Search results for ""Author Simon Mason""

A dark and intense mystery featuring a private detective who is tasked with solving the disappearance of a lonely accountant.

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'Ryan and Ray go from strength to strength, and this, their third outing, is the best yet. Simon Mason has created crime fiction's most entertaining double act in decades' Mick HerronOxford, city of rich and poor, where the homeless camp out in the shadows of the gorgeous buildings and monuments. A city of lost things - and buried crimes. At three o'clock in the morning, Emergency Services receives a call. 'This is Zara Fanshawe. Always lost and never found.' An hour later, the wayward celebrity's Rolls Royce Phantom is found abandoned in dingy Becket Street. The paparazzi go wild. For some reason, news of Zara's disappearance prompts homeless woman Lena Wójcik to search the camps, nervously, for the bad-tempered vagrant known as 'Waitrose', a familiar sight in Oxford pushing his trolley of possessions. But he's nowhere to be found either. Who will lead the investigation and cope with the media frenzy? Suave, prize-winning, Oxford-educated DI Ray Wilkins is passed over in favour of his partner, gobby, trailer-park educated DI Ryan Wilkins (no relation). You wouldn't think Ray would be happy. He isn't. You wouldn't think Ryan would be any good at national press presentations. He isn't. And when legendary cop Chester Lynch takes a shine to Ray - and takes against Ryan - things are only going to get even messier.

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'Move over Morse. Simon Mason Oxford crime novel breathes fresh life into the police procedural' Val McDermid'There is no one else like him' Mark Sanderson The Times/Sunday Times Crime ClubA DI RYAN WILKINS MYSTERYA SHOCKING DISAPPEARANCEA four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area,her mother only a stones-throw away.A TRIGGERING RESPONSERyan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.A DARK WEBRay begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of criminal forces in the local area. But while Ray's investigation stalls Ryan brings his unique talents to unofficial and quite illegal inquiries which will bring him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force.Praise for the DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries'Mason has reformulated Inspector Morse for the 2020s' The Times'Start now and avoid the rush' Guardian

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This title is part of Bug Club, the first whole-school reading programme to combine books with an online reading world to teach today's children to read. In this Year 3 Brown A (NC level 3c) fiction novel ... At the Wildlife Park, Will tells his family everything he knows about the big, fierce animals. Lucy is only interested in the small, furry animals. When Lucy bumps into a really big, fierce animal, some interesting facts tumble into Will's mind ...

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Meet Garvie Smith. Highest IQ ever recorded at Marsh Academy. Lowest ever grades. What's the point? Life sucks. Nothing surprising ever happens. Until Chloe Dow's body is pulled from a pond. His ex-girlfriend. DI Singh is already on the case. Ambitious, uptight, methodical - he's determined to solve the mystery - and get promoted. He doesn't need any 'assistance' from notorious slacker, Smith. Or does he?

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Amy Roecastle is beautiful. Selfish. And missing. Vanished without a trace in the middle of the night, she's taken her ferocious dog - and something else, too. Something deadly. Amy's best friend is lying to Inspector Singh, who has no leads and no idea. Cue Garvie Smith. Teenage slacker. Undeniable crime-solving genius. Garvie's one step ahead of the investigation. But there's nothing simple where Amy is involved. And this time Garvie's about to find himself in way over his head.

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A TIMES TOP TEN CRIME AND MYSTERY BOOK FOR 2024''Ryan and Ray go from strength to strength, and this, their third outing, is the best yet. Simon Mason has created crime fiction''s most entertaining double act in decades'' Mick HerronOxford, city of rich and poor, where the homeless camp out in the shadows of the gorgeous buildings and monuments. A city of lost things - and buried crimes. At three o''clock in the morning, Emergency Services receives a call. ''This is Zara Fanshawe. Always lost and never found.'' An hour later, the wayward celebrity''s Rolls Royce Phantom is found abandoned in dingy Becket Street. The paparazzi go wild. For some reason, news of Zara''s disappearance prompts homeless woman Lena Wójcik to search the camps, nervously, for the bad-tempered vagrant known as ''Waitrose'', a familiar sight in Oxford pushing his trolley of possessions. But he''s nowhere to be found either. Who will lead

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The people I work with call me ''Finder''. I''m a specialist, a finder of missing people.July 2015, Sevenoaks. 12-year-old schoolgirl Alice Johnson went missing while doing her paper round, her bag found discarded on the pavement. At 08.00, she was spotted standing in heavy rain at the side of the busy by-pass. At 11.00, she was seen talking to the driver of a black car in Tonbridge. After that, nothing. Alice was never found.Nine years later the body of another schoolgirl, Joleen Price, is pulled from a nearby lake and a local man named Vince Burns detained. Convinced that Burns is guilty in both cases, SIO Dave Armstrong calls in the Finder to investigate the earlier disappearance.Interviewing those who thought they knew her, the Finder gradually reveals a hidden Alice, a girl of surprising contradictions. Seeking answers from her divorced parents - an over-protective mother, a negligent father - the Finder is forced to consider violentl

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It's exam season - but Five Mile is in shock. A teenage boy was shot last night, with no clear motive and no clues. Garvie Smith - reprobate, genius and waster - was just getting down to a spot of revision. But he knows he's the only one who has any idea where to look for the answers. Starting with his best friend's girlfriend. Exams. What exams?

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER 2023'[A] terrific crime novel' Mick Herron'This moody, atmospheric novel is full of surprises' Sunday Times (Crime Book of the Month)'[W]ell plotted and very funny' ***** Sun'This has a TV series written all over it' Daily Mail----------------------------------------------------------Ryan Wilkins grew up on a trailer park, a member of what many people would call the criminal classes. As a young Detective Inspector, he's lost none of his disgust with privileged elites - or his objectionable manners. But he notices things; they stick to his eyes. His professional partner, DI Ray Wilkins, of affluent Nigerian-London heritage, is an impeccably groomed, smooth-talking graduate of Balliol College, Oxford. You wouldn't think they would get on. They don't. But when a young woman is found strangled at Barnabas Hall, they're forced to. Rich Oxford is not Ryan's natural habitat. St Barnabas's irascible Provost does not appreciate his forceful line of questioning. But what was the dead woman doing in the Provost's study? Is it just a coincidence that on the night of her murder the college was entertaining Sheik al-Medina, a Gulf state ruler linked to human-rights abuses in his own country and acts of atrocity in others? As tensions rise, things aren't going well. Ray is in despair. Ryan is in disciplinary measures. But their investigation gradually disentangles the links between a Syrian refugee lawyer now working in the college kitchens, a priceless copy of the Koran in the college collection and the identity of the dead woman. A Killing in November introduces an unlikely duo from different sides of the tracks in Oxford in a deftly plotted murder story full of dangerous turns, troubled pasts and unconventional detective work.

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At the beginning of the 11th century, General Yang sends his son Zongbao to exterminate the bandit living in Dragon-Taming Wood. In the forest, Zongbao is surprised by the bandit's teenage daughter, a kung fu prodigy, who challenged him to unarmed combat. Her deal? If Zongbao wins, she will lead him to her father's secret hideout. If she wins, she will take him to her father as her prisoner. So begins Mu Guiying's extraordinary story, which will end with a spectacular battle for the destiny of her country.

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'Move over Morse. Simon Mason Oxford crime novel breathes fresh life into the police procedural' Val McDermid'There is no one else like him' Mark Sanderson The Times/Sunday Times Crime ClubA DI RYAN WILKINS MYSTERYA SHOCKING DISAPPEARANCEA four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area,her mother only a stones-throw away.A TRIGGERING RESPONSERyan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.A DARK WEBRay begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of criminal forces in the local area. But while Ray's investigation stalls Ryan brings his unique talents to unofficial and quite illegal inquiries which will bring him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force.Praise for the DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries'Mason has reformulated Inspector Morse for the 2020s' The Times'Start now and avoid the rush' Guardian

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Warm, entertaining, and above all thought-provoking, Daemon Voices provides a remarkable insight into the mind of one of our greatest writers. He explains which storytellers have meant the most to him, including William Blake and John Milton, why their work has resonated with him, and how it has inspired his own thinking. In over 30 essays, written over 20 years, Philip Pullman reveals the narratives that have shaped his vision, his experience of writing, and the keys to mastering the art of storytelling.

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In over 30 essays, written over 20 years, one of the world's great story-tellers meditates on story-telling. Warm, funny, generous, entertaining and, above all, deeply considered, they offer thoughts on a wide variety of topics, including the origin and composition of Philip's own stories, the craft of writing and the story-tellers who have meant the most to Philip. The art of story-telling is everywhere present in the essays themselves, in the instantly engaging tone, the vivid imagery and striking phrases, the resonant anecdotes, the humour and learnedness. Together, they are greater than the sum of their parts: a single, sustained engagement with story and story-telling.

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