Crime & Thriller

Official, original James Bond from a writer described by Len Deighton as a 'master storyteller'.When the body of a mysterious woman is found to be carrying the phone number of James Bond, Bond is called in by M to help the investigation. But before he can even reach headquarters he is nearly run off the road in a high-speed motorway chase. Someone wants Bond dead.Then Bond discovers that the woman was a member of a cult society known as "The Meek Ones", with murky links to a wealthy arms dealer. Soon, hideous acts of terrorism begin to roll out across Britain and Bond finds himself in a race against time to track down the faceless criminal behind the horror ...

Read more less

'Alec Blume is an inspired creation. An American who has become a commissioner in the Italian police, he's a sly, sardonic loner who gives the impression of knowing Rome better than its natives ... Fitzgerald is an elegant, visual writer' Guardian 'A powerful and hugely compelling thriller' William Boyd ________________ There’s no cure for murder… Commissario Alec Blume, on health leave and fleeing his partner Caterina, has retreated from Rome to central Italy. At the Villa Romanelli he enrolls on a natural remedies course conducted by a young woman named Silvana. But far from recuperating or resolving his differences with Caterina, a feverish Blume becomes isolated and sluggish with sickness. Increasingly ill-at-ease in the stifling environment, the dark history of the crumbling villa and its once-magnificent gardens draws him in. And when a Romanian girl who works for Silvana’s ambiguous fiancé Niki asks for his help, Blume finds himself dragged into the shadowy case of a missing girl, and the secret horrors of the garden’s malign beauty.

Read more less

Hardened by battle, seasoned by war, four adventurers caught in the path of one of history's most enigmatic leaders.1571. At the great naval battle of Lepanto the Ottoman Empire is finally defeated, and it seems that Europe is safe.But then Nicholas Ingoldsby is summoned to London by the Queen herself and sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople, the heart of the old enemy - and then onward, to a little-known but rising power called Muscovy, ruled by a deranged but cunning czar - Ivan the Terrible.The rise of Muscovy has also caught the attention of the Ottomans; and their allies, the wild Tatar horsemen of the Asiatic steppes, Russia's ancient enemy. Soon Nicholas and his fellow travellers are caught up in their most dangerous adventure yet, trapped in a doomed Muscovy with a vast army of Tatar tribesmen riding down upon them, vowed to burn the city to the ground and extinguish Russia for ever...

Read more less

Scrawled in a pool of blood is one name the world wanted to forget - Jason Bourne...The second, brilliant Bourne novel from worldwide bestselling author Robert Ludlum.'A killer of a thriller' USA Today'Watch your back 007 - Bourne is out to get you' Sunday TimesWashington, Hong Kong and Peking - terror sweeps the globe. The Vice-Premier of the People's Republic has been brutally murdered by a legendary assassin, and everyone is asking the same fearful questions: why has Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is next on his death list? But US officials know the shocking truth: there is no Jason Bourne. There never was. But someone has resurrected the name, and if he is not stopped, the world will pay a devastating price.Jason Bourne must live again. He must utilise his murderous skills. But this time the will to survive is not enough. This time Bourne must reign supreme...

Read more less

The Matarese are back. But has the only man with the power to stop them already run out of time?Twenty years ago, KGB and CIA agents worked together to bring down The Matarese, a dynasty of killers who threatened the world. But the terrifying group has regained its power. CIA officer Cameron Pryce is hot on the trail of the new Matarese alliance. His only chance to terminate its ruthless activities is to follow the trail of blood money and stone-cold killers. Then he gets a lucky break. One of the Matarese victims lives long enough to whisper dying words that will blow the case wide open: the code name for legendary CIA agent Brandon Scofield - the only man to infiltrate the Matarese circle, and survive.

Read more less

A heart-stopping adventure from the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of MAP OF BONES and THE DOOMSDAY KEY.High in the Andes, Dr Henry Conklin discovers a 500-year-old mummy that should not be there. While deep in the South American jungle, Conklin's nephew, Sam, stumbles upon a remarkable site nestled between two towering peaks, a place hidden from human eyes for thousands of years. Ingenious traps have been laid to ensnare the careless and unsuspecting, and wealth beyond imagining could be the reward for those with the courage to face the terrible unknown. But where the perilous journey inward ends - in the cold, shrouded heart of a breathtaking necropolis - something else is waiting for Sam Conklin and his exploratory party. A thing created by Man, yet not humanly possible. Something wondrous...something terrifying.

Read more less

A superb thriller from the acclaimed author of A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS.Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world outside. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, but he has the potential to change the boys' lives for ever. As the trio set off on a frenetic escape from the law through California and Texas, the two brothers must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence that follows in their wake - something that forces them to make a choice about their lives, and their relationship to one another.

Read more less

A thrilling Covert-One novel, from the world's No. 1 bestselling international author.In the increasingly turbulent atmosphere of international politics, a once grassroots anti-globalisation movement has been slowly taken over by an underground radical anti-technology group fronted by a mysterious figure known only as Lazarus. All attempts to infiltrate the group have failed, and the intelligence agents involved have disappeared without trace. Now Lazarus is preparing to make his boldest move yet. Lt Col. Jon Smith is activated by Covert-One to bring his skills to bear in uncovering the truth behind the terrorists. For, unbeknown to the world at large, the Lazarus Movement is on the brink of setting in motion a deadly scheme that will risk the lives of billions and for ever change the nature of the world.

Read more less

The most famous of all locked-room mysteries - a classic in the crime genre.'The first deadly walking of the hollow man took place when the side streets of London were quiet with snow and the three coffins of the prophecy were filled at last...'The murderer of Dr Grimauld walked through a locked door, shot his victim and vanished. He killed his second victim in the middle of an empty street, with watchers at each end, yet nobody saw him, and he left no footprints in the snow.And so it is up to the irrepressible, larger-than-life Dr Gideon Fell to solve this most famous and taxing of locked-room mysteries.

Read more less

'Dashiell Hammett is an original. He is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer' BOSTON GLOBEDashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. Short, squat and as stubborn as a mule, the Op's only enthusiasm was doing his job. In the stories in THE BIG KNOCKOVER, the job means solving the bank heist to end all bank heists, taking on a gang of freebooters, cleaning up a vice-ridden hell in the desert and dealing with assorted colourful grifters like the Dis-and-Dat Kid, Alphabet Shorty McCoy and Bluepoint Vance.

Read more less

'Packed with whiplash plot twists and taut dialogue...THE WATCHMAN is as good a psychological test case as it is a thriller' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLYA long time ago, Joe Pike asked for help. In return, he would, one day, be called upon to return the favour, no questions asked. That day has come.Joe Pike is asked to protect the life of Larkin Conner Barkley, a spoiled rich girl who happens to be a federal witness in a major case. But someone is leaking information about their whereabouts, and the killers are getting all too close. So Pike hatches a plan: disappear into the anonymous underbelly of Los Angeles, turn the tables, and hunt down the hunters.Enlisting the help of Elvis Cole, Pike uncovers a web of lies and betrayals; even the cops aren't who they seem. But as the body count rises, it becomes clear that Pike's biggest threat may be the girl herself - an edgy, yet intensely vulnerable soul determined to destroy herself, unless Joe can fill the void in her bruised heart.

Read more less

A savage murder with no apparent motive - DS Morrow's most challenging case brings her work and home lives dangerously close... From the two-time winner of the prestigious Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.When wealthy Sarah Erroll dies a violent death at her home in a posh part of Glasgow, the local community is stunned by what appears to be a truly gratuitous act. Heavily pregnant with desperately wanted twins, DS Alex Morrow is called in to investigate and soon discovers that there is more to Sarah's murder than it first seems.On the other side of town, Thomas Anderson is called into the headmaster's office at his boarding school to be told that his tyrannical father - a banker responsible for the loss of many livelihoods in the recession - has committed suicide by hanging himself from the old oak tree on the lawn of their home. Thomas returns to the family home to find his mother and sister in a state of numb shock. The head of the household is dead, yet their initial reaction is not that of grief, but relief.As Alex Morrow slowly unravels the connections between the two cases, she faces her greatest challenge yet as her work and home lives collide with potentially disastrous consequences.

Read more less

Everything seems to be going right for brilliant young jockey Duncan Claymore. A career on the up, a beautiful wife, and all the trappings of wealth. But Duncan is haunted by the death of one of his arch-rivals. He may not have pulled the trigger, but he still has blood on his hands.As Duncan struggles to keep his focus on the job, Michelle O'Brien - a friend and talented fellow jockey - is killed and Duncan knows this was far from a tragic accident. He's never liked William Osborne, but now he will stop at nothing to avenge Michelle's death.With Duncan's seemingly perfect world starting to come apart at the seams, can he balance his desire for victory on the field with his desire to see justice served?

Read more less

A hanged man. A stolen painting. An impossible crime.A marine engineer is found hanged in a locked apartment. Some artwork is stolen, then mysteriously returned. And a security guard is found dead at the base of a Welsh cliff.When Fiona Griffiths is tasked to look through a stackload of cold cases, her bosses don't expect her to find anything of interest. But then she discovers that an impossible robbery really happened. That the supposed suicide was anything but. That the dead security guard was almost certainly murdered.Before long, Fiona is embroiled in what will become the most terrifying case of her career so far - one that forces her to enter the heart of darkness, and a journey that will test her mental toughness to its very limits.Praise for the Fiona Griffiths mystery series: 'A stunner with precision plotting, an unusual setting, and a deeply complex protagonist' The Seattle Times'This cleverly plotted police procedural introduces a likeable, maverick detective destined for a bestseller following' Choice'Compelling...a new crime talent to treasure' Daily Mail 'Gritty, compelling...a procedural unlike any other you are likely to read this year' USA Today 'An original and complex character; a different kind of policewoman. Fiona Griffiths is a truly fascinating character' ShotsFans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Ann Cleeves will be gripped by the other titles in the Fiona Griffiths mystery series: 1. Talking to the Dead2. Love Story, With Murders3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths4. This Thing of Darkness5. The Dead House 6. The Deepest Grave (coming soon!)If you're looking for a crime thriller series to keep you hooked, then go no further: you've just found it.** Each Fiona Griffiths thriller can be read as a standalone or in series order **

Read more less

'Chilling, atmospheric and so gripping it hurts. The Dead House is a masterpiece. You won't read a better crime novel this year' MARK EDWARDSOn a wild October night, the body of a young woman is found in a remote country churchyard. She's wearing nothing but a thin, white dress. There are no marks of violence and no obvious cause of death. Who is the victim? Why is she here? But another young woman went missing from the area a few years back, and DC Fiona Griffiths soon suspects a crime even more chilling than she first imagined. Will she unlock the secrets of the dead house? Or will she become its next victim?Praise for the Fiona Griffiths mystery series:'One of the most interesting and complicated protagonists in current UK crime fiction. Truly unforgettable' Mick Herron'In a word - brilliant. One of the most enjoyable crime novels I've read in a while' James Oswald'This cleverly plotted police procedural introduces a likeable, maverick detective destined for a bestseller following' Choice'Compelling...a new crime talent to treasure' Daily Mail 'Gritty, compelling...a procedural unlike any other you are likely to read this year' USA Today Fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Ann Cleeves will be gripped by the other titles in the Fiona Griffiths mystery series: 1. Talking to the Dead2. Love Story, With Murders3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths4. This Thing of Darkness5. The Dead House 6. The Deepest Grave (coming soon!)If you're looking for a crime thriller series to keep you hooked, then go no further: you've just found it.** Each Fiona Griffiths thriller can be read as a standalone or in series order **

Read more less

'Be warned: once started, you'll have to cancel all engagements until you finish it' Independent on Sunday'The action in THE SENTRY is intense and the body count high but what is more memorable is the manner in which Crais cracks open the door into the enigmatic Pike's emotions' L A TimesAfter the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina, Dru Rayne and her uncle relocated to Los Angeles. Five years later, their struggling restaurant faces a different danger. When Joe Pike witnesses Dru's uncle beaten by a neighbourhood gang, he offers his own brand of protection, but neither Dru nor her uncle want his help. And neither do the federal agents mysteriously watching their store . . .But Pike is falling for Dru, and won't back away whether she wants his help or not. As the violence escalates, Joe discovers Dru and her uncle are not who they seem - and now a vengeful, murderous force from their past is catching up with them...

Read more less

London at the dawn of 1918 and Ireland's most famous literary figure, WB Yeats, is immersed in supernatural investigations at his Bloomsbury rooms. Haunted by the restless spirit of an Irish girl whose body is mysteriously washed ashore in a coffin, Yeats undertakes a perilous journey back to Ireland with his apprentice ghost-catcher Charles Adams to piece together the killer's identity. Surrounded by spies, occultists and Irish rebels, the two are led on a gripping journey along Ireland's wild Atlantic coast, through the ruins of its abandoned estates, and into its darkest, most haunted corners. Falling under the spell of dark forces, Yeats and his novice ghost-catcher come dangerously close to crossing the invisible line that divides the living from the dead.

Read more less

The first book in the hugely popular Danny Black series by the creator of the hit TV show Strikeback.Paris. An elderly man is assassinated as he takes his morning walk. In the war-torn cities of Syria, government forces wage a bloody war against their own people. The Russians are propping up the government, the French are backing one rebel fraction and the British are backing another. In north Africa, young SAS trooper Danny Black is coming to the end of a gruelling tour of duty, or so he thinks. Danny has a new mission. An MI6 agent needs to make contact with Syrian rebel forces, and also with the private military contractors who are - unofficially - training this rebel faction as it struggles to bring down their government and establish a new regime that will be favourable to British business interests. Danny will learn who the masters of war, the men who call the shots, really are. Danny discovers a world where death is dispensed by the highest bidder and individuals will betray anybody if the price is right.

Read more less

A No. 1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the 1986 Locus Award for Best Collection, SKELETON CREW is a classic collection of riveting stories from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time, now with a stunning new cover look.Features 'The Mist', adapted into both a feature film directed by Frank Darabont and a 2017 Netflix series.Hold tight. We are going into a number of dark places, but I think I know the way. Just don't let go of my arm . . . Unrivalled master of suspense Stephen King takes the unsuspecting reader on a fantastic journey through the dark shadows of our innermost fears. Do the dead sing? In this bumper collection of chilling tales, we meet: a woman who has never crossed The Reach, the water dividing her from the mainland; a gramma who only wants to hug little George, even after she is dead; an innocent looking toy with sinister powers; and a primeval sea creature with an insatiable appetite.This 'wonderfully gruesome' collection (The New York Times Book Review) includes:-The Mist-Here There Be Tygers-The Monkey-Cain Rose Up-Mrs. Todd's Shortcut-The Jaunt-The Wedding Gig-Paranoid: A Chant-The Raft - Word Processor of the Gods-The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands-Beachworld-The Reaper's Image-Nona-For Owen-Survivor Type-Uncle Otto's Truck-Morning Deliveries (Milkman No. 1)-Big Wheels: a Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman No. 2)-Gramma-The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet-The Reach

Read more less

Iraq 2005Seven mercenaries journey deep into the desert in search of Saddam's gold. They form an unlikely crew of battle-scarred privateers, killers and thieves, veterans of a dozen war zones, each of them anxious to make one last score before their luck runs out.They will soon find themselves marooned among ancient ruins, caught in a desperate battle for their lives, confronted by greed, betrayal, and an army that won't stay dead...

Read more less

From the author of Thirteen Hours - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickI'll shoot a policeman every day until you arrest the murderer of Hanneke Sloet.Shortly after the South African Police Services receive this threatening email, a policeman is shot by a sniper and recovering alcoholic Benny Griessel is ordered to reopen the Sloet case.Hanneke Sloet was a sensual and ambitious lawyer. At the time of her murder she was working on one of the biggest Black Empowerment deals in South African history. She was found dead in her luxury Cape Town apartment, a single stab wound to her chest.After forty days, the trail has gone cold. The first investigation could find no motive and no leads, only a set of nude photographs, an ex-boyfriend with a rock-solid alibi, conniving attorneys and financial double-dealing.Benny has to deal with immense pressure from his superiors, the media and the unfathomable sniper, whose emails keep coming and who won't stop shooting. And then there's Benny's love interest, former pop sensation Alexa Barnard, who is also trying to rebuild her life after the ravages of alcohol, and Benny has to make sure she stays sober for her comeback.At the same time, Benny's feisty colleague, Captain Mbali Kaleni, is hunting the shooter, trying desperately to find what connects him to Hanneke Sloet.Both Benny and Mbali are about to endure seven days of hell.

Read more less

EVIL TAKES MANY FORMS.PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR CHARLIE PARKER HUNTS THEM ALL.Still raw from the murder of his wife and daughter, and the events surrounding the capture of their killer, The Travelling Man, Charlie Parker retreats to the wintry Maine landscape of his childhood. By following in the steps of his beloved grandfather, Parker hopes to heal his spirit and get through the bitter first anniversary.But the echoes of the past that await him are not all benign. In a gruesome re-enactment of Parker's own nightmares, another young woman is killed with her child and his brief involvement in their lives impels Parker to hunt their vicious murderer. As the death toll mounts, Parker comes to realise that the true answer to the puzzle lies thirty years in the past, in a tree with strange fruit, in his own grandfather's history, and in the perverted desires of a monster incarnate - Caleb Kyle.From the number one Sunday Times and multi-million-copy bestselling author John Connolly comes a mesmerising and chilling thriller described as 'classic American detective fiction . . . and of a very high order' by Bernard Cornwell.The Charlie Parker novels can be read and enjoyed in any order. Dark Hollow is the second book in this globally bestselling series.

Read more less

EVIL TAKES MANY FORMS. PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR CHARLIE PARKER HUNTS THEM ALL.In South Carolina, a young man faces the death penalty for the killing of Marianne Larousse, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the state. It's a case that nobody wants to touch, a case with its roots in old evil - and old evil is private detective Charlie Parker's speciality. But Parker is about to make a descent into the abyss, a confrontation with dark forces that threaten all that Parker holds dear: his lover, his unborn child, even his soul. . . For in a prison cell, a fanatical preacher is about to take his revenge, as is a strange, hunched creature that keeps its own secrets buried by a riverbank: the undiscovered killer Cyrus Nairn. Soon, all of these figures will face a final reckoning in southern swamps and northern forests, in distant locations linked by a single thread, a place where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road.From the number one Sunday Times and multi-million-copy bestselling author John Connolly comes the most compelling and unsettling Charlie Parker thriller yet.'A cracking read from an excellent and highly original writer' Sunday IndependentThe Charlie Parker novels can be read and enjoyed in any order. The White Road is the fourth book in this globally bestselling series.

Read more less

The tense, twisty murder mystery which will have you on the edge of your seat, from the author of Madam, Will You Talk? /font size> 'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times Following a heart-breaking divorce, Gianetta retreats to the Isle of Skye hoping to find tranquillity in the island's savage beauty. But shortly before her arrival a girl's body is found on the craggy slopes of the looming Blue Mountain, and with the murderer still on the loose, there's nothing to stop him from setting his sights on Gianetta next . . .Praise for Mary Stewart:'There are few to equal Mary Stewart' Daily Telegraph'One of the great British storytellers of the 20th century' Independent'A natural successor to Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte' Guardian'Total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors' Harriet Evans'She set the benchmark for pace, suspense and romance - with a great dollop of escapism as the icing' Elizabeth BuchanWhat readers have said about Wildfire at Midnight:'Could not put the book down, from start to finish! Absolutely brilliant! A great writer. Thank you Mary Stewart''I've read and re-read it countless times . . . wonderful setting for the plot, evocative and captivating writing, I love this book''If you like a beautiful heroine with pluck, a handsome hero, danger and strong descriptive passages this is a book for you''A fabulous fast paced read . . . Stewart keeps you guessing to the very end with a doozy of a nail-biting finish set amongst the swirling mists, shifting bogs and the rocky crags of the Cuillin'

Read more less

From the original queen of the page-turner and author of Madam, Will You Talk? comes a thrilling tale set in a France as beautiful as it is deadly, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Barbara Pym. 'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times 'One of the great British storytellers of the 20th century' Independent'There are few to equal Mary Stewart' Daily TelegraphHigh in the rugged Pyrenees lies the Valley of the Storms, where a tiny convent clings to the beautiful but lonely mountainside. Jenny Silver arrives seeking her missing cousin, and is devastated when she learns of Gillian's death following a terrible car accident. But Jenny's suspicions are aroused when she's told the blue flowers ornamenting her cousin's grave were Gillian's favourite. Jenny knows Gillian was colour-blind - and so starts her mission to uncover what really happened to her.The growl and roar of thunder rolled an re-echoed from the mountains and the sword of the lightning stabbed down, and stabbed again, as if searching through the depths of the cringing woods for whatever sheltered there.'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet Evans'She built the bridge between classic literature and modern popular fiction. She did it first and she did it best.' Herald''One of the most stupendously successful authors ever' Sunday Express

Read more less

Florence, October 1966. The rain is never-ending. When a young boy vanishes on his way home from school the police fear the worst, and Inspector Bordelli begins an increasingly desperate investigation.Then the flood hits. During the night of 4th November the swollen River Arno, already lapping the arches of the Ponte Vecchio, breaks its banks and overwhelms the city. Streets become rushing torrents, the force of the water sweeping away cars and trees, doors, shutters and anything else in its wake.In the aftermath of this unimaginable tragedy the mystery of the child's disappearance seems destined to go unsolved. But obstinate as ever, Bordelli is not prepared to give up.

Read more less

The electrifying new Cotton Malone thriller by international bestseller Steve Berry.People say the Cold War is coming back.For some, it never went away.Shot down over Siberia in what was to be a simple meet-and-greet mission, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States.Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin is headed for North America to join another long-term sleeper embedded in the West. Armed with a Soviet weapon long thought to be just a myth, Zorin is aided by a shocking secret hidden in the archives of America's oldest fraternal organization, the Society of Cincinnati. Past presidents used this group's military offensive - including advice on the invasion of what was to be America's 14th Colony - Canada.Inauguration Day for a new President of the U.S.A. is only hours away. Zorin's deadly plan is timed to bring about political chaos.In a race against the clock from Russia to the White House itself, Malone must not only battle Zorin, he must also confront his deepest fear, a crippling weakness that he's long denied but one that now jeopardizes everything. Steve Berry's trademark mix of fact, fiction, history and speculation is all here in this fast-paced and utterly compelling new thriller.

Read more less

'Absolutely mesmerising' Gillian Flynn, author of Sharp Objects and Gone GirlThe photo shows a boy who was murdered a year ago.The caption says, 'I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM'.Detective Stephen Moran hasn't seen Holly Mackey since she was a nine-year-old witness to the events of Faithful Place. Now she's sixteen and she's shown up outside his squad room, with a photograph and a story.Even in her exclusive boarding school, in the graceful golden world that Stephen has always longed for, bad things happen and people have secrets. The previous year, Christopher Harper, from the neighbouring boys' school, was found murdered on the grounds. And today, in the Secret Place - the school noticeboard where girls can pin up their secrets anonymously - Holly found the card.Solving this case could take Stephen onto the Murder squad. But to get that solved, he will have to work with Detective Antoinette Conway - tough, prickly, an outsider, everything Stephen doesn't want in a partner. And he will have to find a way into the strange, charged, mysterious world that Holly and her three closest friends inhabit and disentangle the truth from their knot of secrets, even as he starts to suspect that the truth might be something he doesn't want to hear.

Read more less

Beautiful, seductive and extremely dangerous, Franca Tantardini is one of Italy's most ruthless political extremists. When she is captured in a shoot-out, her fanatical young lover, Giancarlo Battestini, vows to set her free and, with quiet watchfulness, waits for the moment to strike.In Rome, a British businessman, Geoffery Harrison, has been taken hostage by a ruthless organised crime syndicate - kidnap is, after all, a growth industry. The British Government are adamant that they will not pay the two-million-dollar ransom and discharge responsibility to the Italian police. As political wrangling takes hold, Battestini sees a weakness and realises that the only way to secure the release of his beloved Franca is to capture Harrison and bargain his life for hers.The authorities are confronted with a terrible choice. Should they release a woman who has masterminded the murder of so many or let an innocent man die?

Read more less

Mattie Furniss has run British Intelligence agents in Iran from his desk in London for two decades. But when he is ordered to the country himself, it is clear that times are desperate. One of Furniss' key informants and close friends is Charlie Eshraq, a young Iranian whose family was murdered during the revolution. Charlie is determined to avenge their deaths and becomes involved in drug smuggling to fund his campaign. When the daughter of a prominent MP dies from a heroin overdose and the British establishment demands a crackdown on Iranian drug traffickers, Mattie and Charlie suddenly find themselves alone in the spider's web. In a hostile environment where their every move is watched, will they be able to escape alive?

Read more less

'No one does it better than Grisham' - Telegraph A father's guilt. A son's redemption. Thirty years have passed since eleven-year-old Paul Tracy watched his troubled father, Warren, a pitcher for the New York Mets, clash with his childhood hero, the Cubs' golden-boy Joe Castle, in a contest from which no winners emerged.Now the news that his father is dying brings the memory of that day flooding back. Deciding that it's time to face up to what really happened on that baseball field in 1973, father and son make their way to Calico Rock, Arkansas, where either redemption or rejection awaits them.What readers are saying about CALICO JOE'Hooked from start to finish' - 5 STARS'Riveting' - 5 STARS'A delicious meal of a book!' - 5 STARS 350+ million copies, 45 languages, 9 blockbuster films:NO ONE WRITES DRAMA LIKE JOHN GRISHAM

Read more less

'Robyn Young realistically evokes the brutal world of the late fifteenth century, and interweaves a gripping tale with a highly original take on Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Provocative and grounded upon impressive research, this is historical fiction of a high calibre. More, please!' Alison Weir1483: A secret war is born...Jack Wynter is trapped in sun-baked Seville, sent there by his father with a locked box he's been told to guard with his life. A vital task, or just a ruse to get an illegitimate son out of the country?But, then, when his father is arrested for treason, Jack finds himself at the heart of a deadly conspiracy. Seeking answers to the mystery he has inherited, Jack returns to England, where his half-brother, Harry, broods bitterly over their father's apparent preference for a bastard son and young Prince Edward is due to become king... unless his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, makes a play for the throne. Jack Wynter is coming home, to a realm of danger, intrigue and war. Somehow, he is connected to a secret that stretches across Europe, and beyond. A secret with the power to kill him - or make him.Sons of the Blood is the first in an epic new series from the Sunday Times bestselling author. Look out for part two, Court of Wolves.

Read more less

In MAFIA REPUBLIC, John Dickie, Professor of Italian Studies at University College, London and author of the international bestsellers COSA NOSTRA and MAFIA BROTHERHOODS, shows how the Italian mafias have grown in power and become more and more interconnected, with terrifying consequences. In 1946, Italy became a democratic Republic, thereby entering the family of modern western nations. But deep within Italy there lurked a forgotten curse: three major criminal brotherhoods, whose methods had been honed over a century of experience. As Italy grew, so did the mafias. Sicily's Cosa Nostra, the camorra from Naples, and the mysterious 'ndrangheta from Calabria stood ready to enter the wealthiest and bloodiest period of their long history.Italy made itself rich by making scooters, cars and handbags. The mafias carved out their own route to wealth through tobacco smuggling, construction, kidnapping and narcotics. And as criminal business grew exponentially, the mafias grew not just more powerful, but became more interconnected.By the 1980s, Southern Italy was on the edge of becoming a narco-state. The scene was set for a titanic confrontation between heroic representatives of the law, and mafiosi who could no longer tolerate any obstacle to their ambitions. This was a war for Italy's future as a civilized country. At its peak in 1992-93, the 'ndrangheta was beheading people in the street, and the Sicilian mafia murdered its greatest enemies, investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, before embarking on a major terrorist bombing campaign on the Italian mainland.Today, the long shadow of mafia history still hangs over a nation wracked by debt, political paralysis, and widespread corruption. While police put their lives on the line every day, one of Silvio Berlusconi's ministers said that Italy had to 'learn to live with the mafia'; suspicions of mafia involvement still surround some of the country's most powerful media moguls and politicians. The latest investigations show that its reach is astonishing: it controls much of Europe's wholesale cocaine trade, and representatives from as far away as Germany, Canada and Australia come to Calabria to seek authorisation for their affairs. Just when it thought it had finally contained the mafia threat, Italy is now discovering that it harbours the most global criminal network of them all.The Financial Times described John Dickie's MAFIA BROTHERHOODS as 'Powered by the sort of muscular prose that one associates with great detective fiction' and in MAFIA REPUBLIC John Dickie again marries outstanding scholarship with compelling storytelling.

Read more less

A terrifying ghost story from the Queen of Icelandic crime, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, author of the Thora Gudmundsdottir novels.'Yrsa is one of the most exciting new voices in the crime thriller world.' - Peter JamesThe crunching noise had resumed, now accompanied by a disgusting, indefinable smell. It could best be described as a blend of kelp and rotten meat. The voice spoke again, now slightly louder and clearer: Don't go. Don't go yet. I'm not finished.In an isolated village in the Icelandic Westfjords, three friends set to work renovating a derelict house. But soon they realise they are not alone there - something wants them to leave, and it's making its presence felt.Meanwhile, in a town across the fjord, a young doctor investigating the suicide of an elderly woman discovers that she was obsessed with his vanished son.When the two stories collide the terrifying truth is uncovered . . .

Read more less

Book 1 in the gripping Oswald de Lacy series, which can be read as a standalone, from 'the medieval CJ Sansom' (Jeffery Deaver)England, 1350: the Black Death has changed the country forever, taking master and servant alike. Young Oswald de Lacey was never meant to be Lord of Somershill Manor, but when his father and older brothers die of the Plague, he must return home from the monastery and assume responsibility for an estate ravaged by pestilence. Almost immediately Oswald is confronted with the vicious murder of a young woman, Alison Starvecrow. The village priest claims it is the work of demonic dog-headed men, a theory Oswald rejects as nonsense. But proving this - by finding the real killer - only leads Oswald deeper into a maze of political intrigue, family secrets and violent strife. And then the body of another girl is found...'Sykes has really reset the bar for medieval mysteries' Medievalists

Read more less

A cosy Dandy Gilver mystery set in 1930s Scotland. For fans of PG Wodehouse, Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie.Glasgow,1932, is a city in the grip of dance-fever. Public ballrooms and backstreet dancehalls are thronged every night and competition for professional titles is fierce. Even after the sudden death of one of last year's hopefuls there are plenty willing to take his place, and few who stop to wonder why he died.In the melting pot of the Locarno Ballroom in Sauchiehall Street, a debutante rubs shoulders with denizens of Glasgow's meanest streets, her respectable fiancé oblivious, her parents dismayed.When she starts receiving threats from a rival, they grow frantic enough to call on Dandy Gilver to save their precious daughter from harm.But as Dandy and her sidekick, Alec Osborne, begin to unravel the secrets of the dancehall, they soon discover that the rot goes much deeper than rivalry and there's more at stake than a silver cup. Despite the pretty frocks and dancing shoes, this apparently glittering world is a darker place than they've ever been before . . .Catriona McPherson's latest novel in the series, Dandy Gilver and a Spot of Toil and Trouble is now available for pre-order.

Read more less

One of the true classics of horror, now with a new stunning cover look. THE SHINING is regarded as one of Stephen King's masterpieces.Danny is only five years old, but in the words of old Mr Hallorann he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Danny's visions grow out of control.As winter closes in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. It is meant to be empty. So who is the lady in Room 217 and who are the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why do the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive?Somewhere, somehow, there is an evil force in the hotel - and that, too, is beginning to shine . . .

Read more less

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Saint has almost turned respectable. Employed by a secret wing of the government to track down spies and take on cases the ordinary police can't touch, he is dining in Washington DC when a young woman asks for his help. Her father, a noted scientist, has invented a new form of synthetic rubber - and now he has disappeared, and she is under threat. Simon is sceptical - but he swiftly realises there's something to her story. Soon he finds himself on the hunt of a band of conspirators who will stop at nothing to ensure the invention never sees the light of day.

Read more less

A young English schoolteacher, Charlotte Parsons, is invited to resume her job as nanny to the children of a well-to-do Sicilian family. But this time Charley is the centre figure in a desperate plot by the US Drug Enforcement Agency to trap Mario Ruggerio, would-be head of the Sicilian Mafia, the man who masterminds a multi-billion dollar international drugs trade. Charley is to be the bait in the trap and, in deciding to return to the Ruggerio family in Palermo, is about to enter the killing ground...

Read more less

'The first thing that caught my eye was the geezer with the gold tooth - the second was that he was holding a shooter - and the third that he was pointing it at me.' Carlton Leach is a gangland legend - the mere mention of his name strikes fear into his enemies; yet to his friends he is as loyal and caring as they come. If trouble comes calling, Carlton isn't afraid to let his fists do the talking and woe betide anyone who crosses him, or those close to him. At last, in Rise of the Footsoldier, Carlton gives the full account of his life including how his story has been made into a hugely successful film. Born and raised in East London, Carlton was a key member of the notorious Essex Boys gang and the West Ham InterCity Firm, one of the most violent hooligan gangs to trouble the football terraces during the eighties. He's been shot at, stabbed, glassed - he's even had an axe in his head. Yet the event that really brought turmoil into his life was the murder of his best friend in the infamous Range Rover murders. Carlton vowed that he would find those responsible and make them pay. There isn't much that Carlton hasn't seen or experienced in his life and his tales of violence, gang wars and close calls with death will have you on the edge of your seat. He knows how close he has come to dying and has therefore shut the door on a gangland life. He may have changed but, as he himself says, 'I'll always need to exercise the Carlton Leach brand of justice. It's in me - '

Read more less

Buried secrets and gritty bravery, The Devil's Feather is the psychological thriller from crime queen Minette Walters. Have you ever wanted to bury a secret so deeply that no one will find out about it? With private security firms supplying bodyguards in every theatre of war, who will notice the emergence of a sexual psychopath from the ranks of the mercenaries? Reuters correspondent Connie Burns is no stranger to the world’s troublespots, including the vicious civil unrest in Sierra Leone and the war in Iraq. But as she begins to suspect that a foreigner is using the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasies against women, her efforts to bring him to justice leave her devastated. Degraded and terrified, she goes into hiding in England and strikes up a friendship with Jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature may well be masking secrets of her own. Connie draws from the other woman’s strength and makes the hazardous decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer . . . Knowing he will come looking for her . . .

Read more less

The stuff of nightmares...A man alone in a bedsit with a young woman friend, who suddenly unleashes a deadly onslaught, without warning or reason. The stabs don't hurt. They seem more like punches. Then he realises that the red liquid pumping out of his body and on to the floor is his blood. He doesn't realise, as he drifts into unconsciousness before death supervenes, that he'll never wake up again ...In March 2013, Joanne Dennehy stabbed three Peterborough men to death within the space of a few days. One was her landlord, Kevin Lee. Dennehy and her sidekick, Gary Stretch, put the body into a wheelie bin and dumped his corpse in a ditch close to White Post Road in the Parish of Newborough. Lukasz Slaboszewski and John Chapman were stabbed to death and disposed of in a farmland ditch several miles away. She then attempted to murder two other men. By the grace of God they survived. Jo Dennehy is unique, for she now ranks alongside Myra Hindley and Rosemary West as one of the most heinous female serial killers in British criminal history. Only her death will bring about her release from prison. This book, by a leading criminologist and expert on serial killers, has been written with the full cooperation of the police involved in the case, and many of those who knew Joanne Dennehy and her victims.

Read more less

She was young, very beautiful and had everything to live for - but the life of Frances Shea, briefly married to Reggie Kray, remains one of the most tragic stories of the Swinging Sixties. Courted by Reggie as a schoolgirl, her eight year relationship with him drew Frances into a world of nightclubs, fast cars, beautiful clothes and showbiz parties. Yet as time passed, she struggled to cope with the horrific world of the Kray twins, full of violence, drink, drugs - and sheer terror. By the time of her marriage, she had become inextricably linked with the Krays and their downward spiral from gangland extortion and brutality into senseless murder and mayhem. Reggie, obsessed by his wife from the day he met her, was never prepared to let her go. Despite her attempts to break free, two years after their wedding, Frances was found dead from a drug overdose. She was twenty-three. Only now can the truth about Frances Shea and her marriage to Reggie Kray finally be revealed, along with the long-hidden story behind his obsession with her.Unseen until now, documents and diaries reveal the reality of their life together - and how their tragic, doomed relationship continued to haunt the lives of those closest to Frances right to the end.

Read more less

IMAGINE IF THE NEXT THRILLER YOU READ WAS ALL ABOUT YOU . . .THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'An addictive novel with shades of Gone Girl' Sunday TimesSHORTLISTED FOR THE THEAKSTON'S OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2016LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2016When an intriguing novel appears on Catherine's bedside table, she curls up and begins to read.But as she turns the pages she is horrified to realize she is a key character, a main player.This story will reveal her darkest secret. A secret she thought no one else knew . . .Soon to be a major Apple TV series featuring Sacha Baron Cohen and Cate Blanchett, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

Read more less

THE NO. 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR27 MILLION BOOKS SOLDWINNER OF THE GLASS KEY AWARDJussi Adler-Olsen returns with the newest book in his acclaimed Department Q series. In the middle of a hard-won morning nap in the basement of police headquarters, Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, receives a call from a colleague working on the Danish island of Bornholm. Carl is dismissive at first, but then he receives some shocking news. Carl then has no choice but to lead Department Q into the tragic cold case of a vivacious seventeen-year-old girl who vanished from school, only to be found dead hanging high up in a tree. The investigation will take them from the remote island of Bornholm to a hidden cult, where Carl and his assistants must stop a string of new murders by a skilled manipulator who refuses to let anything-or anyone-get in the way.For fans of Tim Weaver, Mick Herron and Jo Nesbo.

Read more less

Selected as a Book of the Year 2017 in the Guardian'Maggie Nelson’s short, singular books feel pretty light in the hand... But in the head and the heart, they seem unfathomably vast, their cleverness and odd beauty lingering on' ObserverIn 1969, Jane Mixer, a first-year law student at the University of Michigan, posted a note on a student noticeboard to share a lift back to her hometown of Muskegon for spring break. She never made it: she was brutally murdered, her body found a few miles from campus the following day.The Red Parts is Maggie Nelson’s singular account of her aunt Jane’s death, and the trial that took place some 35 years afterward. Officially unsolved for decades, the case was reopened in 2004 after a DNA match identified a new suspect, who would soon be arrested and tried. In 2005, Nelson found herself attending the trial, and reflecting with fresh urgency on our relentless obsession with violence, particularly against women. Resurrecting her interior world during the trial – in all its horror, grief, obsession, recklessness, scepticism and downright confusion – Maggie Nelson has produced a work of profound integrity and, in its subtle indeterminacy, deadly moral precision.

Read more less

K is for Killer is the eleventh in the Kinsey Millhone mystery series by Sue Grafton.Lorna Kepler was beautiful and wilful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. She has also been found dead in mysterious circumstances and her death pulls Kinsey Millhone into a netherworld of deception, betrayal and unavenged murder . . .

Read more less