'A brilliant blending of crime, mystery, and American history. Terrific entertainment' Stephen King Darktown is a relentlessly gripping, highly intelligent crime novel set in Atlanta in 1948, following the city's first black police force investigating a brutal murder against all the odds. 'Magnificent and shocking' Sunday Times Atlanta, 1948. In this city, all crime is black and white. On one side of the tracks are the rich, white neighbourhoods; on the other, Darktown, the African-American area guarded by the city's first black police force of only eight men. These cops are kept near-powerless by the authorities: they can't arrest white suspects; they can't drive a squad car; they must operate out of a dingy basement. When a poor black woman is killed in Darktown having been last seen in a car with a rich white man, no one seems to care except for Boggs and Smith, two black cops from vastly different backgrounds. Pressured from all sides, they will risk their jobs, the trust of their community and even their own lives to investigate her death. Their efforts bring them up against a brutal old-school cop, Dunlow, who has long run Darktown as his own turf - but Dunlow's idealistic young partner, Rakestraw, is a young progressive who may be willing to make allies across colour lines . . . Soon to be a major TV series from Jamie Foxx and Sony Pictures Television.
''Lehane is the master of complex human characters thrust into suspenseful, page-turning situations'' Gillian Flynn ''One of the great diabolical thriller kings'' New York Times The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River - an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston''s history.
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of ''Southie'', the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.
One night Mary Pat''s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn''t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.
The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched - asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don''t take kindly to any threat to their business.
Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city''s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerising and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.
A twenty-year-old murder A chain of unsolvable mysteries Can one detective solve this epic riddle? When a man is found murdered in an abandoned building in Osaka in 1973, unflappable detective Sasagaki is assigned to the case. He begins to piece together the connection of two young people who are inextricably linked to the crime; the dark, taciturn son of the victim and the unexpectedly captivating daughter of the main suspect. Over the next twenty years we follow their lives as Sasagaki pursues the case - which remains unsolved - to the point of obsession. Stark, intriguing and stylish, Journey Under the Midnight Sun is an epic mystery by the bestselling Japanese author of The Devotion of Suspect X .
Highly enjoyable . . . [Alexander McCall Smith] has a supreme talent for sketching truly likeable characters. His novels are full of human quirks and the bizarre minutiae of everyday life
Heaven is in the detail with this sort of escapist writing. It's like AA Milne meets Karl Ove Knausgaard. McCall Smith knows how to create a world full of sweet things and emotionally true moments and in this new series of "Scandi blanc" delivers exactly what his fans will be hoping for
Precious Ramotswe learns valuable lessons about first impressions and forgiveness in this latest installment of the much-loved, best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. At Botswana's No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi are intrigued by the troubling dismissal of an employee at a thriving local business. The ladies proceed with investigations as they are inclined to do - with Mma Makutsi's customary vigour, and Mma Ramotswe's rather more subtle caution. Soon enough, interesting discoveries are made... marital subterfuge, undue influence and commercial chicanery! Clearly, there is more to this dismissal than at first imagined. While Mma Makutsi's focus, as self-appointed Principal Investigating Officer, is firmly on the case, Mma Ramotswe's attention is diverted by personal matters. Not only has her disgraced ex-husband reappeared in town, but she has stumbled on an unsettling family secret of her own - one that might threaten what she holds closest to her heart. As Precious contemplates this painful possibility, she must draw on her strength and compassion and confront The House of Unexpected Sisters. And for both Mma Makutsi and Mma Ramotswe, the wise words of their mentor Clovis Andersen - 'the needle swings in confusing ways' - have never been more prescient . . .
The gripping new novel from the author of the Sunday Times top ten bestseller, Waterstones Thriller of the Month, Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year, CWA Gold Dagger Winner and Simon Mayo Radio 2 Book Club Choice, The Dry. FIVE WENT OUT. FOUR CAME BACK...
Is Alice here? Did she make it? Is she safe? In the chaos, in the night, it was impossible to say which of the four had asked after Alice's welfare. Later, when everything got worse, each would insist it had been them.Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side.The hike through the rugged landscape is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case - and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with.Far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell Falk a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. And as he delves into the disappearance, it seems some dangers may run far deeper than anyone knew.And if you loved Force of Nature and The Dry, pre-order The Lost Man by Jane Harper now
'I read it in 24 hours. It's gripping, atmospheric and ultimately deeply satisfying' Val McDermid The gripping new novel from the author of the Sunday Times top ten bestsellers, The Dry and Force of Nature . He had started to remove his clothes as logic had deserted him, and his skin was cracked. Whatever had been going through Cameron's mind when he was alive, he didn't look peaceful in death. Two brothers meet at the remote border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of the outback. In an isolated part of Australia, they are each other's nearest neighbour, their homes hours apart. They are at the stockman's grave, a landmark so old that no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family's quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he choose to walk to his death? Because if he didn't, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects...
An intriguing mashup of police procedural and golden age puzzle mystery. When fortysomething divorcee Mineko Mitsui is discovered strangled at her home, Detective Kyoichiro Kaga [...] begins tracing items found in the dead woman's flat to shops in the neighbourhood, using a mixture of Sherlockian deduction and legwork to lead him to the killer. What initially appears to be a chain of short stories coalesces into an investigation, as Kaga, in a delightfully low-key style , painstakingly builds up a picture of the dead woman's past and the events of the last days of her life
Patrick Kenzie et Angela Gennaro ne sont plus détectives privés. Patrick occupe un emploi précaire dans une grosse société de surveillance. Il est rattrapé par son ancienne vie lorsque Beatrice McCready lui demande d'enquêter sur l'absence de sa nièce Amanda. Douze ans plus tôt, Angie et lui avaient retrouvé la petite fille dans des circonstances particulièrement dramatiques. Aujourd'hui, Amanda est lycéenne, bonne élève, mais elle semble avoir disparu dans la nature. L'histoire va-t-elle se répéter ?
'Complex, tense, compelling' Lee Child 'Hitchcockian... with characteristically twisty action and crackling dialogue ' Guardian Best Crime & Thriller Books of 2017 On a Tuesday in May, in her thirty-fifth year, Rachel shot her husband dead. He stumbled backward with an odd look of confirmation on his face, as if some part of him had always known she'd do it. Rachel's husband adores her. When she hit rock bottom, he was there with her every step of the way as she slowly regained her confidence, and her sanity. But his mysterious behaviour forces her to probe for the truth about her beloved husband. How can she feel certain that she ever knew him? And was she right to ever trust him? Bringing together Dennis Lehane's trademark insightful and emphathetic characterisation, razor-sharp dialogue, stunning atmosphere and breakneck twists and turns, Since We Fell is a true masterpiece that will keep you in suspense until the very end.
Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is brutally murdered in his home on the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, in a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.
Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka's best friend from years ago when they were both teachers. Kaga went on to join the police force while Nonoguchi became a full-time writer, though with not nearly the success of his friend Hidaka. When Kaga suspects something is a little bit off with Nonoguchi's statement, he investigates further, ultimately executing a search warrant on Nonoguchi's apartment. There he finds evidence that shows that the two writers' relationship was very different than they claimed...
In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the detective and the writer battle over the truth of the past and how events that led to the murder really unfolded. Which one of the two writers was ultimately guilty of malice?
Mma Ramotswe is not one to sit about. Her busy life as the proprietress of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency gives her little time for relaxation. Nonetheless, she is persuaded by her co-director Mma Makutsi to take a holiday. But Mma Ramotswe finds it impossible to resist the temptation to interfere with the agency's cases - secretly, she intends . . . This leads her to delve into the past of a man whose reputation has been called into question. It also leads her to an orphan named Samuel. Meanwhile, Violet Sephotho, Mma Makutsi's arch-enemy, has had the temerity to set up a new secretarial college - one that aims to rival that great institution, the Botswana Secretarial College. Will she get her comeuppance? It will be a close-run thing.
'Gloriously dark, deliciously twisty' CLARE MACKINTOSH ONE FAMILY, TWO HOLIDAYS, ONE DEVASTATING SECRET To new nanny Amanda, the Temple family seem to have it all: the former actress; the famous professor; their three successful grown-up children. But like any family, beneath the smiles and hugs there lurks far darker emotions. Sixteen years earlier, little Niamh Temple died while they were on holiday in Portugal. Now, as Amanda joins the family for a reunion at their seaside villa, she begins to suspect one of them might be hiding something terrible... And suspicion is a dangerous thing. From Chris Brookmyre, winner of the Theakstons and McIllvanney awards for Black Widow, comes a standalone psychological thriller full of twists, lies and betrayal. PRAISE FOR CHRIS BROOKMYRE 'Guaranteed to keep you guessing' Ian Rankin 'Extremely sophisticated crime' Sunday Times 'Exceptionally good' Guardian 'In the pantheon of great crime writers' Elly Griffiths 'Scales new heights of invention' Times Literary Supplement 'Brookmyre writes beautifully . . . I was hooked' Literary Review
' Captivating' Sunday Times 'Will utterly terrify you - in the best way possible' Buzzfeed 'While it is a mystery, the true strength of the novel comes from the honesty of the girls' portrayal' Guardian 'A hypnotic debut' Elle 'We couldn't put this one down' Marie Claire This is not a story of bad things happening to bad girls. I say this because I know you, Dex, and I know how you think. I'm going to tell you a story, and this time, it will be the truth. Hannah Dexter is a nobody, ridiculed and isolated at school by golden girl Nikki Drummond. But in their junior year of high school, Nikki's boyfriend walks into the woods and shoots himself. In the wake of the suicide, Hannah befriends new girl Lacey and soon the pair are inseparable, bonded by their shared hatred of Nikki. Lacey transforms good girl Hannah into Dex who is up for any challenge Lacey throws at her. The two girls bring their combined wills to bear on the community in which they live and think they are invulnerable. But Lacey has a secret, about life before her better half, and it's a secret that will change everything . . .
Wayward daughters. Missing husbands. Philandering partners. If you've got a problem, and no one else can help you, then pay a visit to Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only female private detective. Her methods may not be conventional, but she's got warmth, wit and canny intuition on her side.
From the award-winning, million-selling author of Black Widow comes a twist-filled story of secrets and lies. What if your deepest secret was revealed? Sam Morpeth is growing up way too fast, left to fend for a younger sister when their mother goes to prison and watching her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her. Who would you turn to? Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane has finally got his career back on track, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile, criminal source. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything. What would you be capable of? Thrown together by a vindictive and mysterious mutual enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they might be each other's only hope.
The second in "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, which introduced Precious Ramotswe, sassy owner of Botswana's only detective agency, this title takes readers further into Precious' world. Among her cases this time are wayward wives, unscrupulous maids, and the challenge to resolve a mother's pain for her long-lost son.
Marian Sutro has survived Ravensbruck and is back in dreary 1950s London trying to pick up the pieces of her pre-war life. Returned to an England she barely knows and a post-war world she doesn't understand Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. Family and friends surround her and a young RAF officer attempts to bring her the normalities of love and affection but she is haunted by her experiences and by the guilt of knowing that her contribution to the war effort helped lead to the development of the Atom Bomb. Where, in the complexities of peacetime, does her loyalty lie? When a mysterious Russian diplomat emerges from the shadows to draw her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War she sees a way to make amends for the past and to renew the excitement of her double life. Simon Mawer's sense of time and place is perfect: Tightrope is a compelling novel about identity and deception which constantly surprises the reader.
'One of the most stunning debuts I've ever read...Read it!' David Baldacci WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CRIME THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 WINNER OF THE CWA GOLD DAGGER AWARD 2017 Amazon.com's #1 Pick for Best Mystery & Thriller 2017 The Gold Australian Book Industry Award for Book of the Year Australian Book Industry Award for Fiction Book of the Year WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH THE SIMON MAYO RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB CHOICE SUNDAY TIMES CRIME THRILLER OF THE MONTH 'P acked with sneaky moves and teasing possibilities that keep the reader guessing... The Dry is a breathless page-turner' Janet Maslin, New York Times WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY? I just can't understand how someone like him could do something like that. Amid the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century, it hasn't rained in small country town Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son, is guilty. Policeman Aaron Falk returns to the town of his youth for the funeral of his childhood best friend, and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth. And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, secrets from his past and why he left home bubble to the surface as he questions the truth of his friend's crime. And if you loved The Dry and Force of Nature , pre-order The Lost Man by Jane Harper now
The seventy-fifth anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Anthony Quinn. ''I recommend Hamilton at every opportunity, because he was such a wonderful writer and yet is rather under-read today. All his novels are terrific'' Sarah Waters ''If you were looking to fly from Dickens to Martin Amis with just one overnight stop, then Hamilton is your man'' Nick Hornby London, 1939, and in the grimy publands of Earls Court, George Harvey Bone is pursuing a helpless infatuation. Netta is cool, contemptuous and hopelessly desirable to George. George is adrift in a drunken hell, except in his ''dead'' moments, when something goes click in his head and he realises, without a doubt, that he must kill her. In the darkly comic Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton brilliantly evokes a seedy, fog-bound world of saloon bars, lodging houses and boozing philosophers, immortalising the slang and conversational tone of a whole generation and capturing the premonitions of doom that pervaded London life in the months before the war.
