Crime and / or mystery fiction

Book SynopsisLawyer Hugh Gwynne is facing his most difficult court case. His client Tom Deacon is claiming damages for post-traumatic stress after a car accident in which he witnessed the death of his young daughter. It seems certain Tom will win, but then Hugh receives an anonymous letter which throws him into an impossible dilemma.For Hugh the dilemma is intensified by the contrast between their lives: Tom tormented by flashbacks, and a broken marriage; Hugh with what he sees as a blessed and rewarding existence.Then one night Hugh's life changes for ever. His happiness is snatched away, and he, like Tom, must face a lifetime of troubling memories.'An expertly rendered tale with psychological tension, pyrotechnics, courtroom drama, good old-fashioned detection and some well-deployed red herrings' Guardian 'Francis draws you in and keeps you guessing' Woman & Home 'The plot intricate and the solution ingenious. A very good read' Scotsman 'Devilishly clever . . . this one really was unputdownable' Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisSince serial killer Gretchen Lowell went on the run, following Detective Archie Sheridan’s latest near-fatal encounter with her, the city of Portland has descended into Beauty Killer hysteria. Even fan sites have sprung up online, where admirers of Gretchen can congregate to discuss their heroine. When a spleen is discovered at a local rest stop, Detective Henry Sobol is at first sceptical it is Gretchen’s work. It is only when he sees the rest stop’s wall –covered in hundreds of tiny red hearts that Henry realises its time to contact Archie . . . Archie Sheridan has spent the last few month’s in the city’s psychiatric hospital, battling with his addiction to painkillers and his strange obsession with the woman who tortured him. But soon he, along with the Beauty Killer taskforce and journalist Susan Ward, find themselves investigating a new spate of killings –when bodies start to turn up at local beauty spots, their eye-balls removed. Could this be the work of a copy-cat? Or has Gretchen really returned? One thing is certain, whoever is behind these brutal murders, they will do whatever it takes to get to Archie . . .

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Book SynopsisThe problem with being a bounty hunter is it's all on-the-job training. And Stephanie Plum is still learning the ways to get yourself killed. Take the case of Maxine Norwicki . . . When Maxine failed to turn up for her day in court, Stephanie was given the task of bringing her in. Simple. Except Maxine's boyfriend has now begun receiving mysterious, coded notes from the runaway that hint at buried treasure. In fact the notes are so indecipherable that Stephanie has to call on the help of Sally Sweet, giant drag queen and code-breaker extraordinaire. And Steph's knight errant, cop Joe Morelli, is also proving useful - although he can't decide what he wants most: Maxine's bounty or Stephanie's body. Meanwhile a friend loses a finger, a mother is scalped, an apartment is firebombed and a store clerk is murdered. And out in the street, the crazy treasure hunt game goes on . . .

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Book SynopsisAn American Tragedy is a tour de force, one of the most important novels in the American cannon. Ripped from the headlines, it follows Clyde Griffiths, a handsome, ambitious man whose religious upbringing has left him unprepared to pay the price required to realize the American Dream. It’s an ambitious novel that unflinchingly confronts the lie of the American Dream and myth of a classless society with opportunities for all, and an extraordinary crime novel that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.Nothing short of monumental.— Kirkus

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