Showing results by publisher "Headline" in Crime Fiction

After his recent unveiling of a devious assassin, Sir Hugh Corbett has returned to service as the Keeper of the Secret Seal, begrudgingly admitting that his appetite for adventure has once again been whetted. Summoned to meet the King to be congratulated on their work together, Corbett and Ranulf learn of the death of Corbett's close friend, Ralph Grandison. Ralph, a leper, has been found dead in a rowing boat, a dagger thrust through his chest. But this murder is not the first of its kind.

A brilliant criminal psychologist, Alex works with the police to help solve the most complex of crimes in Los Angeles, city of illusions, glamour and infamy. An affluent family returns home from Sunday dinner only to find the murdered and brutalised corpse of a total stranger in their house. This baffling, twisted tale tests Alex and Milo to their intellectual and emotional limits.

It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night in Savannah as some locals gather at Bo Peep's, one of the town's favourite watering holes. Within an hour, a man will be murdered and his companion will have 'disappeared'. An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths.

As young children, Josh Browning and his sister, Dilys, stumbled across a dead body while playing on the outskirts of their Cotswold village. Terrified by what they'd seen, neither of them told a soul. Now, 20 years later, Josh finds the dead woman's charm bracelet among his sister's possessions. Who better to tell than his trusted friend, the man he gardens for, retired Superintendent Alan Markby? As Markby listens to Josh's confession, alarm bells start to ring. The dates and details tie in with a missing person case that was never solved.

Ebert is not a man to make enemies. He is a chieftain with a reputation for kindliness and generosity. Yet, one night, his household is aroused by a scream from his chamber. The servants burst in to find Móen, a young man to whom Eber had extended his protection, crouched over the bloody body of the chieftain. Móen's clothes are drenched in Eber's blood, and he is clutching a bloodstained knife in his hand.There seems no doubt of culpability, but why did Móen kill the gentle and courteous Eber?

Ten celebrities have arrived to take part in the most gruelling - and lucrative - reality survival show ever devised: two weeks completely alone on a remote Scottish island, in the depths of winter. With a production team that seems incapable of keeping them safe, a gathering storm and the unrelenting gaze of hidden cameras, the contestants are stretched to the limit as they try and outshine their fellow competitors and hide their darkest secrets. But when a contestant winds up dead, it soon becomes clear that the players are not just fighting for the prize, but for their lives.

Inspectors Cetin Ikmen and Mehmet Suleyman from Istanbul are sent to a policing conference in Detroit, but little can prepare them for the corruption that lies at its heart. When Ezekial Goins, an elderly man of Turkish descent, approaches them to crack the long-unsolved murder of his son, a quiet trip takes a far more sinister turn. As they delve deeper into the case, the pair find themselves immersed in a terrifying world of intergang drug war and racial prejudice that puts them in mortal danger.

The sixth Inspector Ben Ross mystery. On a cold November night in a Deptford yard, dock worker Harry Parker stumbles upon the body of a dead woman. Inspector Ben Ross is summoned from Scotland Yard to this insalubrious part of town, but no witness to the murder of this well-dressed middle-aged woman can be found. Even Jeb Fisher, the local rag-and-bone man, swears he's seen nothing.

Sir Robert Skinner's stock is rising - after retiring from the police service he's been promoted to head an international media organisation. Yet a series of unexplained deaths on his home turf in Scotland threaten to bring him crashing back down to earth. As Skinner helps the elderly in his local community, several residents seem to die of natural causes. But when a gruesome discovery is made in a Glasgow flat and one of Skinner's long-time friends - an aspiring politician - emerges as the prime suspect, things become very murky indeed.

Sir Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the Secret Seal, hastens to the Dominican Priory at Blackfriars where Gaveston's corpse awaits burial. But, on arrival, Corbett discovers that a series of macabre murders has turned the priory into a mansion of death, and a killer is roaming free. Meanwhile, rumours spread that the pirate ships of the Black Banner Fleet are intent on entering the River Thames and, if the Sea Beggars succeed in their mission, they will weaken the king's power throughout the city.

The 30th gritty mystery in Quintin Jardine's bestselling Bob Skinner series, not to be missed by readers of Ian Rankin and Peter May. Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner may have left the police service, but he's never far from a case. When his old mentor on the force, Jimmy Proud, finds himself in a desperate situation, Skinner gets pulled into a murder investigation that's been closed for 30 years.

When 11-year-old Evan vanishes without trace, his parents are plunged into their worst nightmare. Especially as the police, under massive pressure, have no answers. But months later Evan is unexpectedly found, frightened and refusing to speak. His loving family realise life will never be the same again. DI Naylor knows that unless those who took Evan are caught, other children are in danger. And with Evan silent, she must race against time to find those responsible....

1648: Civil war is devastating England. The privileged world of Katherine Ferrers is crumbling under Cromwell's army, and as an orphaned heiress, she has no choice but to marry for the sake of family. But as her marriage turns into a prison and her fortune is forfeit, Katherine becomes increasingly desperate. So when she meets a man who shows her a way out, she seizes the chance. It is dangerous and brutal, and she knows if they're caught, there's only one way it can end....

A month before Christmas, and Ballyterrin on the Irish border lies under a thick pall of snow. When a newborn baby goes missing from hospital, it's all too close to home for forensic psychologist Paula Maguire, who's wrestling with the hardest decision of her life. Then a woman is found in a stone circle with her stomach cut open and it's clear a brutal killer is on the loose. As another child is taken and a pregnant woman goes missing, Paula is caught up in the hunt for a killer no one can trace, who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

When a newborn baby is found drowned in the shallow waters of the Golden Horn, all-out warfare threatens to erupt between rival criminal gangs. Inspector Kerim Gürsel is assigned to the case and he must tread carefully when DNA tests reveal that the baby's father is Görkan Paşahan, Istanbul's most feared Mafia boss. But the identity of the infant's mother is yet to be discovered. Meanwhile, Çetin İkmen and Mehmet Süleyman attend the winter festival known as Bocuk Gecesi, held on the darkest night of the year, and witness a magic trick whereby a young man, Emir Kaya, disappears.

From acclaimed author Quintin Jardine comes the latest gripping mystery in his bestselling Bob Skinner series, perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter May.

Lauren, Saskia, Dominica, Farah and Tansy have been friends since nursery. They wonder if that was the last time they all actually liked each other. Reunited as bridesmaids at Tansy's spiritual hen party in the woods, it doesn't take long before old grudges begin to surface. Not to mention the secret they've been hiding for twenty years. But what starts as a weekend of macramé and penis straws ends in murder when Tansy chokes to death on a poisoned cacao. And as the body count keeps climbing, the friends realise that one of their group must be the killer - and they need to watch their backs.

Sister Fidelma is thrown into a sinister mystery full of intrigue, danger and violence in Peter Tremayne's fourth Celtic mystery. A headless female corpse is found in the drinking well of a remote abbey in southwest Ireland. One hand clasps a crucifix; tied to the other arm is a pagan death symbol. A merchant ship is encountered under full sail on the high seas off the Irish coast. But the crew and cargo have vanished - as if by sorcery. Whose is the body in the well? Where is the crew of the vessel? Are these bizarre events connected? And if so, who is responsible?

It is May 1911 when Daniel Pitt is summoned to a murder scene in the slums of London's East End. He fears the victim is his friend Toby Kitteridge, but relief is quickly followed by dismay when Daniel identifies the dead man as Jonah Drake, a distinguished senior barrister who has been killed with a double-edged sword. But what was Drake doing in Mile End? And does their head of chambers, Marcus Fford Croft, know more than he is willing to admit? With the police holding out little hope of finding Drake's killer, Daniel and Kitteridge rise to the challenge.

In the mid-7th century AD, the Venerable Dacán, a much respected and beloved scholar of the Celtic Church, has been found murdered while on a visit to a remote abbey in the Irish Kingdom of Muman. When Dacán's foul death is used by a neighbouring kingdom to demand reparation from Muman, bloody war seems imminent. Summoned by Muman's dying king to investigate, Sister Fidelma is asked to solve the mystery of the brutal killing and by doing so to prevent the inevitable war breaking out between the two opposing kingdoms.