New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Macmillan New Writing 08 Jan-March

File Updated: 30/03/2008

New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Macmillan New Writing JAN-MARCH 08

Martin Baker Meltdown Published January 2008 by Macmillan at Ł10.00 ISBN: 0230530303

Samuel Spendlove, one of the brightest young academics at Oxford, has given it all up to work undercover for William Barton, owner of a massive media empire. His reasons are complicated, but he's finding he gets a thrill out of working for Khan, the legendary market trader, working out of the Paris office of Ropner's Bank, whose dealings have been known to bring nations to their knees. Barton wants information about Khan. He wants revenge over a man who has bested him once. Spendlove assumes he wants to ensure it is only the once Spendlove enjoys both sides of this game, until it all unravels and he finds himself simultaneously accused of almost bringing down the global economy and of the murder of Kaz Day, a glamorous colleague on the trading floor. He goes into hiding in the surreal and dangerous world of underground Paris chased by the police, by Khan, the bank and William Barton...and helped by Kaz's bi-curious lover, Lauren. But who framed him and why?

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Simon Brett Death Under the Dryer Pbk published March 2008 by Macmillan at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0330426982

Fethering Mysteries
When Carole goes for a hair trim at 'Connie's Clip Joint', she doesn't expect to find herself at the scene of a murder. But sure enough in the backroom, strangled by the lead of a hairdryer, sits Connie's young assistant Kyra. Whilst Carole and her sleuthing friend Jude enjoy some tactical snooping, Fethering fingers are pointing firmly at Kyra's boyfriend, Nathan, who has disappeared. But Nathan's family are also acting rather oddly - whilst convinced of Nathan's innocence, they don't seem so certain that he is actually missing. Meanwhile Connie's ex-husband Martin, co-owner of the rival hairdressing chain 'Martin & Martina', appears to have been quite the ladies man with his young assistants, including Kyra herself. Could he have silenced her before she divulged his sordid secret and potentially ruined his career? As our discreet lady detectives decide there are only so many haircuts they can have for the sake of neighbourhood crime solving, so too do they realise this is no cut and dry case, and that some people will stop at nothing to keep their private lives concealed...

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Simon Brett Blood at the Bookies (Fethering Mysteries) Published March 2008 by Macmillan at Ł16.99 ISBN: 0230014577

All bets are on when there's a body found at the bookies...When Jude wanders into Fethering's local bookies she has no idea that she will shortly be investigating the murder of Polish immigrant Tadeusz Jankowski. With her partner in crime, friend and next-door-neighbour Carole, she's determined to discover who killed him - and why? There are several favourites in the running: A mysterious woman in the bookies? The charming lecturer at the university? Or the mysterious attacker who Jude only narrowly escapes from? Talking to suspects and gathering information, the amateur investigators try to piece together the broken trail of the young immigrant's life. But in this race there's only one winner - and it could be that they are pipped at the post by a cold and calculated killer…

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Anne Cleeves White Nights Published March 2008 by Macmillan at Ł16.99 ISBN: 0230014453

It's midsummer in Shetland, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets. Artist Bella Sinclair throws a party to launch an exhibition of her work and to introduce the paintings of Fran Hunter. The Herring House, the gallery where the exhibition is held, is on the beach at Biddista, in the remote north west of the island. When a mysterious Englishman bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where he's come from, the evening ends in farce. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter in a boathouse on the jetty, a clown's mask on his face. Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that this is a local murder. He is reinforced in this belief when Roddy, Bella's musician nephew is murdered too. But the detective's relationship with Fran Hunter clouds his judgement. And this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.

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Clare Francis Unforgotten Published March 2008 by Macmillan at Ł16.99 ISBN: 0333903501

After five years, lawyer Hugh Gwynne's most difficult case has finally come to court. His client, Tom Deacon is claiming damages for post-traumatic stress after a car accident in which he witnessed the death of his young daughter by fire. The case is going well, it seems certain Tom will win the compensation that will enable him to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. Then Hugh receives an anonymous letter that throws him into an impossible dilemma.To stay on the case is unethical, to withdraw will threaten its success, and Tom Deacon, revealing himself in an entirely new light, makes it clear that such treachery will not be forgiven. For Hugh, the dilemma is intensified by the contrast between their lives: Tom tormented by flashbacks, jobless, with a broken marriage and two children he hardly sees; Hugh with what he regards as a blessed existence, a rewarding life as a jobbing solicitor and an intensely happy marriage to Lizzie, with whom he has two adopted children, Lou away on her gap year, and fragile, sensitive Charlie who seems to have overcome his personal demons.

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Sue Grafton T Is for Trespass Published March 2008 by Macmillan at Ł16.99 ISBN: 1405052767

It was like being in the presence of a snake, first hissing its presence and then coiled in readiness. I didn't dare turn my back or take my eyes off of her. I stood very still. I let go of my fight-or-flight defense and decided to play dead. If you run from a bear, it gives chase. That's the nature of the beast. Likewise a snake. If I moved, she might strike. When her elderly neighbour Gus has an accident, Kinsey Millhone is relieved when his niece organises a nurse for him.Verifying a background check on Solana Rojas doesn't turn up anything suspicious. But Kinsey's not convinced especially when Gus seems to be getting worse under his nurse's tender care. Realising that her neighbourly concern isn't going to get her past, the front door Kinsey turns to more unorthodox methods to step up her investigation. And gets far more than she bargained for...Not only is Solana not who she seems to be but she's more than able to play Kinsey at her own game. Suddenly the tables have turned and it's Kinsey who's on the wrong side of the law.

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David Hewson The Garden of Evil Published January 2008 by Macmillan at Ł12.99 ISBN: 1405050233

In a hidden studio in an area of Rome, where the Vatican liked to keep an eye on the city's prostitutes, an art expert from the Louvre is found dead in front of one of the most beautiful paintings that Nic Costa has ever seen - an unknown Caravaggio masterpiece. But before long, tragedy will strike Nic far closer to home. The main suspect's identity is known, but he remains untouchable protected in his grand palazzo by a fleet of lawyers and a sinister cult known as the Ekstasists. If Costa and his team can crack the reasons for the cult's existence, he may well stand a chance of nailing his wife's killer. But the mystery will take him right back to Caravaggio himself and the reasons he had to flee Rome, all those centuries before...

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Nerys Ann Jones Godiva Published January 2008 by Macmillan at Ł12.99 ISBN: 0230530680

Britain, 1045 - The Normans are circling, waiting their turn to pounce on the English throne and wrest it away from the Anglo-Saxon barons. King Edward the Confessor, the childless, half Norman 'Virgin King' does his Machiavellian best to aid them. Everything centres on the succession. Earl Lovric of Mercia and his powerful wife, Godiva - two of the most powerful of his Anglo-Saxon vassals are inevitably drawn into the machinations at Court. When Edward manipulates their son into a treasonable act and makes him a pawn in his power play, Godiva's maternal instincts rise to the fore. Intrigue and power play undermine her own trust in her husband...and the stage is set for one of the most powerful mythological stories of British history. This is the story of an independent, resourceful and intelligent noble woman tested to the limits of her endurance, which illuminates one of the great myths of British history.

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Brian McGilloway Gallows Lane (Inspector Devlin Mystery 2) Published March 2008 by Macmillan New Writing at Ł14.99 ISBN: 0230700616

Taking its title from the name of the road down which condemned Donegal criminals were once led, Gallows Lane follows Inspector Benedict Devlin as he investigates a series of gruesome murders in and around the Irish borderlands. When a young woman is found beaten to death on a building site, in what appears to be a sexually-motivated killing, Devlin's enquiries soon point to a local body-builder and steroid addict. But days later, born-again ex-con James Kerr is found nailed to a tree - crucified - having been released from prison and returned to his hometown to spread the word of God. Increasingly torn between his young family and his job, Devlin is determined to apprehend those responsible for the murders be-fore they strike again, even as the carnage begins to jeopardise those he cares about most. Gallows Lane is the heart-stopping follow-up to Brian McGilloway's acclaimed debut Borderlands.

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Julie Parsons I Saw You Published January 2008 by Macmillan at Ł16.99 ISBN: 0333906985

For ten years, newly retired Policeman Michael McLoughlin has been haunted by the case of a young woman brutally murdered and the affection he felt for the victim's mother, Margaret. A favour for a friend leads him to another woman who has lost a child her daughter has been found drowned in the same lake her stepfather died in years earlier. Was it an accident, suicide or murder? Margaret thought she could escape her past but the memories of her daughter and of her killer - give her no peace and she finally returns to Dublin to face her demons. A chance encounter with a young girl in a graveyard leads her to back to a man she never thought she'd see again and a mother with a grief to match her own.
This is a chilling and dark novel of love, revenge and atonement from the author of "Mary", "The Courtship Gift", and "The Hourglass."

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Richard North Patterson The Race Published February 2008 by Macmillan at Ł16.99 ISBN: 1405053836

Corey Grace, a handsome and charismatic Republican senator from Ohio, is plunged by an act of terrorism into a fierce presidential primary battle with the favorite of the party establishment and a magnetic leader of the Christian right. A decorated Gulf War pilot, Grace insists on voting his own conscience rather than the party line, and this stubborn independence together with his growing romance with Lexie Hart, an African-American movie star, has earned him a reputation as an unpredictable iconoclast. But Grace is still haunted by a tragic mistake buried deep in his past, and now his integrity will be put to the test in this most brutal of political contests, in which nothing in his past or present life is off-limits.A vivid and sometimes frightening depiction of contemporary power politics, "The Race" culminates in a deadlocked and febrile party convention where Grace must resolve the conflict between his feelings for Lexie and his presidential ambitions and decide just who and what he is willing to sacrifice.

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Mattew Reilly The Six Sacred Stones Published January 2008 by Macmillan at Ł14.99 ISBN: 1405040971

For Jack West and his team, unlocking the secrets of the 'Seven Ancient Wonders' has proved only the beginning. The world is still in mortal danger. The challenge now is to set six legendary diamonds known as the 'Pillars' in their appointed places before the deadline when global destruction is predicted. But first Jack and his team must locate the exact positions of placement all around the world, at sites known as 'the Six Sacred Stones'. What follows is a terrifying chase on a mountaintop railway in remotest China ... A midnight expedition to unlock the prehistoric secrets of Stonehenge ... Belly-crawling through subterranean tunnels infested with giant Nile crocodiles ...Surviving the gruesome rituals of a cannibal tribe in forgotten jungle valleys of the Congo ... A race-against-time submarine journey to an abandoned city hidden under the Cape of Good Hope ... With only the riddles of ancient philosophers to guide them, they must find their way through complex networks of traps and labyrinths and ambushes and all the while warding off hostile interference from some very powerful and determined enemies.

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Aliya Whiteley Light Reading Published February 2008 by Macmillan New Writing at Ł14.99 ISBN: 0230700624
See Review by Martin Edwards - author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries

Prudence Green is a troubled woman. Stifled by her life as an RAF wife, she's dying for a little excitement. When one of the other women on the base commits suicide, having discovered that her husband is having an affair with a male comrade, Pru and her friend Lena are prompted to set off on a surreal and picaresque journey a criminal investigation, and an exploration of Pru's own dark past. The discontented pair escape the base and arrive in a blighted seaside town, Allcombe. Pru and Lena are determined to find out the truth behind the supposed suicide of one-time TV star Crystal Tynee, but as they explore the lawless town they find that Allcombe hides more than one hideous secret. It is winter, and the elderly population is hounded by hoodied thugs and ruled over by the menacing Mr Potatoe Head oily proprietor of Allcombe's most dangerous convalescent home. When the truth finally dawns on them, Pru is forced to confront the event in her past that has blighted her life, while Lena must come to terms with her own loneliness.
"Light Reading" is a wickedly clever detective story, a pitch-black mystery, packed with grotesque and colourful characters and concluding with an extraordinary double-twist that will leave the reader breathless.

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