Elephants in the Room


Suraj Laxminarayanan - 2018
    Novices to crime, they are driven more by emotions than skill - their plan seems foolproof, or so they think. In another part of the city, a gang of seasoned dacoits has botched up a job and now owes money to the local crime lord. They have to either pay up or pay for it with their lives - and time is running out... In a bizarre twist of fate, both these groups are brought face to face. Trapped in a situation beyond the realm of their planning and experience, they must think on their feet, form quick alliances and rally behind an unlikely leader. Set against the backdrop of Chennai, where men sing gaana songs in kuppams (fishing hamlets) nestled against swanky glass-fronted buildings and life-size cutouts of film stars and politicians, a story of love, greed, friendship, fate and the absurdity of the human condition unfolds.

Ravenhill (Jackie Shaw, #1)


John Steele - 2017
    He treads a fine line keeping psychotic hard-man Rab Simpson in check while sleeping with gang leader Billy Tyrie’s beautiful wife on the side. When a bomb claims nine lives, he is given the role of the getaway driver in a planned reprisal killing, a key role in a major operation. But Jackie may not be who he seems... Twenty years later, Jackie returns to the city for his father’s funeral after disappearing in mysterious circumstances. He wants to mourn then leave, but when figures from his past emerge, he is left with no choice but to revisit his violent former life. The first in the Jackie Shaw series, RAVENHILL is a gripping début novel from a brilliant new voice in crime fiction. The second in the series, SEVEN SKINS, is coming soon. ‘Tense, unsparing, compassionate and exceptionally well-written, this brilliant thriller brings vividly to life East Belfast in war and peace, its self-appointed community defenders turned brutal predators, and the security forces who struggled to contain them.’ Ruth Dudley Edwards

City On Fire: Five LAPD Thrillers


Dallas Barnes - 2020
    He silently hopes his life choices aren’t a reflection of what he sees wrong in others.Detective Bobbi Marshal is an attractive woman whose beauty turns heads. Ironically, she and her partner comprise the LAPD Wilshire Division sex team. Bobbi, mature, sophisticated, capable and compassionate, finds herself working and competing in a man’s world.Detective Sergeant Stryker and Detective West are a “Salt & Pepper” team, one white, one Black. Besides race, there’s one crucial difference between the men…at End of Watch, Stryker drives out of the ghetto into a White community where he lives. West has a much shorter drive, his home is in the ghetto.Now, it’s just a matter of time and cunning …and who makes the first fatal mistake. City on Fire includes: City of Passion, Badge of Honor, Deadly Justice, See the Woman and Yesterday Is Dead.