Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

In a hidden studio in Rome, an art expert is found dead in front of one of the most beautiful paintings Nic Costa has ever seen - an unknown Caravaggio masterpiece. But before long, tragedy will strike Nic far closer to home. The main suspect's identity is known, but he remains untouchable, protected by a fleet of lawyers and a sinister cult known as the Ekstasists. If Costa can crack the reasons for the cult's existence, he may well stand a chance of nailing his wife's killer. But the mystery will take him right back to Caravaggio himself and the reasons he had to flee Rome.

In the gorgeous grounds of Rome's Villa Borghese park the glitterati of the movie world are gathered for a world premiere. A legendary Italian movie director has come out of retirement to create a blockbuster based on Dante's Inferno. But, as Nic Costa and his colleagues attempt to guard the precious collection of historic artifacts attached to the event, the premiere is disrupted by tragedy and a horrific murder. Is a disgruntled admirer of Dante taking his revenge on the cast of the movie?

Doctor John Dee and Margaretta, assisted by his pupil Christopher, are charged with unraveling the mystery. But then there is a kidnapping, a ransom threat and more bodies appear. Amongst secrets and rumors, the scandal of the Seymour Affair threatens to resurface. Elizabeth's road to the throne could be ruined and with that comes the fall of the Tudor Dynasty. Can John Dee keep Elizabeth's secret before it casts a shadow over them all?

The streets of East London teem with different languages, cultures and religions. Private investigators Lee Arnold and Mumtaz Hakim are well-versed in the community's tensions, the sad day-to-day reality that includes the desecration of graves at Plashet Jewish cemetery in East Ham. However, the destruction of these final resting places leads to a disturbing discovery—one of the damaged coffins does not contain human remains, but instead a sculpture of a man made of clay.

Jim says he's an undercover policeman. His daughter, Sam, thinks he's a liar. On holiday in Orkney, Sam spies on Jim as he runs secretive errands across the island. Why is he so interested in Norse mythology? And why does Sam have the eerie feeling that she too is being watched? When Sam finally discovers the truth, it will draw her into a dangerous world of darkness and deception....

Tobias Hawke was the tech genius boss of the British Institute for Deep Learning. Now his body has been found in his lab: he has been brutally murdered. Hawke was on the brink of an astonishing breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence. His creation, 'Syd', a machine-learning device that mimics human thought, promised to change the face of humanity forever. But, in the wake of her creator's murder, Syd has gone into emergency shutdown procedure. What secrets are her neural networks hiding?

London, 1954. Eva Georgiou has just returned from her shift at the glamorous Café de Paris, when she's summoned to her second job: Greek interpreter for the Metropolitan Police. There, she is tasked with representing Zina Pavlou, a Cypriot woman who has been accused of the brutal murder of her daughter-in-law.

1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr. Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow's inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness. To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city.

When the celebrated crime writer Agatha Crispy engages Hettie and Tilly in the search for a stolen manuscript, our feline detective duo is plunged into a world of Dickensian thieves and murderers. Does the ghost of Jake the Nipper prowl the London Streets of Kitzrovia? Will Madame Two Paws’s exhibition wax or wane? And will the secrets in the crypt of the church of St Mavis and Cucumber finally be revealed? Join Hettie and Tilly as they attempt to unravel yet another darkly humorous case for The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency.

Detective Nic Costa finds himself a stranger in a strange land when he's sent to infiltrate the mob in a remote part of southern Italy. Roman police detective Nic Costa has been sent undercover to Italy's beautiful, remote Calabrian coast to bring in the head of the feared mob, the 'Ndrangheta, who has offered to turn state witness for reasons of his own. Hoping to reel in the biggest prize the state police have seen in years, the infamous Butcher of Palermo, Costa and his team are aware the stakes are high. But the constant deception is taking its toll....

1941. Dieter Merz is the Reich's most celebrated fighter ace, and his aerial prowess has brought him into close contact with the top echelons of Hitler's regime. But everything in the Nazi state still comes at a price. If Dieter wants help for an injured friend, he must inform on the modest, lifelong confidant always at Hitler's side: Rudolf Hess. Meanwhile, Scotsman and ex-marine Tam Moncrieff is working for MI5, attempting to sound out Germany's intention of withdrawal. With most of Europe already fallen to Hitler's armies, Germany considers the war won.

Madison Albi is a scientist with a very special talent - for reading minds. When she stumbles across a homeless man with whom she feels an inexplicable connection, she can't resist the dangerous impulse to use her skills to help him. But as she delves deeper into J’s mind, it becomes clear that some secrets are better off staying hidden. Is J really the man Madison believes him to be?

At Christmas 1975 a group of Californian students experiment with LSD. One of them, Michael Quinn kidnaps the son of an English professor. When he is released from jail twenty years later, a mysterious young English woman named Joni Lascelles begins to ask questions that will unravel the past.

When two bodies wash up on a river bank in the Balkans, Simo Subotic is called in to investigate. It soon becomes clear that their deaths were the result of torture not seen since the Bosnian War. Meanwhile, after a drug bust prematurely ends the Tour de Balkans, former Olympic cyclist Heather Bishop is in freefall after her journalist boyfriend Ryan Mackinnon goes missing. Her desperate search for him uncovers not only Ryan's dark past, but that of a region still reeling from the trauma of war.

Chicago, 1928. In the stifling summer heat, three disturbing events take place: a clique of city leaders is poisoned, a white gangster is found mutilated and a famous heiress vanishes without a trace. Detectives Michael Talbot and Ida Davis are hired to find the missing heiress, but it proves harder than expected, and so Ida must elicit the help of her friend Louis Armstrong. But will any of them find the answers they need in the capital of jazz, booze and corruption?

To solve this case, only an outsider will do...Ingo Finch faces his biggest challenge yet. New York, 1904 - over a thousand are dead after the sinking of the General Slocum, a pleasure steamer full of German immigrants out for a day on the East River. The community is devastated, broken, in uproar. With a populist senator preying on their grievances, a new political force is unleashed, pushing America to ally with Germany in any coming war. Nine months later, Ingo Finch arrives in Manhattan, now an official British agent.

Out of the blue, private investigator and ex-soldier Lee Arnold receives a visit from an old army mate, Abbas al'Barri. Now living in Ilford with his family, Abbas is convinced that he's had a message from his estranged son, Fayyaad, who was radicalised and was last thought to be fighting for ISIL in Iraq. Does Fayyaad's message indicate a change of heart? Abbas is desperate for Lee's help in establishing some contact with him.

During the 1990s, the UK police preferred to be accused of racism rather than corruption. Stop and searches for no reason other than the colour of someone's skin had managed to turn many law-abiding citizens into cop haters. But all I ever wanted was to be a good police officer. I thought I could be the smartest, the toughest, the bravest - but also, the fairest - cop in the neighbourhood. I ended up in an elite, compact, anti-narcotics unit given unrestricted authority to wage war on the area's drugs underworld, focusing on criminals in and around a vast housing estate.

As the summer break begins, lifelong friends Norah and Daisy are looking forward to one last summer together. That is until they fall under the spell of charismatic newcomer Jack Hannay. But as the summer draws to a close, Daisy refuses to accept that it is over. She insists on one last visit to Jack's boat, where something so horrific happens, it leaves them suffering the effects for years to come....

Ever since it was built in 1912, Woolwich Foot Tunnel has been the subject of rumour and speculation. Running underneath the Thames it connects north and south, and in the hot summer of 1976, when young John Saunders apparently entered the Tunnel and completely disappeared on his way to his sister's house, it was a grim and frightening place. John was never seen again until he re-emerged 42 years later, complete with an American accent.