Showing results by publisher "Hachette UK - Bookouture" in All Categories

Eve Mallow is delighted when she’s asked to cater Founders’ Day at Southwood School. It’s the best–and most secretive–school for miles around, and Eve can’t wait to see what it’s really like. But when she arrives, the atmosphere is far from scholarly. Natalie Somerson, ex-pupil and professional gossip, is the guest of honor, but nobody seems to want her there...especially when her speech stirs up an old scandal about a secret love affair. So why was she invited?

Beth Haldane is worried. First, her dear friend and fellow single mother Jen suddenly gets married to a new man who seems too perfect to be true, then she moves out of leafy Dulwich Village—and now seems to have disappeared without a trace. Beth knows Jen would never leave her little daughter to handle playground predicaments or her sneaky stepmother alone. Heading to Jen’s new home for answers, Beth’s knocks on the front door go unanswered. Police are convinced the lovebirds are on an extended honeymoon, but Beth suspects Jen’s new husband is up to no good.

Jane McCaffrey is only back in her hometown of Seneca Falls because of her father’s death. She swears she’ll leave again forever—it’s not like her childhood home holds any happy memories. But Jane hadn’t planned on bumping into Nik… The boy she fell hard for was a skinny teenager with messy hair and his glasses askew. Now he’s broad-shouldered and stands well over six feet tall: but his deep brown eyes are just the same. And when he breathes her name and caresses the fresh bruise on her cheek—like he can’t help but touch her—Jane is thrown right back to the best and worst time of her life.

Winter, 1933. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a restorative break from sleuthing on a visit to her family at Enderley Hall. The only thing marring her peace - aside from the uncomfortable sensation she has of being watched - is the obvious history between her beau, ex-army captain Matthew Bryant and another guest, the beautiful Juliet Vanderstafen. So, when the parish clerk is found dead on her front doorstep, Kitty leaps at the chance of distraction.

Heavy rain pours on the small town of Denton causing the riverbanks to break and the body of a young girl to float quietly to the surface. With no crime scene to examine, the odds are against Detective Josie Quinn and her team. Mercifully, the victim’s body is perfectly preserved, right down to the baseball patch on the jacket she is wearing. Josie can’t hide her devastation - her dead ex-husband, Ray, owned one just like it.

Julia Bird loves a walk in the countryside. There’s nothing quite like the fresh air and green rolling hills of the Cotswolds to clear your head. Unless you come across a dead body, that is… When the local Berrywick vet, Dr Eve Davies, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, the police believe it’s nothing more than a tragic accident, but Julia isn’t so sure. Just a few days earlier when she took her dog, Jake, to the vets, Dr Eve said she believed something awful was about to happen. It turns out she was right…But who would want the beloved village vet dead?

Germany, 1941: I stroke the blonde curl away from my daughter’s face, and my heart swells. I never imagined having children, and I never thought I’d love someone this much. Clara is the most precious thing to me. I whisper to her that I will do everything I can to keep her safe.

In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner, Marianne, moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart. That night, the restaurant closes its doors for the final time.

Clara Newton has dedicated her life to taking care of orphans who have nobody in the world but her. From affectionate Gladys, who desperately misses her older brothers, to traumatized Florrie, who longs for her father and refuses to eat, Clara loves each of the children like they are her own. But even though she has opened her heart to so many little ones, when brown-eyed war hero Ivor asks her to marry him, Clara is afraid to take a chance on love. Would married life prevent her from dedicating herself completely to her orphans?

London, 1921: Mabel Canning is proud to be a modern woman working for the Useful Women’s Agency, carrying out tasks for gentlewomen from flower arranging to washing muddy dogs. But when she answers the door for wealthy widow Rosalind Despard, she almost chokes on her cucumber sandwich when she finds a soldier’s body on the doorstep. As she offers tea to the policemen of Scotland Yard, Mabel can’t resist getting drawn into the investigation.

Agent Tori Hunter is heartbroken at the murders of Cam and Gracie, two college students dating for just a few months, shot dead outside his aunt’s home. With witnesses in this once-peaceful neighborhood saying they saw a black car speed away, Tori is desperately tracking it down when a nine-year-old girl is found sitting alone on a park bench, refusing to speak. No one in this small community knows who she is...is she somehow linked to the murders?

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?

As the tears roll down my cheeks, I’m shaking as I stare at the faded newspaper photograph of my beloved father. In one moment, my world has been turned upside down. I’m already exhausted by grief, I’m not thinking straight, shattered by his death. But finding this old photograph could change everything I thought I knew about who I am… A shiver runs through me as the idea that my life is not what it seems begins to take hold. My younger sisters are so different to me, so calm and perfect. I’ve never fitted into this family; I’ve never belonged.

When Martha’s beloved father dies, he leaves her two things: a mysterious stash of letters to an English woman named "Catkins" and directions to a beach hut in the English seaside town of Wells-Next-the-Sea. Martha is at a painful crossroads in her own life and seizes this chance for a trip to England - to discover more about her family’s past and the identity of her father’s secret correspondent.

When Detective Kim Stone is called to a local business, what she sees leaves her speechless. The photo on the driving license bears little resemblance to the man laid out before her, and she knows she’s up against the most twisted killer she has ever encountered. But as she breaks the devastating news to the victim’s wife, Diane Phipps, Kim can’t help feeling that something isn’t quite right about the woman’s reaction.

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....

Megan has to climb round and step across the body to get a proper view. What's left is like a chalk white mask in the rough shape of a face. The innocence is still there, and a hint of the cheekiness. But perhaps she is imagining that. Detective Megan Thomas moved to Devon for a fresh start, after years spent undercover. She's staying with her sister and swimming in the sea daily, battling the tides and letting the waves wash her past away. But she can't outrun everything.

The five of us have been friends since we were children. We think we know every scar, every secret, every story. But by the third night, one of us will be dead. How far will we go to keep our secrets hidden? And when does being close to someone start becoming dangerous?

This moving tale is for anyone who has ever felt the pang of loneliness, or worried that their broken heart might never be the same again. Fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, The Keeper of Lost Things and The Library of Lost and Found will fall head over heels for this life-affirming novel that shows us that if you’re willing to take a risk, happiness is only ever a heartbeat away.

Daniel is everything I ever dreamed of. A handsome, successful doctor who truly swept me off my feet. I can’t wait to get back from our honeymoon and begin our new lives together. Except, rather than taking us back to our flat, Daniel announces we are moving to a new house in a different city. And when we arrive, the house is fully furnished, with plates in the cupboard, pictures on the walls and new clothes in my closet. It’s like someone already lives here. It seems a bit strange. But I know Daniel is just trying to make sure our new life is perfect, right from the start.