The ensuing murder investigation is plagued with interference from above and several false leads frustrate the investigators. But slowly they unravel the mystery and unveil a story of resentment and greed. The detective team is led by DCI. Matthew Prior and his partner, Siobhan Williams. He is a gritty and determined veteran and she his perfect counterpart. He is happily married and she, despite being physically attractive, frightens most men off with her sharp brain and wit. Despite all the hurdles put in their way they gradually get to the truth. In the process they uncover a world of deviance and cruelty rooted in the deep past.

    A man on a mission. Alex Fleming is a newly promoted DCI with a troubled past who becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue when investigating a murder. A London nightclub owner is found dead on his boat on the River Thames. Fleming is keen to prove his worth with his first murder case after joining the Major Crime Unit of Thames Valley Police.But Bill Watson, a belligerent DCI, gives Fleming a hostile reception and, as internal politics come into play, Fleming finds himself up against his colleagues and a troubling case.During the course of the investigation Fleming and his sergeant, DS Logan, identify there are five suspects. But is he looking in the right place?The Fifth Suspect is the first book in an electrifying new crime series. If you enjoy reading authors like D.S. Butler, Robert Bryndza and Charlie Gallagher, you'll love this gripping new thriller.

    A foreign artist and war hero seeking refuge from the world has been murdered. Marie Paige, the frail, sickly wife of the village doctor, lies beside him beaten into a coma.The police arrest Marie's husband, convinced that they are looking at a crime of passion. But Dr. Paige finds himself with an unlikely champion: Fr. Gabriel, a blundering but brilliant Benedictine priest who believes in his innocence and feels compelled to search for the truth.In a country struggling to come to terms with the devastation of the Second World War, even a secluded English village has its share of secrets and broken lives. It is not long before Fr. Gabriel and his companions find themselves embarking on a dangerous journey into the victims' troubled war histories and a chapter of Europe's bloodiest conflict that is almost too terrible to be acknowledged.

    

    Only two little girls know where he is but they’re too scared to tell. Time is running out for the policeman. Will the girls get help before it’s too late? Piggy Monk Square is a dark yet frequently very funny novel set in 1970's Liverpool. The action takes place in the volatile period before the Toxteth riots burned much of the inner city down. A BRITISH THRILLER This unusual yet very readable British thriller describes a world tainted with deep mistrust and hostility between the local people and the police force. This harsh world is viewed through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl, Rebecca. Rebecca’s world is changing. Her parents are fighting. Her teachers are cruel. She doesn’t know what to do and turns to her best friend Debbie more and more. But Debbie’s life is just as tough. With a father who is always dodging the police, and a mother who works her to the bone, Debbie is no Cinderella. The world these girls inhabit is no fairy tale, it is confusing and can be brutally violent. A TERRIFYING SECRET No wonder the girls mix reality with fantasy - it’s how they survive, especially when it comes to coping with what will soon become their terrifying secret. A secret that will infuse their childhood with fear and change their lives forever. The nightmare begins when Rebecca and Debbie are playing in the cellar of a derelict house. A policeman catches them there and warns them not to return to this dangerous old building. But they are both determined little girls with nowhere else to play, so they come back, again and again. Unfortunately for them so does the policeman. The policeman tries to chase the girls away, but he falls down a ladder and goes ‘asleep.’ The girls try to wake him but can’t. They want to get help but at the same time they know they shouldn’t have been playing in that cellar. They have learned not to trust the police and are so afraid of getting into trouble that they leave the injured policeman alone. NOWHERE TO TURN Wishful thinking makes the girls hope that he will get up and go of his own accord and that everything will be okay again. But when they return and find him still there, conscious but unable to move they find another way to help him. A way that doesn’t involve adults. But, their interpretation of ‘helping’ the dying policeman has terrible consequences for them all.

    Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King - A 30-minute Summary of the Novel Inside this Instaread Summary: Overview of the entire bookIntroduction to the Important people in the bookSummary and analysis of all the chapters in the bookKey Takeaways of the bookA Reader's Perspective Preview of this summary: Part1Chapter 1Down-on-his-luck, Augie Odenkirk helps homeless Janice Cray care for her baby as they wait in the early morning fog for a job fair. A gray Mercedes plows into the crowd. Augie, Janice and the baby are among the victims.Part 2Chapters 1-3About a year after the Mercedes crash, Retired Detective K. William Hodges watches more grubby reality shows, fails to enjoy his beer, and thinks, again, of shooting himself. The arrival of the mail distracts him. A letter, allegedly from the driver of the killer Mercedes, stuns him. The writer brags about killing eight and wounding many. He says that he got off sexually at he drove into the crowd. He wore a condom and used bleach to get rid of any DNA. He wore a hair net under a clown mask for the same reason. He knows Hodges is miserable and hopes the letter cheers him up. He gives Hodges a website where they can talk, including a username: kermitfrog19.Chapters 4-6Hodges wonders if he should turn the letter over to his former partner, Pete Huntley. He believes the writer is the killer because he knows inside information about the condom and the bleach. The idea of using this letter, and chats on line, to catch the killer gives Hodges a reason to live.Chapter 7-9Hodges analyzes the letter and sees that the writer has several identifying traits, including misusing perk for perp and peppering his words with an image of a smiley face. The same smiley face was glued onto the steering wheel of the Mercedes. Hodges calls Pete and makes a lunch date....

    EDDIE FLYNN NOVEL FROM MICHAEL DONOVAN Cheating husbands. P.I. Eddie Flynn doesn't judge. He just brings back the evidence for a fee and lets the client do the judging. Not that the present fee is much. Young mother Lisa Elland can barely afford the bargain basement charge for a quick check on her husband. But pay she will: even bad news is better than not knowing whether she still has a marriage. And for Flynn the job is a nice filler before he shuts up shop for Christmas. But there's a problem. You can't catch a guy cheating until you find him. And Ray Elland isn't findable. He's disappeared completely with just an overnight bag and a sleazy excuse. He's nowhere to be found. No-one has seen him or heard from him. It's like he doesn't exist. And Flynn's quick investigation has hit the rocks. Then complications arise. Flynn is being followed. He's being threatened. And Lisa has stopped answering her phone. The quick investigation has just turned into a nightmare... The fourth P.I. Eddie Flynn novel from award-winning crime author Michael Donovan. WHAT BOOK REVIEWERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE EDDIE FLYNN SERIES... "Masterful... If you haven't been introduced to Eddie Flynn yet, be prepared." RED CITY REVIEW "A chilling thriller crafted with a fluid narrative style ... wild nightmarish scenes..." BOOKPLEASURES "A wonderful debut novel in a hugely competitive market" CUCKOO REVIEWS" Good old fashioned detective work. A slick, dynamic mystery. "KIRKUS REVIEWS" [With] more competition than ever in the crime-writing genre, Donovan's novel is a real winner..." LYTHAM ST ANNES EXPRESS "Brilliantly absorbing. Escapism at its best." POSTCARD REVIEWS "Humour ... violent confrontations ... well recommended. "EUROCRIME" Short chapters ... a brilliant use of format ... the [book] will haunt your days and nights" CUCKOO REVIEWS "Great concise writing style... fast paced action ... Donovan makes you feel as though you are uncovering the truth." NEWBOOKSMAG

    But Rownt has problems of his own: a gang of child-thieves is terrorizing the quiet neighborhood in which he lives, and his neighbors want protection. Then the Fox, head of London’s criminal underworld, becomes involved, and a deadly situation becomes deadlier when one of the Fox’s men stabs the wrong boy. In a world where violence and theft seem everyday occurrences, Rownt searches for justice among A Parcel of Rogues.

    Avery was tried for the murder of a twenty-nine-year-old mill worker, Sarah Marie Cornell. It was the first time a clergyman had ever been tried for murder in the United States and the first time an American murder trial became headline news. From this factual base, Mary Cable weaves a chilling novel of gothic desires and conflicting classes. She creates a rich atmosphere to show New England as it was then - simple, puritanical, superstitious, and unsentimental - on the brink of emerging from the eighteenth century into an industrial and far-more-complicated age. This dramatic, compelling story is as much about a time and place as it is about a notorious murder trial. A work of poetic intensity, Avery’s Knot is finally a classic, tragic tale of a woman caught between passion and puritanism.

    Charlotte, James and their seven children are independent spirits, united by strong family values.Living in a mining community is never easy, and when the shadow of impending war threatens, they must pull together to face the hardship to come. Can this close-knit family overcome whatever tragedy life throws at them?The Black Mountains, a moving saga of love, happiness and heartbreak, is perfect for fans of Rosie Goodwin and Katie Flynn. ‘Sensitive and exceptionally polished’ Manchester Evening News The Hillsbridge Sagas The Black Mountains The Emerald Valley The Hills and the Valley A Family Affair

    But their married life was far from what she had hoped it would be and was marred by drug abuse and violence. After Johnny was arrested and sentenced to 18 years, it became clear that their relationship was doomed to fail. Now, years later, and for the first time in a long time, life is finally looking up for Rosie Mullins. She has confronted her jealous husband and told him that she wants out, her acting career has taken off, and she has fallen into a new relationship with a top TV executive. All too quickly, however, she finds that Johnny’s influence extends far beyond the prison walls that contain him. To make matters worse, his intensely loyal twin brother, "Mad Dog" Eddie, is proving to be every bit as dangerous as her husband. Betrayed by those who had sworn to protect her and cornered by her past, Rosie has to fight with every breath to protect herself and her beloved daughter, Ruby. She finds herself forced to play a very, very dangerous game; setting her old family against her new one.

    He sees a year and a half of bloody fighting before heading west. At Atchison, Kansas, he picks up the Smoky Hill Trail and travels through Kansas, which is ruled by hostile Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, who attack a stagecoach and capture a young woman named Ada Simmons. Nash is at the Army fort when the abduction is reported, and he insists on going out in the middle of the night to get the young woman from Cheyenne warriors. After he arrives in Denver, Nash sets up a detective business and prospers while the young woman he rescued becomes a consultant to the wealthy, many of whom hit it rich in the the gold and silver mines. As Nash and Ada pursue their vocations, their lives run together and they learn to care for one another. Nash learns to be a top-flight detective and protects his clients at all costs. Another exciting western from R. O. Lane with a touch of romance.

    

    Includes Satan in St Mary's, Crown in Darkness and Spy in Chancery. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters, Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks and Robin Hobb.Satan in St Mary's: 1284: Edward I is battling a traitorous movement founded by the late Simon de Montfort, the rebel who lost his life at the Battle of Evesham in 1258. The Pentangle, the movement's underground society whose members are known to practice the black arts, is thought to be behind the apparent suicide of Lawrence Duket, one of the King's loyal subjects. The King, deeply suspicious of the affair, orders his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chooses a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench, Hugh Corbett, to conduct the investigation. Corbett - together with his manservant, Ranulf - is swiftly drawn into the tangled politics and dark and dangerous underworld of medieval London.Crown in Darkness: 1286: on a storm-ridden night, King Alexander III of Scotland is riding across the Firth of Forth to meet his beautiful French bride Yolande. He never reaches his final destination as his horse mysteriously slips, sending them both crashing to their death on the rocks. The Scottish throne is left vacant of any real heir and immediately the great European princes and the powerful nobles of Alexander's kingdom start fighting for the glittering prize. The Chancellor of England, Burnell, ever mindful of the interest his king, Edward I, has in Scotland, sends his faithful clerk, Hugh Corbett, to report on the chaotic situation at the Scottish court. Concerned that a connection exists between the king's death and those now desirous of taking the Scottish throne, Corbett is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, conspiracy and danger.Spy in Chancery: Edward I of England and Philip IV of France are at war. Philip, by devious means, has managed to seize control of the English duchy of Aquitaine in France, and is now determined to crush Edward. King Edward suspects that his enemy is being aided by a spy in the English court and commissions his chancery clerk, Hugh Corbett, to trace and, if possible, destroy the traitor. Corbett's mission brings him into danger on both land and at sea, and takes him to Paris, and its dangerous underworld, and then to hostile Wales. Unwillingly he is drawn into the murky undercurrents of international politics in the last decade of the thirteenth century.

    When Adina and her family are forced to flee Cologne to escape the vicious menace of German invasion in 1938, leaving their luxurious lifestyle is painful. Harder still is finding herself a refugee in a foreign country. But Adina is a compassionate and determined girl and as they settle into a new life in the Midlands she finds the strength to survive. However, her brother and sister aren't so lucky and their family ties are stretched to breaking point. And then Adina runs the risk of losing her family forever when she is drawn towards the one man she should never fall in love with...