Defense Attorney Mickey Haller returns with a haunting case. He receives a text, 'Call me ASAP - 187', and the California penal code for murder immediately gets his attention. Murder cases have the highest stakes and the biggest paydays, and they always mean Haller has to be at the top of his game. When he learns that the victim was his own former client Gloria Dayton, a prostitute he thought he had rescued and put on the straight and narrow, far from saving her, he may have been her downfall and the one who put her in danger. Haunted by the ghosts of his past he must work tirelessly and bring all his skill to bear on a case that could mean his ultimate redemption or proof of his ultimate guilt. He must find out who Gloria really was and who was responsible for her death. While the themes of Connelly's LA crime novels are familiar - power, envy, corruption - his plotting is anything but. 465pp, paperback.

First published in 1967, we have the British Library paperback reprint of a now classic crime thriller. Set mainly in the London of the Swinging Sixties, and written in the days when John le Carré and Len Deighton were making a name for themselves, George Sims never became as famous as his two illustrious contemporaries. However, this novel was included by H. R. F. Keating in Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books. The story opens on an August afternoon in Paddington. A small man is standing on a ledge outside a window, ten floors above the street. Dizzy and frightened, he plunges to the ground 'uttering a single short cry, a noise which did not sound particularly human, simply that ignominious yelp of an animal encountering death'. Suddenly there is a switch of setting and mood and we are in Corsica, at the same time on the same day, where a middle aged dealer in manuscripts and autographed letters is in bed with a girl called Bunty who is young enough to be his daughter. At the very same time 2pm Ned Balfour wakes in Corsica beside his beautiful woman his fellow art dealer and Dachau survivor Sam Weiss falls ten stories to his death. Ned refuses to believe that Sam's death was intentional, and his investigation thrusts him into the deceit and fraudulence of the art world, where he unmasks more than one respectable face. A thrilling tale of vertigo, suspicion and infidelity, this is a long-forgotten classic with an intriguing plot twist written by the antiquarian book seller and unorthodox writer who was popular for his cleverly-woven narratives. 191pp, paperback.

Myron Bolitar screwed up. He was supposed to be protecting a woman and instead he fell in love with her - and then she died. So he's dropped out and run away to the Caribbean to escape his guilt, but now everything has come back to haunt him. Esperanza Diaz, his closest friend, is in trouble. Murder trouble. The victim is one of Myron's own clients, and the case seems to be watertight. It's inconceivable that Esperanza is involved, but she is refusing to deny it, so in order to help his friend, Myron must battle for her freedom against her own wishes. 344pp, paperback.

One slip was all it took to rob Matt Hunter of the life he had so well mapped out. A fight, a friend in trouble and the dull crack of someone's skull on the concrete cost him four years in jail and a small sliver of his soul. Emerging an older and wiser person, he finds a job to be proud of and a beautiful girl who agrees to marry him, but now someone is following him, threatening everything he has worked so hard for. And Matt can't trust anyone, least of all those he loves. Elegant, pacy and with tons of tension, this is a dark and gripping thriller from the master. 439pp in reprint of the 2005 original, this is an electrifying New Jersey-based thriller which plays games with notions of innocence and guilt and has satisfyingly realistic descriptions.

Brighton 1965 and when theatrical impresario Bert Billington is found dead, no one suspects foul play, but when the post-mortem reveals poisoning, suspicion falls on his wife, eccentric ex-Music Hall star Verity Malone. Determined to prove her innocence, Verity calls in private investigator Emma Holmes, former detective and now wife of Police Superintendent Edgar Stephens. This is her first real case, but luckily she has a lead. Her friend, actor Max Mephisto is filming a remake of Dracula starring Bert's son, Seth, but Max is playing his cards close to his chest. Emma must vie with the police including her husband to untangle the case. She's convinced the answer lies in Bert's dark past and in the glamorous, occasionally deadly days of Music Hall, but the closer she gets to the truth the more danger she finds herself in. Subtle, charming and with an unflaggingly keen eye, this is an emotionally intelligent and satisfying crime novel from the bestselling author. 346pp, paperback.

'What? You mean the earl does it for money? That's way beyond the barbed wire!' This explosion of disgust from Blotto is provoked when Twinks informs him of the activities of the Earl of Woking. The gentleman in question is owner of Clusters, a stately home not far from Tawcester Towers, and he has been renting out parts of Clusters for private functions and charging his guests! The discovery of this appalling lapse in aristocratic behaviour sets the brother and sister duo off on their latest adventure, determined to find out more about the activities. They discover the existence of a sinister group called Aristotours, brokers between impoverished owners of stately homes and the common people, offering 'a taste of the high life' to characters such as stockbrokers, surgeons and solicitors. And if this were not bad enough, the siblings discover Aristotours trying to infiltrate their evil practises into Tawcester Towers itself. The pair set off on a quest to identify and stop the evil genius behind it all and his acolytes, until 'the ruffled green baize on the dividing door was once again smoothed down.' 202pp, 2022 new hardback.

There's a murder on the streets of London, a plot that threatens the country and a dinner party to arrange. Only one man can help and unfortunately he's got a terrible hangover. Set in 1936, it is the story of Max and Martha Dalton, a young couple who seem to live a carefree life of luxury and dinner parties, far removed from the increasingly brutal world. When an old army friend is murdered, Max finds himself drawn into the crime and back into his own past. As the police suspect Max guilty of the murder, he believes there must be a connection with a tragic crime committed in the muddy hell of the Western Front. Police suspicions grow along with a body count featuring one too many of Max's former comrades. With Martha, he sets out to unravel a knotted series of events, motivations and lies, while being pursued by a police force convinced that he's the murderer and with unknown assassins hot on his trail. With the slightly dubious help of Martha, their maid Flora, Flora's sweetheart Eric, and a very confused solicitor, Max manages to uncover a plot that threatens the safety of the whole country. An action-packed caper, cleverly plotted with engaging characters. 329pp, paperback.

'Absorbing, terrifying, beautiful and appalling. I loved it... Unforgettable.' - Ruth Rendell. 15 years after their divorce, Susan Morrow receives a strange gift from her ex-husband - a manuscript that tells the story of a terrible crime, of an ambush on the highway, of a secluded cabin in the woods. It is a chilling tale of death and corruption, written by the man she once loved. Why after so long has he sent her a disturbing and personal message? This book is a lost masterpiece of American literature, a dazzling and multi-layered novel of marriage, literature, fear and revenge written by the New York novelist and academic who died in 2003 at the age of 80. A very classy reprint with unusual cut-out jacket, 374pp in paperback.

By the bestselling author of the popular Railway Detective series, this is one of his thrilling mysteries for the Bow Street Rivals. 1817. Having received an anonymous message informing her that her estranged father is dead and buried, Clemency van Emden arrives from Holland desperate to visit his final resting place. A chance encounter on a busy London street leads her to twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen who agree to help her unravel the mystery of her father's last days. When the body of her father is discovered to be missing from its casket, the Bow Street Rivals will embark on a chase of grave robbers, funerary agents and Good Samaritans to unearth the truth. London is awash with beggars, haunting the riverside, lurking in doorways and descending on St Paul's Cathedral like a swarm of locusts. 350pp in paperback.

A poignant, unsettling page turner, a book to keep you guessing and pull at your heart strings, hooked by the first page and shocked by the last. They thought the killer had no motive, but these murders are not what they seem. On 15th June 1994, Travis Green, husband, father, upstanding citizen, walked through the streets of Hartstead and killed 11 of his neighbours. The last victim was little Cassie Colman's father. As the 25th anniversary approaches, Cassie tries to forget the past, even as her mother struggles to remember it at all. Then something hidden in her mother's possessions suggests the murders were not what everyone believes. Cassie can't help herself from digging up the past, but someone will do anything to keep it buried. 376pp, fairly large print, this is a taut psychological thriller. Paperback.