Search Results for: Born a Crime

When Kirstie Macfarlane’s younger brother is framed for stealing a Van Eyck portrait, she puts the case in the able hands of ex-Scotland Yard Inspector John Raven.

Seduced away from his quiet life on the Thames, Raven dives back into the seamy London underworld filled with police corruption and high-handed swindles. Kirstie and Raven soon realise they have more than one opponent and their lives are perilously on the line.

‘Donald MacKenzie is a born storyteller’ Guardian

Terminally ill Polish refugee Henryk Lamprecht, a decoder for British Security, has a score to settle with the Russian who killed his wife and daughter. As he is close to death, he has no time to lose when an opportunity he has been waiting for turns up.
But now, through a chance meeting with his old friend Zaleski, ex-cop John Raven is involved, and so is Lamprecht’s English sweetheart. And so the game of cat-and-mouse begins . . .

‘Donald MacKenzie is a born storyteller’ Guardian

Paul Henderson is a big time jewel thief on a run of bad luck. He has a seven-year-old daughter to support, so when he’s offered a partnership in the biggest heist of all time he decides to try to take the baubles and run.

He reaches Switzerland, where the crime is to take place, and wangles an invitation to a gala only to be confronted by a double threat, a double cross and a kidnapping. And all this is before the night of the burglary arrives . . .

‘Donald MacKenzie is a born storyteller’ Guardian

‘Donald MacKenzie is a born storyteller’ Guardian

Every thief dreams of committing the perfect crime. Cameron, Thorne and Gun are convinced that the jewel robbery they have planned cannot possibly go wrong, but jealousy mistrust and fear doom the enterprise from the start.

One of them dies a slow, hideous death; the other two find they have walked into hell. Soon, a beautiful woman and two desperate men find themselves trapped by their own actions. And when the thread of tension snaps they learn that death can indeed be a friend.

Ritchie Duncan, a convict, is released from prison and decides to go clean. But when he is handed some top secret film containing electronic data by a girl in a bar there ensues mayhem and murder. The film is the property of her communist agent boyfriend, and when she refuses to surrender it her connection is killed and she is kept quietly alive in a nursing home until Duncan can save her.

‘Donald MacKenzie is a born storyteller’ Guardian

Classic police procedural by a ‘born storyteller’ (Sunday Times), who combined natural flair with his experience in the police to truly authentic effect.

When a respected and successful businessman claims that he is being blackmailed by Inspector Martineau, and provides evidence to support his allegations, the policeman’s superiors have no choice but to suspend him from duty.

Martineau must go to work to clear his name, but the trail is a complex and dangerous one. The inspector has many enemies, not least Dixie Costello, whom he helped to put in jail and who is now once more at large. But is the trail a false one? And are all of Martineau’s colleagues to be trusted?

Classic police procedural by a ‘born storyteller’ (Sunday Times), who combined natural flair with his experience in the police to truly authentic effect.

There was an extra body in the morgue – a body stripped of all identification and with its face badly battered. But when Inspector Martineau was called to the scene he had a pretty good idea whose it was.

That was, however, just the beginning. A big payroll robbery, a group of out-of-town mobsters and some odd behaviour in a local night spot all attract Inspector Martineau’s attention. While, at a funeral parlour, the quick are considerably more active and dangerous a problem than the dead.

Classic police procedural by a ‘born storyteller’ (Sunday Times), who combined natural flair with his experience in the police to truly authentic effect.

Hell is a City is the first of Maurice Procter’s Inspector Martineau series and was made into taut, fast-paced film in 1959 by Hammer Studios, set against the grimy back streets and rain-streaked bright lights of Manchester.

When hardened criminal Don Starling escapes from jail, killing a prison guard in the process, Inspector Philip Martineau knows he will stop at nothing to make good his escape. The two men have known each other since childhood, and Starling blames Martineau for his incarceration a decade earlier. As the story hurtles to its conclusion, the two men meet in a final, violent confrontation.

Beautiful, volatile Jessica has long since burned her boats in the village by the sea where she was born. She longs to return, but first she needs to secure the love of the powerful man who has spurned her obsessive adoration.

Sarah Fortune, her older, cynical friend, is keen to distance herself from her usual haunts and welcomes the chance to leave London in the hope that she might she be able to effect a reconciliation between Jessica and her mother. Pennyvale both charms and distracts her with hints of scandal and buried secrets, but it soon begins to disquiet her as cracks of distrust and jealousy show in the polite façades. Sarah is excited when Jessica tells her she is coming home, but she never arrives.

Sarah’s instinctive knowledge of Jessica leads her back to the capital, fearful of what she will find. What she discovers reveals a truth more chilling than she could have imagined, but she has to return to Pennyvale to fully understand how Jessica was finally brought home, and why…

***NOW AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER***

COSMOPOLITAN ‘BOOKS OF 2019 TO BRING TO YOUR BOOKCLUB’

‘Entrancing, compelling, atmospheric, reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier. A beautiful read that delivers a shocking and satisfying ending’ Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs Parrish

‘Delicious and spellbinding . . . absolutely absorbing and scandalous’ Booklist

‘Enthralling and addictive‘ Lisa Ballantyne, bestselling author of The Guilty One

***

Seraphine Mayes and her brother Danny are the first set of twins to be born at Summerbourne House. But on the day they were born their mother threw herself to her death, their au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of a stolen baby.

Now twenty-five, and mourning the recent death of her father, Seraphine uncovers a family photograph taken on the day the twins were born featuring both parents posing with just one baby. Seraphine soon becomes fixated with the notion that she and Danny might not be twins after all, that she wasn’t the baby born that day and that there was more to her mother’s death than she has ever been told…

Why did their beloved au pair flee that day?
Where is she now?
Does she hold the key to what really happened?

***

‘Don’t just pick up and read Emma Rous’ The Au Pair, dive into it and get washed away with it’ A bookseller

‘Filled with mystery and intrigue. I was gripped until the very last page!’ Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of Sea of Memories

‘This will keep you turning those pages. The characters are still playing on my mind’ Jane Corry, bestselling author of My Husband’s Wife

‘One hell of a ride’ New York Post

‘Vivid characters, a magical setting and a tightly knitted plot . . . jaw-dropping climax’ Bookpage

‘Family secrets come to light in this compelling debut with a gothic touch and a shocking denouement. Enthralling and addictive‘ Lisa Ballantyne, bestselling author of The Guilty One

‘A page-turner’ Publisher’s Weekly

‘A juicy and compelling read by a promising new author’ Shelf Awareness

For the twentieth anniversary of the start of the Matthew Bartholomew series, Sphere is delighted to reissue all of the medieval monk’s cases with beautiful new series-style covers.

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The winter of 1353 has been appallingly wet, there is a fever outbreak amongst the poorer townspeople and the country is not yet fully recovered from the aftermath of the plague. The increasing reputation and wealth of the Cambridge colleges are causing dangerous tensions between the town, Church and University.

Matthew Bartholomew is called to look into the deaths of three members of the University of who died from drinking poisoned wine, and soon he stumbles upon criminal activities that implicate his relatives, friends and colleagues – so he must solve the case before matters in the town get out of hand…

In February 1355, amid the worst snows in living memory, two well-born murderers return to Cambridge after receiving the King’s pardon – but they show no remorse, and are in fact ready to confront those who helped convict them.

When Matthew Bartholomew is called to the local mill to examine two corpses, he and Brother Michael know who to question, but in the fledgling university city, nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems…

Trieste in 1906 is of vital strategic importance and one of the world’s greatest seaports. But assorted nationalist movements are threatening to pull the place apart and the militarist regime has trouble keeping a lid on things.


Amid all the chaos the British consul goes missing, and Special Branch Seymour is sent to find him. Born to an immigrant family in London’s East End, Seymour has an acute linguistic ear – crucial in turn-of-the-century Trieste. As he attempts to solve the riddle of the consul’s disappearance, Seymour discovers dark and disturbing corners of the city and finds that it holds the secrets of his own family’s past.

Set in Dundee, this fast-paced crime novel is the first to feature Polish Detective Sergeant Dania Gorska.

Volatile times in the city of discovery . . .

DS Dania Gorska is a stranger in a foreign land. Born in Poland and transferred from London to Dundee’s specialist crime division, she is called upon to investigate a series of grotesque killings where the victims are first brutally murdered and then displayed in a bizarre manner. Although seemingly unrelated, clues point to the victims having been members of a local druidic cult.

While solving these murders is Dania’s priority, she finds herself increasingly drawn to the case of two runaway teenage girls. But when she learns they were also members of the same druid group she becomes convinced their disappearance is linked to the murders.

And, despite what the evidence suggests, Dania starts to fear that the girls have not run away but are actually the newest, undiscovered victims of the killer . . .

Praise for Hania Allen

‘Nicely nasty in all the right places . . . The story rattles along until bringing the curtain down with an unnerving twist’ Craig Robertson

‘Captivating characters and an intriguing plot. A great new find for crime fans’ Lin Anderson

‘Pitch-perfect . . . a witty, tense crime novel written in a highly readable style‘ Russel D McLean

Though he was born into a leopard’s lair in the bayou, Joshua Tregre’s fighting skills were honed in the rain forests of Borneo. Sleek and deadly, he’s the perfect man to take over a crime syndicate back home in Louisiana’s lush swamp lands. His razor-sharp instincts give him an edge in the violent underworld he knows so well but even the watchful leopard inside him isn’t prepared for the threat that comes from the girl next door…

She is a woman who can create beauty out of thin air – and out of the ruins of her own life. The games that dangerous men play have taken their toll on her but she is bent, not broken. And it’s her fierce spirit that’s like a lure to Joshua, a temptation he can’t resist – even if it means bringing his true nature into the light…

FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR – SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SERIES

‘Superb thriller writing.’ Peter Robinson
‘A brilliant, breathless thriller’ M.J. Arlidge
‘A high concept solution to a mystery’ Sophie Hannah

A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together, nicknamed by the press as the ‘Ragdoll’. Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.

The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them. With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?

Translated into over 30 languages, RAGDOLL is a quality, rocket-paced thriller with twists and turns you won’t see coming. For readers of Jo Nesbo. You will not stop talking about this book.

What everyone is saying about RAGDOLL:
‘A star is born. Killer plot. Killer pace. Twisted killer and a killer twist. Kill to get a copy.’ Simon Toyne
‘…the best debut I’ve ever read.’ Rachel Abbott
‘This book kept me captivated, my heart pumping and guessing to the very end!’ NetGalley reviewer
‘…a rollercoaster of a thriller.‘ NetGalley reviewer
‘…one of the most well written crime thrillers I have ever read’ NetGalley reviewer
‘A very well written debut novel which had all the twists and turns and intrigue that you need.’ NetGalley reviewer
‘Totally unputdownable‘ NetGalley Reviewer

First in a delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, introducing amateur sleuth Su Lin, a local girl stepping in as governess for the Acting Governor of Singapore.

1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin’s daughter dies suddenly – and in mysterious circumstances – mission school-educated local girl Su Lin – an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage – is invited to take her place.

But then another murder at the residence occurs and it seems very likely that a killer is stalking the corridors of Government House. It now takes all Su Lin’s traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders – and escape with her own life.

‘Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life, without ever getting in the way of a classic puzzle plot. But what’s a setting without a jewel? Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I’ve met in a long while.’ Catriona McPherson

‘Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu’s teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels.’ Rhys Bowen

This brand new short story from international bestselling M. C. Beaton takes us back to Agatha Raisin’s very first case – the case that started it all!

At the age of 26, Agatha Raisin has already come a long way. She has clawed her way up since leaving the slum where she was born. She’s lost her Birmingham accent, run away from her drunken husband and found a job at a PR agency as a secretary. When her boss asks Agatha to go to the home of Brian Devese to tell him that he is soon going to be arrested for the murder of his wife and that the agency no longer wants to represent him, Agatha accepts the task – with some trepidation. Still, she’s used to doing her boss’s dirty work for her.

Brian, impressed with the pugnacious and fearless Agatha, asks her to handle his PR for him and even offers her an office and staff. So certainly the best thing Agatha can do for her first client is to find out who really murdered his wife and clear his name. And armed with only her wits and gumption, Agatha sets out to do just that.

Nature versus nurture…

The shots came quickly, silently, and with deadly accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice skating rink. The victims: a talented young skater, a doctor, and a teacher. As random as random can be.

Eve Dallas has seen a lot of killers during her time with the NYPSD, but never one like this. After reviewing security videos, it becomes clear that the victims were killed by a sniper firing a tactical laser rifle, who could have been miles away when the trigger was pulled. And though the locations where the shooter could have set up seem endless, the list of people with that particular skill set is finite: police, military, professional killer.

Eve’s husband, Roarke, has unlimited resources – and genius – at his disposal. And when his computer program leads Eve to the location of the sniper, she learns a shocking fact: There were two-one older, one younger. Someone is being trained by an expert in the science of killing, and they have an agenda. Central Park was just a warm-up. And as another sniper attack shakes the city to its core, Eve realizes that though we’re all shaped by the people around us, there are those who are just born evil…

When it’s in your blood, there’s no other way.

THE LIFE by the ‘undisputed queen of crime writing’ (Guardian) and Sunday Times No.1 bestseller Martina Cole is an unflinching novel that exposes a world that many would rather ignore…

The Baileys are born into the Life.

Brothers Daniel and Peter rule London’s East End with threats and violence. Only a fool would cross them, but there are always those in the shadows who will try.

And when their enemies strike, every Bailey pays the price. But none more so than Daniel’s only daughter, Tania. The Life is in her blood, and now it’s her weapon for revenge.

For more novels that will take you deep into the dark and dangerous criminal underworld, check out Martina Cole’s THE GRAFT, THE BUSINESS and REVENGE

Are the upper-class residents of Callander Square as innocent as they claim?

In New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry’s second Victorian Inspector Pitt mystery, Thomas and Charlotte Pitt find that everyone in Callander Square has something to hide – but someone will kill to keep a secret. Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Sarah Perry.

‘Murder fans who prefer their crimes with a touch of class should heat some scones and nestle back for the afternoon’ – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When the bodies of two infants are dug up in the Callander Square gardens, the upper-class residents resent the intrusion of Inspector Thomas Pitt into their well-ordered lives. They dismiss it as the desperate act of some low-born girl, but Pitt is not convinced that the case should be so easily dropped.

Also intrigued by the mystery, and able to move in the places to which Thomas would never gain access, Charlotte probes into the lives and secrets of the residents – secrets that could lead even the most upright aristocrat to kill. But will the Pitts solve the mystery in time to save the innocent residents of Callander Square from the murderer among them?

What readers are saying about Callander Square:

‘Perry blends period detail, detection, and rot-beneath-the-genteel-surface social commentary with great skill‘

‘This is one of those rare books that you have to read in one go‘

‘Loved this story from beginning to end‘

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HANDMAID’S TALE, THE TESTAMENTS AND ALIAS GRACE

‘Dark and witty tales from the gleefully inventive Margaret Atwood. Witty verve, imaginative inventiveness and verbal sizzle vivify every page’ Sunday Times

A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. An elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. A woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire, and a crime committed long ago is revenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite.

‘A collection of nine acerbic, mischievous, gulpable short stories’ Harper’s Bazaar

‘Atwood’s prose is so sharp and sly that the effect is bracing rather than bleak’ Guardian

‘[Look at these tales] as eight icily refreshing arsenic Popsicles followed by a baked Alaska laced with anthrax, all served with impeccable style and aplomb. Enjoy!’ Ursula K. Le Guin, Financial Times

‘Atwood has characters here close to death, dead already, unwittingly doomed or – in one memorable case – freeze-dried; but her own curiosity, enthusiasm and sheer storytelling panache remain alive and kicking’ Independent

The true story behind the ‘Fatty Arbuckle’ Scandal

David Yallop is no stranger to controversy. The impact of his investigations in such bestsellers as In God’s Name, Beyond Reasonable Doubt and To Encourage the Others has reverberated around the world. In The Day the Laughter Stopped, he uncovers the incredible true story behind the Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle scandal of 1921, when the fat film comedian stood accused of the rape and murder of a pretty screen actress.

Arbuckle’s is the story of a man born in extreme poverty who was destined to rise to the heights of a multi-million dollar career, only to have it snatched from him by a wave of hysteria and bigotry that swept the globe. It is the story of Hollywood and what really happened in the corridors of power; the political corruption of San Francisco; the immorality of a president. How Charlie Chaplin’s career was saved. How Buster Keaton’s was begun. Both by Arbuckle. It is a life story that ranges from comic heights to tragic depths.

The Day the Laughter Stopped confirms David Yallop’s reputation as the world’s greatest investigative author, combining exhaustive research with compulsive narrative.

52 BC, and Rome is in turmoil. Rival gangs prowl the streets as Publius Clodius, a high-born populist politician, and his arch-enemy Titus Milo fight to control the consular elections. But when Clodius is murdered on the famed Appian Way and Milo is accused of the crime, the city explodes with riots and arson.

As accusations and rumours fly, Gordianus is charged by Pompey the Great with discovering what really happened on the Appian Way that dark January night. Was it murder? And if so, should the perpetrator be condemned as a villain – or hailed as the saviour of the Roman Republic? For on the truth of that hangs the fate of Titus Milo . . .

Praise for Steven Saylor:

‘Saylor evokes the ancient world more convincingly than any other writer of his generation.’Sunday Times

‘Saylor’s scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals.’Ruth Rendell

‘With the scalpel-like deftness of a Hollywood director, Saylor puts his finger on the very essence of Roman history.’Times Literary Supplement

‘A full-blooded and action-packed work of fiction, cleverly built around a solid historical framework . . . it is an enthralling page-turner.’Daily Express

In this spellbinding eBook novella of otherworldly desire, a woman whose destiny was born from a blood kiss discover that second chances do come… even for immortals.


A shimmering holiday gala lights up an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands, but beautiful widowed Breedmate Danika MacConn feels alone in the crowd. Even, among the friends and festivity of the Darkhaven celebration, she can’t forget her lost love, a fallen warrior of the Order. Her brief return to her mate’s homeland has become treacherous after rejecting the advances of a dangerous Edinburgh crime boss with a taste for blood sport. As Danika seeks to expose the vampire and his dark trade , she discovers an unexpected ally in his forbidding, enigmatic henchman, Brannoc, a man who exudes heat, danger, and dark menace…