Archives de catégorie : Fiction

THE BACK UP MAN de Phoebe Luckhurst

A hilariously romantic tale of mishaps and matrimony, love and long shots, foibles and friendship, that may make you text that old school boyfriend of yours . . .

THE BACK UP MAN
by Phoebe Luckhurst
‎ Michael Joseph, January 2023
(via Northbank Talent Management)

They made a pact to marry at thirty. The problem? Euan’s nowhere to be found. Can Anya track down her back up man . . . ?
Twenty-nine, single, jobless and in a house share with her cousin who can barely look at her, things could be going better for Anya Mackie. When she stumbles across the pact she made with high school crush, Euan Carrick – to marry at thirty if they’re still single – a silly teenage idea suddenly seems like a lifeline. However, Euan hasn’t been seen for a decade. Reluctantly enlisting the help of Euan’s emotionally unavailable best mate Jamie Kildare, who has his own mysterious reasons for tracking Euan down, Anya sets off across the country to find her Back Up Man. Will Euan even remember her, or their pact? And why is Anya betting her future on her past?

Phoebe Luckhurst was born in London and brought up in Glasgow. She is a Senior Commissioning Editor at The Sunday Times Magazine, and has written features and interviews for the Guardian, Sunday Times Style, Elle, ES Magazine, Grazia, the Telegraph and Vogue. Phoebe has had the theme tune to The OC stuck in her head since 2003 and once almost spent her student loan on a micro-pig. She no longer shops online when drunk. The Lock In was her debut novel.

THE VIPER de John Verdon

Ex-homicide detective and puzzle-solving master David Gurney comes out of retirement to solve seemingly impossible murder cases in John Verdon’s ever-popular thriller series. Blending hard-boiled noir fiction with the pleasures of classic « whodunit » puzzle-solving, Verdon has written a “hero for the ages” (David Baldacci).

THE VIPER
by John Verdon
Counterpoint, July 2023
(via The Friedrich Agency)

The bloody finale of Dave Gurney’s previous case has left him and his wife Madeleine shell-shocked and determined to return to normality. But when an old friend comes calling for Gurney’s insight on a cold case, it’s Madeleine who pushes him to lend his thoughts. Try as he might, Gurney can’t resist getting drawn into the murder case—this one, involving a debauched former tennis star and a beheaded corpse. His initial efforts incite fury from both sides of the law: the criminal forces behind it, and the law enforcement personnel who stand to lose everything if Gurney succeeds in uncovering the truth. For the first time in his life, Gurney finds himself on the run but even the risk of losing his marriage, his reputation and his best friend can’t stop his relentless quest for answers. Gurney will learn that justice comes at a great cost.

John Verdon is a former Manhattan advertising executive who lives with his wife in the mountains of upstate New York. His first three Dave Gurney novels, Think of a Number, Shut Your Eyes Tight, and Let the Devil Sleep, are all international bestsellers.

MADDALENA AND THE DARK de Julia Fine

For fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Mexican Gothic, a novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous, magical wager.

MADDALENA AND THE DARK
by Julia Fine
Flatiron/St. Martin’s Press, June 2023

What do you want most? What will you pay for it?
Venice, 1717. Before she meets Maddalena, fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. She aspires to join the highest ranks of Ospedale della Pietà’s illustrious girls’ orchestra, to no longer be just an orphan but a star, a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena.
Sent to the Pietà to be reformed until the rumors about her noble family have passed, Maddalena is unlike anyone Luisa has met. Clever, reckless, and passionate, Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine. But Maddalena has made a dangerous wager with something deep in the waters of Venice, and there will be a price to pay.
Heady, sumptuous, and utterly enthralling, Maddalena and the Dark is the love story between two girls and the boundless desires that might ruin them.

This is a novel for readers of historical fiction and fans of stories about the complexities of female friendship. Set in 18th-century Venice, with opulent palazzos, world-class concerts, atmospheric canals, and romantic gondolas, this is the kind of transporting historical fiction that readers will want to lose themselves in. The author brings to life a fascinating piece of Italian history with the Pietà, a girls’ orphanage renowned for also being one of the premier music schools in the world, where Vivaldi himself was a teacher and patron. And at the heart of this novel is a fierce, messy, passionate relationship between two teenage girls.

Julia Fine is the author of What Should Be Wild, which was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Superior First Novel Award and the Chicago Review of Books Award. Her second novel, The Upstairs House, is forthcoming from Harper in 2021. She teaches writing in Chicago, where she lives with her husband and children.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED de S.A. Cosby

New York Times bestselling and Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning author S. A. Cosby’s ALL THE SINNERS BLEED is a novel about the first Black sheriff in a small Southern town, and his hunt for a killer.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED
by S.A. Cosby
Flatiron/St. Martin’s Press, June 2023

Titus Crowne is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County. A former FBI agent and security expert, Titus came home to take care of his father and look out for his troubled younger brother. He ran for Sheriff to make a difference, especially in the Black community which has so often been treated unfairly by the police.
But a year to the day after his election, a school shooting rocks the town. A beloved teacher is killed by a former student, and as Titus attempts to deescalate and get the boy to surrender, his deputies fire a fatal shot.
In the investigation, it becomes clear that the student they shot had been abused by the dead teacher, as well as by unidentified perpetrators. The trail leads to buried bodies–and secrets. While Titus tries to track down a killer hiding in plain sight, while balancing daily duties like protecting Confederate pride marchers, he must face what it means to be a Black man wearing a police uniform in the American South.

S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.

RACING THE LIGHT de Robert Crais

Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner Joe Pike are back on the case in this brilliant new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.

RACING THE LIGHT
by Robert Crais
Putnam, November 2022
(via Aaron M. Priest Literary)

Adele Schumacher isn’t a typical worried mom. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, bizarre tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of professional bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn’t alone in the hunt—a deadly team of mysterious strangers are determined to find Josh and his adult film star girlfriend first.
With dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the vicious business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles from within. And when Elvis’s estranged girlfriend Lucy Chenier and her son, Ben, return, he learns just how much he has to lose…if he survives.
Written with the heart, humor, and relentless suspense for which Crais is famous, RACING THE LIGHT delivers Elvis Cole’s most dangerous case yet.

Robert Crais is the author of twenty-two previous novels, eighteen of them featuring private investigator Elvis Cole and his laconic ex-cop partner, Joe Pike. Before writing his first novel, Crais spent several years writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice. He was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and has received multiple awards for his work. His novels have been translated into forty-two languages and are bestsellers around the world. A native of Louisiana, he lives in Los Angeles.