Showing results for "the queen" in Crime Fiction

On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity's been missing for over a month. Most people in town - even the police - think she's dead. Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about one another . . . except for the destructive secret hidden from them both. A secret that will trigger a chain of events ending in tragedy, bloodshed, and death

Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why? The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped.

In rural India, Geeta is believed to have killed her vanished husband—but she hasn't wasted too much time trying to correct the record, because as a single woman her new reputation has been the one thing keeping her safe all these years. Still, she's paid a price. She's an outcast in her town, estranged from her childhood best friend, Saloni, and from the rest of the women in her microloan group. But that all changes when another member of the group approaches Geeta with a problem of her own. and absurdity of life.

I fled the Colombo Family as a widow. But I'm coming back as their Queen. I'm done running. And I'm done having Nik Kusek sacrifice everything for my sake. She's protected me, killed for me, even turned against her own people… Now, it's my turn to step up. I'm ready to claim what belongs to me: the casino, the Family, and the truth about who really killed the old Don. The problem? Everyone wants me dead. The Colombos think I'm a traitor. My husband's killer is still out there, gunning for me. And the Novak Consortium wants me out of the way to pull their deadly operative back into line.

This is my kingdom. My territory. I own everything and control everyone, Aurora included. She shouldn’t have barged into my world with no armor. She shouldn’t have caught my attention with no warning. Alas, she did. Then she thought she could disappear. If a battle is what it’ll take to protect and own her, I’ll shed blood. Wars aren’t fair, and neither am I.

The Queen identifies the 70 year-old victim, Edward St Cyr, from his signet ring. But the search for his killer is not so straightforward. Suspects include the Queen's horse groom, a shady land agent, an aristocrat neighbour, as well as the victim's many cousins and relations. The investigation leads the Queen - and her trusted assistant, Rozie - to a local pigeon racing club, back to London, and to the ancient, moated Godwick Hall. But how do the seemingly disparate pieces of the puzzle fit together? And who is the next victim?

A 23-year-old law student commits suicide in broad daylight in Moscow's Alexander Gardens. Fandorin is put on the case to find out what drove him to it, a case that deepens as he discovers that the young man was the son of a rich and influential factory owner. The story is enhanced by its authentic backdrop of 19th century Russia. After all, it's difficult to keep your mind on a case when the new Dostoyevsky novel has just hit the shops.

Set in the 1930s, Mob Queen follows one woman’s rapid rise through the Mafia as she searches for the truth about what happened to her friend and navigates a perilous relationship with the infamous Bugsy Siegel.

Holocaust survivor and American citzen Jossi Goldberg is found shot to death execution style in his house near Frankfurt. A five-digit number is scrawled in blood at the murder scene. The autopsy reveals an old tattoo on the corpse's arm--a blood type marker once used by Hitler's SS--causing detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver Bodenstein to question his true identity. Two more murders reveal the connections between the victims.

Avery, Ax, Falcon, Cosmo, and I had stumbled upon something suspicious; something that was going on in my city right under our noses. A new drug had popped up, affecting only the paranormal community. People were starting to go missing, and those that we caught started babbling about how he was going to take the Syndicate down for good.

Robert McCammon brings the hero of his previous novel, Matthew Corbett, to 18th-century New York, where a killer wields a bloody and terrifying power over a bustling city carving out its identity - and over Matthew's own uncertain destiny.

The unsolved murder of a respected doctor has sent ripples of fear throughout a city teeming with life and noise and commerce. Who snuffed out the good man's life with the slash of a blade on a midnight street? The local printmaster has labeled the fiend "the Masker," adding fuel to a volatile mystery...

In a backstreet club, people dance the night away to their favourite band. But behind the scenes there is trouble afoot. An argument is brewing between bandmembers, two possessive girlfriends have plans for their partners the club manager is creaming off profits—and a tragic accident leaves the lead singer dead. But was it an accident at all? Coroner Clement Ryder is suspicious, and WPC Trudy Loveday knows there’s only one thing for it. She’s going undercover, deep into the seedy underbelly of Oxford nightlife.

I've been told all my life that love is a weakness in our world. That couldn't be further from the truth, but that's only half of what I need to finish the job. Power—it's the only thing some people understand besides money. I'm not worried; power is one thing I'm not lacking in this fight. That's what comes with being the sole heir to two criminal empires and making friends in all the right places. Now that all the pieces are set, it's finally time to shake things up in this criminal world and bring an end to the era of the Five Families.

His name was Will Fowler, an actor in the esteemed theatrical company called Lord Westfield’s Men, a vibrant young man flushed from the success of a recent performance at the Queen’s Head theatre. So exuberant was he that he persuaded the resourceful manager of the company, Nicholas Bracewell, to quaff a pint or two at a nearby pub.

DI Jamie Johansson is trying to find normality in Kurrajakk when she gets the chance to sit in on the Interpol interview linked to her last case. A pattern of mutilation and beheading on the Finnish border has Jamie's full attention, but Interpol seem more interested in the Russian connection. Begrudgingly, they let her follow up, and as usual, Jamie's nose for trouble doesn't steer her wrong.

A chilling note predicting the deaths of six people is found in a school's time capsule, 10 years after it was buried. But surely, if a 13-year-old wrote it, it can't be a real threat.... Detective Huldar suspects he's been given the investigation simply to keep him away from real police work. He turns to psychologist Freyja to help understand the child who hid the message. Soon, however, they find themselves at the heart of another shocking case.

Gangland Queen Nell has the perfect life of crime as a top shoplifter by day and glamorous club owner by night. But a betrayal and botched robbery suddenly reverse her fortunes...and her old rival, Alice Diamond, is hell-bent on taking her down. After escaping a poverty-stricken childhood, nightclub dancer Zoe has more on her mind than settling scores for Alice. But the life of luxury Zoe craves comes at a terrible price. And when a vicious gang tightens its grip on Soho, all three women realise it pays to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Daniel Lohr, sensing that the Nazis are closing in on the Jews, leaves his dying father in Berlin and boards a ship to Shanghai. His passage is dependent upon him delivering a package to his shady uncle, his father’s brother, upon arrival. Daniel has no idea what the package contains. On board is Leah, also fleeing the Nazis. She and Daniel conduct a passionate but brief shipboard affair, but are separated as soon as the ship docks in Shanghai. Will he ever see her again?

Anthropology Professor Gideon Oliver would prefer to keep his mind on his beautiful new bride, Julie, during their English honeymoon, but one intrusive question will not stop nagging at him: Who would want to steal a 30,000-year-old parieto-occipital calvarial fragment? Yet someone has lifted this chunk of prehistoric human skull from a musty museum in Dorchester. Then, 30 miles away, an archaeology student is murdered, increasing tension and suspicion at a dig that had already seethed with suspicion, rivalry, and mistrust.

Loni Murrow is an accomplished bird artist at the Smithsonian who loves her job. But when she receives a call from her younger brother summoning her back home to help their obstinate mother recover after an accident, Loni’s neat, contained life in Washington, DC, is thrown into chaos, and she finds herself exactly where she does not want to be. Going through her mother’s things, Loni uncovers scraps and snippets of a time in her life she would prefer to forget—a childhood marked by her father Boyd’s death by drowning.