Shortlisted for Crime Writers' Association International Dagger 2019 Traumatic stress causes Inspector Albertus Beeslaar to trade tough city policing for a backwater posting on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. But his dream of rural peace is soon shattered when a beautiful and eccentric artist and her four-year-old daughter are found murdered on a local farm. Brooding. Riveting. Brilliant. Deon Meyer, author of Dead at Daybreak This arresting English-language debut validates Karin Brynard's reputation as 'The Afrikaans Stieg Larsson.' An outstanding thriller. Booklist Crime fiction doesn't get any better. Mike Nicol, author of Payback Karin Brynard has established herself as one of a handful of great thriller writers in South Africa. Mail & Guardian

A murder for the history books... After a long and eventful winter, DCI Ryan and his team are looking forward to the joys of spring. But, when one of their colleagues is shot dead on her own doorstep and the brass think it's an inside job, Ryan finds himself drafted in to investigate. He's barely scratched the surface when reports flood in of a terror explosion at Durham Cathedral. Chaos descends on the sleepy, historic city and, when the smoke clears, they find a priceless artefact that once belonged to Saint Cuthbert is missing. With tensions running at an all-time high, unable to trust the local police, can Ryan and his team bring a killer to justice - and restore Cuthbert's cross to its natural resting place? Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular landscape of County Durham. "LJ Ross keeps company with the best mystery writers" - The Times "A literary phenomenon" - Evening Chronicle

A high-powered lawyer learns firsthand the terrible truth about her client . . . a discovery that propels her on a quest for justice and revenge in this addictively readable thriller. Lawyer Kelly McCann, defends men accused of rape. She's fought to build a successful career as a criminal defence attorney, with a speciality in defending men accused of sex crimes – falsely accused, she always maintains. Her detractors call her a traitor to her gender, but she doesn't care: she loves to win. Kelly's most recent victory is securing an acquittal for a world-renowned scientist accused of sexually assaulting his female employees. But the thrill of her victory is short-lived. That very night she, too, becomes the victim of a brutal sexual assault. And almost as horrific as the attack is the fact that she can't tell anyone who the perpetrator is – not without destroying her career in the process. Kelly has never backed down from a fight and she's not about to start pulling her punches now. As she joins forces with her rapist's victims, for the first time it's not about winning ― these wronged women are out for justice and for revenge. "Her, Too is a timely, fast-paced, and unputdownable thriller with everything a reader craves. A sure standout for anyone involved in the #metoo movement" -- Jaime Lynn Hendricks, bestselling author of Finding Tessa "One of the most unique thriller setups I've ever read, and it keeps moving at warp speed. A must-read." -- Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of A Matter of Life and Death, on The Cage "An absolutely spellbinding thriller. . . . An utterly engrossing and thoroughly entertaining story." -- Booklist (starred review) on The Cage

Red Ink is a gripping thriller, originally released in 2013. Set in present-day Johannesburg, it has a distinctly local flavour and brings the city to life through all its contrasts and contradictions.

When public relations consultant and ex-journalist Lucy Khambule – young, beautiful and ambitious – receives an unexpected call from Napoleon Dingiswayo – a convicted serial killer, nicknamed The Butcher by the media – her life takes a dramatic turn. Dingiswayo wants Lucy to tell his story. Intrigued by Dingiswayo’s approach, Lucy decides to take this opportunity to fulfil her life-long dream of writing a book, but it comes at a cost she could never have imagined.

After their initial contact, Dingiswayo becomes an all-too-obliging subject and Lucy soon discovers that her choice of topic is not for the faint-hearted. Soon after meeting him in Pretoria’s notorious C-Max Prison, Lucy’s world is turned upside down by a series of violent and disturbing events.

Dingiswayo is behind bars, but Lucy begins to suspect that the brutal attacks may have something to do with him. Who is this frightening man, and what motivates him? As Lucy learns that there is more to Dingiswayo’s story than the police have uncovered, she is forced to decide what price she is willing to pay to pursue her dream.

Red Ink is a gripping thriller. Set in Johannesburg, it has a distinctly local flavour and brings the city to life through all its contrasts and contradictions.

The second in a witty, USA Today bestselling series following author Eleanor Dash as she goes from wedding guest to murder mystery investigator at her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island.

Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation and is definitely her uninvited plus-one to the special occasion.

Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series.

Filming wraps and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way―because of course there is―but nothing will stop their nuptials . . . that is until Emma receives a note that says “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”

Eleanor is a professional at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer so true love can prevail . . . before it’s too late for her and the rest of the storm-trapped wedding party.

""She had been in school uniform the first and last time Judy had seen her alive, and she had wondered what it would be like to be her mother. Now, she thanked God she wasn't."" Detective Inspector Judy Hill had seen the girl that evening, talking and laughing with friends on the bus home. Now she lay dead in the glaring arc-light of a scene-of-crime investigation; beaten, strangled, and possibly raped. Oakland School is Stansfield come sunder a no less glaring spotlight as Judy and Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd begin their investigation into the murder of Natalia Ouspensky, aged fifteen, on a piece of open parkland in the centre of town. It is an enquiry which will uncover the secrets of staff and pupil alike, not least Natalia herself; and enquiry which will produce suspects and motives but to no witnesses; an enquiry which will deeply affect the lives of the innocent, but might well fail to convict the guilty. An enquiry, it seems, which is not going to yield a single shred of evidence . . .

Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick—a gloriously entertaining and knife-sharp revenge fantasy about three women whose midlife crisis brings unexpected new powers—putting them on a collision course with the evil that lurks in their wealthy beach town.

In the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment…

After Nessa James’s husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she’s left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn’t take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead—a gift she’s inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities.

On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn’t left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her garden have both gone to seed. But Harriett’s life is far from over—in fact, she’s undergone a stunning and very welcome metamorphosis.

Ambitious former executive Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw—until she realizes she has the ability to channel them, and finally comes into her power.

Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned beside a remote beach. The police have written the victim off as a drug-addicted sex worker, but the women refuse to buy into the official narrative. Their investigation into the girl’s murder leads to more bodies, and to the town’s most exclusive and isolated enclave, a world of stupendous wealth where the rules don’t apply. With their newfound powers, Jo, Nessa, and Harriett will take matters into their own hands…

Everyone here has killed someone.

There is no way off this island.

You will all either kill or be killed here.

One of these statements is a lie. But which one?

Amira’s less than thrilled to be spending the weekend with her husband’s university friends. Two of them are hosting a joint fortieth on a private Scottish island, with vintage champagne, expensive gifts, and soaks in the wood-fired hot tub. Despite the luxury, Amira knows she’s going to feel left out, not to mention freezing cold and cut off.

When they decide to play ‘two truths and a lie’, anonymously posting three statements about themselves into a box, years of resentment start bubbling to the surface. And then an extra slip of paper emerges, scrawled with three chilling threats. Who wrote it? And are two of the statements really true―have they all been responsible for someone’s death?

With no phone reception and no way off the island, the group are trapped here until the end of the weekend. And as tension rises and secrets are spilled, they can’t shake the feeling that they’re not the only ones here. Is someone watching them? Someone who wants them dead? Or is it one of them who has murder in mind?

Commissario Guido Brunetti returns with a gripping and powerful case about the murkiness of power and a test of loyalties

When two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice’s campi, the son of a local hero is implicated. But when Commissario Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy foreigner to vet this man, Monforte, for a job, he discovers that Monforte might not be such a hero after all.

This seeming contradiction, and a brutal attack on one of Brunetti’s colleagues by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti’s attentions. Soon, he discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte’s past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption.

A Refiner’s Fire is Donna Leon at her very best: an elegant, sophisticated storyteller whose indelible characters become richer with each book, and who constantly interrogates the ambiguity between moral and legal justice.

Ex-mercenary Sonja Kurtz is out for revenge after her daughter Emma is assaulted by an abalone poacher while on a beachside holiday near Cape Town.

When the poacher is murdered, Sonja is targeted by a violent local gangster and must flee the country. As Sonja leaves a trail of destruction in her wake – from the threatened wilderness of Zimbabwe to the treacherous beaches of northern Mozambique – a concerned Emma must find the courage to rescue her mother.

But is Sonja a cold-blooded killer? Or is there a darker conspiracy taking place in southern Africa’s underworld – one that will change their lives forever?

Julie Chan didn't mean to steal her identical twin's life. She meant to call the police when she found the body. She meant to dial 911.

Except when she unlocked Chloe's phone to make that call, she also gained access to her estranged sister's sponsorship deals, her followers, her wealth, her whole life.

And Julie's not prepared to give it back. Not yet. So it's goodbye Julie, love Chloe x

Now all Julie has to do is keep her head down and blend in with the beautiful Belladonnas, the tribe of influencers who had welcomed Chloe in to their inner circle before she died.

Julie's going to breathe, detox, workout. Curate each post. Filter each picture. Spend whole days filming unboxing videos.

But someone out there knows that even identical twins have their differences...

In the summer of 1914, a boy’s disappearance is overshadowed by looming war.

Six years later, Detective Sergeant Verity arrives at Darkacre Hall armed with new evidence regarding the boy’s case – evidence which throws the spotlight firmly upon the once-esteemed Stilwell family.

Darkacre’s grandeur has faded, and the Stilwells no longer command the respect they once took for granted. While brothers Maurice and Leonard carry the physical and mental scars of their war service, Maurice's wife, Ida, longs for the lost days of privilege and parties.

As Verity digs deeper into the events of that final halcyon summer, he uncovers dark secrets with far-reaching consequences. And as he does so, Darkacre Hall becomes an unlikely battlefield – one that not all will survive.

Dublin, 1943. Actress Julia Bridges disappears. The last sighting of her is entering the house of Gloria Fitzpatrick, who is later put on trial for the murder of another woman whose abortion she facilitated. But it’s never proved that Gloria had a hand in Julia’s death – and Julia’s body has never been found. Gloria, however, is sentenced to life in an institution for the criminally insane, until her apparent suicide a few years later, and the truth of what happened to Julia Bridges dies with her.

Until...

Dublin, 1968. Nicoletta Sarto is an ambitious junior reporter for the Irish Sentinel when the bones of Julia Bridges are discovered in the garden of a house on the outskirts of Dublin. Drawn into investigating the 25-year-old mystery of Julia’s disappearance and her link to the notorious Gloria Fitzpatrick, the story takes Nicoletta into the tangled underworld of the illegal abortion industry, stirring up long-buried secrets from her own past.

As much a murder mystery story as a look at a young woman’s struggle to succeed in a man’s world, Where They Lie is a beautifully atmospheric debut that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

FROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND AND SEVEN BRIDGES He thought he was invincible, but he was wrong... When an old man is found dead inside the ancient hermitage at Warkworth Castle, Northumbria CID are called in to investigate. With no apparent motive, it's their job to unravel why he was murdered - and this time they're forced to do it without their star detective... DCI Ryan is thousands of miles away. He's tracked a killer across Europe and has sworn not to return until he has his man in custody. Nathan Armstrong is a dangerous psychopath but there's just one problem - he's also an international celebrity; a world-famous thriller writer with money and connections. Ryan is a stranger in a foreign land, but he knows one thing - he'll never give up. Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular landscapes of Northumberland and Tuscany. "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?

Kassie has never had to cope with a case like this before, and his emotions are getting the better of him. As a rookie cop he learned to keep his distance from a case, not get emotionally involved, because that’s when mistakes happen. But this case makes distance impossible . . . children’s lives are at stake. And every time he and Rooi seem to be making progress with the case, it slithers out from under them, like a venomous snake.

When Murphy Meyer arrives at Eden State Hospital on the first of January 2001, driven to solve a small, personal mystery, the young doctor has no idea she’s deposited herself into something larger and darker than she could ever have imagined; something that has a life of its own.

Few at Eden State Hospital can claim to be single minded where duplicity is standard operating procedure.

Sarah Fourie kry halfvier op ’n koue wintersoggend ’n oproep van Mosela Mosholi, ’n ou vriendin uit haar tronkdae. Sarah moet nóú kom, Kaapstad toe. Datameester Mosi se rekenaars voorspel ’n vierde moord op ’n toeris binne die volgende paar dae en Sarah met haar kuberkrakerkennis moet kom help.

Sarah kan nie nee sê nie. Sy ken Mosi al jare lank, en haar skuld is groot. Sy sleep haarself uit die bed, gryp ’n oornagsak, en bel vir Jaap. Want Jaap Reyneke moet saam – sy jare as polisieman is al raad wat sy het indien ’n moordenaar in die moederstad skuil.

Dit is ’n onvoorspelbare, donker Kaapstad wat op Jaap en Sarah wag. ’n Stad waarin misdadigers die toutjies trek, waar hommeltuie bokant jou stilweg tred hou van goeie én minder goeie dade, en toeriste salig onbewus is van dit wat in Clifton en Kampsbaai broei.

Nog ’n verbluffende roman deur die meester-krimiskrywer Irma Venter.