8 Crime Fiction


even those closest to you. Lena Bailey is determined to shield her youngest child, Tania, from the Life, but, when a terrible tragedy occurs, Tania’s eyes are opened to their world in a way that forces her to make an irrevocable choice that will determine the whole of her future. 502 pages. £19.99 NOW £5


73278 A DARKER SHADE OF BLUE: A Collection of Short Stories from the Master of


British Crime by John Harvey The author has selected in this anthology some of the very best of his writing. From the killing fields of the East Midlands to the mean streets of London, from the jazz clubs and clip joints of Soho to the barren fenlands of East Anglia, this is a world of broken families and


run-down estates, revenge killings and prostitution, drugs, guns and corruption, a world of overstretched police forces and underpaid detectives, men and women who strive nonetheless for a kind of justice, a world in which everything - even friendship - has a price. Featuring characters like Frank Elder, who tried to turn his back on police work and failed, Jack Riley, ex-copper and one-time professional footballer now a London-based Private Investigator, and the renowned jazz-loving and much-loved Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick, the author’s finely crafted vignettes perfectly encapsulate life in the badlands of modern Britain. 366 pages. £18.99 NOW £6


73433 FIDDLERS: An 87th


Precinct Novel by Ed McBain


From the landmark series, Detective Steve Carella and ‘Fat’ Ollie Weeks are deceptively brilliant sleuths of the old school, and their flaws have made them even more sympathetic to generations of readers. There is never a lifeless page or wasted word with the electric dialogue and compassionate characterisation. It started with the


blind violinist, shot twice through the head at point-blank range in the alley outside his dingy restaurant. It’s only when the omelette lady gets shot with the same gun in the same way 24 hours later that the 87th Precinct really starts to sit up and take notice. Steve and the boys always seem one step behind the killer and the death toll is rising. And why is the killer heard to introduce himself as ‘Chuck’ before pumping two bullets into their bodies? 229pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3


73465 SAIL


by James Patterson and Howard Roughan


As Peter Carlyle, a smooth-talking super-successful lawyer, waved his family off on a sailing holiday, all they had in mind was lying back and relaxing. But when a violent storm broke out, an explosion caused the boat to vanish without trace and the family were lost, presumed dead - until a message in a bottle is found and it becomes


apparent that there must have been at least one survivor. The race is on to rescue the family. Was the explosion an accident? Survival may be the lease of their concerns as being found may be the last thing they were hoping for. A killer is ready to strike. 458pp in paperback.


£7.99 NOW £3


73475 THE GREEN MILE by Stephen King


The Green Mile: those who walk it do not return, because at the end of that walk is the room in which sits Cold Mountain Penitentiary’s electric chair. In 1932 the newest resident on death row is John Coffey, a giant of a black man convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls. But nothing is as it seems with John Coffey, and around him unfolds a


bizarre and horrifying story. Evil murderer or holy innocent, whichever he is, Coffey has strange powers which may yet offer salvation to others, even if they can do nothing to save him. Paperback reprint of the 1996 original, 433pp. £7.99 NOW £3.50


72972 DANIEL by Henning Mankell By the author of the Wallander mysteries, here is an


uncompromising novel about the loss of childhood and innocence. Hans Bengler, a young


entomologist, leaves Sweden for the Kalahari Desert, determined to find a previously undiscovered insect to name after himself and advance his career. Instead, he


finds a young boy whose tribe has been decimated by European raiders. Accustomed to collecting specimens, Bengler re-names the traumatised child Daniel and brings him home to Sweden intending to ‘civilise’ him. But Daniel yearns desperately for the desert and his real family. His only consolation is his friendship with a vulnerable young girl who is also an outsider in the community, but even this bond is destined to be violently broken as Daniel’s isolation and increasing desperation lead to a chilling tragedy. A sombre and gripping story about alienation and the clash of cultures. 337pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4


72658 THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


Contents include Silver Blaze, The Yellow Face, The Stockbroker’s Clerk, The Gloria Scott, The Musgrave


Ritual, The Reigate Squires, The Crooked Man, The Resident Patient, The Greek Interpreter, The Naval Treaty and The Final Problem. In the last tale, Dr Watson relates the grisly, fatal and shocking tale of how Holmes finally meets his match, encountering the diabolical Professor Moriarty in a terrible struggle at Reichenbach Falls. Inevitably there are some overlaps with other compilations. 259pp in Penguin paperback. Remainder mark. $14 NOW £3


73477 THE TINNERS CORPSE by Bernard Knight From the author of Crowner’s Quest, this novel continues the adventures of Sir John de Wolfe, Devon’s first county coroner. When Crowner John is summoned to the bleak Devonshire moors to investigate the murder of a tin miner, he has little idea how difficult this new investigation will prove to be. The victim worked for Devon’s most powerful and successful mine


owner, Walter Knapman and there seems to be only one possible motive - to sabotage Walter’s business. But the tinners have their own laws, and they are none too pleased at Crowner John’s interference. Then Walter disappears. A decapitated body, a missing tinner, a disgruntled band of miners and a mad Saxon intent on the destruction of all things Norman - how on earth can Crowner John sort all this out when his wife hates him, his mistress has spurned him for a younger man, and his clerk is in the grip of a suicidal depression? Medieval Exeter is brought to life. 330pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3


73479 THE WITCH HUNTER by Bernard Knight Exeter, 1195. When a wealthy mill- owner falls dead across his horse, Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, declines to hold an inquest as the man was considerably overweight and had been complaining of chest pains. Natural causes. Events take a sinister turn when a straw doll is discovered beneath the man’s saddle-bag, a


thin metal spike through its heart. Convinced her husband’s death was caused by an evil spell, the victim’s widow begins a campaign against witchcraft and the so-called ‘cunning women’ who practise it. Soon Exeter has a hysterical mob on the loose and several local women are in danger. When his own mistress falls under suspicion, Crowner John must unearth the culprit and save his beloved Nesta from the hangman’s noose? Detection and historical authenticity combined. 370pp in paperback.


£6.99 NOW £3


72053 LONG TIME DEAD by Tony Black Ritual hanging, a secret fraternity. Gus Dury is undercover and in the greatest danger of his life. ‘You’re a long time dead’ is hard-drinking student ‘Bender’ Ben’s favourite phrase, at least until he is found hanged on campus at Edinburgh University. Gus is, to put it mildly, not in good shape after his last case. Best friend Hod is desperate to get him back on the straight and narrow and persuades Gus, ill as he is, to investigate the student hanging. 262pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £2.75


68850 AN ARSENE LUPIN OMNIBUS by Maurice Leblanc


Enter Arsène Lupin, Gentleman - Cambrioleur, the ‘Prince of Thieves’, one of the most daring and dashing individuals who ever lifted a diamond necklace from under the noses of the authorities. Young and handsome, laughing his way through difficulties and danger, Lupin is also the master of disguise and languages. His sense of humour and conceit make life difficult for the police who attribute most of the major crimes in France to Lupin and his gang of ruffians and urchins. Maurice Leblanc’s stories are lively and witty, occasionally taking on the air of burlesque, especially when Lupin pits his wits against the English detective named variously ‘Holmlock Shears’ and ‘Herlock Sholmes’. 739 paperback pages. ONLY £3


72000 PROPHECY by Peter James A young boy watches his mother die. Two drunken students play with a Ouija board in a damp cellar. A sadistic man dies in agony. Can bricks and mortar retain imprints of the emotions experienced within them? Frannie is delighted when a chance meeting leads to a romance. The fact that the relationship is marred by gruesome tragedies she dismisses as an unsettling coincidence, but she can no longer ignore that she is the only thing linking these horrible events. 368pp, paperback.


! £6.99 NOW £3.50


71987 DREAMER by Peter James The last time Sam had the dream she was seven years old, and that was the night her parents were to die. 25 years later, her nightmares are starting to come true once more. Now successfully juggling her roles as career woman and mother to a young child, she attempts to shut them out. As psychiatrist, clairvoyant and dream therapy fail her, Sam is left to confront the evil alone, without knowing its name - hallucination, premonition, reincarnation or psychic projection? Then Sam starts dreaming of her own death. 386pp, paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


71372 BRYANT & MAY ON THE LOOSE by Christopher Fowler


Londoners seem to be loosing their heads. Time has been called on the Peculiar Crimes Unit, but as its elderly detectives Arthur Bryant and John May contemplate retirement, a grisly discovery is made near Kings Cross - a decapitated body in a shop freezer. Then a second corpse is found again, minus its head. A figure straight out of England’s mythic past, half man, half beast, covered in deerskin and sporting antlers made of knives has been stalking the area’s building sites at night. 384pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


71424 NEMESIS: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel by Lindsey Davis


In the high summer of AD77, Roman informer Marcus Didius Falco is newly bereaved and facing unexpected upheavals in his life. A middle-aged couple who supplied statues to his father have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. They had an old feud with a bunch of notorious Freedmen, the Claudii, who live rough in the pestilential Pontine Marshes, terrorising the neighbourhood. When a mutilated corpse turns up near Rome, Falco and his friend Petronius investigate. The psychotic killer keeps taking more victims. 286pp. £18.99 NOW £4.50


71990 EPITAPH by Shaun Hutson This was no dream. His hands trailed across the satin beneath him and to both sides, and when he raised his hands, above him too. He knew why it was so dark. He understood why he could see nothing and he realised why he was lying down. Frank and Gina Hacket think you have killed their daughter and they want a confession. If you say you did it, they’ll kill you. If you say you didn’t, they’ll leave you to die. So how do you stop the next words you say from being your last? 342pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.25


72937 THE HEADHUNTERS by Jo Nesbo


Roger Brown has it all - he is clever and wealthy and at the top of his game as a headhunter. Life never gets dull and he has his sideline as an art thief to keep him busy. At a gallery opening, his wife introduces him to Clas Greve. Not only is Greve the perfect candidate for a position that Brown is recruiting for, he is also in possession of one of the


most sought-after paintings in modern art history. Roger sees his chance to become rich beyond his wildest dreams, and starts planning his biggest ever theft. But it’s not long before the hunter becomes the hunted. 376pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


72938 THE SNOWMAN: A Harry Hole Thriller by Jo Nesbo


A young boy wakes to find his mother missing. Their house is empty but outside in the garden he sees his mother’s favourite scarf wrapped around the neck of a snowman. As Harry Hole and his team begin their investigation, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years. When a second woman disappears, it seems that Harry’s worst suspicions are confirmed - for the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his home turf. 550pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


70193 NEMESIS by Jo Nesbo


Grainy CCTV footage shows a man walking into a bank and putting a gun to the cashier’s head. He tells her to count to 25. When he doesn’t get his money in time, she is executed. Detective Harry Hole, still mourning the death of his police partner, is assigned to the case. While his girlfriend is away in Russia, an old flame gets in touch but when he goes to dinner at her house, he wakes up back at home with no memory of the past 12 hours. That same morning, the girl is found shot dead in her bed and shortly after Harry begins to receive threatening emails. Is someone trying to frame him? 706pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


70199 THE REDBREAST by Jo Nesbo Down on his luck, Detective Harry Hole is having a rough time. Reassigned, having caused a high-profile embarrassment, he finds himself lumbered with surveillance duties. It’s not long before he discovers that a rare, high-calibre rifle, a type favoured by assassins, has been smuggled into the country. When a former WW2 Nazi sympathiser is found with his throat slit, Harry suspects a connection. It becomes clear that the killer is hell-bent on serving his own justice. But who is he? 636pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


70207 DEVIL’S STAR by Jo Nesbo A young woman is murdered. One finger has been severed from her left hand and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five- pointed star - a pentagram, the devil’s star. Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-term adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work. Oslo has a serial killer. 532pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


72426 THE REDEEMER: A


Harry Hole Thriller by Jo Nesbo


It is a freezing December night and Christmas shoppers have gathered to listen to a Salvation Army carol concert. Then a shot rings out and one of the singers falls to the floor, dead. Detective Harry Hole and his team are called in to investigate but have little to work with - there is no immediate suspect, no weapon and no motive. But when the assassin


discovers he’s shot the wrong man, Harry finds his troubles have only just begun. With intelligent forensic evidence, Serbs and Croats in the mix, here is a compelling thriller. 571pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


73171 JO NESBO: Set of Six by Jo Nesbo Buy all six bestselling thrillers and save even more. £47.94 NOW £18


72350 KING OF THE BADGERS: A Novel by Philip Hensher


The centre of Hanmouth - unlike its less desirable outskirts, with their grim, flimsy housing stock and chain stores - is sleepy, picturesque, lined by cheese shops and


Britain’s number one crime writer Ian Rankin, gone but never forgotten.


73444 LET IT BLEED: An


Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin


Struggling through another Edinburgh winter, Inspector John Rebus finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue that throws up more questions than answers. Was the Lord Provost’s daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? Why is a city councillor shredding documents that should have been waste paper years


ago? And why on earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office’s Permanent Secretary? Sucked into the machine that is modern Scotland, he confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice. With reading group notes, maps and illus. 360pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


73480 TOOTH AND NAIL: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin


Drafted down to the Big Smoke thanks to a supposed expertise in the modus operandi of serial killers, Inspector John Rebus is on a train south from Edinburgh. His Scotland Yard opposite number, George Flight, isn’t too happy at yet more interference. Rebus is going to have to deal with racial prejudice as well as the predations of a violent maniac. When he is offered a serial killer profile of the Wolfman by an attractive lady psychologist, it is too good an opportunity to turn down. But in finding an ally, he may have given his enemies an easy means of attack. A vividly sordid scalp-prickler. With reading group notes, photos and maps. 275pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


73439 HIDE AND SEEK: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin


A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat, spreadeagled, cross-like on the floor between two burned-down candles, a five-pointed star daubed on the wall above. Just another dead addict, until John Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurks behind the façade of the Edinburgh familiar to the tourists. Only he seems to care about a death which looks more like a murder every day, about a seductive danger he can almost taste, appealing to the darkest corners of his mind. Here is the real gritty Edinburgh. With reading group notes and illustrations, 261pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


73426 THE BLACK BOOK:


An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin


When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague’s notebook, he must piece together a jigsaw no one


and not even he wants to complete. Rankin captured the nourish edge of Edinburgh. Paperback edition with reading group notes, maps and photos. 340pp. £7.99 NOW £3.50


73743 IAN RANKIN: Set of Four by Ian Rankin


Buy all four Inspector Rebus paperbacks and save even more.


£31.96 NOW £12


antiques stores, and protected by closed-circuit security cameras. But these have failed to spot the abduction of a little girl called China. Is her blank-eyed hairdresser mother hiding her as part of a moneymaking hoax? Has she been abducted by one of the lurking perverts from which the townspeople imagine that the cameras are protecting them? The author demolishes the already fragile privacy of Hanmouth’s inhabitants. These include Sam and Harry, cheesemonger and aristocrat, who lead the county’s gay orgies, the quiet husband of the ‘marvellous’ Miranda, who keeps a male lover, and their daughter - whose hobby is disembowelling dolls called Child Pornography and Slightly Jewish. 436 pages. £18.99 NOW £5


72589 A STRANGER IN MAYFAIR by Charles Finch


!


Returning from a honeymoon with Lady Jane Grey, Charles Lenox is asked by a colleague in parliament to consult in the murder of a footman, bludgeoned to death with a brick. The investigation requires discretion because his friend is up for a title and scandal would ruin his chances with the royals. Going into the boxing clubs and public houses, the Mayfair mansions and servants’ quarters of Victorian London, the detective gradually realises that an old friend may be implicated in the footman’s death. 308pp. $24.99 NOW £4


72947 TELL NO ONE by Harlan Coben Every year, Elizabeth and David Beck return to Lake Charmaine, a place that has been part of their lives ever since they were children. But on their 13th visit, Elizabeth is kidnapped and murdered and David left for dead. For the next eight years, Doctor David Beck relives the horror of what happened every single day. Although Elizabeth had been buried and her killer waits


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