Carole Seddon's son is about to be married. His future parents-in-laws, however, seem desperate to keep the affair as discreet as possible. When the bride’s father is found brutally murdered, Carole discovers the parents have been concealing secrets for over thirty years. Fearing the bride-to-be is the killer's next target, she must unravel the family's past before he makes another deadly move.
GROUNDS
by Cormac Millar
King's College, Dublin, is in crisis. Seamus Joyce, a former alumnus, is hired to provide a consultant's report on the university for an American consortium. Various disgruntled academics try to influence his report, and then the university's president is murdered. When Seamus himself is subsequently attacked, he knows for certain that the stakes are higher than he could have guessed.
CALLING OUT FOR YOU
by Karin Fossum
When an Indian woman is found bludgeoned to death in a small Norwegian town, Inspector Konrad Sejer heads the murder inquiry, cross-examining the townsfolk and planting seeds of suspicion in a community which has always believed itself to be safe and trusting. In what can only have been an unpremeditated and motiveless act of violence, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.
THE SHAPE OF A STRANGER
by Francesca Weisman
While walking across the heath, criminal barrister Callum Scott suffers a savage blow to the head, which subsequently affects his eyesight. As he is adjusting to this disability, the police tell him they believe that a murder, committed on the same spot a week earlier, was a mistake and that Callum was the intended victim all along. A 'Fatal Attraction'- style tale of blind obsession.
ASH AND BONE
by John Harvey
Retired D.I. Frank Elder's daughter, Katherine, is running wild, a consequence of her recent kidnapping and rape, the devastating result of Elder’s involvement in an earlier case. When a former female colleague of Elder’s is found murdered, he is persuaded out of retirement, to reopen a cold case which could have devastating repercussions for the crime squad itself. However Elder must battle his own guilty demons before he can uncover the truth.
THE PURE IN HEART
by Susan Hill
A little boy is kidnapped as he stands at the gate of his home, waiting for his lift to school. An ex-con finds it impossible to stay straight. A severely handicapped young woman dies in the night - has someone who loves her helped her out of this world? Susan Hill creates a community, with detail so sharp and convincing that readers feel that these people are their neighbours; and that terror and evil are in their midst.
LETHAL INTENT
by Quentin Jardine
Somewhere in Scotland the unthinkable is about to happen – something that would shatter the very bedrock of society. And for Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner, deadlines are looming. Four ruthless, Albanian gangsters have infiltrated Edinburgh's underworld, and MI5 believe the thugs are trying to move into the city's drug scene. But do they have a bigger, more audacious objective?
UV
by Serge Joncour
The sun-baked coast of Brittany provides the perfect setting for a family holiday. When Boris, a handsome stranger, unexpectedly interrupts this holiday to introduce himself as an old school friend of their son, Philip, only Andre, the son-in-law, is suspicious of him. While the family await Philip’s imminent arrival, Boris is embraced into their fold. No one seems to notice as he carefully exerts a powerful and malign influence over them all.
A DETECTIVE AT DEATH'S DOOR
by H.R.F. Keating
The chilling new Harriet Martens mystery from one of the doyens of British crime writing. Whilst relaxing with her husband at the Majestic pool, Harriet does not expect the refreshing drink at her side to conceal a deadly drug. When she awakes from a doze she is no longer by the water, but in hospital recovering from a near fatal dose of Aconitine. Harriet, in her severely weakened state, must find her enemy before he moves on to other victims.
BEFORE THE FROST
by Henning Mankell
Inspector Wallander’s daughter Linda, newly graduated from the police academy, finds herself drawn into a plot that threatens the lives of two of her friends. While Wallender investigates a series of macabre incidents, Linda undertakes an investigation of her friend’s disappearance. As they make connections between the seemingly unrelated crimes, they uncover a group of extremists bent on punishing the world’s sinners.
BLACKPOOL HIGHFLYER
by Andrew Martin
When railwayman Jim Stringer is assigned to drive holidaymakers to the seaside resort of Blackpool in the summer of 1905, he thinks he's struck lucky. But his dreams of beer and pretty women are soon destroyed when his high-speed train is derailed by a huge millstone on the line. Desperately seeking the saboteur, Jim is drawn into the murky fringes of Blackpool Central, Europe's busiest station.
OXFORD MURDERS
by Guillermo Martinez
In Oxford an old lady who once helped decipher the Enigma Code is killed. After receiving a cryptic anonymous note containing only the address and the symbol of a circle, Arthur Seldom, a leading mathematician, arrives to find the body. More murders follow, seemingly unconnected except for notes sent marked for the attention of Seldom. Maths mix with murder in this powerful intellectual thriller.
SNOWMAN
by JO NESBO
March 2010
JACQUOT AND THE WATERMAN
by Martin O'Brien
Set in the South of France, Jacquot and the Waterman, follows C.I. Daniel Jacquot's investigation into a series of disturbing killings, where the female victims are always left submerged in water. Ex-French National Rugby Squad player Jacquot, a lover of blues, good food and wine, plunges himself into the investigation whole-heartedly. Highly atmospheric, full of warmth and wit - ideal for all Francophiles.
STILL LIFE
by Louise Penny
The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Although Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, he knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, the village will start to give up its dark secrets.
END IN TEARS
by Ruth Rendell
A lump of concrete, dropped deliberately from a stone bridge over a relatively unfrequented road, kills the wrong person. The driver behind is spared. But only for a while. One particular member of the local press is gunning for the Chief Inspector, distinctly unimpressed with what he regards as old-fashioned police methods. A classic Rendell 'whodunnit', full of red herrings - gripping from start to finish.
AT RISK
by Stella Rimmington
An 'invisible' - a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country and who can move about without arousing suspicion - appears to have entered mainland Britain. As MI5 Officer Liz Carlyle desperately sifts the incoming intelligence reports from her agents, she realises that it is her ability to get inside her enemy's head that is the only hope of averting disaster. A high tension debut thriller from the ex-head of MI5.
WINTER IN MADRID
by C J Sansom
Part thriller, part love story, and set against the backdrop of Spain's bloody Civil War and war-torn London, Winter in Madrid follows the fortunes of three young men - formerly at public school together, now set on profoundly opposing courses, and navigating the tumultuous world of 1930s Spain with their differing values and political affiliations.
THE THREE EVANGELISTS
by Fred Vargas
Sophia Simeonidis, a Greek opera singer, wakes up one morning to discover that a tree has appeared overnight in her Paris garden. She asks her eccentric neighbours to dig around the tree to find out if something has been buried. Desperate for money, they accept the job. When they find nothing and Sophia's dead body turns up weeks later, they decide to investigate.
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER
by Minette Walters
When five women are brutally raped and murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuter's correspondent, Connie Burns, questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers for the crimes. She suspects the real killer is a white mercenary who uses the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasies against women. Her determination to track him down brings catastrophe on herself.
MONEYPENNY DIARIES
by Kate Westbrook
Miss Jane Moneypenny, personal secretary to Secret Service chief M, was not simply a bystander while James Bond saw all the action. But a life of espionage has personal as well as political ramifications and for her the price was high. Guarding so many secrets and with no one to confide in, she broke the first rule of espionage. Unbeknownst to anyone, she kept a diary, charting her innermost thoughts and state secrets. It should never have been made public...
