The System, Ryan Gattis ( paperback,August 2021)
£9.99
Longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2021
'Excellent, lucid, intelligent and gripping' - Scotsman
December 1993. A drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother's lawn in South Central Los Angeles. Two local gang members, Wizard and Dreamer, are arrested.
The problem is: one is guilty, the other wasn't even there. It had to be a frame-up. And the cops had to be responsible, didn't they? Narrated by the characters involved - the suspects, the victim, the families who love them, and those simply doing their jobs - The System tells the story of one crime, from the moments before shots are fired to the verdict and its violent aftershocks.
It's a breakneck journey through the American criminal justice system. A system that can save you, or break you.
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Thirteen, Steve Cavanagh ( paperback 2018)
£9.99
This is the fourth book from Belfast based writer Steve Cavanagh, and it has pushed him up to the forefront of best contemporary crime writers across the globe. His own career as a barrister means that we get an insightful twisty and satisfying page turner. You’ll love it.
To your knowledge, is there anything that would preclude you from serving on this jury? 'Murder wasn't the hard part. It was just the start of the game. Joshua Kane has been preparing for this moment his whole life.
He's done it before. But this is the big one. This is the murder trial of the century.
And Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house. But there's someone on his tail. Someone who suspects that the killer isn't the man on trial.
Kane knows time is running out - he just needs to get to the conviction without being discovered.
Fifty Fifty, Steve Cavanagh ( paperback, Jul 2020)
£9.99
TWO SISTERS ON TRIAL FOR MURDER. THEY ACCUSE EACH OTHER. WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
'911 what's your emergency?''My dad's dead.
My sister Sofia killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.''My dad's dead.
My sister Alexandra killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'One of them is a liar and a killer.
But which one?
'Very clever, darkly funny, moving, fast-paced.' Jane Casey
Addictive, clever, pacy. Eddie Flynn is one of my heroes.' Jo Spain
Long Bright River by Liz Moore ( paperback 31 Dec 2020)
£8.99
SELECTED BY BARACK OBAMA AS ONE OF HIS BEST BOOKS OF 2020
Once inseparable, sisters Mickey and Kacey are on different paths, but they walk the same streets. Mickey on her police beat and Kacey in the shadows of the city's darkest corners where the drug addicts and sex workers preside.
When a string of murders coincides with Kacey's disappearance, Mickey is terrified her sister could be next. But in a community where death and murder is rife, will Mickey be able to save her sister before it's too late?
A remarkable, profoundly moving novel about the ties that bind and the irrevocable wounds of childhood. It's also a riveting mystery, perfectly paced.
The Maidens, Alex Michaelides ( paperback May 2022)
£9.99
From the author of the global #1 bestselling debut The Silent Patient comes a spellbinding literary thriller weaving together Greek mythology, psychology, and murder...* * * * *
St Christopher's College, Cambridge, is a closed world to most.
For Mariana Andros - a group therapist struggling through her private grief - it's where she met her late husband. For her niece, Zoe, it's the tragic scene of her best friend's murder.
As memory and mystery entangle Mariana, she finds a society full of secrets, which has been shocked to its core by the murder of one of its own.
Because behind its idyllic beauty is a web of jealousy and rage which emanates from an exclusive set of students known only as The Maidens. A group under the sinister influence of the enigmatic professor Edward Fosca.
A man who seems to know more than anyone about the murders - and the victims. And the man who will become the prime suspect in Mariana's investigation - an obsession which will unravel everything...
The Maidens is a story of love, and of grief - of what makes us who we are, and what makes us kill.
