Crime & Thriller
The Murder After the Night Before, Katy Brent ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
Something bad happened last night. I've woken up with the hangover from hell, a stranger in my bed, and I've gone viral for the worst reasons. But I can't remember a thing. My best friend Posey is dead.The police think it was a tragic accident. I know she was murdered. There's only one thing stopping me from dying of shame.
I need to find a killer. From the author of How to Kill Men and Get Away With It, don't miss this wickedly witty and utterly addictive novel, perfect for fans of Bella Mackie, Dawn O'Porter and Killing Eve. Praise for The Murder After the Night Before: What a ride! Unflinchingly realistic and raw but somehow also brilliantly funny at times, Brent's novel is a must-read.
Point Zero, Seicho Matsumoto ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
Tokyo, 1958. Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by a go-between. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes.Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance. When Kenichi's brother comes to help her, he is murdered, poisoned in his hotel room. Soon, Teiko discovers that her husband's disappearance is tied up with the so-called 'pan-pan girls', women who worked as prostitutes catering to American GIs after the war.
Now, ten years later, as the country is recovering, there are those who are willing to take extreme measures to hide that past.
The End of Us, Olivia Kiernan ( paperback Feb 2024)
£8.99
It all started to go wrong the day the Wrights moved in next doo. Myles and Lana Butler live on a gorgeous new development in Wimbledon, leaning on a mortgage that is just within reach. When one of Myles' investments fails they are bound to lose everything. Gabriel and Holly Wright have just moved in next door.The Wrights are sophisticated, ambitious and apparently very wealthy. At an after-dinner drink with their new neighbours, Myles and Lana share their worries and a solution is suggested between the couples. Life Insurance fraud.
For a cut of the pay out, the Wrights would help them. No one thought they were being serious. No one agreed they'd actually go through with it.
And no one mentioned it would involve murder. Then, one night, Lana doesn't come home. Praise for The End of Us'Witty, dark, unpredictable.
A book to be devoured in one sitting' Karen Hamilton'It reminded me of Hitchcock at his best. Tense, twisty, dark and so unpredictable' Claire Douglas
Bright Young Women, Jessica Knoll ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
Bright Young Women is a compulsive, extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America's first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree. From Jessica Knoll, author of the New York Times bestseller and #1 Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive. January 1978.Tallahassee. When sorority president Pamela Schumacher is startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she’s shocked to encounter a scene of implausible violence – two of her friends dead and two others, maimed.
Thrust into a terrifying mystery, Pamela becomes entangled in a crime that captivates public interest for more than four decades . . .
On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. When Ruth, her best friend, goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her. When Tina hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she suspects the same man the papers refer to is responsible.
Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela – and one last impending tragedy.
The Returned, Amanda Cassidy ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
When she re-lives this night, over and over, Nancy will wonder if she’d just gone upstairs a few minutes earlier, what might have been…A devastating fire. A grieving mother.A picture-perfect village full of dark secrets. And now, a son who has seemingly come back from the dead. A detective called back to her hometown, back to the memories she thought she’d left behind…An electrifying novel from a compelling new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Liz Nugent and Claire Mackintosh.
Prima Facie, Suzie Millar ( hardback March 2024)
£16.99
From the Olivier award-winning playwright of Prima Facie, Suzie Miller, comes her first novel, where power, patriarchy and morality diverge. ‘This is not life. This is law.’Tessa Ensler is a brilliant barrister who's forged her career in criminal defence through sheer determination.Since her days at Cambridge, she’s carefully disguised her working class roots in a male-dominated world where who you know is just as important as what you know. Driven by her belief in the right to a fair trial and a taste for victory, there’s nothing Tessa loves more than the thrill of getting her clients acquitted. It seems like Tessa has it made when she is approached for a new job and nominated for the most prestigious award in her field.
But when a date with a charismatic colleague goes horribly wrong, Tessa finds that the rules she’s always played by might not protect her, forcing her to question everything she's ever believed in . . .
The Playdate, Clara Dillon ( large paperback Feb 2024)
£13.99
When Sara leaves her high-flying London life to move to Dublin, her only concern is her nine-year-old daughter, Lexie. For Lexie's sake she tries to get to know other mothers at the school gates, but they appear uninterested - particularly their leader, the beautiful and charismatic Vanessa, whose daughter rules the playground. After a simple misunderstanding between Vanessa and Sara, none of the other kids at school want anything to do with Lexie.
Desperate to mend fences, Sara offers to look after Vanessa's daughter one afternoon. But when the playdate ends in catastrophe, Vanessa is convinced that what happened wasn't an accident. With allegations flying in all directions, Sara is forced to ask herself what she has unleashed? And how far a mother will go to protect her daughter?'Engrossing psychological drama ...a real page-turner, with vivid imagery and lots of suspense' Irish Examiner'
Day One, Abigail Dean ( hardback March 2024)
£16.99
Marty told the reporters that she saw it happen. She saw the gunman enter the hall. She saw her mother die trying to protect them all.
That’s the version of Day One Marty wishes was true. But strange inconsistencies in her story begin to surface. Details that don’t add up. Questions she can’t answer. The story ignites. Amidst the media frenzy, conspiracy theorists become obsessed with exposing what really happened.
And at the epicentre of it all is a small community changed forever. Survivors crushed by guilt. Families torn in half. Outsiders consumed by the hunt for truth. Each has their own version of Day One. Each must grapple with this tragedy, even as fanatics question whether it ever really happened at all.
But what did Marty really see? And why would she lie? As events spiral out of control, the true story is revealed, piece by shocking piece. Day One is an unflinching and heart-breaking exploration of our obsession with tragedy – and what it really means to live it.
A gripping read which kept me trying to figure out the larger picture until the very last page’ ‘It's technically so impressive, but most importantly it's vital and human, and I will think about it for a long time’ As a study of how conspiracies flourish and grow, it is superb.
As an examination of loss, it is even better’
Dark Road Home, Sheila Bugler ( paperback April 2024)
£9.99
Dark Road Home : A tense and gripping Irish crime thriller
In a small town, it’s impossible to hide...Two decades after she left Ireland, Leah Ryan is back. She knows she won't get a welcome reception in her hometown of Dungarry, but she's finally ready to face up to the events that forced her to leave as a teenager. As she arrives home, another tragedy is waiting for Leah – her first love, Eamon Longeran, has been found brutally murdered.
At first, Eamon’s murder appears unrelated to Leah’s past. But in a small town like Dungarry, everything is connected and everyone has secrets. Sometimes there’s only one way to ensure the truth stays buried.
A tense and emotional thriller set in Ireland. Perfect for fans of Claire McGowan and Patricia Gibney. Praise for Dark Road Home:‘Dark Road Home draws us into a compelling story of never forgotten secrets filled with truly memorable characters.
The City of God, Michael Russell ( paperback April 2024)
£9.99
Italy, 1943. Irish detective Stefan Gillespie leaves the chaos of Nazi-occupied Rome for neutral Switzerland on a mission his government knows nothing about. Waiting for a late-night connection in Zurich he sees a train that shouldn't be there.
The train's SS guards, who shouldn't be there either, beat him to within an inch of his life. But Stefan's perilous journey begins in Rome with the barbaric murder of an idealistic young Irish priest. The Eternal City is a place of vengeance, duplicity and betrayal that has even infected the City of God itself, the Vatican.
In a war that is everywhere, not even neutrals, can escape the surrounding darkness. Praise for Michael Russell'In The City of God, Michael Russell again captures wartime Europe's uncertainties through his richly drawn Garda inspector Stefan Gillespie' Irish Times'Complex but compelling . .
. utterly vivid and convincing' Independent on Sunday'A superb, atmospheric thriller' Irish Independent'A thriller to keep you guessing and gasping' Daily Mail'Atmospheric' Sunday Times
The Anniversary, Stephanie Bishop ( paperback May 2024)
£9.99
Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Patrick is older than J.B., a revered film director and formerly her professor.
J.B's art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his. For days they sail in the sun, with nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits, and Patrick falls off the ship.
J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick - and the truth about their marriage - begins.
'Dangerously readable' Observer
Body of Truth, Marie Cassidy ( paperback June 2024)
£9.99
When the body of true crime podcaster Rachel Reece is found in Dublin's Phoenix Park, the pressure is on police for a quick solve. The victim is well-known host of the Abandoned podcast, which explores unsolved murders of Irish women, often asking difficult questions of historic investigations.
Dr Terry O'Brien, recently arrived from Scotland, is the pathologist on the case. It quickly becomes clear that a senior detective is intent on pointing the finger at a particular suspect, but Terry is unconvinced and quietlybegins her own research. Soon she is immersed in cold-case files.
As she retraces Rachel's footsteps, Terry finds herself increasingly at odds with her superiors, wondering who she can and can't trust. She knows the pathology never lies. But when her forensic skills reveal something that might hold the key to solving Rachel's murder, she doesn't know how close she is to the knife-edge of danger.
A page-turning forensic thriller from Ireland's former state pathologist that uncovers the secrets of the mortuary.
The Continental Affair, Christine Mangan ( paperback June 2024)
£9.99
With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan's The Continental Affair is a fast-paced, Agatha Christie-esque caper packed full of romance and suspense. 'Reads as if Jean Rhys and Patricia Highsmith collaborated on a script for Alfred Hitchcock; it is an elegant, delirious fever dream of a book.' The Irish TimesMeet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul.
Except this isn't the first time they have met. It's the 1960s, and Louise is running. From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen-and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.
Across the Continent-from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul-Henri follows. He's desperate to leave behind his own troubles and the memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria. But Henri soon realises that Louise is no ordinary traveller.
As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold-and whether it involves one another. Stylish and atmospheric, The Continental Affair takes you on an unforgettable journey through the twisty, glamorous world of 1960s Europe.
The Sleepwalkers, Scarlett Thomas ( hardback June 2024)
£16.99
Still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, Evelyn and Richard arrive on an idyllic Greek island for their honeymoon. It’s the end of the season and out at sea a storm is brewing. They check in to an exclusive hotel, the Villa Rosa, where the proprietor Isabella — a strangely intense woman of indeterminate accent — flirts outrageously with Richard while treating Evelyn with a rudeness bordering on contempt.
Isabella tells them the story of 'the sleepwalkers': a couple who stayed at the hotel the year before and drowned in a tragic and unexplained accident. It starts to feel like the entire island is obsessed with 'the sleepwalkers', but what at first seems like a fun tale to tell before bed quickly evolves into a living nightmare. Caught in a web of deception and intrigue, where nothing and nobody are quite what they seem, Evelyn and Richard discover that their island paradise may in fact be hell on earth and that their only means of escape is to confront dark truths about themselves and those they love.
Exhilarating, suspenseful, and subversively funny, in The Sleepwalkers Thomas takes elements on Daphne Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith and blends them with her own unique sensibility to create an unforgettable thriller of rare intelligence that cements her reputation as the most exciting and original author of her generation.
A dark, twisty, savagely humorous plunge into a cauldron of toxic relationships . . .as well as a mystery loaded with menace, this is a smart, layered, stinging look at power and its abuse.' The Times
Time of the Flies, Claudia Piniero ( paperback August 2024)
£12.99
Life after crime from the International Booker-shortlisted author of Elena Knows.
Fifteen years after killing her husband’s lover, Inés is fresh out of prison and trying to put together a new life. Her old friend Manca is out now too, and they’ve started a business – FFF, or Females, Fumigation, and Flies – dedicated to pest control and private investigation, by women, for women. But Señora Bonar, one of their clients, wants Inés to do more than kill bugs – she wants her expertise, and her criminal past, to help her kill her husband’s lover, too. Crimes against women versus crimes by women; culpability, fallibility, and our responsibilities to each other—this is Piñeiro at her wry, earthy best, alive to all the ways we shape ourselves to be understandable, to be understood, by family and love and other hostile forces.
The God of the Woods, Liz Moore ( hardback July 2024)
£16.99
SELECTED FOR BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER 2024 READING LIST
Some said it was tragic, what happened to the Van Laars. Some said the family deserved it. That they never even thanked the searchers who stayed out for five nights in the freezing forest trying to help find their missing son.Some said there was a reason it took the family so long to call for help. That they knew what happened to the boy. Now, fifteen years later, the Van Laars' teenage daughter has gone missing in the same wilderness as her brother.
Some say the two disappearances aren’t connected. Some say they are. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––- ‘Brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced … I can't remember the last time I felt so entangled in a novelist's coils’ Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures 'A beguiling novel with a relentless grip.
You won't be able to put it down' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground 'At once an immersive family saga and utterly propulsive mystery. Beautifully written' Emilia Hart, author of Weyward ‘A masterful literary thriller’ Lucy Clarke, author of The Hike ‘Riveting from page one to the last breathless word … This book flew by at lightning speed, but will stick with me for a very long time’ Rebecca Makkai
The Wonderful Discovery of Elizabeth Sawyer, Jonathan Vischer
£9.99
The year is 1621: a time of paranoia following the English Reformation. In London's Newgate prison, Elizabeth Sawyer, the mother of eleven children, lies shackled in her cell. Denounced as a witch by her woodland neighbours and condemned to death by the court, Elizabeth has one last chance to make her peace with this world.
By way of confession, she tells the prison chaplain three stories about her life. Chaplain Goodcole at first responds with revulsion. Like the court he condemns Elizabeth as wicked and depraved but as her execution draws near, his opinion shifts.
Does this 'ignorant' countrywoman know something that he doesn't? Has she indeed made a wonderful discovery, or has he, as his colleagues suspect, fallen under the spell of a wily and malign witch?Based on a true story, this novel is rooted in the struggles of rural women 400 years ago. Exploring different types of power, it unravels the fear and superstitions surrounding any girl or woman who spoke her mind.
Copies are usually signed !
House of Leaves, Mark Z Danielewski ( hardback)
£40.00
First-ever UK hardback publication* Deluxe edition with foil cover* Complete final FULL-COLOUR text* Special embossed 'maze' case design
Now published in hardback in the UK for the first time, the nightmarish story of a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside - a tale that continues to inspire devotion among its ever-growing army of fans.
"A genuinely scary chiller, a satire on the business of criticism and a meditation on the way we read" Observer newspaper.
A young couple - Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson and his partner Karen Green - move into a small house on Ash Tree Lane. But something is terribly wrong - their new home is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Neither Will nor Karen are prepared to face the consequences of this impossibility until the day their two small children wandered off, and their voices eerily began to tell another story - of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams and create nightmares.
What happened next is loosely recorded on videotapes and interviews, and impelled an eccentric old man to compile - on loose sheets of paper, stained napkins, crammed notebooks - a definitive account of what took place at Ash Tree Lane that seems to unveil a thrilling and terrifying history. Because these scraps prove to be far more than the deranged ramblings of a reclusive old man.
Impossible to forget. House of Leaves is thrilling, terrifying and unlike anything you have read before.
The Peacock and the Sparrow, IS Berry ( paperback Oct 2024)
£9.99
WINNER OF THE 2024 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL - WINNER OF THE 2024 BARRY BEST FIRST MYSTERY OR CRIME NOVEL AWARD - WINNER OF THE 2024 MACAVITY BEST FIRST MYSTERY AWARD
‘Gritty, propulsive, dark and twisty’ David McCloskey, author of Damascus Station
‘It’s fantastic, I loved it’ Steve Cavanagh, author of Thirteen
‘..the most impressive debut of the year to date and a spy novel to rank alongside the best of Mick Herron’s Slough House series.’ The Irish Times
‘Sensational…feels like every inch of the real world of espionage’ Alex Gerlis, author of Every Spy a Traitor
‘I.S. Berry is at the vanguard of a new generation of American spy novelists who have electrified the genre.’ Charles Cumming, author of Judas 62
The thrilling debut from author and former CIA officer I.S. Berry, following an American spy’s last dangerous mission.
Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain for his final tour, he’s anxious to dispense with his mission — uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency. But then he meets Almaisa, an enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask.
When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict, his romance and loyalties upended. In an instant, he’s caught in the crosswinds of a revolution. He sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin.
The Trading Game, Gary Stevenson ( hardback March 2024)
£25.00
An unforgettable story of greed, financial madness and moral decay' Rory Stewart
'Hilarious, shocking and deeply sad — often in the same sentence' Sunday Times
An outrageous, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the trading game and then blew it all wide open'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger. Then he won a competition run by a bank: 'The Trading Game'.
The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family.
Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day. Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all.
But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves. Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything?
The Psychology of Secrets : My Adventures with Murderers, Cults and Influencers, BY Andrew Gold
£20.00
Take a deep dive into the bizarre psychology of secrecy with Andrew Gold, award-winning investigative journalist and host of Heretics.
We all keep secrets. 97 per cent of us are hiding a secret right now, and on average we each hold thirteen at any one time. There’s a one-in-two chance that those secrets involve a breach of trust, a lie or a financial impropriety.
They are the stuff of gossip, of novels and of classic dramas; secrets form a major part of our hidden inner lives. Andrew Gold knows this better than anyone. As a public figure, he has found himself the unwitting recipient of hundreds of strangers' most private revelations.
This set him on a journey to understand this critical part of our societies and lives. Why do we keep secrets? Why are we fascinated by those of others? What happens to our mind when we confess?Drawing from psychology, history, social science, philosophy and personal interviews, The Psychology of Secrets is a rollicking journey through the history of secrecy. --'Andrew Gold is - but should not be - one of our culture’s best kept secrets.
He is a truly edgy journalist, broadcaster and writer' - David Baddiel, bestselling author of The God Desire
Between Two Worlds, Oliver Norek ( paperback from end Dec 2024)
£10.99
A Times 19 Best Books of 2024****A Financial Times Best Summer Book of 2024** A Times 10 Best Crime and Mystery Books of 2024 so far
Adam Sirkis needs to flee Syria. A captain in Assad's military police, he's about to be exposed as a covert member of the Free Syrian Army, and he knows exactly what fate awaits him. His first move is to send his wife and daughter to Libya, where they can find a boat heading for Europe.
Adam himself winds up in France in the Calais Jungle, the infamous camp for migrants seeking passage to the fabled Youké. Bastien Miller, a police lieutenant freshly transferred to the Calais police force, arrives at about the same time. His wife is drowning in grief for her late father and their teenage daughter may never forgive them for the move.
When Adam risks his life to protect a young migrant, the two officers make a deal - information on Adam's family in exchange for intel from the Jungle. Then a body is found in the camp, and the deal becomes an alliance, uniting them in a common cause to do one good deed in a world where vice is a virtue.
** currently out of stock on hardback and paperback not available until after Christmas **
