Butchery outside a London brothel leaves Westfield's Men in disarray. While England is brought low by rumours of Queen Elizabeth's declining health, celebrated theatre company Lord Westfield's Men suffer their own bitter blows. A vicious feud between players causes chaos; a rival company launches a new production and a mysterious beauty reduces their leading actor to a lovelorn wreck. And a brutal murder leaves the group of actors reeling. With matters so fraught, even a performing horse becomes a threat. Stage manager Nicholas Bracewell, accustomed to damage control, is the only man with the wit to keep the company afloat. He begins to discern the connections between the company's misfortunes and the larger shadow falling over England. Steeped in authentic detail and language. 318pp in paperback.

Daily Telegraph Book of the Year, this atmospheric thriller introduces a Scandi-noir Tuva Moodyson Mystery. Eyes missing, two bodies lie deep in the forest near a remote Swedish town. Tuva Moodyson, a deaf reporter on a small-time local paper, is looking for the story that could make her career. Can she outwit the killer before she becomes the final victim? She would like to think so, but first she must face her demons and venture far into the deep dark woods if she wants to stand any chance of getting the hell out of small-time Gavrik. Five villagers, 600 square kilometres of Swedish forest. One reporter. Two bodies... A novel loaded with atmosphere, the tension is unrelenting right from the highly tense opening when Tuva comes face to face (or truck to face) with a charging stag; there is an ominous feeling of dread seeping from every page. Written by a British graduate who lives in Sweden who must have seen the troll sculptures he includes in his book. Stickered, 339pp, paperback.

A gripping mystery of codebreaking by the author of The Da Vinci Code. National Security Agency Fort Meade, Maryland. When the most powerful intelligence organisation on earth's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, it calls for its head cryptographer Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What Susan uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage, not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple US intelligence. In Seville, Spain, the creator of that code Ensei Tankado is found dead, and with him has died the secret to his impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-Cold War balance of power forever. From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo and the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, and betrayal on all sides, Susan Fletcher finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves. Told at a cracking pace, 510pp, paperback.

A double suicide, or murder? 15 years ago in small-town New Jersey, a teenage boy and girl were found dead. Most concluded it was a tragic suicide pact, but the dead boy's brother, Nap Dumas, did not. Now Nap is a cop, but he's a cop who plays by his own rules and who has never made peace with his past. When the past comes back to haunt him, he discovers that secrets can kill. By the king of twisty thrillers and how one tragic night can lead to a lifetime of deadly secrets. 371pp, paperback.

A babbling brook runs alongside a wooded glade, surrounded by autumn light and birdsong, but next to the stream a young woman lies dead, her once bright blonde hair now limp and lifeless. Melissa Craig has settled into a new job in the charming Cotswolds village of Upper Benbury, but her quiet life is interrupted when she sees her new neighbour running out of the woods in a blind panic. Melissa rushes to help him, but what she finds leaves her breathless - the young woman's body. When suspicion falls on Melissa's neighbour, a man with a difficult past trying to make a new start, she feels determined to prove his innocence. As she interviews the local residents, she realises there are several sinister characters lurking inside those charming Cotswold cottages. She decides to get her teeth into the case and doesn't let go. Will she unearth the culprit before another young life is taken? For fans of Faith Martin, Joy Ellis and P. D. James, you'll be hooked from the start. 232pp, paperback.

As the stage is set for a local village play in a beautiful countryside manor, Melissa Craig plays the role of detective once again when one of the cast is mysteriously murdered. She has been delighted to be asked to help put on a play at her favourite local Cotswolds hotel and there's nothing she loves better than getting to know the cast who are just as colourful behind the scenes as they are on stage. Rehearsals are going smoothly until the perpetually grumpy supporting actor is found spread-eagled at the bottom of a steep flight of stairs leading to a cellar. Why on earth was he trying to get down to the hotel's private cellar, and why does the hotel manager seem so angry about it? When the hotel floor plans deliver some unexpected revelations, Melissa is convinced that she's dealing with a murder. But when all of your suspects are actors, how can you tell the good liars from the bad and can Melissa find the killer before the final curtain falls? 250pp, paperback.

Melissa has just finished writing her latest mystery novel and is enjoying the arrival of spring when she receives shocking news. Her estranged father has been found dead in the family home, and her mother Sylvia is under suspicion of murder. Melissa hasn't seen her parents for nearly 30 years, but on hearing the dreadful news she rushes to her mother's side. With no-one else to turn to, Sylvia begs Melissa to investigate the case. Was it a disgruntled employee, the controlling family lawyer, or perhaps the woman with whom her father was having an affair? When another body is found, Melissa realises she's dealing with a ruthless killer. As the police close in, trying to pin both deaths on her mother, Melissa must act fast. Can she find a way to unmask the true killer before she loses her mother for a second time, and possibly forever? 234pp, paperback.

When the young lawyer Daniel Pitt is called from his chambers in Lincoln's Inn to identify a body, he fears that the murder victim will be his friend Kitteredge. But it turns out to be senior lawyer Jonah Drake, who for some reason had borrowed Kitteredge's distinctive coat. Drake was savagely knifed in an alley in London's disreputable Mile End, and Pitt and Kitteredge need to know why. Moneylenders, brothels, opium dens? The reputation of the chambers is at stake, and the head Marcus fford Croft is visibly uneasy. Drake was a cultured man in comfortable circumstances, dealing exclusively in cases of embezzlement, but looking at his financial records Daniel has a feeling there is something wrong. Money is being moved too often with no apparent reason. His search takes him to two possible sources, Drake's client Peterson who was lucky to escape with his life when Drake defended him for murder, and also to the shady world of the shipping tycoon Erasmus Faber. The more Daniel delves, the worse it looks for Marcus, and to complicate matters Daniel is in love with Marcus's daughter. A gripping detective novel in the authentically realised setting of Victorian London. 293pp.

Featuring private investigator Aloysius Archer whose luck is about to run out. California 1949, and Archer is on his way to start a new job with a renowned Private Investigator in Bay Town. Feeling lucky, he stops off at a casino in Reno where he meets an aspiring actress Liberty Callahan. Together they head west on a journey filled with danger and surprises, because Archer isn't the only one with a secretive past. Arriving in a town rife with corruption, Archer is tasked with finding out who is doing everything they can to disrupt the appointment of a top official. Then two seemingly unconnected people are murdered at a burlesque club. In a tight-lipped community, he must dig deep to reveal the connection between the victims and all his skills to decipher the truth from the lies. And to prove she's a star in the making, will Liberty finally have her moment in the spotlight? The ex-jail-bird Archer is one of Baldacci's most attractive characters. 605pp, paperback.

Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson are on the hunt for a murderer when Covid rears its ugly head. Can they find the killer despite lockdown? Ruth is in London clearing out her mother's belongings when she makes a surprising discovery - a photograph of her Norfolk cottage taken before Ruth lived there. Her mother always hated the cottage, so why does she have a picture of the place? The only clue is written on the back of the photo - Dawn, 1963. Ruth returns to Norfolk determined to solve the mystery, but then Covid hits and she and her daughter are locked down in their cottage attempting to continue with work and home-schooling. Happily the house next door is rented by a nice woman called Zoe who they become friendly with while standing on their doorsteps clapping for carers. Meanwhile Nelson is investigating a series of deaths of women that may or may not be suicide when he links the deaths to an archaeological discovery. He breaks curfew to visit the cottage where he finds Ruth chatting to her neighbour whom he remembers as a carer who was once tried for murdering her employer. Only then her name wasn't Zoe. It was Dawn. 'An intelligent and gripping recreation of those first weeks of lockdown in 2020.' 399pp, paperback.