Showing results by publisher "Hachette UK - Bookouture" in Thriller & Suspense

When Becca’s first love shows up on her social media feed, she can’t help but smile fondly. Once upon a time Connor was the love of her life, and though it was over 10 years ago, he’s always held a place in her heart. Then he sends her a message. He sounds happy - still kind and funny, still living across the world in Australia. But he wants to know everything about her life now. How can Becca tell him the truth? About her workaholic husband, her stressful job, and the challenges of caring for her elderly father and her three-year-old daughter, Mia?

An abandoned baby is the last thing Detective Madison Harper expects to find as she drives to her first day back at work since the case that ripped her life apart. But as she cradles the shivering child close, all her instincts tell her there’s something more sinister at play. Then she finds a lone sneaker down a muddy trail nearby, the laces spattered with blood....

Melissa Craig is thrilled that summer has arrived. She has decided to give up her career as an amateur sleuth and enjoy a quiet life in her beautiful cottage. The only digging in Melissa’s life now happens in her garden. However, when a keen beekeeper is found dead, covered in multiple stings, her new resolve is tested. As she gets to know the family of the dead man, she realizes he was no saint. Could someone have possibly wanted him dead? Could this be a very clever murder?

As he packs my things, the nurses tell me Freddie hasn’t left my bedside since the accident I was in days ago. They tell me I’m lucky. We seem like the perfect couple, and together we’ll figure out what happened. So I go home to a beautiful house with a fancy marble kitchen and manicured garden that is supposedly ours. But deep down I know something isn’t right. Even though my memories are gone, this doesn’t feel like my life.

Hidden away in an isolated cabin on the edge of her farm, seven-year-old Aisling Connolly shivers as the cold night air whistles through her thin jacket. It’s been two days since the men came, since her mammy told her to run like she’d never run before, to not look back. She hasn’t seen her parents since. And she’s terrified. But when Aisling is finally found by the police, she knows instinctively she can trust Detective Tessa Burns.

It’s been 11 years since I last saw Jonah, after his brother died that stormy summer night. And now, without warning, he’s back, living in his old house next door just like old times, on the remote Scottish island that is home. Where I used to imagine we’d stay, together, forever, sharing our lives and our secrets as we always had. But that was before. Jonah’s not the sweet boy I once knew. His mood is changeable, his behavior unstable, our brief conversations are forced and awkward. And then the knocks on my window begin. It can only be him, but why, and what does he want?

The moment I first gazed into Alex's soulful gray eyes, I knew I'd met the man I wanted to spend my life with. And I was right. When my beloved sister vanished, Alex put up posters and wiped away my tears after bad dream—she put me back together. But when police pull a crumpled photo from my dead sister's pocket, and I see my husband's familiar face smiling back at me, my perfect world shatters.

The discovery of a young student floating face down in Lake Windermere, her naked skin almost translucent in the freezing water, looks like yet another tragic teen suicide. But the victim’s lack of clothes make forensic pathologist Beth Adams investigate further. Anything to distract her from the arrival of her abusive ex-boyfriend’s body on the mortuary table that morning. With witnesses keeping tight-lipped and any clues washed away by the tides, it’s up to Beth to find the evidence her team needs. But then another girl is found in the lake, this time still clinging to life.

When three nine-year-old boys go missing on a field trip to Lakemore’s annual spring festival, panic tears through the small town. Detective Mackenzie Price and her partner, Nick Blackwood, lead the search, but no trace of the boys is found - until one of them is found murdered, a note stuffed down his throat.

When Emily’s husband dies in a terrible accident, she’s not the only wife he leaves behind. Before their whirlwind romance and Emily’s discovery she was pregnant, Pete had been married to Caroline for more than 20 years. A devastating tragedy had torn them apart. But there was a part of Pete that had never fully left his first wife and a secret that would bind them together, forever. Finding herself lonely, heartbroken, and forced to face life and motherhood alone, Emily knows she needs someone she can trust and rely on. Even if it’s the woman her husband loved before her.

Josh and Lydia Green. A doctor and a stay-at-home mother. They met at a party, which led to a dinner, which led to a happy and comfortable life together. They married young and had children earlier than planned. They have their moments, of course - who doesn’t? With Josh working longer hours in the hospital and Lydia feeling increasingly isolated at home, the strain is starting to show. They don’t talk as much as they used to. Not every wife is as scared as Lydia. Not every husband is hiding as much as Josh. Not everything you think about them is true.

Rachel is determined to be the perfect mother. She has a birth plan, with a playlist and a bag ready by the door. She’s chosen a lovely light cream paint for the nursery, and in wide-eyed, innocent Abbie she’s found the perfect person to help her with her baby. Because every mother needs a bit of help, don’t they? But Rachel needs a little more than most. She still makes sure her bedroom door is locked before she goes to sleep. She still checks the cameras that are dotted throughout the house.

Today–with just one month until Tom is to be declared legally dead–Rachel receives a note in handwriting she recognizes with dread: My darling, I’ve missed you so much. Give me a chance to explain. I’m coming home. The husband she’d lost is alive. And so are all his secrets....

On a rainy afternoon, Beth Haldane accompanies her elderly mother, Wendy, to the funeral of her boyfriend and local councilor Len. But as they gather in the church, Beth can’t help but notice how many women are there who look just like her mother.

We were the perfect family once. Shep, my handsome husband. My darling little boy… and our tiny baby girl. The night she died I lost everything. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would never, ever have hurt her. I was trying to save her. But nobody believed me. So, I can only watch through the rain-streaked window as Shep’s new girlfriend plays mother to my son. Hugs him, holds him. Does he even remember me? Now I am finally out of the hospital, I will make sure everyone knows what really happened. I will get my son back. The doctors might say my nightmares are dangerous…

When the frail body of a teenage girl is discovered strangled in a parking lot, shards of ice form in Detective Natalie Ward’s veins. As Natalie looks at the freckles scattered on her cheeks and the pale pink lips tinged with blue, she remembers that this innocent girl is somebody’s daughter. The girl is identified as missing teenager Amelia Saunders, who has run away from home and her controlling father. Natalie’s heart sinks further when it becomes clear that Amelia has been working on the streets, manipulated by her violent new boyfriend, Tommy.

When a beautiful young woman is reported missing from her hotel room on the outskirts of Black Rock Falls, Sheriff Jenna Alton and her deputy David Kane are devastated to discover her pale, lifeless body trapped beneath a frozen lake nearby. It’s Jenna who finds the single pearl earring buried in the frosted grass that gives them their first lead.

Detective Megan Thomas hoped that moving to Devon would mean a quiet life. Her years undercover in London left her broken and alone, unsure if she would ever recover. Slowly, she’s learning to work with a team and trust other people. But when her sister, Debbie, finds the body of local businessman Greg Porter, that peace is shattered. Porter’s wife and children don’t seem entirely grief-stricken, and his business dealings are not all they appear to be. So why are the police so determined to focus on Debbie?

Frail butterfly enthusiast Maggie Muir has lived a lonely life in her huge remote house on the Cornish cliffs for many years. Once a mother with two beautiful children, the sudden death of Maggie’s daughter, forever a little girl in her fairy nightdress, ripped the family apart and caused her son Lucas to flee to the other side of the world. But now, Maggie is dying, and there is something she needs her son to know.

When the bodies of 11 and 12-year-old sisters, Tessa and Megan, are found at the bottom of a ravine - dressed in matching pastel summer outfits, their small bodies broken from the fall - Detective Katie Scott is called to one of the most shocking and heartbreaking crime scenes of her career.