Books Archive

The Moving Finger (October 2023)

By Agatha Christie

October 29, 2023

A Malicious Letter, A Tragic Death, A Village Filled With Suspects

Nothing ever happens in the sleepy village of Lymstock.  Until letters accusing the villagers of unspeakable acts start to appear.

They try to dismiss them as a cruel hoax, but then one of the recipients is found dead.  The letter next to her body reads simply, ‘I can’t go on’.

As fear spreads among the villagers, Jane Marple must uncover who is writing these letters – before anyone else is hurt.

Never Underestimate Miss Marple

The Raging Storm (October 2023)

By Ann Cleeves

October 29, 2023

Detective Matthew Venn of The Heron’s Cry returns in the next captivating novel in the Two Rivers series from Ann Cleeves, the number one bestselling author and creator of Vera and Shetland.

When Jem Rosco – sailor, adventurer and local legend – blows into town in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Graystone, Devon, are delighted to have a celebrity in their midst.

The residents think nothing of it when Rosco disappears again; that’s the sort of man he is.  Until the lifeboat is launched to a hoax call-out during a raging storm and his body is found in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.

This is an uncomfortable case for DI Matthew Venn.  He came to the remote village as a child, its community populated by the Barum Brethren that he parted ways with.  So when superstition and rumour mix and another body is found in the cove, Matthew soon finds his judgement clouded.

As the stormy winds howl and the village is cut off, Venn and his team start their investigation, little realizing their own lives might be in danger…

The Running Grave (October 2023)

By Robert Galbraith

October 29, 2023

Private detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organisation that campaigns for a better world.  Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike’s business partner Robin Ellacott decides to infiltrate the cult and travels to Norfolk to live incognito among them.  But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her…

The Seven (October 2023)

By Chris Hammer

October 29, 2023

Yuwonderie’s seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful.

But now – in startling circumstances – one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate.

Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim’s friend thirty years ago – another member of The Seven – or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?

What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?

With the killer still on the loose and events spiralling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes.  Can they crack the case before more people die?

Before we say goodbye (October 2023)

By Toshikazu Kawaguchi

October 29, 2023

The fourth novel in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s internationally bestselling ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series.

The regulars at the magical Cafe Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with its famous legend and extraordinary time-travel offering.  Many patrons have reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family, and visited loved ones.  But the journey is not without risks and there are rules to follow.  Travellers must have visited the cafe before and crucially, must return to the present in the time it takes their coffee to go cold.

In the tradition of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s sensational ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series, readers will once again be introduced to a new set of visitors: the husband with something important left to say; the woman who couldn’t bid her dog farewell; the woman who couldn’t answer a proposal; and the daughter who drove her father away.

Featuring signature heart-warming characters and wistful storytelling, in the beautifully haunting Before we say goodbye, Kawaguchi asks: who would you visit if you could travel through time?

The Burnout (October 2023)

By Sophie Kinsella

October 29, 2023

Sasha is well and truly over it all: work (all-consuming), friendships (on the back burner), sex-life (non-existent).  Sasha has hit a brick wall.

Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga and find solitude, she heads to the Devon resort she loved as a child.  But it’s off-season, the hotel is falling apart, and now she has to share the beach with someone else: a grumpy, stressed-out guy called Finn.  How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on a rock, watching her?  Especially when they don’t agree on burnout cures.  (Sasha: manifesting, wild swimming, secret chocolate bars; Finn: drinking whisky.)

But when curious messages start appearing on the beach, Sasha and Finn are forced to begin talking – about everything.  What’s the mystery?  Why are they both burned out?  What exactly is ‘manifesting’, anyway?

They might discover that they have more in common than they think…

The Last Devil to Die (October 2023)

By Richard Osman

October 29, 2023

Shocking news reaches The Thursday Murder Club.

An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

As the gang spring into action, they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.

With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out?  And who will be the last devil to die?

Past Lying (October 2023)

By Val McDermid

October 29, 2023

Karen Pirie Returns…

Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie.  So she shouldn’t be surprised when an author’s manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime.

Karen can’t ignore the plot’s chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep.  The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there’s a problem: the author died before he finished it.

As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiralling game of betrayal and revenge, where lies are indistinguishable from the truth and with more than one unexpected twist..

The Night House (October 2023)

By Jo Nesbo

October 29, 2023

In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote town of Ballantyne.

Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible.  No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie.

No one, that it, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate.  He traces the number from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the woods.  There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window.  And then the voices start…

When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne.