Her sobs flecked his shirt with tears, which now flowed freely, their salty water aggravating the wounds accumulated on her naked flesh over the endless days she had been held captive. The end must be near now and she was so sure that it must end. She tried in vain one last time to wrench free her hands, but the bindings held firm. Knees, so long on the floor, would not have held her up anyway - had she tried to run. He was calm; she was wretched. Instinctively, she pulled her thighs to her abdomen to protect her unborn child. His hands tightened, her eyes widened - pleading. His pressure did not relent and slowly everything faded…After months of mental and physical therapy, Yvonne Giles, an Oxford DI, is back at work and that's just how she likes it. So when she is asked to hunt the serial killer responsible for taking apart young women, the DI jumps at the chance but hides the fact that she is suffering debilitating flashbacks. The victims appear to meet their murderer willingly, telling their families they're going on vacation. No one sees them again until their macabre death scenes. A quirk of the killer's signature is the food and wine stains he leaves on the backs of the girls.Yvonne is told to work with Tasha Phillips, an in-her-face, criminal psychologist. The DI's previous experience of working with a profiler involved having a case thrown out by the Crown Prosecution Service for reasons of entrapment. She's not enamoured with the idea of working with one again. Tasha has a lot to prove. The DI has a lot to get over.A tentative link with a 20 year-old cold case brings her closer to the truth, but leaves her staring her own mortality directly in the face...

     It is DC Jane Dixon's first week on Kendal's CID team. Her new boss, DI Andy Hall, gives her an open file to review, and it's a far from straightforward case. A woman has died in suspicious circumstances in a Windermere caravan park, and although her husband is suspected there's not a shred of solid evidence against him. Can Jane move the case forward, or will a cold-blooded killer really get away with murder? The rest of the team is busy too, because a vulnerable teenager from a troubled family has gone missing from home. There's nothing to suggest that the boy has been abducted, so what could have caused him to run away from home? DS Ian Mann, a tough ex-military man, and DC Ray Dixon are both heavily involved in the investigation. This story introduces key members of the investigative team, as well as many of the themes that are developed in the full-length Lakeland Murders novels: including a strong sense of place, and an understanding that while justice usually prevails it is rarely complete, or completely fair. Reader reviews for the full-length novels in the Lakeland Murders series include: 'Well developed, realistic, relatable characters, great plot, believable detailed scenes, good action sequences. Recommend to those that appreciate British detective novels. Always devour Lakeland murder mysteries.' 'Love J J Salkeld's books, his understanding of police procedure, his ability to draw his characters out into real people is, I believe, up there with the best of them and it is good to find crime stories set in Cumbria for a change.' 'Salkeld is good. Not just as a writer of gripping detective stories; but even more for his feisty exposure of the lunacies of institutions, hierarchies, and power. A refreshing and enlightening anarchist - much needed in these jaded, compliant and consumptive times.'

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     It’s only when her brother, Robert, a forensic psychologist, comes to visit that she is made aware of the uneasy undercurrents and tensions which pervade this seemingly peaceful village society. But even he doesn’t suspect that someone is concealing a childhood trauma so severe that it has fractured their personality. But then a strange series of events persuades both Margaret and Robert that a killer is among them. It starts with small attacks. Strange objects appear in villagers’ homes, belongings are damaged and rooms ransacked. But then there are hate-filled poison pen letters follow, and an arson attack that results in a death. Victims themselves, Margaret and Robert are drawn to the heart of the mystery. Combining their very different approaches they must try and single out the damaged individual whose tragic past has led them to commit such evil acts. But will they be able to identify the perpetrator before more lives are lost? Or are they 'Past Praying For'? 'Past Praying For' is a chilling, psychological mystery story by one of the masters of the genre. ‘Very good indeed’ Highbury & Islington Express ‘Aline Templeton conveys a sense of drama and suspense which is easy to read and difficult to put down’ Yorkshire Gazette & Herald ‘Templeton’s a considerable writer both intelligent and intuitive’ Literary Review Aline Templeton lives in Edinburgh with her husband, in a house with a balcony built by an astronomer to observe the stars over the beautiful city skyline. She has worked in education and broadcasting and has written numerous articles and stories for newspapers and magazines. Her books include ‘Shades of Death’ and ‘Night and Silence’. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

     But when the police look inside they find something they never expected. A mysterious, ornate, but apparently ancient coffin. And what appears to be an Egyptian Mummy. Detective Inspector Ray Wilson is about to be thrown into the most baffling case of his career. And the most dangerous. He has to find out where it came from and where it was going. And more importantly why would anyone smuggle an Egyptian Mummy across the UK? Out of his depth, he turns for help to Cambridge’s world famous Fitzwilliam Museum and its curator of Egyptology, Karen Bowen. As a romance blossoms between Wilson and Bowen, the pair find themselves embroiled in a deadly conspiracy. As other identical Mummies are found around the world the trail leads back to a Turkish people smuggler - and a man with links to an evil trade that stretches back thousands of years. It will be the biggest case of Wilson's career - but one that may end his life. 'Dead Harvest' is a gripping detective thriller that introduces a memorable new detective. It is the first gripping installment in the Ray Wilson Thriller series. It is certain to appeal to fans of Peter James, Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson. "A brilliant page-turner." - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of Trade-Off. "Chilling and realistic. A five-star read." - Robert Foster, best-selling author of The Lunar Code. Andrew Leatham is a former national newspaper and television journalist, turned public relations consultant. He lives in Lancashire. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

    Nora ran off with twenty grand, a gram of coke, and his favourite leather jacket, leaving him with little more than a hangover and a Dido soundtrack. But Nora’s sights are on the two hundred grand Farrell supposedly stashed somewhere in the middle of Northumberland, and she’s enlisted the help of her old boyfriend, a former hit man, to retrieve it.Farrell hooks up with an old Army mate, the shoplifting, rotgut-swilling arsonist Jimmy Cobb and sets off after them. When this pair catch up with Nora and her ex, there’s going to be hell to pay, 'cause nobody messes with Farrell and Cobb ...WOLF TICKETS is hardcore Ray Banks – ballsy, breathless and brutal.

    They're back in the fifth adventure in the beloved and acclaimed series that influenced generations of crime writers. Retired pro football star Ed Cross did most of his scoring between bed posts with other player's women, including Hump's ex-girlfriend. That was bad enough. But, just to rub it in, Cross sends Hump an x-rated birthday skin flick of him celebrating in bed with two women. Hump goes looking for blood... and finds it. Cross is murdered and Hump becomes the prime suspect. Hardman works to clear Hump and discovers there's plenty of murderous hate for Cross out there...from the top of the sports world to the pits of Atlanta's illegal gambling scene... and revealing it could get them both killed. This new edition includes an Afterword from Ben Jones, the Dukes of Hazzard actor and former U.S. Congressman from Georgia. PRAISE FOR THE HARDMAN NOVELS "Like Chandler and Hammett before him, Dennis was trying to do something different with what was thought of as throwaway literature.” Joe R. Lansdale, New York Times bestselling author of the Hap & Leonard series “The Hardman books are by far the best of the men’s action-adventure series.” Mother Jones Magazine “Among the best series books around.” Philadelphia Daily News

    In the explosive opening to an exciting new mystery series, private investigator Burr Ashland learns that his best friend, a history professor, has been murdered.Burr is plunged into an investigation that puts him in the middle of a violent struggle not just between the present and the past, but between good and evil.With nonstop action and breakneck twists, BEER MONEY is the next bestseller from Dani Amore, who Mystery Tribune calls “A sensation among Kindle owners who love fast paced thrillers.”

    The tiny New Jersey town she lived in has seen a rash of suicides lately, with the unlikely coincidence that everyone who has died worked for Kemco, the chemical factory company that fuels the town’s economy.As Crane digs deeper, he encounters Boone, a local woman writing a book about the environmental destruction that has come at the hands of the local chemical giant. The two team up to unravel the conspiracies surrounding the factory—which soon makes them the next targets for those aiming to keep Kemco’s shady dealings under wraps.The pair races to expose the illegal operations poisoning the town and bring Kemco to justice—before either of them becomes the latest in the growing list of “suicides.”

    PI Sid Chance, former National Parks ranger and small town police chief, takes the case and finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of lies, deceptions, and threats. Who is tailing and warning him to back off? Is the man responsible for the pollution dead or alive? When ex-cop friend Jaz LeMieux offers her help, she is awakened by an explosion behind her mansion. Is it related to the abduction of her employees’ grandson, or Sid’s case? As the tension mounts, Sid finds himself confronting the unsavory people responsible for his past troubles.

    With attendance now hitting the double digits, nothing can stop the Bolster express.When Bolster gets invited to teach at The Gathering, a prestigious yoga retreat run by the renowned Tom Hart, it seems like things can’t get any better. Bolster is a little dubious about the cultish atmosphere, but, as they say in L.A., it’s an honor just to be nominated. What starts off as a relaxing, decadent retreat quickly spirals into deadly chaos that forces Bolster to use all his yoga-detective powers, and also his fists.Open Your Heart, like Neal Pollack's first Matt Bolster book, Downward-Facing Death, is a biting satire of trendy, sexually-driven yoga culture, where ancient principles of loving enlightenment clash with the darkest corners of human nature. The latest in the Matt Bolster Yoga Mystery series will thrill readers, whether they read it while in Crow Pose or on the couch.

    Wry, laconic, and more than a little world-weary, Tatum pursues a savage killer through the rural Virginia uplands with the hot-headed assistance of Special Agent Kate LeComte. Warwolf is by turns hilarious and deeply unsettling, and T.R. Pearson’s gift for capturing the true voice of the new south is on conspicuous display. The mountains of Virginia have never seemed so dangerously alive, and there remains no better company in the southern highlands than Deputy Ray Tatum.Ray Tatum also appears in Cry Me A River, Blue Ridge, and Polar -- written to be read in no particular order.

    

    Relatively GuiltyCredit may be crunching all around but crime is booming and to add to busy caseload come instructions in a homicide. A policeman with a caved-in skull, his young wife found clutching the blood-stained murder weapon; it all looks pretty open and shut until Robbie detects the faint whiff of a defence and closes in on a witness who might cast a precious doubt on proceedings. So why is it, the nearer he gets to the truth and a possible acquittal, that Robbie’s murder client becomes more and more eager to opt for a life sentence?In the midst of these hectic trial preparations, complications arise in Robbie’s personal life. His love life may not be DOA but it’s in a high dependency unit, his brother, a former soccer legend, has carelessly killed the daughter of a Glasgow gangster and has a price on his head while Robbie finds himself in the dock on a counterfeiting charge that looks set to end his career in the law.If only his life were as simple as that of the folk of the Vendee where Robbie’s search for his elusive witness takes him and where, on the salt marshes of the Loire estuary, he hears the tale of the mythical Twinfish and suddenly everything seems a whole lot clearer.