Scotzilla


Book Description

Lexy's wedding becomes a crime scene when a murderer dares to strike on her big day in this superbly plotted and wickedly funny cozy. Lexy Campbell is about to put her bridezilla tendencies to one side to tie the knot with her beau Taylor in Cuento. The Last Ditch crew and Lexy's mum and dad are all in attendance. But just as the couple are about to exchange vows, wedding celebrant Sister Sunshine is discovered dead, strangled with the fairy light decorations. Her wedding now a crime scene, Lexy vows not to get drawn into the investigation - until she learns about the bizarre going-on in nearby Cuento cemetery from its volunteers. Is there a link between Lexy's wedding day carnage and a series of disturbing graveyard pranks? Will Lexy ever get her happily ever after? Forget the bride from hell, it's the wedding from hell, and things are about to get a whole lot worse! Fans of Janet Evanovitch and Sarah Strohmeyer will fall head over heels for this addictive mystery that's full of twists and laugh out loud humour.




Blood Soaked & Contagious


Book Description

A zombie killer-for-hire faces off against a dangerous undead overlord in this post-apocalyptic science fiction horror series debut. I am not going to complain to you about my life. We’ve got zombies. They are not the brainless, rotting creatures we’d been led to expect. Unfortunately for us, they’re just as smart as they were before they died, very fast, much stronger than you or me, and possess no internal editor at all. Claws. Did I mention claws? I kill them for a living, but it’s as much a vocation as a freelance career choice. It helps me, helps my neighborhood, and the people I consider to be my family of choice. What’s more? I’m really good at it. My life had a nice rhythm, and I'd almost gotten used to it, but the military bungled an attempt to wipe out an organized bunch of undead near a major commuting route into D.C. The formerly-human survivors relocated. Now they’re less than an hour’s stroll away from where I live. The new Zombie Overlord is smarter, crazier, and much more well-equipped than anyone we’d dealt with in the past. We have something he wants, badly. I know he’s going to come and get it and try and wipe us out in the process . . . men, women, and even the children. I’d seen it done before elsewhere for lesser reasons. This is my home. These are my people, my family. This is personal. Praise for Blood Soaked and Contagious “I give it an “EW!” factor of +10!” —Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Outlander Series




Muslim Masculinities in Literature and Film


Book Description

A climate of Islamophobia allows anxieties about Muslim men living in and migrating to Britain to endure. British Muslims men are often profiled in highly negative terms or regarded with suspicion owing to their perceived religious and cultural heritage. But novels and films by British migrant and diaspora writers and filmmakers powerfully contest these stereotypes, and explore the rich diversity of Muslim masculinities in Britain. This book is the first critical study to engage with British Muslim masculinities in this literary and cinematic output from the perspective of masculinity studies. Through close analysis of work by Monica Ali, Nadeem Aslam, Guy Gunaratne, Sally El Hosaini, Hanif Kureishi, Suhayl Saadi, Kamila Shamsie, Zadie Smith, Zia Haider Rahman and Salman Rushdie, Peter Cherry examines how migrant and diaspora protagonists negotiate their masculinity in a climate of Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric. Cherry proposes a transcultural reading of these novels and films that exposes how conceptions of 'Britishness', 'Muslimness' and those of masculinity are unstable and contingent constructs shaped by migration, interaction with other cultures, and global and local politics.




Mud, Muck and Dead Things


Book Description

First in “a quirky and intriguing crime series in which the eclectic cast often comes close to stealing the show from the plotline” (The Gazette). When the body of a young woman is discovered in the cowshed of Cricket Farm, the tranquility of the British countryside is shattered. Inspector Jess Campbell is on the case, but with few leads, a grumbling partner, and the new superintendent Ian Carter piling on the pressure, she’s beginning to wonder why she chose to be a detective in the first place. The shifty land-owner Eli Smith seems to have something to hide, and as Campbell delves into the gruesome past of the dilapidated farm, the mystery deepens. A flashy Mercedes spotted fleeing the scene of the crime leads to a suspect, but when another body turns up, it looks as though Campbell’s lead is nothing but a dead end . . . Book one in the Campbell and Carter Mysteries, Mud, Muck and Dead Things will thrill fans of M. C. Beaton, Joy Ellis and the Midsomer Murders. Praise for the writing of Ann Granger “A well-written, well-crafted traditional British mystery by a writer with an assured grasp of her technique.” —reviewingtheevidence.com “Characterization, as ever with Granger, is sharp and astringent.” —The Times “The story just gets more complex, mysterious and chilling.” —Good Book Guide “For once a murder novel which displays a gentle touch and a dash of wit.” —The Northern Echo “A clever and lively book.” —Margaret York




Stuck on Murder


Book Description

The picturesque town of Morse Point may be a small dot on the New England landscape, but the decoupage class at Vintage Papers is larger than life. With cutouts, glue, and varnish, members create eye-catching projects—and uncover clues to a killing. For Brenna Miller, teaching the popular decoupage class is the only way to gloss over her painful past. But it hasn’t been easy making friends in a town that doesn’t warm up to outsiders. And it doesn’t help when the pushy mayor asks her to convince her enigmatic landlord, Nate Williams, to sell his lakefront property to land developers. But just when Brenna thinks the mayor’s given up, his body is found stuffed in a trunk at Morse Point Lake. And a witness claims that Nate’s truck was at the docks on the night of the murder. Now Brenna needs to help prove Nate’s innocence before his fate is signed, sealed, and delivered.




Plaid and Plagiarism


Book Description

A murder in a garden turns the four new owners of Yon Bonnie Books into amateur detectives, in a captivating new cozy mystery novel from Molly MacRae. Set in the weeks before the annual Inversgail Literature Festival in Scotland, Plaid and Plagiarism begins on a morning shortly after the four women take possession of their bookshop in the Highlands. Unfortunately, the move to Inversgail hasn’t gone as smoothly as they’d planned. First, Janet Marsh is told she’ll have to wait before moving into her new home. Then she finds out the house has been vandalized. Again. The chief suspect? Una Graham, an advice columnist for the local paper—who’s trying to make a name for herself as an investigative reporter. When Janet and her business partners go looking for clues at the house, they find a body—it’s Una, in the garden shed, with a sickle in her neck. Janet never did like that garden shed. Who wanted Una dead? After discovering a cache of nasty letters, Janet and her friends are beginning to wonder who didn’t, including Janet’s ex-husband. Surrounded by a cast of characters with whom readers will fall in love, the new owners of Yon Bonnie Books set out to solve Una’s murder so they can get back to business. A delightful and deadly new novel about recognizing one’s strengths and weakness—while also trying to open a new book shop—Plaid and Plagiarism is the start of an entertaining new Scottish mystery series.




In Place of Fear


Book Description

'Authentic social history at the birth of the NHS, an intriguing murder, a strong and convincing central character, and McPherson's wonderful story-telling skills make this a very classy mystery' ANN CLEEVES 'A hauntingly atmospheric weaving of social history and layered mystery, with a gutsy heroine determined to deliver justice. McPherson's writing is compelling, moving and memorable' SARAH YARWOOD-LOVETT Helen leaned close enough to fog the mirror with her breath and whispered, 'You, my girl, are a qualified medical almoner and at eight o'clock tomorrow morning you will be on the front line of the National Health Service of Scotland.' Her eyes looked huge and scared. 'So take a shake to yourself!'' Edinburgh, 1948. Helen Crowther leaves a crowded tenement home for her very own office in a doctor's surgery. Upstart, ungrateful, out of your depth - the words of disapproval come at her from everywhere but she's determined to take her chance and play her part. She's barely begun when she stumbles over a murder and learns that, in this most respectable of cities, no one will fight for justice at the risk of scandal. As Helen resolves to find a killer, she's propelled into a darker world than she knew existed, hardscrabble as her own can be. Disapproval is the least of her worries now. IN PLACE OF FEAR is a gripping new historical crime novel that is both enthralling and entertaining, and perfect for fans of AJ Pearce and Nicola Upson. Readers love IN PLACE OF FEAR: 'What a wonderful book this is!' 'I loved [it] ... Helen is another cracker of a heroine from McPherson and I hope to read much more of her story in future' 'Historical crime from a talented pen. Intriguing and compelling in equal measure' 'An excellent read'




The Day She Died


Book Description

Master storyteller Catriona McPherson weaves a multi award-winning ominous tale of domestic suspense that will keep you guessing until the very end. You love him. You trust him. You shouldn't. Jessica Constable seems fine. She's worked hard at that. She's a survivor, determined to get through each day, even though deep down she knows she can never, ever atone for what she's done. But when Jessie meets sculptor Gus King, on the day his wife goes missing, she feels an unaccustomed - frightening - desire rise up inside her. She likes Gus. She likes his children. And when Gus's wife turns up dead, the police suspecting suicide, he clings so hard she can't stomach letting go. Soon Jessie's sleeping at his house, babysitting his kids. Becoming their new mother. But her unexpected happiness is tainted by unsettling questions. Who does she keep seeing from the corner of her eye? Why is Gus so secretive about his work? And most importantly - what really happened to Gus's wife?




Sacred Games


Book Description

An enormously satisfying, exciting and enriching book, Vikram Chandra's novel draws the reader deep into the lives of detective Sartaj Singh and Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India. Sartaj, the only Sikh inspector in the whole of Mumbai, is used to being identified by his turban, beard and the sharp cut of his trousers. But 'the silky Sikh' is now past forty, his marriage is over and his career prospects are on the slide. When Sartaj gets an anonymous tip off as to the secret hideout of the legendary boss of the G-company, he's determined that he'll be the one to collect the prize. This is a sprawling, epic novel of friendships and betrayals, of terrible violence, of an astonishing modern city and its underworld. Drawing on the best of Victorian fiction, mystery novels, Bollywood movies and Vikram Chandra's years of first hand research on the streets of Mumbai, this novel reads like a potboiling page-turner but resonates with the intelligence and emotional depth of the best of literature.




Quiet Neighbours


Book Description

A woman on the run uncovers a series of deadly secrets in this gripping, twisty standalone psychological thriller from award-winning master storyteller Catriona McPherson. Lowland Glen is the oldest bookshop in a quiet Scottish town full of bookshops; rambling and disordered, full of hidden treasures. Londoner Jude fell in love with it when she visited last summer, the high point of a miserable holiday. Now, in the depths of winter, it seems a strange place to run away to - but Jude's tired and heartsick, and when the bookstore's charming but eccentric owner, Lowell, welcomes her with open arms, she knows she's made the right decision. Lowell needs an assistant, and the job comes with accommodation too. The isolated gravedigger's cottage isn't perfect for a woman alone, but it's a good place to hide from her troubles - and at least she has quiet neighbors. Quiet, but not silent. The long dead and the books they left behind have tales to tell, and the dusty bookshop is not the haven it seems. Lowell's past and Jude's present are a dangerous cocktail of secrets and lies - and someone is coming to light the taper that could burn everything down around them . . .