First-rate suspense to devour in one sitting by the writer with a growing reputation for twisty and cunningly plotted thrillers. On the eve of his college graduation, Harry is called home by his stepmother Alice following the unexpected death of his father. But who really is Alice, his father's much younger second wife, and how much is known about her past? In a confusion of emotions, Harry must work out whether Alice's concern for him is purely maternal, or whether there is something darker and more threatening at work. Packed with suspense from the off, the real mystery underpinning this gripping tale concerns the strange relationships, deceit and trickery divided into a story of 'then' and 'now' and creating great tension and a few good surprises. A companion to another bestseller by this author Her Every Fear code 93571. 364pp, paperback.

Gulp down in one sitting this stylish story cleverly told from multiple viewpoints. Slick and grisly, it's a neatly characterised Hitchcockian thriller from the bestselling Peter Swanson. Scarred by a brutal attack, Kate Priddy never does anything bold until, in an attempt to take control of her life, she accepts an apartment swap offer from her cousin Corbin Dell, and moves from London to Boston. But soon after arriving, Kate makes a terrifying discovery - Corbin's next door neighbour Audrey Marshall may have been murdered. Far from home and emotionally unstable, Kate's fragile imagination plays out her every fear. Who can she trust? With a brilliantly original premise, this has been a Sunday Times bestseller. 412pp, paperback.

A wordprocessed list of nine names, nothing else, is mailed to nine different people across the US. They do not know each other. Some are uneasy, others shrug it off, and all continue with their daily routines. Then Frank goes to the seashore to escape his demons, and finds he has to confront them in terror as he is dragged to his death by drowning. Matthew has a difficult marriage and problem children but one evening he kisses his neighbour Michelle and suddenly life seems better. A few minutes later he is shot accurately between the shoulder blades. Arthur is mourning the recent death of his husband Richard and succumbs easily to a canister of carbon monoxide. Meanwhile the last person on the alphabetical list is Jessica Winslow, an FBI agent, who is on the alert when she hears of the first death and starts investigating, tracking down those on the list and ringing up to warn them. Talking to her father, Jessica realises there may be a connection between the apparently random victims through the older generation. But then her colleague and former lover Aaron persuades her to go into hiding. Meanwhile Jack is getting to know his neighbour Margaret, Jay is stalking a new young blonde woman he spotted in the street, and Alison is stunned by the news that the wife of her much-older lover has left him and he is now free. Detective Sam Hamilton is on the case and as the net tightens it becomes clear that the murderer will take out the whole list. But who, and why? 320pp.

Iconic, tough-but-tender Boston PI Spenser delves into the black-market art scene to investigate a decades-long unsolved crime of dangerous proportions. The heist was legendary, still talked about 20 years after the priceless paintings disappeared from one of Boston's premier art museums. Most thought the art was lost forever, buried deep, sold off overseas or worse, destroyed as incriminating evidence. But when paint chips from the valuable piece stolen, Gentlemen in Black, by a Spanish master arrive at the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum finds hope, and enlists Spenser's help. Soon the cold art case thrusts him into the shady world of black-market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses, and old vendettas. A five million dollar reward by the museum's top benefactor, and an unlikable Boston socialite set Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions, murder, and double crosses. Atkins's gift for mimicking the late Robert B. Parker delights devotees. 255pp, paperback.

A skinny lad is found dead, his body carelessly stuffed into a wheelie bin. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called to investigate. Who was the boy, and where did he come from? Was he discarded as rubbish or left as a warning to someone? As the local press seize upon an illegal immigrant angle, and the national media on the story of yet another knife crime, the police are called to investigate a less newsworthy death - a middle-aged addict found dead on another estate. Banks finds the threads of each case seem to weave into one another, and to the dark side of organised crime in Eastvale. Does another thread link to his friend Zelda who is facing her own dark side? Banks' meditations on the past make him a figure readers feel they know intimately. 377pp, paperback.

A young woman is found strangled hours before her wedding. DI Wesley Peterson discovers that Kirsten Harbourn was being pursued by an obsessive stalker and had dark secrets her fiancé knew nothing about. But Kirsten's wasn't the only wedding planned to take place that day in South Devon. A couple made their wedding vows at Morbary Registry Office, and a few days later the groom is found dead in a seaside hotel. As Wesley examines the links between the cases, the skeleton of a young bride is discovered in a field once owned by the family of an Elizabethan playwright. Ralph Strong's play 'The Fair Wife of Padua' is soon to be performed for the first time in over 400 years. Is the bloodthirsty drama a confession to the historic murder, and can it reveal anything about the recent killings Wesley must solve? 'A powerful story of loss, malice and deception.' - Ann Cleeves. 297pp, paperback.

It's Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6. Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency's Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense. Why were some of the victims anaesthetised while others died in appalling agony? Why is their only suspect denying what they can irrefutably prove but admitting to things they weren't even aware of? And why did the victims all take the same two weeks off work three years earlier? When a disgraced FBI agent gets in touch things take an even darker turn because she doesn't think Poe is dealing with a serial killer at all - she thinks he's dealing with someone far, far worse, a man who calls himself the Curator. And nothing will ever be the same again. A jaw-droppingly shocking and intense tightly woven mystery which was the winner of the CWA Best Crime Novel of 2019 award. 'Unlike most procedurals, M. W. Craven grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck and drags them bodily over the grit and grimness of this expertly-crafted tale.' 387pp, paperback.

Mike Hammer accompanies a conservative politician to Moscow on a fact-finding mission. While there he is arrested by the KGB on a bogus charge, and imprisoned, but he quickly escapes, creating an international incident by getting into a firefight with Russian agents. On his stateside return, the government is none too happy with Mr. Hammer. Russia is insisting upon his return to stand charges, and various government agencies are following him. A question dogs our hero - why him? Why does Russia want him back, and why (as evidence increasingly indicates) was he singled out to accompany the senator to Russia in the first place? And why does every beautiful woman he encounters seem to have a seductively hidden agenda? 'Collins displays his mastery of Spillane's distinctive two-fisted prose.' - Publishers Weekly. A companion to 93639. 246pp.

From the clever witty and popular Lawless series, this is first-rate Victorian crime fiction. It is 1863, and as a reluctant Inspector of Vice, Campbell Lawless undertakes a reckoning of London's houses of ill repute, a shadowy netherworld of frayed glamour and double standards, mesmerising and unspeakable by turns. From the erotic booksellers of Holywell Street to the alleys of Haymarket, he discovers backstreet cast-offs and casualties of the society bordellos, and becomes fascinated by a musician who has established a foundation for fallen women. But his inquiries draw the attention of powerful men who can be merciless in defending their reputations. Lawless must unlock the heart of a clandestine network before he too is silenced. With cast of characters in addition to the doxies, dollymops, fourpennies, zuches, jawbreakers, lushy betts, dirty salls, pineapple jacks, pimps, socialites, lords, dukes and parliamentarians. 360pp, paperback.

The second in the series set in London 1655 when Cromwell's regime is under threat from all sides. Damian Seeker, Captain of Cromwell's Guard, is all too aware of the danger facing Cromwell. Parliament resents his control of the Army, while the Army resents his absolute power. In the East End of London a group of religious fanatics plots rebellion and in the midst of all this, a stonemason uncovers a perfectly preserved body dressed in the robes of a Dominican friar, bricked up in the wall of the crumbling Black Friars monastery. Ill-informed rumours and speculation abound, but Seeker instantly recognises the dead man. What he must discover is why he met such a hideous end, and what his connection was to the children who have started to disappear from around the city. Unravelling these mysteries is challenging enough, and made still harder by the activities of dissenters at home, Royalist plotters abroad, and individuals who are not what they seem. Seeker navigates the shifting factions while quelling religious fanatics and plotters in the seething city beyond Whitehall. A gripping tale of crime and sedition, mystery and intrigue. 456pp, paperback.