English books
PHILIP JOSE FARMER – VENUS ON THE HALF SHELF
Simon Wagstaff narrowly escapes the Deluge that destroys Earth when he happens upon an abandoned spaceship. A man without a planet, he gains immortality from an elixir drunk during an interlude with a cat-like alien queen. Now Simon must chart a 3,000-year course to the most distant corners of the multiverse, to seek out the answers to the questions no one can seem to answer.
PHILIP K. DICK – THE MAN WHOSE TEETH WERE ALL EXACTLY ALIKE
Small town America tears itself apart in this realist novel from one of the greats of science fiction
Leo Runcible - of Runcible Realty - is too excitable and too pushy. His wife drinks too much. He may be a man of principle, but Liberal Jewish Leo is an outsider in the lilywhite Carquinez, Marin County.
When he gets into a pointless argument with a customer over his neighbour Walt Dombrosio's house guests, the resulting ramifications follow a bizarre logic of cause and effect to lead in entirely unexpected directions ...
And can Leo really have found the skull of a Neanderthal man in middle America?
THE MAN WHOSE TEETH WERE ALL EXACTLY ALIKE is a dazzling novel by a writer famous for his power to surprise and delight.
PHILIP M. MARGOLIN – WILD JUSTICE
It seems a serial killer is at large and the modus operandi points to the murderer being a medic. Vincent Cardoni, a brilliant but unpopular surgeon, is suspected and certain pieces of evidence found in his apartment make the police believe they have a solid case. But the trial collapses when an officer lies on oath and Cardoni disappears, having firmly stated his belief that he was set up by his estranged wife, Justine, who is also a surgeon.
A few years later another death occurs, the body being found in exactly the same circumstances as the previous victims, but this time Justine is under suspicion and when her defence attorney discovers she has been 'widowed' twice before in suspicious circumstances her proclaimed innocence begins to look very shaky - until other killings are revealed, killings when both she and her ex-husband were known to be elsewhere. So who is the murderer?
PHILIP PALMER – ARTEMIS
She's a stone cold killer, a rebel and a librarian ...
Raised on the library planet of Rebus, Artemis McIvor has a love of books in a future where reading is a lost art. Unfortunately, she's also been imprisoned for a string of brutal murders she didn't commit. Not that she hasn't killed people. She just didn't kill these people.
A war is coming and Artemis will find that her talents will be in high demand. But she has debts to pay and when they come due she will have a choice: fight for her freedom, or die a slave
PHILLIP MARGOLIN – HEARTSTONE
PHILLIP MARGOLIN – THE LAST INNOCENT MAN
Most of David Nash's clients are guilty, some are monsters, but he is practically unbeatable in the courtroom. Then he takes on the defence of a man accused of murder but whose innocence he can actually believe in.
As the case moves towards trial he becomes aware that he, the master of subtle chicanery, is being manipulated himself. But by whom? As his perfect case moves to a conclusion the answer to that question becomes a matter of life and death.
PHILLIP MARGOLIN – THE UNDERTAKER’S WIDOWS
Richard Quinn is a judge so ethical that he is willing to risk his own life to see that justice prevails in his courtroom. But as Quinn discovers when he presides over the trial of tough-talking state congresswoman Jane Crease, there is not always a clear path to justice.
A cigar-smoking former police officer, Crease is a flamboyant public figure who stands accused of the brutal murder of her husband, a wealthy undertaker.
Things, however, are not as they seem, and Quinn soon begins to suspect that Crease may well have been set up. As he zeros in on the shocking secret at the heart of the trial, Quinn finds that his efforts to do the right thing lead him ever deeper into an insidious maze of murder and deceit..
PIERRE BOULLE – DESPERATE GAMES
Long before Battle Royale or The Hunger Games, the author of The Planet of the Apes imagined a world governed by science and brutality gone mad in this long-neglected, dystopian sci-fi classic, now in a new translation
Despairing at the state of world degeneration, a group of the world's most renowned intellectuals form the new Scientific World Government, aiming to put the world to rights. Elected into power, they quickly start making changes for the better, eliminating world hunger and cancer, encouraging scientific thought, and banning frivolous entertainment. But while congratulating themselves on a job well done, they fail to notice that actually, people are not happy. The suicide rate has sky-rocketed and, strangely, it turns out the public wants a little risk and conflict in their lives. So to cater to the masses, the Department of Psychology forms a plan: they will stage an entertainment show the likes of which the world has never seen before. It starts with gladiatorial style battles, bloodthirsty and brutal, where the victors become celebrities of unseen proportions, and quickly escalates into entire historical battle re-enactments involving chemical warfare and mass destruction. The Scientific World Government has unleashed a monster. What has the world let itself in for?
Pinocchio
PRESTON & CHILD – COLD VENGEANCE
The dramatic second novel in a three-book story arc starring enigmatic FBI Agent Pendergast on his search for his long-lost wife, Helen.
Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife's betrayers - a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana - he is also forced to dig further into Helen's past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder.
Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined - and everything he's believed, everything he's trusted, everything he's understood . . . may be a horrific lie.
QUINTIN JARDINE – AFTERSHOCK
Still reeling from the tragic death of their much-loved colleague, Skinner's men are about to discover that a disturbed serial killer is still at large and very close to home.
It's the second week of July Trades Holiday in Edinburgh when Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner and his men get a call informing them that the body of a young woman has been found on a golf course. It's been there for ten days so she's not a pretty sight. But the way she has been laid out is uncannily familiar. The body has been 'composed', just like the bodies of three other young women in a previous case. Could it be the work of a copycat killer? The murder victim is an art teacher who was having a relationship with the son of a Tory MP. Her ex-boyfriend is a policeman with a reputation as a serious womaniser. It seems the murder trail is getting much too close for comfort...
QUINTIN JARDINE – DEADLY BUSINESS
There are some people you simply don't mess with...
The appearance of a mysterious writer disrupts Primavera Blackstone's carefully guarded world in Quintin Jardine's explosive crime novel Deadly Business. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter May.
It's the Fiesta de San Juan in Spain, the national celebration of the Summer Solstice, and there's much excitement about a huge firework display in the village of St Marti. But Primavera Blackstone is more inflamed by the appearance of a mysterious writer, Duncan Culshaw, who is determined to rake through the ashes of her past. And when extortion and blackmail are mentioned, Primavera realises the heat is on.
Duncan has his fingers burned, playing fast and loose with the fiercely protective Prim, but when he marries a dying woman for her money, threatening the inheritance of Prim's son Tom, things are going to get explosive... but happily, there's a new guardian angel in town.
What readers are saying about Deadly Business:
'So many twists and turns that leave you hanging onto every word'
'A page turner from start to finish'
'I found it hard to put the book down until I had read it all. Well written and gripping'
QUINTIN JARDINE – INHUMAN REMAINS
A trail of deceit with a deadly conclusion...
Inhuman Remains introduces Primavera Blackstone in her new guise as sleuth in a thrilling new series from the bestselling Scottish crime author Quintin Jardine. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter James.
'If Ian Rankin is the Robert Carlyle of Scottish crime writing, then Jardine is surely its Sean Connery' - Glasgow Herald
Her mind still filled with thoughts of her dead ex-husband, Oz, Primavera Blackstone is in Spain with their son Tom when their peace is breached again with the arrival of her elderly but formidable aunt, Adrienne McGowan. All is not well in Auntie Ades world; her roguish son Frank has become involved with a shady international casino project and has disappeared. Prim flies to Seville to track him down, only to find herself a fugitive, with her life under threat, as her aunt joins the missing persons list, and Tom is forced to flee to safety. As she and her companion in danger cross Spain in a struggle to keep themselves alive, and to free Adrienne, Prim finds herself at the centre of a maelstrom of mystery...
What readers are saying about Inhuman Remains:
'This is a really good, unputdownable sort of thriller, densely plotted, good characterisation, lots of exciting chases where you never can predict where you will end up'
'I really enjoyed this engrossing roller-coaster of a story with lots of twists and turns'
'Brilliant debut novel for Primavera'
R J Anderson – NOMAD
Exiled from her underground home by Betony, the jealous queen of the piskeys, Ivy sets out to make a new life for herself in the world above - a quest that leads her to mystery, adventure, and a hoard of spriggan treasure. But a deadly poison still lingers in the Delve, and Ivy cannot bear to see her people dying under Betony's rule. With the help of some old friends she sets out to warn the piskeys of their danger, urging them to rise up and free themselves before it is too late. Yet Betony will not give up her kingdom without a fight... and when her evil threatens the friends and family Ivy holds most dear, it will take all Ivy's courage, daring and determination to save them.
