The perfect murder mystery for fans of Richard Osman and Robert Thorogood. 'Spotswood understands that [...] spending time with unforgettable characters is paramount.' - New York Times 'A loving, intricately plotted tribute to the great days of American noir.' - Daily Mail New York, 1946: The last time Will Parker let a case get personal, she walked away with a broken face, a bruised ego, and the solemn promise never again to let her heart get in the way of her job. But she called Hart and Halloway's Travelling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus's tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren't playing it straight, and that her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink. Dodging fistfights, firebombs, and flying lead, Will puts a lot more than her heart on the line in the search of the truth. Can she find it before someone stops her ticker for good? Praise for Stephen Spotswood: 'Razor-sharp, tons of flair. A really good noir novel.' Tana French 'Spotswood's stellar debut puts a modern spin on classic hard-boiled fiction. . . The deep and sensitive characterization of the two protagonists, coupled with rich description and tonally spot-on humour, make this a novel to remember. Spotswood is definitely a writer to watch.' Publishers Weekly 'This novel not only offers fun, offbeat characters and an exceptional flavour of the time, it's utterly charming too.' Woman's Weekly 'This hugely enjoyable debut is a deft melange of Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery and 1940s Chandler-esque pulp crime fiction with a feisty narrator' Irish Independent Review 'Persuasive in its attention to period detail and dialogue, with well-constructed set piece scenes deftly staged, this is a highly accomplished, auspicious first entry in what we must hope will be a long-running series' The Irish Times

American Rex Bowman arrives in England's village of Oddington to tidy up ancient graves, but unearths treason, treasure and a one-thousand-year-old serial-murder plot. Oddington bridges the amateur sleuth whodunit and historical mystery genres. Though set in present day, Oddington reaches into English history toward fans of Bernard Cornwell, America's History Channel, and British television's Time Team series. Oddington is a fun murder-mystery full of surprises.

'Intriguing, comforting and endearingly familiar' Katie Fforde 'The BBC's most downloaded radio show' The Guardian 'Incredible legacy' The BBC 'Longest running drama in the world' The i News It's 1941 and the war rumbles on. Nowhere is immune to the effects of war, not even Ambridge. But in England's favourite village, something else is occupying the residents... When a prominent villager dies, the main beneficiary's name is a mystery, and no one knows who is set to inherit the estate, cottage and all. The name is hidden within a locked box and the villagers much uncover the password to find out the name of the beneficiary. So when five people are each sent a packet of seeds, the mystery deepens - could the seeds be part of a clue? And can they all work together to unlock the mystery and to discover who is set to inherit? Beautifully produced, with stunning endpapers, this is the perfect read for all Archers fans.

The Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller. Two women, centuries apart. Linked in a place haunted by its history . . . Separated by more than six hundred years of history, two women are drawn together by Sleeper's Castle, a house steeped in memory and magic. This is an epic tale of forbidden love, cruel revenge and a war that time can't forget. Grieving and lost, Miranda has moved to Hay to escape, and slowly she feels herself coming to life in the solitude of the mountains. But her vivid dreams at Sleeper's Castle introduce her to Catrin, a young women whose gift for foretelling the future embroiled her in a bloody revolt against English rule - many centuries ago. An unbreakable connection is forged across history. Catrin is reaching out . . . and only Miranda can help. But time is running out... Sunday Times bestselling author Barbara Erskine returns to Hay in the year that marks the 30th anniversary of her sensational debut bestseller, Lady of Hay.

'Here ends one of the finest achievements of recent crime fiction' - Sunday Telegraph 'Outstanding' - The Times *Winner of the 2022 CWA Historical Dagger and Gold Dagger* Los Angeles. Christmas, 1967. A devil is loose in the City of Angels . . . A young nurse, Kerry Gaudet, travels to the City of Angels desperate to find her missing brother, fearing that something terrible has happened to him: a serial killer is terrorising the city, picking victims at random, and Kerry has precious few leads. Ida Young, recently retired Private Investigator, is dragged into helping the police when a young woman is discovered murdered in her motel room. Ida has never met the victim but her name has been found at the crime scene and the LAPD wants to know why . . . Meanwhile mob fixer Dante Sanfelippo has put his life savings into purchasing a winery in Napa Valley but first he must do one final favour for the Mob before leaving town: find a bail jumper before the bond money falls due, and time is fast running out. Ida's friend, Louis Armstrong, flies into the city just as her investigations uncover mysterious clues to the killer's identity. And Dante must tread a dangerous path to pay his dues, a path which will throw him headlong into a terrifying conspiracy and a secret that the conspirators will do anything to protect . . . Completing his American crime quartet, Ray Celestin's Sunset Swing is a stunning novel of conspiracy, murder and madness, an unforgettable portrait of a city on the edge.

***BEST CRIME BOOKS OF 2021 - THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES*** ***CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE TIMES*** 'Savage, beautiful, mesmeric...a very special book.' CHRIS WHITAKER, AUTHOR OF WE BEGIN AT THE END 'Extraordinary...a career-defining performance.' THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES 'This is crime writing of the highest quality' DAILY MAIL SOHO, 1935. SERGEANT LEON GEATS' PATCH. A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code. The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early. But Geats - a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay - knows the dark seams of the city. Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer - a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect. 'A stirringly ambitious novel that pairs the scope of James Ellroy's LA CONFIDENTIAL with the psychological depth of Graham Greene's BRIGHTON ROCK. Extraordinary.' A. J. FINN 'A tour de force. A brilliant marriage of tension and rich detail.' HARRIET TYCE 'An epic, brutal, blockbuster of a crime novel. It's the best film noir you've never seen complete with a love story that might just rip your heart out.' TREVOR WOOD 'An enthralling tale that takes you into the seamy heart of Soho's past. Written in Nolan's visceral, muscular prose, it is a joy to read.' LESLEY KARA 'A rich, ambitious, masterpiece of a crime novel' OLIVIA KIERNAN 'Poetic and tragic...but also vibrant, with a great depth of world and character' JAMES DELARGY Praise for Dominic Nolan: 'Nolan is set to become Britain's Michael Connelly' DAILY MAIL 'This powerhouse novel is not for the fragile-hearted...one hell of a debut' HEAT 'A smart, distinctive debut' SUNDAY MIRROR

'Exquisite' - Will Dean, author of Dark Pines 'This is a book that will stay with you' - Ann Cleeves, bestselling author of the Vera series 'Compelling, twisty and wonderfully suspenseful' - Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground In a lonely cottage on a deserted stretch of shore, a moment of tragedy between lovers becomes a horrific murder. And two women who should never have met are connected for ever . . . Six years after the end of the Great War, a nation is still in mourning. Thousands of husbands, fathers, sons and sweethearts were lost in Europe; millions more came back wounded and permanently damaged. Beatrice Cade is an orphan, unmarried and childless - and given the dearth of men, likely to remain that way. London is full of women like her: not wives, not widows, not mothers. There is no name for these invisible women, and no place for their grief. Determined to carve out a richer and more fulfilling way to live as a single woman, Bea takes a room in a Bloomsbury ladies' club and a job in the City. Then a fleeting encounter changes everything. Bea's emerging independence is destroyed when she falls in love for the first time. Kate Ryan is an ordinary wife and mother who has managed to build an enviable life with her handsome husband and her daughter. To anyone looking in from the outside, they seem like a normal, happy family - until two policemen knock on her door one morning and threaten to destroy the facade Kate has created. From the author of Little Deaths, longlisted for the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction, comes the sensational Other Women. Mesmerising, haunting and utterly remarkable, this is a devastating story of fantasy, obsession inspired by a murder that took place almost a hundred years ago.

***A TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR*** 'A joy from start to finish' - ANDREW TAYLOR 'Thrilling... Deserves to be huge' - EMMA STONEX This is the confession of Laurence Jago. Clerk. Gentleman. Spy. July 1794, and London is filled with rumours of revolution. The war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with America are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, Foreign Office clerk, is ever more reliant on opium - the Black Drop - to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter, whose contents could lead to the destruction of the British Army, has been leaked to the press and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk - a supposed suicide - and it seems clear where the blame truly lies. But Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence, and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, can Laurence find the true culprit without ending up on the gallows himself?

'Absolute blissikins. Set in 1925, Bright Young Dead is a delightful mashup of real and fictional characters' GUARDIAN As the glamour of the Bright Young Things crashes into the world of the Mitford sisters, their maid Louisa Cannon finds herself at the scene of a gripping murder mystery. Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home. The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl's name . . . all while the real killer may only be steps away. PRAISE FOR THE MITFORD MURDERS SERIES 'An extraordinary meld of fact and fiction' GRAHAM NORTON 'A lively, entertaining, well-written whodunit' THE TIMES (crime book of the month) 'True and glorious indulgence. A dazzling example of a Golden Age mystery' DAISY GOODWIN 'Exactly the sort of book you might enjoy with the fire blazing, the snow falling. The solution is neat and the writing always enjoyable' ANTHONY HOROWITZ (crime novels of the year) 'Oh how delicious! This terrific start to what promises to be a must-read series is exactly what we all need in these gloomy times. Inventive, glittering, clever, ingenious. I devoured The Mitford Murders... so will you. Give it to absolutely everyone for Christmas, then pre-order the next one' SUSAN HILL 'All the blissful escapism of a Sunday-night period drama in a book' THE POOL 'Keeps the reader guessing to the very end. An accomplished crime debut and huge fun to read' EVENING STANDARD 'This story is drenched in detail and feels both authentic and fun. Curl up in your favourite reading spot and enjoy' HEAT 'The plan is that each book will focus on a different Mitford sister. On the strength of this initial entry, success is assured' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Elegant, whipsmart and brilliantly twisty-turny, this Downton-style mystery had me hooked from the first page' VIV GROSKOP 'Full of period pleasure' WOMAN & HOME 'An audacious and glorious foray into the Golden Age of mystery fiction. Breathtaking' ALEX GRAY 'A real murder, a real family and a brand new crime fiction heroine are woven together to make a fascinating, and highly enjoyable, read. I loved it' JULIAN FELLOWES 'Jessica Fellowes' deliciously immersive, effortlessly easy novel has a strong feel for period and a rollicking plot' METRO 'What a captivating crime novel and heroine Jessica has created in The Mitford Murders. The instant reassurance of being in the hands of a true storyteller with a feel for period detail makes this a real treat' AMANDA CRAIG 'This is a chocolate souffle of a novel: as the enthralling mystery heats up, so the addictive deliciousness of the story rises. The sort of book you never want to end' JULIET NICOLSON