Book picks similar to
A Christmas Crime by Tara Lyons
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crime
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The DI Kate Burrows Trilogy: The Ladykiller / Broken / Hard Girls
Martina Cole - 2017
Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell.'The Queen of Crime' - Woman & Home on Hard GirlsThe deadly DI Kate Burrows trilogy: the only time Martina's written from the Old Bill's perspective.Kate is the hard-but-fair copper whose investigations - and heart - become dangerously entwined with London's most infamous gangster, Patrick Kelly. But when there's a killer on the loose, Kate Burrows is the only woman for the job. THE LADYKILLER. BROKEN. HARD GIRLS.
Bleed Through
Heather Atkinson - 2012
Beth Moorhouse flatlines after a devastating car crash in the north of England. Simultaneously in Afghanistan Liam MacIntyre is almost killed when his army truck hits a landmine, the blast stopping his heart. Both are brought back after crossing over. Recovering from debilitating injuries, lost in fevers and delirium they experience vivid dreams that bleed through into their reality, making them yearn for a past lost to them. From the sixteenth century massacre of Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland through eighteenth century Venice and finally to Flanders in World War One they both dream of the lives they shared together, each one cut short by Beth’s young and violent death. In each incarnation Liam‘s death shortly follows her own when he finds himself unable to go on without her, but not before avenging himself on the one who took her life. Resolved to discover the meaning behind these dreams Beth visits a gifted psychic who reveals that her murderer in each dream is a dark entity who has latched onto Beth and her soulmate with the sole purpose of destroying their happiness. She must find her love in this life and break this fatal pattern if she is to avoid another brutal death. Liam and Beth set out, determined to find one another by retracing the steps of their shared pasts. But their reunion is like a flare, drawing the dark soul to them and the race against time itself begins to save Beth from her inevitable fate. Bleed Through is a tale of love enduring centuries, sweeping through some of the most memorable events in European history and is the age old battle between good and evil.
The Rebuilding of Tom Cooper
Spencer Brown - 2019
A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about life, love and contemporary manhood, Tom Cooper is a male Bridget Jones for our times. ‘A gloriously self-aware, satirical romp through the terrors of relationships, family life and survival. Philip Roth meets Cold Feet!’ Helen Lederer (Absolutely Fabulous, Losing It (P.G.Wodehouse Award nominee)) ‘Spencer Brown is endlessly inventive and delightfully, dependably silly, like a joy-seeking missile’ Richard Ayoade (The IT crowd, Submarine, The Crystal Maze) ‘An aspirational figure for the men of today’ Omid Djalili (Live at the Apollo, The Infidel) ‘Very funny. Peep Show combined with Outnumbered. But you know. In a book.’ Josh Howie (Josh Howie’s Losing it, BBC Radio 4) ‘Hilarious and heart-warming’ Andi Osho (Live at the Apollo, Curfew) Tom Cooper’s life has fallen apart. His wife has left, he’s stuck in an accountancy job he hates and he can’t even call on the grandparents for support – they’re too busy – after all, a Scrabble trophy doesn’t engrave itself. But when a creative position opens up at the advertising agency he works for, he sees the opportunity to turn things around. All he has to do is pitch a product to a new market, convince Maestro J he is sufficiently finger-clickingly ‘creative’, beat his weaselly co-worker/nemesis John to the job, and try not to fall for his new mentor, Amanda. Oh, and try to blend in with people 10 years younger than him, survive the office obstacle course using his imaginary agility and stop accidentally turning up to work in the exact same outfit as Doug. The Rebuilding of Tom Cooper is a laugh-out-loud comedy about life, love and 21st century manhood.
About the author Spencer Brown cut his teeth in the Cambridge Footlights alongside John Oliver and Matthew Holness, before becoming an internationally acclaimed stand-up comedian and TV presenter on shows including Lip Service which he hosted with Holly Willoughby. He has also appeared in cult comedies including Nathan Barley and Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, as well as starring in the films 'Shed of the Dead' and the upcoming 'The Devil went down to Islington'. He is also an award winning film maker, having written and directed The Boy with a Camera for a Face, which won multiple prizes including the Oscar qualifying Best of Fest at SLIFF.
Thomas Berrington Books 1-3
David Penny - 2017
THE RED HILL A killer who can’t be stopped. A request that can’t be refused. In 1482 the Englishman Thomas Berrington is living in the last remnants of Moorish Spain. A physician, he is an unwilling friend to the most powerful man in the kingdom. Bodies are discovered, each showing the marks of a savage attack, and Thomas is asked to investigate. When one of the Sultan’s wives is brutally murdered, what begins as a reluctant task turns into a fight for survival. Together with the eunuch Jorge, Thomas attempts to hunt down the killer before they become his next victims. Except nothing is as it seems—friends turn into enemies and enemies into friends. Thomas’s investigation lays bare the secrets of the Red Hill and the people who inhabit it. His discoveries culminate in a battle not only for his own life, but for the lives of those he loves. BREAKER OF BONES March 1483, and surgeon Thomas Berrington makes a reluctant journey to Qurtuba at the request of his master. He expects only to operate on a Spanish prince and return home to Moorish al-Andalus. But fate has something else in store for him and his companion, the eunuch Jorge. A warped killer has been murdering young women to create twisted creatures from their bodies. When Thomas is tasked by Queen Isabel to hunt down the culprit he is propelled into an unfamiliar world of religious mania where it is impossible to tell the innocent from the guilty. Meanwhile Jorge is on a quest of his own—to track down the family he abandoned twenty years before. When Jorge’s new found niece is taken as the Bonebreaker’s next victim, the pair are faced with their most dangerous challenge yet. Can Thomas and Jorge expose the killer before yet another life has to pay the price for one man’s madness? THE SIN EATER Moorish Spain, 1484, and no-one is innocent. Thomas Berrington, emigre Englishman who has made the doomed city of Garnatah his home, is once again attempting to solve a series of mysterious deaths. Accompanied by his companion, the palace eunuch Jorge, Thomas struggles to discover the truth while those in power seek to distract him. As his investigation continues, his personal life splinters into chaos and he finds the Spanish once more demanding his presence. As Thomas and Jorge draw closer to their quarry, the killer’s attention turns on them and those they love. Will the pair be able to unmask the sin eater before the lives of those close to them become forfeit?
Dirty Tricks (Big Mo Series #1)
Dreda Say Mitchell - 2020
Her dad is long gone and she won't listen to the pleas of her mum and granddad. When she's talent-spotted by local villain Barker, Mo jumps at the chance to start climbing the criminal underworld ladder.Then a vicious and violent East End gangland war to the finish breaks out between Mo's boss, Barker and fearsome gangster, Jimmy Southpaw, the head of the notorious Steele family. Mo is soon in the thick of this brutal struggle. But why are Barker and Jimmy really fighting? And will Mo live long enough to find out?
The Giants Look Down
Sonja Price - 2016
It is the late 1960s and the family enjoy an idyllic life in the Vale of Kashmir, despite the area being riddled with conflict and poverty. But after a devastating earthquake wipes out her entire family, Jaya is taken into the care of relatives in Delhi, who attempt to marry her off and keep secret from her the possibility that Tahir, her younger brother, has survived the earthquake. After escaping from the arranged marriage Jaya is put through medical training in Scotland, as she had always dreamed, and where she develops feelings for her foster family’s eldest son, Alastair, who is engaged to someone else. In the meantime, Tahir has been abducted by a band of Kashmiri freedom fighters, who have made him one of their own. Jaya finally returns to her troubled homeland to find him and come to terms with the loss of her family. Alastair, who arrives in Kashmir to announce his love for Jaya, is kidnapped by the freedom fighters, forcing her to risk everything to get him back.
A Cornish Carol: A Short Story
Fern Britton - 2014
But Pendruggan’s Mr Rochester is in danger of becoming its Ebeneezer Scrooge when he is driven to distraction by the villager’s over-the-top Christmas celebrations. How could the cringeworthy amateur village production of Aladdin bring seasonal cheer to anyone, he wonders? And do the village children really have to arrive at his cottage door every single night in December with their terrible recorders and discordant singing?But when Piran’s bad temper risks spoiling Christmas for everyone, something drastic needs to be done. So, over one Christmas Eve, three very special people pay Piran a visit, determined to show him what Christmas is really all about…
Christmas at Tiffany's
Karen Swan - 2011
Three seasons. One chance to find the life that fits.Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, ten years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is.So begins a year-long trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London. Exchanging grouse moor and mousy hair for low-carb diets and high-end highlights, Cassie tries on each city for size as she attempts to track down the life she was supposed to have been leading, and with it, the man who was supposed to love her all along.
A Christmas Candle
Katie Flynn - 2017
All over Britain children are being evacuated. Eve Armstrong and her little brother are headed for Devon, where the Armstrong parents will do their bit in nearby Plymouth. Pulling out of London Eve takes a last look at the crowded platform, the shabbily dressed evacuees, and a rude little boy sticking his tongue out. She’s looking forward to a change of scene. And at first, surrounded by countryside, animals and new pals, Eve is happier than ever at Drake’s Farm. Not even her daily chores dampen her spirits. It’s a different world that invites fresh starts, and so when Eve runs into the boy from the station, Johnny Durrell, they call a truce and soon become firm friends. At first the war seems a distant reality, but when new evacuee Connie Hale arrives from Liverpool every day becomes a battle. Connie is lazy, stuck up and spiteful – and Johnny’s new best friend. As the conflict grows and Eve with it, will she fight for Johnny or concede defeat?
Praise for Katie Flynn:
'A poignant war-time romance' Daily Express‘A heartwarming story of love and loss’ Woman's Weekly ‘One of the best Liverpool writers’ Liverpool Echo 'If you pick up a Katie Flynn book it's going to be a wrench to put it down again' Holyhead and Anglesey Mail
Raising A Gangster
Kerry Barnes - 2020
A young man wants Cyril shot dead but receives a nasty scar and a few injuries that sets him on a path of revenge.Little does he know that all the time he was being raised a lord, Cyril Reardon was being raised a gangster.Only one of them is a gentleman. Only one of them plays the cards they were dealt.
A Season for Hope
Tammy L. Grace - 2018
A woman who runs a guesthouse offers them a place to stay while the car is repaired.Frightened and broke, Hope finds a part-time job, thanks to the family who owns the guesthouse. Hidden beneath her strong work ethic and cheerful demeanor, Hope conceals a private mystery. A secret she can’t reveal.As the Christmas season nears, the small town nestled beneath the snowy mountains and its annual holiday festival captivate Hope, while the family at the guesthouse suspects there’s something she’s hiding. In a moment of weakness, she divulges her secret.Will an offer of help destroy her life and all she cherishes, or will it be the gift she needs to triumph over her past?A Season for Hope is a charming story about the kindness of strangers and finding hope where you never expected it. Cozy up with the first in the Christmas in Silver Falls novellas for a holiday read sure to warm your heart.
The Girl from Moscow's Edge
Nadya Frank - 2021
But her partner in crime is dead.Zoya Volkova finds him at the garage icy floor. Her friend and accomplice, in a puddle of his own blood. Maybe it was one of the rich Muscovites they scammed for a car repair in that very garage. Maybe it has to do with a heist they’ve planned, the job that would change their lives.Her boyfriend wants to go on with the rip-off. Her bestie talks her out of it. Caught up in a whirlwind of mistrust, Zoya learns about terrible things her estranged mother had done to Zoya’s siblings. Now she needs this money to mitigate the damage, but is it safe when she suspects everyone?Racing against the time, at odds with the police, a local crime boss and her own conscience, Zoya needs to find out who murdered her partner. Will she fix her life or will she lose everything?An unputdownable prequel novella to the Zoya Volkova thriller series.
Advent
Kevin Wignall - 2013
It's a time of year that brings bittersweet memories for this young man, reminders of all the things he's lost. But tonight he'll strike back against the bad luck that's slowly claimed his family. Tonight he's determined he'll kill the drug dealer, Mohr. Tonight, also, Karsten Groll knows that he will die himself.
The Corpse's Tale
Katherine John - 2006
He lived with his mother in the village of Llan, next door to bright, beautiful 19 year-old Anna Harris. But when Anna's battered body is discovered in a churchyard - and her bloodstained earring turns up Dai's pocket - he immediately becomes the prime suspect.