When Nicholas Peverell is urgently summoned to court by a messenger from King Henry VIII, he suspects that the King will want him to investigate a crime; for Nicholas, lord of the Manor of Dean Peverell in Sussex, has done so before. Reluctant to leave home though he is, he will at least see his beloved Jane Warrener, now a lady in waiting to Queen Jane, once more. But the crime, the murder of a wool merchant in the back streets of Portsmouth, hardly seems to warrant such attention - after all, Portsmouth has its own sheriff to deal with such matters. Could there be more to this than meets the eye? Nicholas starts to delve into the death only to find that the dead merchant's box of papers is stolen from the inn where Nicholas is lodging, which confirms his suspicions that this is no ordinary murder. He has also been instructed to report on the condition of the coastal defences at Porchester castle; his stay there becomes awkward after the governor's predatory wife attempts to seduce him. Then disaster strikes - Nicholas is suddenly arrested on a charge of treason and taken to London to be imprisoned in the Tower. For reasons beyond his understanding, the hunter has become the hunted...

Security consultant, ex-cop and some-time detective Billy Oliphant is suffering from more than just winter blues.

Billy's friend Sly thinks that a free luxury weekend at Forestcrag Village will be just the thing to cheer Billy up. But David Moreland, the manager of the park, believes someone is poisoning his staff. And then the body of Eric Salkeld, the Payroll Manager, is discovered.
It looks like a straightforward suicide. There's even a note, left on a computer disk, containing Salkeld's confession of embezzlement. Left nominally in charge of the investigation by police unable to get to the crime scene, Billy can't help but feel that the suicide looks a little too perfectly staged...

Praise for Die Cast: 'Terrific storytelling' Campbell Armstrong
'trumpets an emerging talent' Time Out
'good tight prose...' Literary Review

In the village of Swifford Lea live the Webb sisters, two nonagenarians whose memories hold great value to the local University's Social History and Folklore department, and need to be tapped before it is too late. The best woman for the job is Dr Rhianna 'Anna' Summers but she is currently dealing with memories of her own. Having resigned from her post after the horrific death of her husband and child, Anna takes some persuading to take up another research post. However, the prospect of handing over the Webb sisters to an unscrupulous academic rival proves to be the spur Anna needs. The village is one of four Swiffords: Lea, Holt, Maisey and Fen, set on an isolated peninsula and largely untouched by tourism. Only Anna finds village life far from idyllic. On the very day she arrives a teenage girl in Swifford Maisey viciously attacks her family before turning her axe on herself. But this bloody act is merely the start of the trouble, as a spate of brutal - and seemingly random - murders strikes at the heart of village life, turning neighbour against neighbour and casting suspicion on incomer and local alike. For in this quiet English backwater evil lurks.

Every family has its secrets...

From the day he sets foot in the house in Hampstead that belonged to his new wife's first husband, Matthew Gardner begins to realise that life with Caroline is going to be infinitely rougher than he'd hoped. Two of her three teenage daughters, Flic and Imogen - charming to him in public actually loathe him.
If only their mother could see Matthew through their eyes, the girls feel, life would be so much easier. As things are, however, Flic and Imo - two young sociopaths in the making - are utterly determined to get rid of their stepfather, and chillingly ruthless in the way they go about it.

Praise for Hilary Norman:
'heart-stopping suspense' Mary Higgins Clark
'genuinely scary ... touches of sheer horror ... a real page-turner' Daily Telegraph
'An accomplished novelist' New York Times Book Review
'A goose-pimply, page-turning read right to the end' Company

When Nell Channing arrives on Three Sisters Island, she hopes she has finally found refuge from her abusive husband. But even in this peaceful place, she feels haunted by fear. Then she discovers the island is suffering under a terrible curse and that she must find the power to save herself.

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Olivia's parents had been one of Hollywood's golden couples ... until the night the monster came. The monster who destroyed their beautiful home and took her mother away From her forever. The monster with her father's face...
Now a young woman, Olivia's memory of that night has faded. Her mother's grieving Family spared no effort to keep Olivia safe from the publicity, sending her to grow up in a secluded home in the natural splendour of a beautiful national forest. But, despite the terror and the years that have passed, a part of her still yearns to recall those horrifying events, to know the truth about her childhood.
With the help of a young writer named Noah Brady, she could have the chance. The son of the police officer who found Olivia cowering in her bedroom closet so many years ago, Noah wants to reconstruct that infamous night - and tell the story that has become a part of Hollywood history. But before Olivia can confront her past, she must safeguard her future. For in this Forest haven, this remote corner of the country, the monster walks again…

Sophia Giambelli, PR executive for her family's winery, takes on a new role with a merger with the MacMillan family winery. Forced to work closely with Tyler MacMillan, she feels both attraction and rivalry, but then a series of acts of sabotage threaten both the business and the family.

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Decian Fitzgerald has always been the family maverick, but even he can't justify his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans.
But spending his days in total isolation are taking their toll. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan's belief in the ghostly presence grows. Only the companionship of alluring Angelina Simone can distract from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall ...

Ripley Todd is perfectly content, except for one thing: she has special powers that both frighten and confuse her - and though she tries hard to hide them, she can't get them under control...
Distraction arrives in the handsome form of MacAllister Booke - a researcher who's come to investigate the rumours of witchcraft that haunt Three Sisters Island. Right from the start, he knows there's something extraordinary about Ripley Todd. Fascinated by her struggle with her amazing abilities, he becomes determined to help her accept who she is - and find the courage to open her heart. But before Ripley and Mac can dream of what lies in the future, they must confront the past. For Three Sisters shelters centuries of secrets and a legacy of danger that plagues them still...

'Exciting, romantic, great fun' Cosmopolitan

Mia Devlin knows what it's like to love with your whole heart - and then watch your love walk away. Years ago, she and Sam Logan shared an incredible bond. But then one day he left...
Now the new owner of the island's only hotel, Sam has returned to Three Sisters with hopes of winning back Mia's affections. Angry, hurt and deeply confused, Mia refuses to admit that a passion for Sam still burns up her heart. But she'll need his help - and his powers - to face her greatest, most terrifying challenge...

International best-selling author Nora Roberts presents the first in a quartet of novels that deal with the lives and loves of four brothers living in Chesapeake Bay Cameron, Ethan and Philip were all troubled young boys who were rescued and adopted at difficult periods in their lives by the extraordinary couple, Raymond and Stella Quinn. Now grown and living on their own, the Quinn brothers must return to the family home on the Maryland shore, to honour their fathers last request. Sea Swept is Cameron's story. Cameron has lived the reckless life of a daredevil since leaving the quiet community of Chesapeake Bay. He likes fast cars, fast boats and fast women. But when his dying father calls him home to care for Seth, a troubled young boy not unlike Cameron once was, his life changes overnight. After years of independence, Cameron has to learn to live with his brothers once again, while he struggles with taking care of a difficult teenager. Old rivalries and new resentments flare between Cameron and his brothers but they have to try and set aside their differences for Seth's sake. Only Seth's fate is in the hands of a tough but beautiful social worker. She alone has the power to bring the Quinns together - or tear them apart...

Set on the windswept shores of the Chesapeake Bay, international best-selling author Nora Roberts's presents Rising Tides, the second book in the Quinn Brothers quartet, which continues the story of the lives and loves of adopted brothers Ethan, Cameron, and Philip Quinn. Eager to honour their father's dying wish that their youngest brother, Seth, be cared for, the three settle into life with a 10-year-old. Ethan finds himself the most drawn to the young boy, because both suffered horrific abuse before being adopted by the Quinns. Time hasn't extinguished Ethan's pain, however, only buried it deep within his heart, a fact that may keep him from the only woman he has ever loved. Of all the brothers, it was Ethan who shared his father's passion for the Maryland shore, and now with his father gone, he is determined to make the family boat building business a success. But amidst his achievements lie the most important challenges of his life. There is young Seth, who needs him more than ever. And the woman he has always loved but never believed he could have. Beneath Ethan's seemingly still waters is his dark and painful past. He must learn to see through the shadows and to accept who he is, or risk losing his one true chance at happiness...

The first ten years of Seth Quinn's life had been a prison of fear, abuse and neglect. It had made him stronger than most ten-year-old boys. And a great deal more wary. Ray Quinn had rescued him from all that. And, after their father's death, Philip, Ethan and Cam Quinn had continued his good work, raising Seth as their own brother. Now an adult and a successful artist, Seth is happy to return home to Cheasapeake Bay to the only real family he has ever known. Drusilla Whitcomb Banks is a newcomer in town. And from the first time he meets her, Seth realises that she is way out of his league. She has money, class and an impeccable background. Added to which, her own history has taught her not to give her heart lightly. Despite these odds, Seth is determined to try. But their fledging relationship faces another threat; for if Seth is ever to win a place in Dru's affections, he must finally face up to his tragic past and the mother who sold him...

Critical space: it's all that stands between you and death... Code-named Drama, she is a lightning-fast death machine - a hit-woman sought by intelligence agencies around the world. Drama kills as easily as she breathes...And the last time she met Atticus Kodiak, they barely escaped each other alive. Atticus has a reputation as one of the toughest bodyguards in the business, and is used to calling the shots. But all that changes when he is forced to take on Drama as a client. From New York's Russian enclaves to the Swiss Alps and the Carribean, Atticus becomes Drama's only hope for survival as she tries to outrun her bloody past. But once immersed in Drama's high-stakes, covert world, Atticus breaks a cardinal rule - he gets to know Drama as a woman rather than as a client - and it's a bond that could cost them both their lives.

'Though it's true there's a killing in my story, its principle violence is, I think I'd have to say, the violence of love'

Norrie Blume is in the middle of an obsessive love affair with Michael, a married man, when she wins a prestigious Larkin fellowship. Moving into her college apartment Norrie meets new neighbours intense Chilean journalist Clara and the serene Indian poet Devi. Norrie finds herself drawn to Devi, but Clara's overtures of friendship become a little unnerving...

'Stylishly, modishly erotic thrilling first novel' Publishers Weekly
'What an elegant and suspenseful debut' Margot Livesey

A startling and provocative debut, Patricia Traxler's novel is equal parts auspicious literary thriller, suspenseful page-turner, and an erotic novel about the nature of desire and the danger of love
· Patricia Traxier is an award-winning poet