Showing results by publisher "Hachette UK - Bookouture" in Crime Thrillers

As Detective Dan Lockhart is called to a wealthy London street to investigate Natasha’s death, he’s startled by the similarity to a previous case. Noticing the cable-tie restraints and the tiny scratches on Natasha’s wedding finger, Dan already knows what he will find if he looks in her mouth - the metal ball which choked her to death. Months earlier, Kim Hardy was found in the same position in a run-down hotel across the city - an identical silver ball in her throat. But Kim’s murderer was caught and sent to prison - did they arrest the wrong man?

Spring, 1935. Newlywed Kitty Underhay has been enlisted by her old nemesis Mrs. Craven to help organize the Miss Dartmouth Jubilee pageant at the Dolphin Hotel. Being bossed around by her arch enemy is not quite what Kitty had in mind for the start of her married life, but she’s excited to launch the glamorous show. Sparkling smiles are quickly replaced by audible gasps, however, when one of the girls goes missing during the interval....

Cecilia has it all. The house on the beach. The cute figure. The beautiful baby. But she’s a long way from perfect. She’s let me into her gorgeous house as her nanny because now she’s on her own, she needs a little help with her baby daughter Peyton. She barely notices me. But I see everything. While Peyton naps, I rifle through her drawers and discover the dark secrets in her past, the threatening letter from her ex-husband. It's a shame that Cecilia doesn’t have my powers of observation. If she took some time, she might just recognise me. I’ve been following her for a while, after all.

When the village doctor calls, saying he is sure there is something fishy about one of his patients’ deaths, Sukey follows up his claims. Well-liked and kindly Adelaide Minchin appears to have died in a fall. Sukey can find no evidence to the contrary, but promises the doctor she will keep his theory in mind. Meanwhile, the police force is suddenly very busy after two young girls go missing in the very same village. As Sukey investigates the last place the girls were seen, she realises it was very close to Adelaide’s cottage.... Is it possible that the cases are linked?

Winter, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, amateur sleuth and reluctant lady of the manor, has been invited to spend Christmas in Scotland, at the beautiful castle of her dear friends Baron and Baroness Ashley. Even her favourite companion, master of mischief Gladstone the bulldog, is coming along to share a slice of turkey. As snow begins to fall outside, the rather mismatched group are cozy by the roaring fire, sharing a tipple over a plate of Mrs. Trotman’s famous mince pies.

When six-year-old Abby and nine-year-old Thea are snatched from a crowd at a fireworks display, Detective Nikki Hunt is determined to return the sweet sisters, with golden curls and laughing smiles, to their desperate mother, Britney. The last person to see them alive witnessed the girls being led toward the docks by someone they seemed to know.

Melissa couldn’t be happier that summer has arrived. She’s delighted to have her mother back by her side, and she is extending her beloved Hawthorn Cottage so her new family can live together. Meanwhile, Melissa’s mother, Sylvia, is back in good health and enjoying a brief stay at a stately retirement home. She loves getting to know the residents, until first a dog and then his owner are both found dead in the dining room. Like mother, like daughter, Sylvia decides to do a little investigating of her own.

Everything I thought I knew about my life is a lie. My mother revealed a terrible, dangerous secret in her last letter to me. But with her death, any chance of knowing the truth has disappeared. I’ll have to do whatever it takes to find out for myself.

Watching her friend dragged away in handcuffs, Josie couldn't believe for one second that Gretchen had killed that poor boy. Confession or not, someone else was involved. She would find out who... When the body of a young student is found on the driveway of a local Denton home, a photograph pinned to his collar, Detective Josie Quinn is first on the scene. The house belongs to Gretchen Palmer, a dedicated member of Josie’s team, missing for the last 24 hours. Working around the clock, Josie is stopped in her tracks when Gretchen hands herself in to the police.

Jenna has been working undercover for four years, and now she’s ready to take down the most dangerous man she’s ever met: her husband, Michael. But first, she must survive the most high-stakes night of her career at home. Michael is planning something deadly behind closed doors, and Jenna must find a place to hide, where she can listen to every word. Then, she must run for her life. But as night falls and guests arrive, Jenna sees a distressed young girl being dragged into the house, and she knows she can’t leave an innocent soul behind.

It’s been a quiet few weeks on the crime front in Somerset and Sukey Reynolds is starting to wonder if all the villains have gone on holiday. Although Sukey loves solving crimes, she’s happy to have a bit of extra time to spend with the handsome journalist who lives just around the corner.... But when she is summoned to charming Sycamore House, it seems that Sukey has tempted fate.

It was Beth Katz’s serial killer father who made her like she is: a successful FBI agent and an unstoppable vigilante dedicated to hunting down murderers who have evaded capture. Beth will push herself to the limits to deliver justice. Even if it means killing those who deserve to die.

Detective Lexi Bennett is devastated when she finds the two teenagers lying side by side on the quiet green hillside, their throats cut. Convinced this is no ordinary killer, she vows to draw on all her profiling experience to find justice for these beautiful girls who will never have the chance to grow up.

Melissa Craig is enjoying her first winter in the Cotswolds, taking brisk walks through the snowy fields and basking in the winter sunshine. The only thing Melissa is plotting is her Christmas shopping. But after the unexpected death of local writer Leonora Jewell, Melissa is asked to complete Leonora’s final book. However, on her first visit to the cottage, she finds a gruesome object overlooked by the police: a metal bar covered with dried blood.

Melissa Craig has settled into a new job in the charming Cotswolds village of Upper Benbury. She is teaching French to several of the local teenagers, which gives her a fascinating insight into the young people’s lives. Material for a new novel, perhaps.... Her quiet life is interrupted when she sees her new neighbour running out of the woods in a blind panic. Melissa rushes to help him, but what she finds leaves her breathless: The body of young woman is lying on the bank of the river.

When two young boys discover human bones buried beneath a tree in a trailer park, Detective Josie Quinn races to join her team at the scene. She used to play in those woods as a child, happier outside and away from her abusive mother, Belinda Rose. Josie’s past crashes into her present when a rare dental condition confirms the bones belong to a teenage foster-child who was murdered 30 years ago. A girl named Belinda Rose.

When Special Agent Nikki Hunt is called to a home on Bone Lake, she is devastated to find blood all over the floor and two young women who clearly fought for their lives. But the viciousness of the scene isn’t the only thing that strikes Nikki. The house was the scene of another murder twenty years ago. The killer was never caught. Is this a terrible coincidence, or have they struck again?

Melissa Sanderson is the perfect wife and mother. She dotes on her daughter and lives in her dream home in a quiet cul-de-sac in the suburbs. But looks can be deceiving. Something is amiss in that house - all the neighbors think so. Some say Melissa is having an affair. Others say she’s been drinking too much. Then one night, sirens wake up the whole neighborhood. Melissa Sanderson is dead.

When Detective Morgan Brookes is called to Lake Thirlmere one frosty night, she’s devastated to find the body of a young woman positioned in front of the glistening reservoir. She has ligature marks on her limbs, glue residue on her eyes, and her beautiful face is as cold as ice. Knowing only a dangerous serial killer would arrange a scene so carefully, Morgan is in a race against time to stop them before more innocent lives are lost.

Five-year-old Cally waits in her pretty pink bedroom for the sound of the front door opening and her mother’s sweet voice in the hall. But when the doorbell finally rings and Cally creeps out of bed to peer through the banister, a large man in uniform is all she sees. Her mother is missing....