The Notting Hill Mystery has been widely described as the first detective novel. The story is told by the insurance investigator Ralph Henderson, who is building a case against the sinister Baron R___, suspected of murdering his wife in order to claim her life insurance. Henderson descends into a maze of intrigue, including a diabolical mesmerist, kidnapping by gypsies, slow-poisoners, a rich uncle's will and three murders.Presented in the form of diary entries, family letters, chemical analysis reports, interviews with witnesses and a crime scene map, the novel displays innovative techniques that would not become common features of detective fiction until the 1920s. This novel launched the British Library Crime Classics series in 2012, and is now reissued with a striking new cover design

An anthology of noir stories set in the tumultuous metropolis, Lagos. Edited by Chris Abani, this collection brings together brand new stories from some of Nigeria's best loved writers. From the introduction by Chris Abani: The thirteen stories that comprise this volume stretch the boundaries of "noir" fiction, but each one of them fully captures the essence of noir, the unsettled darkness that continues to lurk in the city's streets, alleys, and waterways...Together, these stories create an unchartered path through the center of Lagos and out to its peripheries, revealing so much more truth at the heart of this tremendous city than any guidebook, TV show, film, or book you are likely to find.

Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog's Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue - and begins to uncover a web of romantic entanglements beneath the couple's peaceful rural life. The case soon takes a more complex turn. Other people vanish mysteriously, one of Dr Earle's house guests among them. What is the explanation for the disappearances? If the missing people have been murdered, what can be the motive? This fiendishly complicated puzzle is one that only Inspector French can solve. Freeman Wills Crofts was a master of the intricately and ingeniously plotted detective novel, and The Hog's Back Mystery shows him at the height of his powers.

The UK's most downloaded sports title of 2012! The prequel to the Movie Top Dog starring Leo Gregory - Directed by Martin Kemp APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEPTIVE - as As Paul Jarvis of the National Soccer Intelligence Unit is only too well aware. He knows that Billy Evans is no ordinary Cockney lad made good. He's also a thug, a villain and a cop killer. Jarvis just hasn't been able to prove it...Yet. So when Jarvis discovers that Evans is putting together a hooligan 'Super Crew' to follow the England national soccer team to Italy, he feels sure he can finally put Evans behind bars - if only someone can infiltrate the group and get him the proof he needs. But nothing is ever that simple. The Crew believe Evans is just out for a full-on riot. Jarvis thinks he's trafficking drugs. But Billy Evans is always one step ahead. He has another plan. And it will be catastrophic for everyone concerned. EXCEPT HIM.

Based on the Sherlock Holmes film: Ellery Queen matches wits with the Baker Street sleuth to unmask Jack the Ripper. Ellery Queen is struggling over his latest book when a friend brings him a mystery. It is a journal, written by a Victorian doctor, of reports on the remarkable adventures of his close friend, a brilliant detective named Sherlock Holmes. Queen's surprise turns to amazement as he turns its pages and discovers the lost story of Sherlock Holmes's greatest case: the pursuit of Jack the Ripper. From the brothels and back alleys of fog-choked Whitechapel to the manor of one of England's greatest families, Holmes and Dr. Watson chase history's most fearsome killer. But it will take the brilliance of Ellery Queen to solve the case once and for all. Based on the Sherlock Holmes film A Study in Terror, this collaboration between two of the world's greatest detectives is one of the most original mystery novels of all time.

Number one New York Times bestselling author Jocko Willink's fast-paced and exciting thriller Final Spin is a story of love, brotherhood, suffering, happiness and sacrifice - a story about life. Johnny . . . Shouldn't be in a dead-end job. Shouldn't be in a dead-end bar. Shouldn't be in a dead-end life. But he is. It's a hamster-wheel existence. Stocking warehouse store shelves by day, drinking too much whisky and beer by night. In between, Johnny lives in his childhood home, making sure his alcoholic mother hasn't drunk herself to death, and looking after his idiosyncratic older brother Arty, whose world revolves around his laundromat job. Rinse and repeat. Then Johnny's monotonous life takes a tumble. The laundromat where Arty works, and the one thing that gives him happiness, is about to be sold. Johnny doesn't want that to happen, so he takes measures into his own hands. Johnny, along with his friend Goat, come up with a plan to get the money to buy the laundromat. But things don't always go as planned . . .

'Already it looked as if the police were up against a carefully planned and cleverly executed murder, and, what was more, a murder without a corpse!' Two brothers, John and William Rother, live together at Chalklands Farm in the beautiful Sussex Downs. Their peaceful rural life is shattered when John Rother disappears and his abandoned car is found. Has he been kidnapped? Or is his disappearance more sinister - connected, perhaps, to his growing rather too friendly with his brother's wife? Superintendent Meredith is called to investigate - and begins to suspect the worst when human bones are discovered on Chalklands farmland. His patient, careful detective method begins slowly to untangle the clues as suspicion shifts from one character to the next. This classic detective novel from the 1930s is now republished for the first time, with an introduction by the award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards.

Agatha Christie's classic short story collection, including one of her most enduring and shocking thrillers, The Witness for the Prosecution. 1920s London. A murder, brutal and bloodthirsty, has stained the plush carpets of a handsome London townhouse. The victim is the glamorous and enormously rich Emily French. All the evidence points to Leonard Vole, a young chancer to whom the heiress left her vast fortune and who ruthlessly took her life. At least, this is the story that Emily's dedicated housekeeper Janet Mackenzie stands by in court. Leonard however, is adamant that his partner, the enigmatic chorus girl Romaine, can prove his innocence.

From Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, the authors of the top ten bestseller The Wife Between Us, comes The Golden Couple - a compelling psychological thriller that will keep you guessing to the very end. Marissa and Mathew Bishop seem like the golden couple, until Marissa cheats. She wants to repair things - both because she loves her husband, and for the sake of their eight-year-old son. After a friend forwards an article about Avery, Marissa takes a chance on this maverick therapist, who lost her licence due to controversial methods. If Avery Chambers can't fix you in ten sessions, she won't take you on as a client. She helps people overcome everything, from anxiety to domineering parents. Her successes almost help her absorb the emptiness she feels since her husband's death. When the Bishops glide through Avery's door, all three are immediately set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it's no longer simply a marriage that's in danger. 'The Golden Couple is propulsive and thrilling. It grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go. A page-turner that will keep you guessing until the very end' - Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones and The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. INCLUDING A FOREWORD FROM JOSEPH KANON. OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD MOSCOW, 1953. Under Stalin's terrifying regime, families live in fear. When the all-powerful State claims there is no such thing as crime, who dares disagree? AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER IN OVER 30 LANGUAGES An ambitious secret police officer, Leo Demidov believes he's helping to build the perfect society. But when he uncovers evidence of a killer at large - a threat the state won't admit exists - Demidov must risk everything, including the lives of those he loves, in order to expose the truth. A THRILLER UNLIKE ANY YOU HAVE EVER READ But what if the danger isn't from the killer he is trying to catch, but from the country he is fighting to protect? Nominated for seventeen international awards and inspired by a real-life investigation, CHILD 44 is a relentless story of love, hope and bravery in a totalitarian world. From the screenwriter of the acclaimed television series, THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY.

The Strangers of Braamfonteinis the story of African immigrants trying to eke out a living for themselves in the underbelly of Johannesburg. The plot follows the life of Osas, a struggling Nigerian artist, who flees the uncertainties of life in his country to South Africa with the hope of making something for himself, but on getting to his destination finds out that his only option for survival lies with working for a Nigerian drug cartel.

TOM THORNE IS BACK . . . AND SO IS HIS WORST NIGHTMARE A gripping, grisly read. Mark Billingham is a terrific crime writer' ----- ANTHONY HOROWITZ Tom Thorne has it all. In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. He finally has a love life worth a damn and is happy in the job to which he has devoted his life... He has everything to lose. Hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he will be plunged into a nightmare from which he may never wake. And he'll do anything to keep it. Finally, Thorne's past has caught up with him and a ruinous secret is about to be revealed. If he wants to save himself and his friends, he must do the unthinkable. PRAISE FOR MARK BILLINGHAM 'Mark Billingham is a master of psychology' Ian Rankin 'Fast-paced and twisting' Paula Hawkins 'At the very least it should reach the shortlist of this year's Booker prize' The Times

Set in Belfast after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 2000, this is a novel about the intertwined relationship between the establishment and street criminals during this period Donny Campbell is an infamous paramilitary figure, who is a reflection of a violent society. He is sexually repressed and vents his anger and sexual frustration in a cocktail of violence and warped depravity, ultimately hidden in a world where murder and immorality are almost considered normal. Donny finds a kindred spirit in Lord Roddy Harding, a man working in the highest echelons of Ulster and London society. Their relationship fractures when Donny becomes a liability as he becomes increasingly unstable and reckless. The British state assassinate Campbell, and by dispatching one of its prolific foot soldiers maintain a fragile peace, save Harding's reputation and that of the Government.

'Gone Girl meets Mean Girls and The Secret History' Guardian A darkly intoxicating novel of female friendship and obsession that will keep you turning the pages, perfect for fans of My Dark Vanessa and The Virgin Suicides ----------------- Nice girls can do bad things... When Ambrosia first arrives at prestigious college Wesleyan, she's desperate to fit in. But Amb struggles to navigate the rules of this strange, elite world, filled with privileged 'nice' young women - until she meets the charismatic but troubled Sully, with whom she forms an obsessive friendship. Intoxicated by Sully's charm and determined to impress her, Amb finds herself drawn deep into her new best friend's dangerous manipulations. But if she wants to play Sully at her own game, Amb has no idea just how devastating the consequences will be... Deeply unsettling and compulsive, The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a gripping exploration of the brutal lengths girls will go to, to take what they think they are owed. ---------------------- Readers are gripped by The Girls Are All So Nice Here: 'I couldn't stop turning the pages of this obsessive thriller' 'The Secret History meets Heathers, with a dash of Mean Girls' 'Dark, twisted and compelling' 'A compulsive exploration of the dark complexities of female friendship' 'Gripping and addictive' 'This deliciously dark tale had me on the edge of my seat' 'Impossible to put down' 'This book really got under my skin'