Mary March had been having some murderous thoughts as she walked through the Great Park in Windsor early that October morning. So perhaps it was fate that she should find the first victim . . . For only a few hours later, in the recently abandoned home of her neighbour Alice Hardy, Mary discovers the body of a young man, his face painted red, white and blue - his thymus gland expertly cut from his chest. And for high-ranking policewoman Charmian Daniels, brought in to head the investigation, this is just one of a number of disturbing features. Because the thymus gland in animals is known as the sweetbread, an edible delicacy - and Mary has received a note which claims this murder is just a 'taster'. But is Mary all she seems? Is she the persecuted or, in fact, the persecutor? And why has Alice Hardy disappeared? Has she become another victim - or could she be the murderer? As Charmian seeks the answers to these questions, the killer has more work to do . . .

An incredible new thriller you won’t want to put down!

It’s a case unlike anything detective Mina Dabiri has seen before. A woman trapped inside a magician’s box, with swords pierced through. But this time, it’s not a magic trick. It’s murder.

Knowing she has a terrifying killer on her hands, Mina enlists the help of celebrity mentalist, Vincent Walder. Only he can give her an insight into the secret world of magic and illusions.

Mina and Vincent soon discover that the murder victim has the roman numeral III engraved on her leg. The killer is counting down. There are going to be three more murders. And time is running out to stop them.

An emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily.

Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome lemon grower toiling on the estate of a baron. He dreams of owning his own grove, but the rigid class system of Sicily thwarts his ambition. Determined to secure a better future, Franco will do anything to prove his loyalty to the baron. But when the baron asks him to kidnap a little boy named Dante, Franco makes a decision that will change his life—and even the history of Sicily—forever.

Gaetano Catalano is an idealistic young lawyer whose devotion to justice is tantamount to a calling. He’s a member of the Beati Paoli, a real-life secret society of aristocrats who investigate crime in Palermo, a city riddled with graft. Gaetano sets out to find the boy and punish the kidnapper, but his mission leads him to a darker place than he had ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Mafalda Pancari is a new mother rejoicing at the birth of her daughter, Lucia, when disaster strikes. And Alfredo D’Antonio is a reclusive goat-herd under constant threat of being discovered as a Jew. How the lives of these unforgettable characters collide makes Loyalty an epic tale of good versus evil, as the story twists and turns to its monumental showdown.

Readers will be transported to the dramatic and ruggedly beautiful island of Sicily, the jewel of the Mediterranean, where lush lemon groves and mouth-watering cuisine contrast with a turbulent history of colonization and corruption. Scottoline brings her decades of thriller writing to historical fiction, creating in Loyalty a singular novel that no reader will be able to put down.

A young girl goes missing after getting into a car with a mysterious man. Soon after, a second girl disappears, and her devastated father, Witness, sets out to seek revenge. As the trail goes cold, Samantha Khama - new recruit to the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department - suspects the girl was killed for muti, the traditional African medicine usually derived from plants, sometimes animals, and, recently and most chillingly, human parts. When the investigation gets personal, Samantha enlists opera-loving wine connoisseur Assistant Superintendent David 'Kubu' Bengu to help her dig into the past. As they begin to discover a pattern to the disappearances, there is another victim, and Kubu and Samantha are thrust into a harrowing race to stop a serial killer who has only one thing in mind... '... a fascinating police procedural ... the most complex book in this series. Besides being an intricate crime puzzle that Kubu and his team must untangle, it also looks at societal issues' St Paul Pioneer Press 'Compelling and deceptively written...' New York Journal of Books 'Richly atmospheric ... a gritty depiction of corruption and deception' Publishers Weekly 'A wonderful, original voice - McCall Smith with a dark edge and even darker underbelly' Peter James 'Under the African sun, Michael Stanley's Detective Kubu investigates crimes as dark as the darkest of Nordic Noir. Call it Sunshine Noir, if you will - a must read' Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Fanny Fanfairly has recently inherited an infamous Victorian brothel house in the centre of Windsor. The house is now rundown and empty, apart from the strange wax models - each striking an erotic pose - that inhabit every floor. And Fanny is convinced these models are moving all by themselves . . . She asks her friend, high-ranking policewoman Charmian Daniels, for help. But Charmian has little time to ponder on the old woman's bizarre fears, for a London prostitute, Alicia Ellendale, has gone missing following a day trip to Windsor. Alicia has one very distinguishing feature - the stub of a sixth toe on her right foot. A missing person case would not normally be Charmian's domain - but her bosses are getting twitchy because Alicia was last seen on her way to visit Frank Felyx, a recently retired detective inspector from their division. What's more, Frank is now refusing to open his door. Charmian is given the unenviable task of finding the missing woman before the police are dragged into a messy case. And at some point she's still got to sort out the strange goings-on in Fanny's new house . . . Then a young boy makes a gruesome discovery on the river bank at Runneymede - a shoe bearing a woman's severed foot . . .

Fierce, mixed-race fighter Shindo has been kidnapped by the yakuza. After brutally beating most of them in an attempt to escape, she is forced to work as a bodyguard to protect the gang boss's sheltered daughter Shoko, a strange, friendless eighteen-year-old who could order Shindo's death in a moment.

At first Shindo derides Shoko's naïvete, but as the men around them grow ever more bloodthirsty and controlling, she becomes ferociously devoted to her charge. However, she knows that if things continue as they are, neither woman can expect to survive much longer.

But could there ever be a different life for two people like them?

A SECRET KEPT FOR A THOUSAND YEARS... After the dramatic theft of a priceless artefact from Durham Cathedral, the rest of the world believes that DCI Ryan and his team were able to recover and return St. Cuthbert's cross to its rightful home. But Ryan knows the cross he recovered was a fake-far from being over, their problems are only just beginning... Just as Ryan and his team begin to unravel the truth behind the spate of mysterious thefts, something even more priceless is stolen-something that can never be replaced. As the nationwide manhunt continues without success, Ryan is thrust into despair-until he realises the answer lies not in modern policing but in an age-old secret known only to a chosen few. To recover what's been lost, he must first crack 'Cuthbert's Code', following the trail of a long-dead saint across the wild, unpredictable hills and valleys of the borderlands. Can Ryan find what he's looking for, before it's too late? He's going to need a miracle... Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunit set amidst the spectacular Northumbrian landscape. "LJ Ross keeps company with the best mystery writers" - The Times "A literary phenomenon" - Evening Chronicle

How can a man who’s already dead be wanted for murder?

This is the question sports agent Myron Bolitar asks himself when two FBI agents visit him in New York.

The man they are looking for is Myron’s former client and rival, Greg Downing. Greg’s DNA has been found at the scene of a high-profile double murder, and he is now the FBI’s main suspect.

But Greg died three years previously, Myron says. He went to his funeral and gave the eulogy.

The FBI are disbelieving, and Myron knows he has to find some answers – and quickly.

Could Greg Downing still be alive?

The more Myron and his close friend Win dig into what really happened, the more dangerous their world becomes . . .

Secrets, lies and a murderous conspiracy that stretches back into the past lie at the heart of Harlan Coben’s blistering new thriller.

THE THIRD NOVEL IN THE RECORD-BREAKING, MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES BY RICHARD OSMAN ---------- 'Full of Osman's trademark charm, insight and intelligence' Lee Child 'Tender, hopeful and funny' Marian Keyes 'I adored this thrilling adventure. His best yet!' Claire Douglas 'Infectious, charming and full of heart' Gillian McAllister It is an ordinary Thursday and things should finally be returning to normal. Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned. A decade-old cold case leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers. Then a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill...or be killed. As the cold case turns white hot, Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), while Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim chase down clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again? ---------- WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES 'Infectious, charming and full of heart' GILLIAN MCALLISTER 'I adored this thrilling adventure. His best yet!' CLAIRE DOUGLAS 'Another witty, charming and hugely entertaining read ... his best yet' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'A joy to be back...intrigue, red herrings and loads of charm' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'I snickered so much reading this one' THE OBSERVER 'Opening the new Osman is like sitting down to dinner with treasured friends you know are going to kill you - deliciously!' PETER JAMES 'Full of humour and heart, Osman delivers another must-read. I loved it' HARLAN COBEN 'A warm, wise and witty warning never to underestimate the elderly' VAL MCDERMID 'So smart and funny. Deplorably good' IAN RANKIN 'Thrilling, moving, laugh-out-loud funny' MARK BILLINGHAM

The murder of a Windsor schoolgirl at Miss Bailey's Nursery School ten years ago shocked the local community. Closed down, the school stood empty and rotting, but Nancy Bailey would not sell. Sometimes the neighbours thought that the heard voices and saw lights in the 'murder house' . . . Nancy's half-sister inherits the house and, opening up the basement room, is greeted by a horrifying sight: the body of a woman, a decapitated head between its legs. As the police re-open their investigations, high-ranking policewoman Charmian Daniels must dig deep into an underworld of dark secrets and witchcraft to unmask a ruthless, perverted killer.

From a seasoned insider of global finance comes a "stimulating, relevant, and dramatic" (The Wall Street Journal) thriller about a group of American operatives who secretly take over the world's largest dark money fund--"a gripping thriller that takes you into the world of New York hedge funds, Russian money launderers, and DC power politics [that] makes you feel like you're actually there" (Bill Browder, author of Red Notice). When a US airdrop of billions of dollars disap-pears in the desert sands of Syria, only a small group of military operatives knows its ultimate destination or why it has been stolen. Their goal is no less than the restoration of America's geopolitical dominance on the global stage. Essential to this scheme are Greta Webb, a sophisticated CIA operative who is an expert on dark money, not to mention lethally skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and Elias Vicker, the damaged, dangerous soul who runs the world's largest hedge fund. To achieve its goals, the group must form dangerous alliances. One is with the hidden family that manages the largest private pool of capital that has ever existed. Another is with Fyodor Volk, the ruthless founder of Russia's most successful private military company, a mercenary with ties to Vladimir Putin. Volk has his eye on Greta. She would be wise to avoid him but cannot. Arcing from Manhattan's finest apartments to Washington, DC, from Middle Eastern war zones to private European bank vaults, Jay Newman's Undermoney follows the Americans as they are enmeshed in the world of dark money and confront ever-increasing danger. Ultimately, they must decide whether their objectives are worth the cost of sacrificing not just a few but potentially many human lives. "Unexpectedly timely" (The New Yorker), Undermoney is a "wildly entertaining peek behind the curtain of American politics, financial skullduggery, and high-stakes global conflict" (Nelson DeMille).

The acres and acres of fertile soil, the two-hundred year old antebellum house, all gone. And so is the woman who gave it to him. The foster mother who saved Jack Boucher from a childhood of abandonment now rests in a hospice. Her mind eroded by dementia, the family legacy she entrusted to Jack is now owned by banks and strangers. And Jack's mind is failing too, as concussion after concussion forces him to carry around a notebook of names that separate friend from foe. In a single twisted night Jack is derailed. Losing the money that will clear his debt with the queen of Delta vice, and forcing Jack into the fighting pit one last time. The stakes - nothing less than life or death.

The circus is in town... When a ten-year-old girl turns up on DCI Ryan's doorstep to tell him she's witnessed a murder, he has no idea he's about to step into his most spellbinding case yet. The circus has rolled into Newcastle upon Tyne, bringing with it a troupe of daring acrobats, magicians, jugglers-and one of them is a killer. Ryan and his team must break through their closed ranks to uncover a secret which has lain buried for eight years, before the killer strikes again-this time, to silence the only living witness... Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular Northumbrian landscape. "LJ Ross keeps company with the best mystery writers" - The Times "A literary phenomenon" - Evening Chronicle

A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment "Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining." -Wall Street Journal "Don't trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman's own laugh-out-loud whodunit." -Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

Die Ontelbare 48 is ‘n eenmanstuk is uit die pen van Fiësta-wenner Wessel Pretorius. Dis Woensdagaand op ’n klein plattelandse dorpie in die Laeveld. Die skoolsaal word ingerig vir die maandelikse fliekaand. Agt-en-veertig dorpenaars vergader bymekaar, elkeen met sy eie storie, om The Sound of Music te kyk.

Tussen hulle sit ? moordenaar met ? sluwe plan. Dit is ? mikrokosmiese blik op die alledaagse menslikheid wat ons almal, maak nie saak hoe anders ons dink of leef nie, eindelik saambind. ’n Satiriese drama wat die mens se uithouvermoë vier.

Killer twists. Heroes to believe in. Trust Baldacci. Private Investigator and WWII veteran, Aloysius Archer, returns to solve a new case in Hollywood in Dream Town, a riveting thriller from international number 1 bestselling author, David Baldacci. All that glitters . . . 1952, Los Angeles. It is New Year's Eve and PI Aloysius Archer is dining with his friend and rising Hollywood actress Liberty Callahan when they're approached by Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter who would like to hire him, as she suspects someone is trying to kill her. Murder and mystery A visit to Lamb's Malibu residence leaves Archer knocked unconscious after he stumbles over a dead body in the hallway; and Lamb seems to have vanished. With the police now involved in the case, a close friend and colleague of Lamb's employs Archer to find out what's happened to the screenwriter. The City of Angels - or somewhere much, much darker? Archer's investigation takes him from the rich, glamorous and glitzy LA to the seedy, dark side of the city, and onward to the gambling mecca of Las Vegas, just now hitting its stride as a hot spot for celebrities and a money-making machine for the mob. In a place where cops and crooks work hand in hand, Archer will cross paths with Hollywood stars, politicians and notorious criminals. He'll almost die several times, and he'll discover bodies and secrets from the canyons and beaches of Malibu and the luxurious mansions of Bel Air and Beverly Hills to the narcotics clubs of Chinatown. With the help of Liberty and his PI partner Willie Dash, Archer will risk everything and leave no stone unturned in finding the missing Eleanor Lamb, and in bringing to justice killers who would love nothing better than to plant Archer six feet under.

Life had been looking up - she's dating a new man and finally getting praise at work. But after the accident everything seems to plummet downhill. In the space of a few days her flat is burgled and her flatmate assaulted - she loses her phone and then her job. Are these events linked? Perhaps what she had seen was something more sinister?

High-ranking policewoman Charmian Daniels drove home to Windsor on the day in November that the castle burned. The fire chimed in with her mood, almost of despair: she had been brooding on death and murder, for her day had been spent talking to a mother whose child has been abducted by a stranger. Eight-year-old Sarah Holt has now been missing from her home for eight days, and the chances of her being found alive diminish with each passing hour. The only clue to her disappearance is one of her dolls, left battered and alone on the doorstep. Nobody reports having seen Sarah alive, so the police begin the grim task of searching for her body. Then on the patch of land known as Baby Drop where unwanted babies used to be left as foundlings, a gruesome discovery is made. But the child's corpse lying next to the skeleton of a baby buried nearly a century before is not Sarah Holt but a young boy, recently reported missing from his foster home. Could the two deaths and Sarah's disappearance be connected? In tandem with the search for Sarah and the hunt for the boy's killer, Charmian cannot help thinking about the tiny baby abandoned all those years ago. Might the antique locket found near the skeleton be a vital link with the past? Or is Charmian clutching at straws in a desperate attempt to solve the horrors of the present?

Evoking the golden age of crime, and for fans of Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie, comes the second book in the Aloysius Archer series, A Gambling Man from one of the world's bestselling thriller writers, David Baldacci.

California, 1949. Aloysius Archer is on his way to start a new job with a renowned Private Investigator in Bay Town. Feeling lucky, he stops off at a casino in Reno, where he meets an aspiring actress, Liberty Callahan. Together, they head west on a journey filled with danger and surprises - because Archer isn't the only one with a secretive past.

Arriving in a town rife with corruption, Archer is tasked with finding out who is doing everything they can to disrupt the appointment of a top official. Then two seemingly unconnected people are murdered at a burlesque club. In a tight-lipped community, Archer must dig deep to reveal the connection between the victims.

As the final perilous showdown unfurls, Archer will need all of his skills to decipher the truth from the lies and finally, to prove she's a star in the making, will Liberty have her moment in the spotlight?

A killing like no other. A killer more twisted than he's ever seen before. A case that will test him to the limit. Has Robert Hunter finally met his match? 'Do you believe the Devil exists, Detective?' the officer at the end of the line asks. 'Because if you don't . . . I'm sure you will once you get here.' Robert Hunter is called to the most vicious crime scene he has ever attended. It is made even more disturbing when the autopsy reveals a poem, left by the killer, inside the body of their victim. Soon, another body is found. The methods and signature of the murder differs, but the level of violence used suggests that the same person is behind both crimes. Hunter's fears are confirmed when a second part of the poem is found. But this discovery does more than just link the two killings - it suggests that this is the work of a serial murderer. With no forensic evidence to go on, Robert Hunter must catch the most disciplined and systematic killer that he has ever encountered, someone who thrives on the victims' fear, and to whom death is a lesson that needs to be taught. From #1 Sunday Times and multi-million copy bestselling author, Chris Carter, comes the most compelling and ruthless Robert Hunter thriller yet. ***PRE-ORDER NOW*** PRAISE FOR CHRIS CARTER 'Wonderful storytelling, with a superbly drawn killer, it underlines exactly how good Carter has become' Daily Mail 'Former criminal psychologist Carter knows what he's talking about when it comes to creating bone-chilling serial killers, so be prepared for a terror ride' Heat 'Carter has a background in criminal psychology and the killers at the centre of his novels are all the more terrifying for it' Mail on Sunday 'Carter is one of those authors who makes writing look effortless ... I couldn't put it down' Crime Squad 'An insanely good crime series. Extraordinarily well written, high quality and high drama all the way' Liz Loves Books 'An intriguing and scary thriller' Better Reading 'A gripping feast of thrills' Shots 'A gripping psychological thriller' Breakaway 'This is a chilling, compulsive portrait of a psychopath, and proves that Carter is now in the Jeffery Deaver class' Daily Mail 'Punchy and fast paced' Sunday Mirror

From BookTok sensation Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. A woman can be great, and terrible too. Evelina Westerly has always been the bad guy. As the brains, brawn, and botanist behind her family's drug empire, she's her father's ruthless secret weapon. With her days divided between perfecting her greenhouse, seeking revenge for her sister's murder, and putting a gun to the head of anyone in her way, Evelina doesn't have time for anything else. Especially not for love. After a one-night stand with a gorgeous man at a nightclub, she's sated her urges and is back to her criminal ways. That is, until that same man shows up as the new Westerly lackey...under a totally different name. But Nicholas Woodsworth's real secret is much more dangerous than an alias. He's an undercover DEA agent, and he's hell-bent on destroying the drug trade that devastated his family. When he realizes the youngest daughter of the Westerly empire is the same woman he's been fantasizing about since that night at the club, attraction wars violently with disgust. Evelina embodies everything he's against, and he's been sent here to be her downfall. Yet the more they learn about the darkness in each other's hearts, the more alike they seem, and when hatred turns to something more, Nicholas will have to decide whether he can love a wretched woman, even if it means bringing both of their lives to ruin.

Gabriel Laucus has lost his job and his parent’s home is about to be repossessed. Desperate and on the brink of financial ruin, he devises a risky insurance scam to salvage his crumbling life. This sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events.

Soon, Gabriel and his friends have a psychopathic hitman, a ruthless drug lord, and a relentless investigator on their tail. As Gabriel navigates a world of fraud and dangerous alliances, he must outwit his pursuers and confront the harrowing repercussions of his choices.

Deadly Benefits is a heart-pounding journey through the high-stakes game of survival. The price of one wrong move could mean life or death.

An unhappy game of romantic follow-the-leader explodes into murder one weekend at The Hollow, home of Sir Henry and Lucy Angkatell. Dr. Cristow is at the center of the trouble when his mistress Henrietta, ex-mistress Veronica, and wife Gerda, simultaneously arrive at The Hollow. Also visiting are Edward (who is in love with Henrietta) and Midge (who loves Edward). Veronica ardently desires to marry Cristow and succeeds in reopening their affair but is unable to get him to divorce his wife. Veronica unwisely states that if she cannot have him, no one shall. Within five minutes Cristow is dead. Nearly everyone has a motive and most had the opportunity. Enter Inspector Colquhoun and Sergeant Penny to solve the crime.