The defenestration of a ruthless theatre impresario's young son was definitely not the best way to end the play's first night party. And the crime scene itself was most unusual: a locked bedroom, with no sign of forced entry, no prints or traces of blood, just a sinister, life-size puppet of Mr Punch lying on the floor... Everyone at the...

A DOOMED VOYAGE April 14th 1912. The maiden voyage of the world's most luxurious passenger liner, Titanic. A DARK PAST Each passenger has their own reason to make the crossing, but for former Special Branch police officer Arthur Beck it is the only way he can escape the demons of his past. Also on board is Martha Heaton, a female...

When Ed Strachan's parents were killed in a horrific car crash eighteen years ago, they left their son a miserly inheritance: the memory of a mangled nursery rhyme and a cufflink inscribed with a single set of coordinates. But eighteen years later when a beautiful girl tries to poison Ed and steal the cufflink he guesses it may have greater...

The Minister for Defence is blown to smithereens in his car on a lonely road in the Brecon Beacons, where he has a weekend hideaway. DI Ned Bale is on the crime scene within seconds, but neither he nor forensics can work out how on earth the crime was committed, let alone who did it, or with what motive. That...

1882. When the creak of the garden gate one autumn afternoon sounds the arrival of an unexpected stranger, William Trenchard is puzzled, but not alarmed. He cannot possibly know the destruction this visitor will wreak on all he holds dear. The stranger is James Norton, who claims to be the man William's wife Constance was once engaged to, and who...

Three-times winner of the CWA International Dagger for Crime Fiction Commissaire Adamsberg has left Paris for a police conference in London, accompanied by anglophile Commandant Danglard and Estalere, a young sergeant. The city offers a welcome change of scenery until a gruesome discovery is made - just outside the gates of Highgate Cemetery a pile of shoes, all containing severed...

Classic crime, at its very best. With a new introduction by Gyles Brandreth. The Red House is a country residence far removed from the world of the Hundred Acre Wood but its story has much of the same charm and wit. There is, of course, a murder, and when the local police fail to solve the crime, an amateur sleuth...

'If you like your crime medicine strong, this will keep you gripped.' Mail on Sunday DON’T COUNT ON SEEING TOMORROW Dr Toby Harper’s quiet night is disrupted when a severely ill man stumbles into ER. She suspects a viral brain infection. But shortly after trying to treat him, he disappears without a trace. When a second person is admitted with...

Flynn is a thirteen-year-old girl caught between her violent, out-of-control brother, Sam, and her mother, who is struggling to cope. And then, one impossibly hot night, a strange half-feral boy called Alex turns up at the bottom of Flynn's garden. Alex is one of three runaways; there's also Diana, who has just had a baby, and Mouse, who is only...

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Part of forensic psychiatrist Natalie Vine's job is to assess the risk of danger to the public from convicted criminals applying for release. In her opinion, rapist Colin Heggarty is a scheming, lying, unrepentant recidivist. With his weekend leave disallowed, Heggarty wants revenge and he plots it in the most...

Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time 'An absolutely enthralling suspense right to the very end' 5***** Reader Review 'Keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next' 5***** Reader Review ______ Physics teacher (and crack shot) Jonathan Derry is given some tapes to look...

A luminous spring day in Venice, and Commissario Brunetti and his sidekick Vianello play hooky from the Questura along the Grand Canal to rescue Vianello's friend Marco, who has been arrested during an environmental protest. They get him released, only to be faced by the fury of the man's father-in-law, who owns a glass factory on Murano. The old man...

Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time 'Compelling, exciting, fast paced . . . A timeless story' 5***** Reader Review 'Action packed racing thriller from start to finish' 5***** Reader Review 'Sit back and enjoy the ride' 5***** Reader Review ______ When amateur jockey Lord Henry Grey decides on a whim...

Killer In the quiet coastal town of Montauk, Long Island, a sadistic killer is stalking his prey, waiting for the right moment to unleash his fury. Protector When a young woman and her young son are found brutally murdered – skinned alive in a frenzied attack – Sheriff Mike Hauser knows he’s out of his depth. There’s no evidence, no...

Washington D.C., post-Miracle. The city has been hit by a spate of very unusual serial killings. The victims are different ages and genders and the locations vary, but each body has one thing in common – it has been reduced to a dried-up, desiccated husk. Special Agent Lucas Avery has dealt with some tricky puzzles in his time, but this...