He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. The Likeness: Still traumatised by her brush with a psychopath, Detective Cassie Maddox transfers out of the Murder squad and starts a relationship with fellow detective Sam O'Neill. When he calls her to the scene of his new case, she is shocked to find that the murdered girl is her double. Faithful Place: The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Broken Harbour: In Broken Harbour, a ghost estate outside Dublin - half-built, half-inhabited, half-abandoned - two children and their father are dead. The mother is on her way to intensive care. Scorcher Kennedy is given the case because he is the Murder squad's star detective. The Secret Place: Even in her exclusive boarding school, in the graceful golden world that Stephen has always longed for, bad things happen and people have secrets. The previous year, Christopher Harper, from the neighbouring boys' school, was found murdered on the grounds. The Trespasser: Being on the Dublin Murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed. Her working life is a stream of thankless cases and harassment. Antoinette is tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point.

    In Sneeze for Danger, a killer is unmasked by unfortunate means, and in The Consolation Blonde, a misunderstanding turns a bestselling author to crime…‘Very smart and memorable . . . both stories are great reminders of a time when McDermid was sharpening her teeth on the crime fiction genre and the great writer she was to become . . . an excellent aperitif before the next McDermid novel’

    Then got out of bed and had a brisk rub down with the pumice stone. I opened the curtains and saw that the sun was shining brightly. (A suspicion is growing in my mind that the BBC is not to be trusted.)Margaret Hilda Roberts is a rather ambitious 14 � year old grocer's daughter from Grantham. She can't abide laziness, finds four hours of chemistry homework delightful and believes she is of royal birth - or at least destined for great things. But Margaret knows that good things never come to those who wait . . .These are the secret diary entries of a girl born into an ordinary life, yet who might just go on to become something really rather extraordinary, and she is brilliantly brought vividly to life by bestselling author Sue Townsend, Britain's favourite comic writer for over three decades.'Essential reading for Mole followers' Times Educational Supplement'Wonderfully funny and sharp as knives' Sunday TimesSue Townsend is Britain's favourite comic author. Her hugely successful novels include eight Adrian Mole books, The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman (Aged 55�), Number Ten, Ghost Children, The Queen and I, Queen Camilla and The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year, all of which are highly acclaimed bestsellers. She has also written numerous well-received plays. She lives in Leicester, where she was born and grew up.

    Instead, things are heating up, and now no one is safe. Ellen Galway has been living life on overdrive. It’s not just her job as a newly minted prosecutor. Her relationship with Texas Ranger Luke Jackson is also getting overheated. Luke keeps knocking down all her boundaries. Ellen’s whirlwind trip to Saratoga Springs to hear her twin sister Maggie’s presentation offers the perfect chance for a cooling off period.Then Luke turns up in Ellen’s hotel lobby. His instincts tell him Ellen and Maggie could be in trouble, and he’s determined not to let anything happen to them. When Maggie disappears, Ellen joins Luke in search of a remote cabin in the Adirondacks. They must find a way to work together if they want to find her sister alive.New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers returns with this exciting novella plus two bonus short stories. In “On the Run,” Gus Winter takes on a killer in the White Mountains, and in “Cold Moonlight,” Ryan “Grit” Taylor proves he’s still a tough U.S. Navy SEAL. Note: "Cold Moonlight" is included in Love Is Murder, an anthology edited by Sandra Brown; "On the Run" is included in Thriller 2, an anthology edited by Clive Cussler.

    Past winners and shortlisted authors have included the Pulitzer winners Junot Díaz, Anthony Doerr and Adam Johnson, plus Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith, Yiyun Li, CK Stead and Elizabeth Strout.Six Shorts 2017 brings together the six stories shortlisted for this year's award: ‘Reputation Management’ by Kathleen Alcott; ‘Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows about Horses’ by Bret Anthony Johnston; ‘The Hazel Twig and the Olive Tree’ by Richard Lambert; ‘The Tenant’ by Victor Lodato; ‘Every Little Thing’ by Celeste Ng; and ‘Mr Salary’ by Sally Rooney.Chosen by a hugely experienced and prestigious judging panel that included Booker-winner Anne Enright, Orange- and Whitbread-winner Rose Tremain, Booker-shortlistee Neel Mukherjee and critic and novelist Mark Lawson, the six stories represent the very best in contemporary English-language short fiction.

    

    Unfortunately, she’s going to find out that’s not quite enough…

    In this riveting thriller, journalist Gideon McCarthy is burnt-out and struggling to keep his life together after years of chasing deadlines. The competition is ruthless, the quest for the next byline relentless. But when a series of murders rocks his Southern California beat, Gideon soon learns that there is a dangerous line between truth and journalism… Sinking his teeth into the news story of a lifetime could prove to be Gideon’s career salvation, but when a deranged killer is at large, and digging too deep puts a target on his own back, Gideon must decide just how far he’s willing to go for the sake of the story. “A great, great read.”—#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Michael Connelly “Captivating and memorable. An excellent mystery.”—Publishers Weekly

    She's a data analyst for the CIA during the day, and a suburban wife and mother on evenings and weekends. After a series of personal struggles and professional failures, Quinn hopes to find redemption in her newest assignment: a series of bizarre assassinations where victims are found with three-digit numbers tattooed, burned, or carved into their flesh. As Quinn pursues the killer across the globe -- always one body behind -- their lives become entangled in ways neither of them can predict.This novella by Christian Cantrell (about 13,000 words) takes place in a world bordering on unprecedented change: as oil-based economies shift to hydrogen, the majority of wealth is redistributed across the globe; as aging nuclear arsenals are replaced with even more menacing threats, terrorists try to seize opportunities to tip the balance of power; and as humans become increasingly dependent on machines, massive indexes of information accumulate which can reveal almost anything about anyone to those who know how to use them.THE EPOCH INDEX is a story about a world changing faster than humanity can adapt to it -- a world which may require us to redefine what it means to be a hero.

    Trained from a young age to destroy those who wield it. The First of the Blade Series begins.Trained to destroy sorcery from a young age, Imogen Inaratha left that life behind, having come to see magic differently. When her brother asks for help, she embarks on a dangerous journey—and must face a part of her past she wanted to forget.An encounter with one of the mythical Porapeth changes the course of the journey. Protecting him forces her to face dark magical creatures and a powerful sorcerer determined to destroy the Porapeth in his quest for even more power.To succeed, she must learn the truth of the blade she’d long thought she’d mastered.She must truly become the First of the Blade.

    Another couple will explore that step, only to be thrown back by a violent emergency that calls them to duty before love. When Simon Lewis spontaneously proposes to Isabelle Lightwood, Clary Fairchild has two days to plan a grand engagement party. With a lot of help from their Downworlder and mundane friends, Clary and Jace Herondale pull it off. But it wouldn't be the Shadow World if trouble didn't arrive to threaten even the most joyous occasion. As the new co-head of the New York Institute, Clary must deal with an impending Downworlder civil war, all while trying to keep Isabelle away from a room suspiciously full of tulips, to which she is dangerously allergic. Clary and Jace finally find a moment for themselves, but Magnus Bane interrupts them before they can have the conversation they really need to have – a conversation about that longest of conversations, marriage, that they may never get to have if they don't survive the night...

    Too bad the guy she finds happens to be a vampire.Nate Glover isn’t the right type of guy to be a vampire. He’s not a thousand year old Viking or an ancient Roman or a veteran of the Civil War. Even worse, he’s sexually straight and financially stable–the vampire equivalent of a Republican. Having been ‘brought over’ in 1955, he couldn’t handle being a vampire in the age of McCarthyism and Leave it to Beaver and decided to take a fifty-five year nap. Now he finds himself unable to connect with the women of the twenty-first century on any level more meaningful than a gastronomic one–that is until he meets Sam.Sam and Nate hit it off, but it isn’t long before they have trouble. Sam’s ex doesn’t want to let her go and it turns out that the Mistress who turned Nate undead in the first place, feels the same way. When Nate’s scheming friend finds out there’s something special about Sam, namely that a taste of her blood increases vampiric power, the new couple are summoned to the capital of Vampire-kind. No, not Transylvania--Miami. Murder, mayhem, and a fight to the un-death ensue as Nate struggles to accept his powers, Sam learns to live with a man who’s a permanent night person, and they both try to bridge the generation gap and find true love in Blind Date with a Vampire.

    She wants their relationship to stay professional so she can continue to hide her nightmares. When Lucas starts getting closer Jessica is forced to face her past or leave. Some think that's for the best and will do anything to get Jessica away from her Master. Will Jessica finally accept the love that's being offered or will she continue to hide behind the scars of her past, keeping her away from the family she's never had?

    series: Bri’s voice remained steady. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen enough TV and read enough books to know that you bounty hunter types tuck blades into your boots.” “Bounty hunters?” Del’s face registered amused distaste. “Is that what you think we are?” He took a few steps forward. “Search and rescue is our job,” he told her. “We find and we save.” “Well pardon me for not wanting to be found and saved,” she hissed. “She’s got you there.” A blond, unsmiling giant planted himself next to Del. “And,” he pulled up his pant leg to reveal a knife, “she’s dead on about the blades.” *** After the most memorable one night stand of his life, Del has been hired to search for the woman who, months earlier, snuck from his hotel room with no goodbye. When he finds her will she run again, or accept his help against a threat to her life? Brina Capadella knows all about rich, entitled men. Even if Delancourt Songen doesn’t fit the stereotype, can he be trusted? So what if he checks all the boxes on her perfect-male, wish-list. Bri needs to stay as far away from Del as possible.

    Elrod's picked 15 of her favorite short works for this multi-genre collection spanning 15 years of publication.Also included is a never before published VAMPIRE FILES story, featuring her urban fantasy vampire PI, Jack Fleming!Each story has been polished afresh for this anthology, with pages of new material added.More information -- and previews of the stories! -- may be found at her website vampwriter-dot-com.Titles:1. A Night at the (Horse) Opera (Vampire Files, Fleming)2. The Breath of Bast (Vampire Files), Ecsott)3. Bossman (Original mystery, no vamps)4. Slaughter (Vampire Files, Fleming & Gordy)5. The Devil's Mark (Original historical vampire)6. You'll Catch Your Death (Vampire Files)7. Izzy's Shoe-In (Historical mystery introducing Izzy DeLeon, fearless girl reporter)8. The Quick Way Down (Vampire Files, Fleming and Gordy)9. The Scottish Ploy (Original romance/mystery)10. Grave-Robbed (Vampire Files, Fleming)11. The Company You Keep (Vampire Files, Gabriel Kroun)12. Death in Dover (Jonathan Barrett before he got vamped, historical mystery)13. Drawing Dead (ALL NEW VAMPIRE FILES, Fleming)14. King of Shreds and Patches (Hamlet from a different point of view, mystery)15. Fugitive (Science fiction/space opera)16. BONUS STORY! The Wind Breathes Cold (Quincey Morris: Vampire)