English books
ROD REES: DEMI-MONDE WINTER
The Demi-Monde is the most advanced computer simulation ever devised. Created to prepare soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare, it is a virtual world locked in eternal civil war. Its thirty million digital inhabitants are ruled by duplicates of some of history's cruellest tyrants: Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the Holocaust; Beria, Stalin's arch executioner; Torquemada, the pitiless Inquisitor General; Robespierre, the face of the Reign of Terror. But something has gone badly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the US President's daughter has become trapped in this terrible world. It falls to eighteen-year-old Ella Thomas to rescue her, yet once Ella has entered the Demi-Monde she finds that everything is not as it seems, that its cyber-walls are struggling to contain the evil within and that the Real World is in more danger than anyone realises.
ROGER PEARCE – AGENT OF THE STATE
A Groundbreaking new thriller by the former Commander of Special Branch who rose to a position co-ordinating all the secret services in London. This is a landmark debut novel for those who like insider fiction in the mould of Stella Rimington. Agent of the State is filled with the kind of authentic detail only a man in the know would be able to tell.A suspected terrorist is frisked for explosives on the Embankment. Operators do this so skilfully he remains completely unaware...
In New Scotland Yard a new brand of manager fails to deal with escalating threats - 'aggressive indecision' is what Detective Chief Inspector John Kerr calls it...
He discovers that cocaine-fuelled sex parties in Knightsbridge are pulling in businessmen, Russian diplomats and senior members of the British government...
When Kerr's investigations are blocked by his bosses in Scotland Yard, he decides to go it alone and begins to expose a cover-up that extends to all levels of the British Establishment.
Agent of the State is the first novel by Roger Pearce, a former Special Branch officer at New Scotland Yard who rose to become its Commander and a key player in Whitehall's intelligence network. It is an authentic account of the way the British intelligence services work at all levels and of the hypocrisy of the British establishment.
'Vividly written and delivering a glimpse of what counter-terrorism feels like, it's a highly promising start from a writer who could well have a big future.'
Daily Mail
'It's a tribute to Roger Pearce's ability that the plot never becomes impenetrable and there's an uncomfortable authenticity as real-life operations are referenced... a breathless, hurtling page-turner.'
Financial Times
ROMESH GUNESEKERA – THE PRISONER OF PARADISE
Lucy Gladwell arrives in Mauritius from England to live with her aunt and uncle in their grand plantation house. In this island paradise, poised between Africa and India, She is to be waited on hand and foot and free to let her thoughts drift on the sea breeze.
If only they did not drift to such problematic subjects as the restrictions of colonial society, or the bigoted outbursts of her uncle of the disquieting attractions of Don Lambodar, a young translator from Ceylon, himself entangled in thoughts of iniquity and desire and facing a decision which could risk his precarious position.
Under the surface there is growing unease.It is 1825, and the age of slavery is coming to its messy end.Word is lapping against the shores of the island - of revolts in Europe and the Americas, and of a charismatic new Indian leader who will shine the light of liberty.For Lucy,for Don,for everyone on the island, a devastating storm is coming...
RUTH RENDELL – THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY
When millionaire banker Preston Still kills his wife's lover by pushing him down the stairs, he looks to the family au pair to help him dispose of the body. But the au pair belongs to the Saint Zita Society, a self-formed group of drivers, nannies and gardeners who are servants to the rich - and whose intentions are not entirely benign.
Accidental murder, illicit affairs, and a young man recenlty released from a hospital for the criminally insane come together with devastating consequences in Ruth Rendell's gripping new crime novel.
RUTH RENDELL – THE VAULT
Featured in The Times Top 10 Crime Books of the Decade
The twenty-fourth book in the bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series, from the author of classic detective fiction and gripping psychological thrillers including End in Tears and Thirteen Steps Down.
The impossible has happened. Chief Inspector Reg Wexford has retired from the crime force. He and his wife, Dora, now divide their time between Kingsmarkham and a coachhouse in Hampstead, belonging to their actress daughter, Sheila.
Wexford takes great pleasure in his books, but, for all the benefits of a more relaxed lifestyle, he misses being the hand of the law.
But a chance meeting in a London street, with someone he had known briefly as a very young police constable, changes everything. Tom Ede is now a Detective Superintendent, and is very keen to recruit Wexford as an adviser on a mysterious murder case.
The bodies of two women and a man have been discovered in the old coal hole of an attractive house in St John's Wood. None of the corpses carry identification. But the man's jacket pockets contain a string of pearls, a diamond and a sapphire necklace as well as other jewellery valued in the region of £40,000.
To Wexford, this is definitely a case worth coming out of retirement for. He is intrigued and excited by the challenge, but unaware that this new investigative role will bring him into extreme physical danger...
S.J. ROZAN – BAD BLOOD
Most people believe Jimmy Antonelli is bad to the bone…
New York detective – and an old friend of the family – Bill Smith is one of the few people who has ever been willing to give Jimmy a second chance. Given his own brushes with the law, Bill has an unsurprising sympathy for the youngest Antonelli brother.
But this time Jimmy has gone too far. There’s a corpse of a local gangster in the cellar of Antonelli’s bar and Jimmy has disappeared...
But finding Jimmy is going to be a whole lot easier than proving his innocence...
A Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Crime Novel
S.J. ROZAN – GHOST HERO
They call him the Ghost Hero.
Chau Chun is a renowned artist and controversial painter. And rumours of new work by him has the media in a frenzy – and sees Lydia Chin and Bill Smith hired to follow the whispers to their source.
They soon discover that Chau has been officially dead for over twenty years, killed in the Tianamen Square uprising.
Are Lydia and Bill really chasing a ghost?
SABRINA JEFFRIES – HOW THE SCOUNDREL SEDUCES
The third deliciously sexy novel in the New York Times bestselling Duke’s Men historical romance series, featuring an investigator who sets out to find gypsies—and unexpectedly finds love.
Investigator Tristan Baonnaud has one aim in life—to make sure that his half-brother George can’t ever ruin his life again. So when the pesky Lady Zoe Keane, the daughter of the Earl of Olivier, shows up demanding that the Duke’s Men find a mysterious gypsy woman, he seizes the opportunity to also hunt for a gypsy friend who knows secrets about George. Tristan doesn’t expect to uncover Lady Zoe’s family secrets, as well…or end up falling for the woman who will risk all to discover the truth.
SABRINA JEFFRIES – WHEN THE ROGUE RETURNS
The second sparkling book in the New York Times bestselling Duke’s Men historical romance series, featuring the Duke’s cousin and a skilled female jeweler who must unravel a mystery ten years in the making.
They are the Duke’s Men, an investigative agency born from family pride and irresistible passion, risking their lives—and sometimes their hearts—as they unravel shocking deceptions and scandalous transgressions!
Victor Cale never imagined that his sweet, shy bride, Isabella, would use her talent for creating exquisite imitation jewels in a criminal way. But there’s no denying that Isa’s handiwork was used in the brazen heist of the Dutch royal family’s diamonds—after she disappeared into the night.
Ten years later, still reeling from her betrayal and enraged that her duplicitous side was so undetectable, Victor is sent to Edinburgh to investigate a wealthy baron’s mysterious brideto- be. Simple enough—until the “fiancée” proves to be Isa, masquerading as an alluring young widow.
No longer the meek and mild girl he once knew, the bold woman vehemently asserts that it was Victor who abandoned her after he helped steal the royal diamonds! Piecing together the truth of the past reawakens their volatile passion, which burns hotter than ever. But with a decade of secrets between them, Victor and Isa must trust each other in order to bring the real thieves to justice—without getting burned themselves.
SAMUEL R. DELANY – BABEL 17
SARA PARETSKY – BODY WORK
The audacious new V. I. Warshawski novel from the New York Times-bestselling author
"Doctors take days off--why not PIs?" V.I. Warshawski demands. But when America's hardest-working private eye goes clubbing, a stranger is shot and dies in her arms.
V.I. has been visiting Club Gouge, Chicago's edgiest nightspot, where a woman known as the Body Artist turns her naked body into a canvas for the audience to paint on.
The show attracts all kinds of people, from a menacing off-duty cop to Ukrainian mobsters and Iraq war vets--and V.I.'s impetuous cousin, Petra. A tormented young painter shows up, too, and the intricate designs she creates on the Body Artist drives on of the vets into a violent rage.
When the painter is shot, the cops figure it's an easy collar--PTSD vet goes off the rails, stalks then kills young woman. But the vet's family hires V.I. to clear his name, and the detective uncovers a chain of ugly truths that stretch all the way from Iraq to Chicago's South Side.
SARA SHEPARD – BURNED ( A PRETTY LIARS NOVEL)
#1 New York Times bestselling series
The twelfth book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that inspired the hit ABC Family TV show Pretty Little Liars.
High school seniors Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer have made some terrible mistakes, but nothing compares to what they did last spring break. Now the girls are packing their bags for a Caribbean cruise, hoping the trip will be a much-needed vacation from their stalker, A. But they should know by now that A won't be left high and dry. Sure enough, A shows up on deck, ready to send these pretty little liars to a watery grave. . . . .
Full of unexpected twists and shocking revelations, Burned is the twelfth book in New York Times bestselling author Sara Shepard’s compelling Pretty Little Liars series.
- Stalker On Board: Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer thought a Caribbean cruise would be the perfect escape. They were wrong. A is on the ship, and there’s nowhere to hide.
- Secrets and Lies: The girls are hiding a dark secret from spring break, but A knows everything. And this time, the truth might just get them killed.
- Forced Proximity: Trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean, the liars can’t run from their tormentor. Every shadow could be A, and every deck could be a trap.
- Page-Turning Suspense: The twelfth book in the series that inspired the hit TV show is packed with the twists, turns, and shocking reveals that fans of the Pretty Little Liars series crave.
