the convict fleet and then back to the asylum. In a world where guilt and innocence, crime and atonement, madness and reason, are bounded by hypocrisy, ambition and betrayal, Jem and Will soon find themselves caught up in a web of dark secrets and hidden identities.
Nothing Stays Buried
P. J. Tracy
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
It's a hot June morning when homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseth discover the body in the woods. And the playing card left with the victims points to something even more disturbing - the trademark of a serial killer, intent on playing out the deck. Meanwhile Grace MacBride and her team have been working on a private missing person's investigation. But when Magozzi and Gino turn to Grace for help, they realize the evidence is bafflingly entangled. And to find the connection between a missing woman, a serial killer, and a decades-old stabbing they must confront the worst kind of evil.
The Accordionist (#3 Three Evangelists)
Fred Vargas , Sian Reynolds
$32.99
Paperback • 256 pages
When two Parisian women are shockingly murdered in their homes, the police suspect young accordionist Clément Vauquer, who was seen outside both of the apartments in question. It seems on the surface like an open-and-shut case.
But now Clément has disappeared from public view. His likeness has appeared in the papers and detectives from Paris to Nevers are on his tail. To have a chance of proving his innocence, he seeks refuge with old Marthe, a former prostitute and the only mother figure he has known.
Marthe calls ex-special investigator Louis Kehlweiler to help Clément. But what Louis uncovers is anything but straightforward, and he must call on some unconventional friends to help him solve his most complex case yet. Not only must Louis try to prove Clément's innocence, he must solve a fiendish riddle to lead him to the killer…
Forever and a Death
Donald E. Westlake
$32.99
Hardback • 240 pages
The Bond Film That Never WasTwo decades ago, the producers of the James Bond movies hired legendary crime novelist Donald E. Westlake to come up with a story for the next Bond film. The plot Westlake dreamed up - about a Western businessman seeking revenge after being kicked out of Hong Kong when the island was returned to Chinese rule - had all the elements of a classic Bond adventure, but political concerns kept it from being made. Never one to let a good story go to waste, Westlake wrote an original novel based on the premise instead - a novel he never published while he was alive.Now, nearly a decade after Westlake's death, Hard Case Crime is proud to give that novel its first publication ever, together with a brand-new afterword by one of the movie producers describing the project's genesis, and to give fans their first taste of the Westlake-scripted Bond that might have been.
Crime Chronicle - Cosy Crime
abbeys.com.au
Macrame Murder (#3 Cora Crafts)
Mollie Cox Bryan
$14.95
Paperback • 320 pages
As the head of a bustling crafting retreat, Cora Chevalier could use a break of her own. So she and her creative cohorts temporarily swap small-town Indigo Gap for the Sea Glass Island Craft Retreat, where they teach classes and create beachy crafts like shell mosaics and sea glass chimes. Cora and her boyfriend Adrian are enchanted by their surroundings - especially the stunning wedding and blissful newlyweds they encounter on the beach. But awe becomes shock when the bride turns up dead the next day...
The woman’s death appears to be the result of a severe jellyfish sting. But when it’s revealed that she was murdered and Adrian becomes a suspect, Cora must hitch the real culprit to the crime - and fast. Because it just might take everything she has to crack a case more twisted than her most complex macramé knot!
The woman’s death appears to be the result of a severe jellyfish sting. But when it’s revealed that she was murdered and Adrian becomes a suspect, Cora must hitch the real culprit to the crime - and fast. Because it just might take everything she has to crack a case more twisted than her most complex macramé knot!
Pudding Up With Murder (#3 Undercover Dish)
Julia Buckley
$14.95
Paperback
Secret chef Lilah Drake has a killer casserole to deal with in the latest Undercover Dish mystery from the author of Cheddar Off Dead...
Customers trust Lilah Drake to keep her mouthwatering meals under wraps, but when a millionaire meets his untimely end, some sinister secrets become the main course...
Spring is right around the corner, and with the warmer temperatures come plenty of food requests from Lilah Drake's covered-dish clients. Lilah pulls out all the stops with a sweet new casserole for the birthday party of Marcus Cantwell, a wealthy curmudgeon who has some angry ex-wives and more than a few enemies.
When he's found facedown in Lilah's casserole, it's anyone's guess as to who might have wanted the old man dead. A possible new heir to Marcus’s fortune adds some unexpected spice to the investigation, but Lilah fears that the old adage is true, and "the proof is in the pudding."
Customers trust Lilah Drake to keep her mouthwatering meals under wraps, but when a millionaire meets his untimely end, some sinister secrets become the main course...
Spring is right around the corner, and with the warmer temperatures come plenty of food requests from Lilah Drake's covered-dish clients. Lilah pulls out all the stops with a sweet new casserole for the birthday party of Marcus Cantwell, a wealthy curmudgeon who has some angry ex-wives and more than a few enemies.
When he's found facedown in Lilah's casserole, it's anyone's guess as to who might have wanted the old man dead. A possible new heir to Marcus’s fortune adds some unexpected spice to the investigation, but Lilah fears that the old adage is true, and "the proof is in the pudding."
A Shimmer of Hummingbirds (#4 Birder Murder)
Steve Burrows
$16.99
Paperback • 384 pages
Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune hopes an overseas birding trip will hold some clues to solving his fugitive brother's manslaughter case. Meanwhile, in Jejeune's absence his long-time nemesis has been drafted in as cover to investigate an accountant's murder. And unfortunately Marvin Laraby proves just a bit too effective in showing how an investigation should be handled. With the manslaughter case poised to claim another victim, Jejeune learns an accident back home involving his girlfriend, Lindy, is much more than it seems. Lindy is in grave danger, and she needs Jejeune. Soon, he is faced with a further dilemma. He can speak up on a secret he has discovered to Laraby's case, knowing it will cost his job on the north Norfolk coast he loves. Or he can stay silent, and let a killer escape justice. Turns out that sometimes the wrong choice is the only one there is.
Oh, Fudge! (#5 Candy Coated)
Nancy Coco
$14.95
Paperback • 352 pages
After Allie inherited her family's McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, cousin Tori moved off to California in a bitter huff, and the two haven't spoken since. So to have her cousin reappear on Mackinac Island without warning is a big surprise-but not as surprising as finding her standing over a dead woman impaled with a garden spade in the Mackinac Butterfly House. Butterflies may be free, but Tori won't be for much longer-unless the cousins can bury the hatchet and work together to catch a killer who's taken flight. Because when it comes to family, blood is thicker than fudge...
The Champagne Conspiracy (#7 Wine Country)
Ellen Crosby
$14.95
Paperback • 336 pages
Welcome back to the Montgomery Estate Vineyard, where Lucie Montgomery and winemaker Quinn Santori have decided to bottle a sparkling wine, a tribute to French Champagne that should be tres chic for business. But just as Lucie's big plan is set to pop, Quinn's uncle Gino turns up demanding Lucie's help in solving a long-ago family mystery - one that has its origins in Prohibition-era Washington, D.C., where bootlegging and blackmail, jazz and murder, went hand in hand...and still has Quinn in its grip. Can Lucie unearth a century-old secret, and steer clear of a ruthless unknown enemy, before the Montgomery vineyard ends up dead on the vine?
The Bookshop Detective (#2 Bookshop by the Sea)
Jan Ellis
$19.99
Paperback • 288 pages
When a ghost ship is spotted on the horizon one spring evening, bookseller Eleanor decides to investigate the myths and legends of Combemouth, the seaside town where she runs The Reading Room. As Eleanor digs deeper into the town's history, she becomes intrigued by a Victorian crime report and is determined to find out what happened to a boy at the centre of the court case. As she begins to uncover the truth - aided by the vicar but somewhat stalled by the local librarian - she has a challenge on her own horizon. Daniel - her husband of six months - is determined that they give up their separate homes and find a new place together. But Eleanor adores her cottage by the sea and resists, guaranteeing that things turn a little frosty as the summer begins. A book launch, an exploding dress, some salsa-dancing pensioners and an ageing rock star make this a fun rom-com mystery with a difference.
Hook, Line, And Murder (#46 Murder She Wrote)
Jessica Fletcher , Renee Paley-Bain
$14.95
Paperback • 304 pages
Jessica enters a fly-fishing competition with the sheriff's wife, Maureen Metzger. Their guide, it turns out, is ex-con Brian Kinney. Jailed as an accomplice to convicted killer Darryl Jepson, Brian was later exonerated. He seems like a decent enough fellow. Yet when Jepson breaks out of prison vowing revenge, and the lawyer for both men is found murdered, Cabot Cove becomes the focus of the nation as local, state, and federal authorities descend on Jessica's hometown...
Assaulted Caramel (#1 Amish Candy shop)
Amanda Flower
$14.95
Paperback
Sometimes you need a sweet tooth to take a bite out of crime...
Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier at world-famous JP Chocolates in New York City. But just when Bailey’s up for a life-changing promotion, her grandmother calls with news that her grandfather’s heart condition has worsened. Bailey rushes to Harvest, Ohio, where her grandparents still run Swissmen Sweets, the Amish candy shop where she was first introduced to delicious fudge, truffles, and other assorted delights.
She finds her grandfather is doing better than she feared. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a local Englisch developer, whom Bailey finds dead in the candy shop kitchen—with Jebediah King’s chocolate knife buried in his chest. Now the police are sweet on her grandfather as the prime suspect. Despite the sincere efforts of a yummy deputy with chocolate-brown eyes, Bailey takes it on herself to clear Jebediah. But as a cunning killer tries to fudge the truth, Bailey may be headed straight into a whole batch of trouble...
Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier at world-famous JP Chocolates in New York City. But just when Bailey’s up for a life-changing promotion, her grandmother calls with news that her grandfather’s heart condition has worsened. Bailey rushes to Harvest, Ohio, where her grandparents still run Swissmen Sweets, the Amish candy shop where she was first introduced to delicious fudge, truffles, and other assorted delights.
She finds her grandfather is doing better than she feared. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a local Englisch developer, whom Bailey finds dead in the candy shop kitchen—with Jebediah King’s chocolate knife buried in his chest. Now the police are sweet on her grandfather as the prime suspect. Despite the sincere efforts of a yummy deputy with chocolate-brown eyes, Bailey takes it on herself to clear Jebediah. But as a cunning killer tries to fudge the truth, Bailey may be headed straight into a whole batch of trouble...
All the Little Liars (#9 Aurora Teagarden)
Charlaine Harris
$14.95
Paperback
Is the truth hiding in plain sight? That is the question at the heart of All the Little Liars, the latest installment of Charlaine Harris's fan-favorite Aurora Teagarden mystery series. Aurora Teagarden is basking in her new pregnancy when disaster strikes her small Georgia town: four kids have gone missing from school - and her teenage brother, Phillip, is one of them. While the local police comb the county for clues, Aurora and her new husband, bestselling writer Robin Crusoe, begin their own investigation. Is Phillip's disappearance related to Aurora's father's gambling debts? Or is Phillip himself, new to town and an unknown quantity, responsible for taking the other children? As days go by, it's up to Aurora to find the answers to these disturbing questions before it's too late for the missing - and she herself ends up in harm's way...
Dead and Breakfast (#1 Merry Ghost Inn)
Kate Kingsbury
$29.95
Paperback
Melanie West is getting her life back on track after a messy divorce when her grandmother, Liza Harris, asks her to open a B&B with her. Together, Liza and Melanie purchase a purportedly haunted mansion on the Oregon coast and jump right into clearing out the cobwebs. But while attempting to remove wallpaper in an upstairs bedroom, the new B&B owners stumble upon a very real skeleton in their closet.
The police suspect the skeleton is that of the wife of the previous owner of the B&B, but no one in town seems to want to say much about her. As the inn owners try to juggle renovations with their own amateur investigations, their grand opening looms closer and closer - and a friendly ghost in their walls starts playing tricks. But it all comes crashing to a halt when a new body is found stabbed to death on the beach below the inn - the victim chillingly close in resemblance to Melanie herself.
It seems someone doesn't appreciate newcomers prying into the small town's past, and now it's up to Melanie and Liza to get to the bottom of these murders to save their business...and their lives.
The police suspect the skeleton is that of the wife of the previous owner of the B&B, but no one in town seems to want to say much about her. As the inn owners try to juggle renovations with their own amateur investigations, their grand opening looms closer and closer - and a friendly ghost in their walls starts playing tricks. But it all comes crashing to a halt when a new body is found stabbed to death on the beach below the inn - the victim chillingly close in resemblance to Melanie herself.
It seems someone doesn't appreciate newcomers prying into the small town's past, and now it's up to Melanie and Liza to get to the bottom of these murders to save their business...and their lives.
Escape from Sunset Grove (#2 Lavender Ladies Detective Agency)
Minna Lindgren
$19.99
Paperback • 416 pages
Change is afoot at Sunset Grove retirement home, and its residents aren’t impressed.
Under threat from falling masonry, best friends Irma and Siiri are forced out of their home to negotiate twenty-first-century living in the centre of Helsinki. Their new surroundings throw up an endless number of daily challenges, from caring for the ailing Anna-Lisa to the mystery of which of the many remotes controls the TV.
The pair are joined by growing numbers of friends in their flat-share, and their new close-quarters living raises some unexpected questions. As the Lavender Ladies begin to dig a little deeper, they find themselves following a trail of corruption, deceit and intimidation that might just lead them to their own front door...
The Lavender Ladies must steel themselves for what is set to be their most dangerous case yet.
Under threat from falling masonry, best friends Irma and Siiri are forced out of their home to negotiate twenty-first-century living in the centre of Helsinki. Their new surroundings throw up an endless number of daily challenges, from caring for the ailing Anna-Lisa to the mystery of which of the many remotes controls the TV.
The pair are joined by growing numbers of friends in their flat-share, and their new close-quarters living raises some unexpected questions. As the Lavender Ladies begin to dig a little deeper, they find themselves following a trail of corruption, deceit and intimidation that might just lead them to their own front door...
The Lavender Ladies must steel themselves for what is set to be their most dangerous case yet.
Dead in the Water (#1 Welcome Back to Scumble River)
Denise Swanson
$14.95
Paperback • 304 pages
Skye Denison-Boyd wishes she could click her ruby-red high-tops, chant There's no place like home, and go back to life pre-tornado. With her house destroyed, her husband missing, and a baby on the way, the last thing she needs is a dead body among the rubble. But that's exactly what she finds. Zeke Lyon, the town's mild-mannered bookkeeper, appears to have been a victim of the tornado-but some of the details don't quite add up. When Skye starts to dig into Zeke's mysterious death, her husband goes missing, and she's sure he's been kidnapped. Will she be able to solve the case and find her husband before it's too late? The first book in the new Scumble River series by New York Times bestselling author Denise Swanson reintroduces dedicated readers to their favorite characters and provides an entry point for readers new to Swanson's work.
Crime Chronicle - Historical Crime
abbeys.com.au
A Treacherous Coast (#13 John Pearce)
David Donachie
$19.99
Paperback
1796. Pearce and his wife Emily are in living in Bath, when Minister of War Henry Dundas turns up and suggests a second mission to the Vendee, this time as a liaison between the French emigres intending to land in Brittany and the British naval and military commanders who will accompany them. The proposed expedition looks promising and Pearce takes the bait. Once at sea, however, Pearce and his crew encounter a French fleet and an indecisive battle ensues off the Ile de Groix. Pearce, accompanied by his faithful Pelicans, must go ashore into dangerous territory to check the lay of the land, find the allies and seek to co-ordinate actions in a situation where the forces of the Republic are gathering to crush the rebels ...
In the Month of the Midnight Sun
Cecilia Ekback
$19.99
Paperback • 368 pages
Sweden 1856. Blackasen Mountain: a distant place of rumour, superstition and now - murder.They say it was the Lapp who killed the three men. But something is not right.Ester knows it - but to help the settlers is to betray her people.Magnus feels it too. Sent by the Minister to survey the mountain, he cannot resist its mystery.And Lovisa: banished from the city by her father, travelling with her sister's husband, she is perhaps closest of them all to the wildness of the place.Three people, caught in the haunting light of the midnight sun.
The Habit of Murder (#23 Bartholomew)
Susanna Gregory
$49.99
Hardback • 432 pages
In 1360 a deputation from Cambridge ventures to the Suffolk town of Clare in the hope that the wealthy Elizabeth de Burgh has left a legacy to Michaelhouse. Yet when they arrive they discover that the report of her death is false and that the college seems destined for bankruptcy.
Determined to see if some of its well-heeled citizens can be persuaded to sponsor Michaelhouse, Matthew Bartholomew, Brother Michael and Master Langelee become enmeshed in the town's politics. They quickly discover that a great many other people in Clare have recently met untimely deaths. These killings, combined with the arrogance Lady de Burgh has shown over the refurbishment of the church and the grotesque behaviour of some of her entourage, have created a dangerous restlessness in the town: an atmosphere intensified when yet more murders occur.
One of the victims is a fellow traveller of the Michaelhouse contingent, and Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael feel honour-bound to identify his killer. It is a hunt which takes them deep into Clare's murky foundations and which threatens their own survival as well as that of their beloved college.
Determined to see if some of its well-heeled citizens can be persuaded to sponsor Michaelhouse, Matthew Bartholomew, Brother Michael and Master Langelee become enmeshed in the town's politics. They quickly discover that a great many other people in Clare have recently met untimely deaths. These killings, combined with the arrogance Lady de Burgh has shown over the refurbishment of the church and the grotesque behaviour of some of her entourage, have created a dangerous restlessness in the town: an atmosphere intensified when yet more murders occur.
One of the victims is a fellow traveller of the Michaelhouse contingent, and Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael feel honour-bound to identify his killer. It is a hunt which takes them deep into Clare's murky foundations and which threatens their own survival as well as that of their beloved college.
A Death at Fountains Abbey (#3 Tom Hawkins)
Antonia Hodgson
$19.99
Paperback • 368 pages
The new twisting mystery from the CWA Historical Dagger 2014 winner Antonia Hodgson.
Late spring, 1728 and Thomas Hawkins has left London for the wild beauty of Yorkshire - forced on a mission he can't refuse. John Aislabie, one of the wealthiest men in England, has been threatened with murder. Blackmailed into investigating, Tom must hunt down those responsible, or lose the woman he loves forever.
Since Aislabie is widely regarded as the architect of the greatest financial swindle ever seen, there is no shortage of suspects.
Far from the ragged comforts of home, Tom and his ward Sam Fleet enter a world of elegant surfaces and hidden danger. The great estate is haunted by family secrets and simmering unease. Someone is determined to punish John Aislabie - and anyone who stands in the way. As the violence escalates and shocking truths are revealed, Tom is dragged, inexorably, towards the darkest night of his life.
Inspired by real characters, events and settings, A Death At Fountains Abbey is a gripping standalone historical thriller. It also continues the story that began with the award-winning The Devil In The Marshalsea and The Last Confession Of Thomas Hawkins.
Late spring, 1728 and Thomas Hawkins has left London for the wild beauty of Yorkshire - forced on a mission he can't refuse. John Aislabie, one of the wealthiest men in England, has been threatened with murder. Blackmailed into investigating, Tom must hunt down those responsible, or lose the woman he loves forever.
Since Aislabie is widely regarded as the architect of the greatest financial swindle ever seen, there is no shortage of suspects.
Far from the ragged comforts of home, Tom and his ward Sam Fleet enter a world of elegant surfaces and hidden danger. The great estate is haunted by family secrets and simmering unease. Someone is determined to punish John Aislabie - and anyone who stands in the way. As the violence escalates and shocking truths are revealed, Tom is dragged, inexorably, towards the darkest night of his life.
Inspired by real characters, events and settings, A Death At Fountains Abbey is a gripping standalone historical thriller. It also continues the story that began with the award-winning The Devil In The Marshalsea and The Last Confession Of Thomas Hawkins.
By Gaslight
Steven Price
$18.99
Paperback
A deeply atmospheric literary tour de force with a cast of unforgettable characters, By Gaslight is the remarkable story of one detective's ceaseless hunt for an elusive criminal. London, 1885. A woman's body is discovered on Edgware Road; ten miles away, her head is dredged from the dark, muddy waters of the Thames. Famed detective William Pinkerton had one lead to the notorious thief Edward Shade, and now that lead is dead.
Determined to drag Shade out of the shadows, Pinkerton descends into the seedy underworld of Victorian London, with its gas-lit streets, opium dens, sewers and seance halls, its underworld of spies, blackmailers, cultists, petty thieves and pitiless murderers. Adam Foole is a gentleman without a past, haunted by a love affair ten years gone. Returning to London in search of his lost beloved, his journey brings him face-to-face with Pinkerton, and what he learns of his lover's fate will force him to confront a past - and a grief - he thought long buried.
Epic in scope, brilliantly conceived and vividly atmospheric, By Gaslight is a riveting portrait of two men on the brink. Shrouded in secrets, betrayals and deceptions, this is the story of the most unlikely of bonds: between William Pinkerton, the greatest detective of his age, and Adam Foole, the one man who may hold the key to finding Edward Shade.
Determined to drag Shade out of the shadows, Pinkerton descends into the seedy underworld of Victorian London, with its gas-lit streets, opium dens, sewers and seance halls, its underworld of spies, blackmailers, cultists, petty thieves and pitiless murderers. Adam Foole is a gentleman without a past, haunted by a love affair ten years gone. Returning to London in search of his lost beloved, his journey brings him face-to-face with Pinkerton, and what he learns of his lover's fate will force him to confront a past - and a grief - he thought long buried.
Epic in scope, brilliantly conceived and vividly atmospheric, By Gaslight is a riveting portrait of two men on the brink. Shrouded in secrets, betrayals and deceptions, this is the story of the most unlikely of bonds: between William Pinkerton, the greatest detective of his age, and Adam Foole, the one man who may hold the key to finding Edward Shade.
The Man who Would be Sherlock: The Real Life Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle
Christopher Sandford
$49.99
Hardback • 320 pages
When Arthur Conan Doyle was a lonely 7-year-old schoolboy at pre-prep Newington Academy in Edinburgh, a French emigre named Eugene Chantrelle was engaged there to teach Modern Languages. A few years later, Chantrelle would be hanged for the particularly grisly murder of his wife, marking the beginning of Conan Doyle's own association with some of the bloodiest crimes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
This early link between actual crime and the greatest detective story writer of all time is one of many. Conan Doyle would also go on to play a leading role in the notorious case of the young Anglo-Indian lawyer George Edalji, convicted and imprisoned as the `mad ripper' who supposedly prowled the fields around his Staffordshire home by night looking for animals to mutilate; and the equally chilling story of Oscar Slater and his alleged murder of an elderly spinster as she sat in her Glasgow home one winter's night in 1908, a crime with a spectacular denouement 18 years later.
Using freshly available evidence and eyewitness testimony, Christopher Sandford follows these links and draws out the connections between Conan Doyle's literary output and factual criminality, a pattern that will enthral and surprise the legions of Sherlock Holmes fans. In a sense, Conan Doyle wanted to be Sherlock - to be a man who could bring order and justice to a terrible world.
This early link between actual crime and the greatest detective story writer of all time is one of many. Conan Doyle would also go on to play a leading role in the notorious case of the young Anglo-Indian lawyer George Edalji, convicted and imprisoned as the `mad ripper' who supposedly prowled the fields around his Staffordshire home by night looking for animals to mutilate; and the equally chilling story of Oscar Slater and his alleged murder of an elderly spinster as she sat in her Glasgow home one winter's night in 1908, a crime with a spectacular denouement 18 years later.
Using freshly available evidence and eyewitness testimony, Christopher Sandford follows these links and draws out the connections between Conan Doyle's literary output and factual criminality, a pattern that will enthral and surprise the legions of Sherlock Holmes fans. In a sense, Conan Doyle wanted to be Sherlock - to be a man who could bring order and justice to a terrible world.
A Conspiracy In Belgravia (#2 Lady Sherlock)
Sherry Thomas
$27.95
Paperback • 336 pages
Being shunned by society gives Charlotte Holmes the freedom to put her powers of deduction to good use. As Sherlock Holmes, aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, she's had great success helping with all manner of inquiries, but she's not prepared for this new client. Lady Ingram wants Sherlock to find her first love, who failed to show up at their annual rendezvous. Matters of loyalty and discretion aside, the case becomes even more personal for Charlotte as the missing man is none other than Myron Finch, her illegitimate half-brother...
She Be Damned (#1 Heloise Chancey)
M. J. Tjia
$29.99
Paperback
London courtesan… and professional sleuth.
London, 1863. Prostitutes in Waterloo are turning up dead, their sexual organs mutilated and removed. When another girl goes missing, fears grow that the killer may have claimed their latest victim. Police are at a loss and so it falls to courtesan and professional detective, Heloise Chancey, to investigate.
With the assistance of her trusty Chinese maid, Amah Li Leen, Heloise inches closer to the truth. But when Amah is implicated in the brutal plot, Heloise must reconsider who she can trust, before the killer strikes again.
The Angel (#3 Grand & Batchelor)
M. J. Trow
$29.95
Paperback • 224 pages
Nineteenth century private investigators American Matthew Grand and Englishman James Batchelor investigate the murder of Charles Dickens. June, 1870. The world-famous author Charles Dickens has been found dead in his summerhouse where he had been hard at work on his final, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Did he die of natural causes - or is there something more sinister behind his sudden demise? George Sala, Dickens' biographer, is convinced his friend was murdered - and he has hired Grand and Batchelor to prove it. Could Dickens' death have something to do with his unconventional private life? Who is the mysterious woman who appears at his funeral? If they are to uncover the truth, Grand and Batchelor must leave no stone unturned. But are they prepared for the shocking secrets some of those unturned stones will reveal...?
The Murderer's Ape
Jakob Wegelius
$24.99
Paperback • 640 pages
Sally Jones is not only a loyal friend, she's an extraordinary individual. In overalls or in a maharaja's turban, this unique gorilla moves among humans without speaking but understanding everything. She and the Chief are devoted comrades who operate a cargo boat. A job they are offered pays big bucks, but the deal ends badly, and the Chief is falsely convicted of murder.For Sally Jones this is the start of a harrowing quest for survival and to clear the Chief's name. Powerful forces are working against her, and they will do anything to protect their secrets.
Crime Chronicle - True Crime
abbeys.com.au
Unmaking a Murder: The Mysterious Death of Anna-Jane Cheney
Graham Archer
$34.99
Paperback • 384 pages
An investigation into an intriguing murder case and an unprecedented account of how the decisions made by organs of government can be defended and mistakes covered up.
Anna-Jane Cheney worked at the epicentre of the conservative Adelaide legal community. She was vivacious, popular and talented, with an impeccable middle-class upbringing. The man she loved, Henry Vincent Keogh, was a divorced 39-year-old Irish migrant with three children. She died just six weeks before their wedding date.
According to the prosecution, Keogh had planned the drowning murder of Anna-Jane 18 months in advance. He had taken out five insurance policies amounting to $1.2 million over his fiancUe's life and forged her signature on them.
Journalist Graham Archer became fascinated by the case. It wasn't a matter of Henry Keogh's guilt or innocence, but that a man could be sentenced to life in prison without him having received a fair trial. The story became an odyssey for Graham. Deliberately, he had no contact with Henry Keogh in the 13 years it took to have the case reviewed by the Supreme Court and have his conviction quashed.
In the end dogged determination prevailed, and after 20 years behind bars Henry Keogh was released.
Anna-Jane Cheney worked at the epicentre of the conservative Adelaide legal community. She was vivacious, popular and talented, with an impeccable middle-class upbringing. The man she loved, Henry Vincent Keogh, was a divorced 39-year-old Irish migrant with three children. She died just six weeks before their wedding date.
According to the prosecution, Keogh had planned the drowning murder of Anna-Jane 18 months in advance. He had taken out five insurance policies amounting to $1.2 million over his fiancUe's life and forged her signature on them.
Journalist Graham Archer became fascinated by the case. It wasn't a matter of Henry Keogh's guilt or innocence, but that a man could be sentenced to life in prison without him having received a fair trial. The story became an odyssey for Graham. Deliberately, he had no contact with Henry Keogh in the 13 years it took to have the case reviewed by the Supreme Court and have his conviction quashed.
In the end dogged determination prevailed, and after 20 years behind bars Henry Keogh was released.
Jack the Ripper: Includes 30 CGI Crime Scenes Reconstructed in Forensic Detail
Paul Begg , John Bennett
$34.99
Hardback • 224 pages
Jack the Ripper: Reconstructing the Crime Scenes in Forensic Detail is the only book that enables the reader to travel back into the London of 1888 by recreating key scenes from Jack the Ripper's murders in pin-point accuracy, using the power of CGI. Through detailed and atmospheric crime scene recreations, plus thoroughly researched text written by experts in the field of Jack the Ripper, this book explores the movements of each victim, the position of witnesses and the location of various buildings and streets to give the reader the most complete view to date of the gruesome crimes that shook Victorian society.
Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler?
Peter Butt
$24.99
Paperback
New Year’s Day, 1963. The discovery of the bodies of a brilliant physicist and the wife of his colleague, in a riverside lovers’ lane, starts off a massive police investigation. There are no clues as to how they died. Despite drawing on the expertise of the FBI and New Scotland Yard, no cause of death, motive or killer can be identified.
The Bogle-Chandler case becomes elevated to the status of one of the twentieth century’s most enigmatic unsolved crimes. Featuring an intriguing cast of characters — from scientists and housewives to a greyhound trainer and a one-armed voyeur — investigative filmmaker Peter Butt re-examines the unfolding drama, which sparked a tabloid war and scandalised conservative society. In the process, he uncovers evidence missed by investigators - evidence so powerful that the police provide unprecedented access to their crime scene and forensic records.
Featuring interviews with investigators and suspects, Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler? sets out, in vivid detail, how the victims met their deaths and the identity of the mysterious ‘third person’ who covered their bodies.
The Bogle-Chandler case becomes elevated to the status of one of the twentieth century’s most enigmatic unsolved crimes. Featuring an intriguing cast of characters — from scientists and housewives to a greyhound trainer and a one-armed voyeur — investigative filmmaker Peter Butt re-examines the unfolding drama, which sparked a tabloid war and scandalised conservative society. In the process, he uncovers evidence missed by investigators - evidence so powerful that the police provide unprecedented access to their crime scene and forensic records.
Featuring interviews with investigators and suspects, Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler? sets out, in vivid detail, how the victims met their deaths and the identity of the mysterious ‘third person’ who covered their bodies.
The Fatalist
Campbell McConachie
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
The largely untold story of Australian multiple murderer Lindsey Rose - by someone who had no idea his mate was a killer.
'I first met Lindsey Rose playing pool at The Burwood Hotel in 1988. I was two years out of high school. He'd already committed three murders. None of us knew.
'We knew he was a brothel owner, we knew not to get on his wrong side, but we knew nothing of his lives past: fitter and turner, ambulance officer, private investigator, car thief, hijacker, arsonist, mercenary, drug dealer. Murderer.
'I drank at The Burwood on and off for six years. The last time I saw Lindsey as a free man was in early 1994 when he came to a poker game at my home. By then he'd committed two more murders - on Valentine's Day 1994 - and that made five.'
What factors are at play in the creation of a cold-blooded killer? How can a relaxed, sociable, loving man with a strong work ethic keep the truth of his inner life, his dark side, hidden from friends, family and even the woman he marries?
Informed by the science of criminal psychology, court documents and transcripts, correspondence and many interviews with Rose in the notorious Goulburn Supermax prison, Campbell McConachie's account is a unique and fascinating journey into the life and mind of a multiple murderer.
'I first met Lindsey Rose playing pool at The Burwood Hotel in 1988. I was two years out of high school. He'd already committed three murders. None of us knew.
'We knew he was a brothel owner, we knew not to get on his wrong side, but we knew nothing of his lives past: fitter and turner, ambulance officer, private investigator, car thief, hijacker, arsonist, mercenary, drug dealer. Murderer.
'I drank at The Burwood on and off for six years. The last time I saw Lindsey as a free man was in early 1994 when he came to a poker game at my home. By then he'd committed two more murders - on Valentine's Day 1994 - and that made five.'
What factors are at play in the creation of a cold-blooded killer? How can a relaxed, sociable, loving man with a strong work ethic keep the truth of his inner life, his dark side, hidden from friends, family and even the woman he marries?
Informed by the science of criminal psychology, court documents and transcripts, correspondence and many interviews with Rose in the notorious Goulburn Supermax prison, Campbell McConachie's account is a unique and fascinating journey into the life and mind of a multiple murderer.
Roger Rogerson
Duncan McNab
$19.99
Paperback • 352 pages
The verdict is guilty. On 20 May 2014, former New South Wales police officers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara murdered student Jamie Gao in cold blood. Both have been found guilty of murder and possession of 2.78 kilograms of methamphetamine, and sentenced to life imprisonment. But this wasn't Rogerson's first trial or conviction. Once one of the most highly decorated police officers in New South Wales, he was dismissed from the police force in 1986, and jailed twice. That was just the tip of the iceberg. This is the eye-opening account of Rogerson's life of crime - policing it and committing it - and reveals the full story of one of the most corrupt and evil men in Australia, and the events that led inexorably to the chilling murder of Jamie Gao in storage unit 803.
Gangland Oz: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Susanna Lobez , James Morton
$29.99
Paperback • 372 pages
Devious, daring, cunning a but ultimately too greedy, too cocky. Gangland Oz- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow exposes the country's pantheon of crooks and criminals since the first convicts stepped ashore and got to work.Ten years on from the original bestselling Gangland Australia, top true-crime writer James Morton and barrister and broadcaster Susanna Lobez conspire again to track the rise and fall of Australia's talented contract killers, brothel keepers, robbers, bikers, standover merchants, conmen and drug dealers. They examine the role of police, politicians and lawyers who have aided and busted criminal empires and look at the recent rise of youth gangs, cyber crime, identity theft and sexploitation scams.Vivid and explosive, Gangland Oz- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is compulsive reading.
The Pierre Hotel Affair: How Eight Gentlemen Thieves Orchestrated the Largest Jewel Heist in History
Daniel Simone , Nick Sacco
$39.95
Hardback • 336 pages
New York City, 1972. Bobby Comfort and Sammy the Arab Nalo were highly skilled jewel thieves who specialized in robbing luxury Manhattan hotels. (They once robbed Sophia Loren's suite, relieving the Italian actress of over $1 million in gems.)
With the blessing of the Lucchese crime family, their next plot targeted the posh Pierre Hotel-host to kings and queens, presidents and aldermen, and the wealthiest of the wealthy. Attired in tuxedoes and driven in a limousine, this band of thieves arrived at the Pierre and with perfect timing, they seized the security guards and, in systematically choreographed moves, they swiftly took the night staff-and several unfortunate guests who happened to be roaming around the lobby-as hostages. The deposit boxes inside the vault chamber are plundered and, after the intruders have held the Pierre under siege for almost two hours, the gentlemanly thieves depart in their limousine with a haul of $28 million.
But then matters begin to deteriorate. Comfort, Nalo, and their partners begin to double and triple cross one another-two absconding to Europe with the bulk of the booty while three are murdered by their former associates. The authorities immediately suspect Comfort and Nalo of masterminding the Pierre ambush and arrest them, but these veteran criminals keep their mouths shut. To ensure that they are not prosecuted, the Lucchese Family funnels a $500,000 bribe to the presiding judge to quash the charges - and to this day The Pierre Hotel caper remains unsolved.
A suspenseful narrative of Mafia intrigue, police corruption, and personal betrayal-which concludes with a poignant love affair - this is the true story of the most famous hotel robbery in American history.
With the blessing of the Lucchese crime family, their next plot targeted the posh Pierre Hotel-host to kings and queens, presidents and aldermen, and the wealthiest of the wealthy. Attired in tuxedoes and driven in a limousine, this band of thieves arrived at the Pierre and with perfect timing, they seized the security guards and, in systematically choreographed moves, they swiftly took the night staff-and several unfortunate guests who happened to be roaming around the lobby-as hostages. The deposit boxes inside the vault chamber are plundered and, after the intruders have held the Pierre under siege for almost two hours, the gentlemanly thieves depart in their limousine with a haul of $28 million.
But then matters begin to deteriorate. Comfort, Nalo, and their partners begin to double and triple cross one another-two absconding to Europe with the bulk of the booty while three are murdered by their former associates. The authorities immediately suspect Comfort and Nalo of masterminding the Pierre ambush and arrest them, but these veteran criminals keep their mouths shut. To ensure that they are not prosecuted, the Lucchese Family funnels a $500,000 bribe to the presiding judge to quash the charges - and to this day The Pierre Hotel caper remains unsolved.
A suspenseful narrative of Mafia intrigue, police corruption, and personal betrayal-which concludes with a poignant love affair - this is the true story of the most famous hotel robbery in American history.
Bumper: The Life and Times of Frank 'Bumper' Farrell
Larry Writer
$22.99
Paperback • 416 pages
The sprawling saga of legendary Australian cop, Bumper Farrell, the most feared and revered policeman in Australia's history.
Frank 'Bumper' Farrell was the roughest, toughest street cop and vice-squad leader Australia has ever seen. Strong as a bull, with cauliflowered ears and fists like hams, Bumper's beat from 1938 to 1976 was the most lawless in the land - the mean streets of Kings Cross and inner Sydney. His adversaries were such notorious criminals as Abe Saffron, Lennie McPherson, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh and their gangs as well as the hooligans, sly groggers, SP bookies, pimps and spivs.
Criminals knew just where they stood: he would catch them, he would hurt them, and then he would lock them away. He was a legendary Rugby League player for Newtown, and represented Australia against England and New Zealand.
Here's Bumper Farrell in brutal, passionate and hilarious action... saving Ita Buttrose from a stalker; sparking a national scandal when accused of biting off a rival player's ear; beating Lennie McPherson so severely the hard man cried; single-handedly fighting a mob of gangsters in Kings Cross and winning; terrorising the hoons who harassed the prostitutes in the brothel lanes by driving over the top of them; commandeering the police launch to take him home to his beach home, diving overboard in full uniform and catching a wave to shore; dispensing kindness and charity to the poor.
Frank 'Bumper' Farrell was the roughest, toughest street cop and vice-squad leader Australia has ever seen. Strong as a bull, with cauliflowered ears and fists like hams, Bumper's beat from 1938 to 1976 was the most lawless in the land - the mean streets of Kings Cross and inner Sydney. His adversaries were such notorious criminals as Abe Saffron, Lennie McPherson, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh and their gangs as well as the hooligans, sly groggers, SP bookies, pimps and spivs.
Criminals knew just where they stood: he would catch them, he would hurt them, and then he would lock them away. He was a legendary Rugby League player for Newtown, and represented Australia against England and New Zealand.
Here's Bumper Farrell in brutal, passionate and hilarious action... saving Ita Buttrose from a stalker; sparking a national scandal when accused of biting off a rival player's ear; beating Lennie McPherson so severely the hard man cried; single-handedly fighting a mob of gangsters in Kings Cross and winning; terrorising the hoons who harassed the prostitutes in the brothel lanes by driving over the top of them; commandeering the police launch to take him home to his beach home, diving overboard in full uniform and catching a wave to shore; dispensing kindness and charity to the poor.
