FICTION

Paper CageWinner of the 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize, this thrilling debut unravels a series of mysterious child abductions in a small New Zealand town.A child goes missing in a small town. Then another. And suddenly everyone's holding their own kids a little tighter. Lorraine doesn't have kids, but she has a dearly loved nephew. And she knows the police don't have any idea about this case, because she works for them. She's the records clerk- she sits out back among the piles of paper making connections, remembering things, working things out that the actual cops don't want to hear about. Until the new detective, Hayes, arrives from Wellington, and realises Lo's the only person there with answers to any of his questions. Which is just as well-because the clock is running down for the children of the town. Both a nail-biting thriller and a beautifully written portrait of a community, Paper Cage is the prize-winning debut from young New Zealand novelist Tom Baragwanath.

The Hollow Girl Alternating between 1961 and 1973, The Hollow Girl is the stunning new literary suspense novel from the award-winning author of The Silent Listener.HARROWFORD HALL A safe haven for lost girls? Or a breeding ground for revenge?It's 1973 and Detective Sergeant Eleanor Smith is finally assigned her first homicide case. A woman's body has been discovered at Harrowford Hall, a home for unmarried mothers deep in the Victorian countryside.Led by the formidable Mrs Montague, Harrowford has for decades sold itself as a refuge for 'girls in crisis' - like fourteen-year-old Jane McEvoy, who has no idea of how she got pregnant. And Marilyn Pollard, a scared, angry teenager desperate to escape.But when Detective Smith arrives at the once-grand gothic mansion, she finds it all but deserted. What's more, the home's overgrown graveyard suggests the apparent poisoning of Nurse Chapman is not Harrowford's first suspicious death . . .'The Hollow Girl is a haunting mystery, observed with moral clarity and a scalpel-sharp pen. Once again, Yeowart imbues a gripping crime narrative with literary sensibility, and the result is one of the best crime novels I've read in years.' JP POMARE, author of The Wrong Woman'An expansive and vivid story that wells up from a dark place in history. A tale of lies and betrayal that will make you angry and keep you up at night. Lyn Yeowart is a writer to be reckoned with and this story grabbed me from the opening scene. You need to read it - now!' HAYLEY SCRIVENOR, internationally bestselling author of Dirt Town and Girl Falling'Fiendishly clever and wonderfully original, The Hollow Girl reveals a sordid world swept under history's carpet. This is a fantastic follow-up to the triumph of The Silent Listener, full of compelling characters and startling plot twists.' ASHLEY KALAGIAN BLUNT, author of Dark Mode'The Hollow Girl is a searing tale of injustice and revenge. Lyn Yeowart is an extraordinarily powerful writer. I loved it.' MARGARET HICKEY, author of The Creeper'The Hollow Girl is as compelling as it is shocking. Lyn Yeowart breathes such startling life into this remarkable story, it's impossible to put down - and will keep you guessing all the way to its unpredictable ending.' GLENNA THOMSON, author of Gone'Yeowart delivers a gothic gut-punch of a novel - haunting, twisted, and fiercely intelligent. The Hollow Girl gives voice to a generation of women denied one. Brave, brutal, and impossible to ignore.' R.W.R. MCDONALD, author of The Nancys'A page-turning, unputdownable thriller.' New Idea'A gripping story laced with murder and the historic powerlessness of women. It's written from three points of view with a cracking pace.' Sisters In Crime

The Hawk Is DeadPETER JAMES is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author best known for his crime thrillers featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, who Queen Camilla recently named as her favourite fictional detective. Praised by critics and much loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters, and accurate portrayal of modern-day policing, he has won more than 40 awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. His books have sold over 23 million copies worldwide, achieved 21 Sunday Times No 1s, and have been translated into 38 languages. His Roy Grace novels are currently filming their 6th season for the hit ITV drama, Grace, starring John Simm as the troubled Brighton copper and available to view on ITVX and on Britbox. Seven of his novels have been adapted into hit stage plays, with his most recent, Picture You Dead, now on national tour in the UK. His plays have been named as "The most successful stage franchise since Agatha Christie."

Nash Falls David Baldacci is one of the world’s bestselling and favourite thriller writers. A former trial lawyer with a keen interest in world politics, he has specialist knowledge in the US political system and intelligence services. His first book, Absolute Power, became an instant international bestseller, with the movie starring Clint Eastwood a major box office hit. He has since written more than fifty bestsellers featuring, most recently, Travis Devine, Amos Decker, Aloysius Archer, and Mickey Gibson. David is also the co-founder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across the US. Killer twists. Heroes to believe in. Trust Baldacci.

The Hiding PlaceThey’re good people. Why shouldn’t they get what they deserve?When Lou sees an ad for a long-abandoned mining town up for sale, it doesn’t take her long to convince her sister and their oldest friends to go in on the idyllic property buried in the bush – a place where the four families can hide away on weekends, get back to nature and unstick the kids from their screens.But things start to go wrong before they even arrive for their first camping trip – a rogue deer sends a trailer off the road, a neighbour complains about the fence line and squatters have set up camp down by the river. Soon none of that will matter, though, because by the end of the first night someone will be dead.At first it seems that hiding a body is easier than keeping other sorts of secrets: a lost job, an illegal crop, an outrageous affair, a little embezzlement. But what’s buried has a way of coming to the surface, and even in the bush, it’s hard to remain unseen.White Lotus meets The Slap in a razor-sharp literary thriller about deception and self-deception, and how far people will go to protect what they feel they ought to have.‘Absolutely brilliant. I wish I had written this book.’ Hayley Scrivenor, author of Dirt Town

The Tangled Web The sudden death of a beloved brother leads a young woman on a quest to find a missing boy and into a tangled web of mystery, blood and fear.Maitland 1892: When Viola Oswald's beloved brother Sebastian dies of a hereditary blood disease, Viola suspects her stepfather, prestigious surgeon Elias Sinclair, has used Sebastian's illness to enhance his reputation. But Viola has no proof until she discovers a letter within the pages of Sebastian's favourite book - Lambs' Tales of Shakespeare. A letter that sends a determined Viola on a journey to the country town of Maitland to find a homeless boy who suffered at her stepfather's hands and can provide the proof she needs.Once there, Viola finds help from an independent local seamstress and a clever lawyers' clerk, as well as a ragtag bunch of urchins. As the dark story unfolds it becomes clear that the missing boy's fate is intertwined with her own and that terrible cruelties are being committed by her stepfather in the name of medical advancement.Viola fears for her pregnant mother, the child she is about to birth and all the homeless boys caught up in a terrifying web of deceit and death. Will she find the evidence to bring her stepfather to justice in time to save them?

The Last Death Of The Year New Year's Eve, 1932. Hercule Poirot and his good friend Inspector Edward Catchpool arrive on the Greek island of Lamperos for a little holiday…or is it? Catchpool suspects Poirot has a different reason for being there — one he won't reveal. As the clock ticks towards the New Year and a festive guessing game takes a sinister turn, can Poirot stop a murderer who is determined to strike before midnight?

A Disappearing Act From the bestselling author of The House of Now and Then comes a taut and twisty psychological mystery perfect for readers of Sally Hepworth and Nicola Moriarty.Bestselling author Marnie Elliott has invited her three oldest friends to a secluded holiday house in Tasmania. On the surface it’s an excuse to catch up and drink champagne — but really, Marnie’s there to escape the fallout from an upcoming exposé. Sure, she’s told some lies over the course of her career... but this time the allegations go further... Did Marnie even write the books that made her millions?As the days unfold, it becomes clear that time has pulled the women apart, and that perhaps they don’t know each other as well as they thought they did. And when long-buried secrets and resentments rise to the surface, tensions spiral out of control.And then one of them disappears.No one can survive the harsh elements of a Tasmanian winter for long, and soon panic sets in. Did she get lost? Run away? Or is something far more sinister at play?And does it have anything to do with what happened twenty-five years ago, when the four of them lived together in a rambling warehouse, fuelled by ambition, and where nothing — absolutely nothing — mattered more than being part of the group?From the bestselling author of The House of Now and Then comes a taut and twisty psychological mystery that asks: How well do we really know our closest friends?PRAISE FOR A DISAPPEARING ACT:'Jo Dixon brings some of my favourite plot elements together in one place in this novel - new friends that make you long to fit in, a writer with a secret, old friends that bring their own baggage, and a bit of rugged, wild Tasmania thrown in for good measure. I guarantee that A Disappearing Act is a book you will absolutely tear through.' - Hayley Scrivenor, internationally bestselling author of Dirt Town and Girl FallingPRAISE FOR JO DIXON:‘A flawless slow-burn thriller about female friendship ... unputdownable.’ - The Australian‘Jo Dixon delivers on every front with this impossible to second-guess thriller...’ - Australian Women’s Weekly

Silent Bones THE POWERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES'Beautifully structured, witty and twisty' - ANN CLEEVES 'A perfect crime novel' - KATE MOSSE 'Powerful, moving and wise' - HARLAN COBEN 'Full of humour, heart and trademark twists' - CHRIS WHITAKER The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancee when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets?Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . .'Blends procedural tension with eerie rural isolation' - I PAPER 'Showcases the agile plotting that makes this among the best crime fiction series today' - IRISH TIMES

The Black WolfSomewhere out there, in the darkness, a black wolf is feeding.Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montreal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf.But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Gamache has realized that the plot, as horrific as it was, was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he in fact arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there? Armand is appalled to think his mistake has allowed their conspiracy to grow, to gather supporters. To spread lies, manufacture enemies, and feed hatred and division.Still recovering from wounds received in stopping the first attack, Armand is confined to the village of Three Pines, leading a covert investigation from there. He must be careful not to let the Black Wolf know he has recognized his mistake. In a quiet church basement, he and his senior agents Beauvoir and Lacoste, pore over what little evidence they have. Two notebooks. A few mysterious numbers on a tattered map of Quebec. And a phrase repeated by the person they had called the Grey Wolf. A warning...In a dry and parched land where there is no water.Gamache and his small team of supporters realize that for the Black Wolf to have gotten this far, they must have powerful allies, in law enforcement, in industry, in organized crime, in the halls of government.From the apparent peace of his little village, Gamache finds himself playing a lethal game of cat and mouse with an invisible foe who is gathering forces and preparing to strike.

The Long NightEm has lived a quiet life with her complicated mother and is now looking for love and a potential escape from her small hometown. When a masked man kidnaps her in the dark of night, though, she is drawn into a terrifying world.Jodie has been trying to forget a troubling time in her life, pouring her trauma into her work and out of her mind. Until one night her daughter is kidnapped and Jodie is dragged back into the violence.As Em and Jodie race into the darkness, the agony of the past rushes up to meet them. It will take all their devotion and courage to escape this night alive.Bold, vivid and heart-racingly intense, The Long Night is the darkest and most exhilarating novel yet from bestselling author Christian White.

Murder In The DarkThe delectable Phryne Fisher has been invited to the Last Best party of 1928. When three of the guests are kidnapped, Phryne finds she must puzzle her way through the scavenger hunt clues to retrieve the hostages. Another sparkling mystery from Australia's Queen of Crime, Kerry Greenwood.

The Proving Ground (Lincoln Lawyer Book 8) From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a young girl.Mickey Haller has moved from criminal to civil court, but murder remains in his sights-in particular, the case of a chatbot encouraging the killing of a teenage girl. Mickey files a civil lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company responsible for the chatbot and instantly finds himself on the wild frontier of the billion-dollar AI industry. Grappling with a terrifying lack of regulation and data overload, Haller partners with journalist Jack McEvoy. But they are up against mega-forces, and even the bravest whistleblower faces grave danger.In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with an unexpected gambit. In a Herculean new match of man vs machine, can Haller pull off a winning play for humanity?

The DetectiveFor 150 years, women have been going missing. And all of the investigators who went in search of them - from 1877 to the present day - have disappeared, too. Now Sam Speedman, a most unique private detective, is on the case.Brilliant, direct and disarming, Sam is ... different. He's not your average private detective. But then again, this isn't your average case. For not even he will be prepared for what he will find.Set in the darkest corners of the American South, tapping into hot-button issues that simmer beneath the surface of the modern United States, this is Matthew Reilly writing faster and bolder than ever before, bringing you a detective thriller like no other.Matthew Reilly is the internationally bestselling author of the Scarecrow series, the Jack West series and numerous standalone novels. His books are published in over 20 languages with worldwide sales of over 8 million copies. He directed the no.1 Netflix film Interceptor, which he co-wrote with Stuart Beattie.

The decidedly raven-haired Miss Phryne Fisher returns to delve deep into the dark cellars of Melbourne.1929: pretty little golden-haired girls are going missing in Melbourne. But they're not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalen Laundry. People are getting nervous.Polly Kettle, a pushy, self-important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self preservation, decides to investigate--and promptly goes missing herself.It's time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of them. It's a tale of convents and plots, piracy, murder and mystery . . . and Phryne finally finds out if it's true that blondes have more fun.'Elegant, fabulously wealthy and sharp as a tack, Phryne sleuths her way through these classical detective stories with customary panache.' The Age