Mystery

Dead Beat by Val McDermid

Manchester private investigator Kate Brannigan specializes in white-collar corporate fraud, but she agrees to do a personal favor for her rock-journalist boyfriend: track down Moira Pollock, a missing songwriter who vanished from the music scene. Kate s search leads her into the gritty underbelly of West Yorkshire, where she discovers Moira has left her past behind to build a quiet new life with her female partner, Maggie. But Moira s reluctance to return becomes the least of Kate’s problems when the songwriter is brutally murdered shortly after her location is compromised, leaving Kate to untangle a web of rock-and-roll ego, blackmail, and dangerous secrets to catch a killer.

The Stolen Girl by Cari Hunter

Detective Inspector Jo Shaw is bored, desk-bound, and absolutely not supposed to answer the phone call that sends her to a body in an empty house. Thrown in at the deep end after an injury that almost killed her, she’s determined to prove she’s fit to work. And while a case full of unclear motives and multiple suspects isn’t quite what the doctor ordered, being back in a relationship with her favourite doctor certainly won’t hurt. When the investigation takes a chilling turn and the Serious Crime Team struggles to connect the dots, Jo asks Isla Munro to help her follow the slenderest of leads. It’s a lead that will take her away from Moorside’s deprived streets and into the lives of the rich and privileged. But these people will do anything to preserve their own interests, and Jo is putting herself–and those closest to her–directly in their line of fire.

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

‘Funny about death, real about anxiety, witty about the things that worry us the most’ Emma Gannon, author of Olive ‘So fundamentally kind that you can feel the warmth coming off each page’ Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Starling Days Meet Gilda. She cannot stop thinking about death. Desperate for relief from her anxious mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local church and finds herself abruptly hired to replace the deceased receptionist Grace. It’s not the most obvious job – she’s queer and an atheist for starters – and so in between trying to learn mass, hiding her new maybe-girlfriend and conducting an amateur investigation into Grace’s death, Gilda must avoid revealing the truth of her mortifying existence. A blend of warmth, deadpan humour, and pitch-perfect observations about the human condition, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a crackling exploration of what it takes to stay afloat in a world where your expiration – and the expiration of those you love – is the only certainty.

Justice in the Shadows by Radclyffe

In a shadow world of secrets, lies, and hidden agendas, Detective Sergeant Rebecca Frye and her lover, Dr. Catherine Rawlings, join forces once again in the elusive search for justice. Rebecca is aided in her struggle to uncover a pornography ring and expose its connections to a traitor within the police department by a rag-tag team of dedicated cops and civilians: JT Sloan, a cybersleuth committed to avenging her lover’s devastating injury who walks the fine line between justice and revenge; Dellon Mitchell, a young police officer who discovers an unforeseen talent for undercover work; and Sandy, a prostitute who develops an unexpected passion for cops. Ultimately, this secret investigation may risk not just their careers, but may cost one their life.

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

Marian Taylor, a young English schoolteacher in her late twenties, accepts a position as governess at the remote Gaze Castle on the windswept Irish coast. Upon arrival, she discovers there are no children – instead, she’s to be companion to Hannah Crean-Smith, the beautiful but mysterious lady of the house.

Marian gradually learns that Hannah has been imprisoned in the castle for seven years by her husband Peter as punishment for having an affair with a neighbor, Pip Lejour, and allegedly attempting to murder Peter by pushing him off a cliff. Peter has been absent in New York ever since, but rumors suggest he may soon return.

Hannah is kept under the watchful control of Gerald Scottow, Peter’s former lover and the domineering head keeper of Gaze. The household staff and several devoted outsiders – including Effingham Cooper, a philosophy scholar who has loved Hannah for years – all conspire to keep Hannah comfortable but captive, treating her like an enchanted princess or sacred unicorn figure requiring worship and protection.

As Marian becomes drawn into this strange, claustrophobic world, she questions whether Hannah is an innocent victim deserving rescue, a guilty woman accepting her punishment, or something more complex. When Marian and Effingham attempt to help Hannah escape, the plan fails disastrously, setting in motion a tragic chain of events involving violence, death, and the unraveling of long-held secrets about guilt, suffering, and redemption.

Until the End by Kaye Davis

With her lover, Lauren, away for eight weeks training at the FBI Academy, independent crime scene specialist Maris Middleton is hoping that something exciting will come along to keep her occupied. She doesn’t have long to wait. When the brutally battered body of an old woman is found in a ravine. Maris suspects that the homicide is linked to a sinister pattern of revenge and retribution dating back 50 years. But how can she prove it? An expert at deciphering even the tiniest scraps of evidence. Maris knows there’s more to murder than meets the eye. What she doesn’t know is that a group calling itself the Keepers of the Legacy has its eyes on her…and will stop at nothing to make sure their secrets stay buried — along with anyone who tries to stop them!

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

Marian Taylor, a young English schoolteacher in her late twenties, accepts a position as governess at the remote Gaze Castle on the windswept Irish coast. Upon arrival, she discovers there are no children – instead, she’s to be companion to Hannah Crean-Smith, the beautiful but mysterious lady of the house.

Marian gradually learns that Hannah has been imprisoned in the castle for seven years by her husband Peter as punishment for having an affair with a neighbor, Pip Lejour, and allegedly attempting to murder Peter by pushing him off a cliff. Peter has been absent in New York ever since, but rumors suggest he may soon return.

Hannah is kept under the watchful control of Gerald Scottow, Peter’s former lover and the domineering head keeper of Gaze. The household staff and several devoted outsiders – including Effingham Cooper, a philosophy scholar who has loved Hannah for years – all conspire to keep Hannah comfortable but captive, treating her like an enchanted princess or sacred unicorn figure requiring worship and protection.

As Marian becomes drawn into this strange, claustrophobic world, she questions whether Hannah is an innocent victim deserving rescue, a guilty woman accepting her punishment, or something more complex. When Marian and Effingham attempt to help Hannah escape, the plan fails disastrously, setting in motion a tragic chain of events involving violence, death, and the unraveling of long-held secrets about guilt, suffering, and redemption.

A Question of Love by Saxon Bennett

Every woman is granted one great love in her life. Whether they get to spend the rest of their lives together is another question… Pamel, a charismatic professor, charming as she is ruthless; Hope, a beautiful and brainy graduate student. Rachel, a fellow student, has spent the semester trying to convince Hope to take a break from school — and Pamela. Trying to make sense of her life, Hope spends the summer with Rachel where she meets Emerson, whose flamboyance is masking a broken heart.

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STEPHEN MEDCALF

Marian Taylor, a young English schoolteacher in her late twenties, accepts a position as governess at the remote Gaze Castle on the windswept Irish coast. Upon arrival, she discovers there are no children – instead, she’s to be companion to Hannah Crean-Smith, the beautiful but mysterious lady of the house.

Marian gradually learns that Hannah has been imprisoned in the castle for seven years by her husband Peter as punishment for having an affair with a neighbor, Pip Lejour, and allegedly attempting to murder Peter by pushing him off a cliff. Peter has been absent in New York ever since, but rumors suggest he may soon return.

Hannah is kept under the watchful control of Gerald Scottow, Peter’s former lover and the domineering head keeper of Gaze. The household staff and several devoted outsiders – including Effingham Cooper, a philosophy scholar who has loved Hannah for years – all conspire to keep Hannah comfortable but captive, treating her like an enchanted princess or sacred unicorn figure requiring worship and protection.

As Marian becomes drawn into this strange, claustrophobic world, she questions whether Hannah is an innocent victim deserving rescue, a guilty woman accepting her punishment, or something more complex. When Marian and Effingham attempt to help Hannah escape, the plan fails disastrously, setting in motion a tragic chain of events involving violence, death, and the unraveling of long-held secrets about guilt, suffering, and redemption.

When the Dancing Stops by Therese Szymanski

A novel that will take you deep into the dark side of desire, When the Dancing Stops introduces readers to Brett Higgins, the tall broad-shouldered woman so often mistaken for a man. As lieutenant to the owner of a chain of adult bookstores and ‘entertainment centers,’ Brett Higgins walks the fine line between right and wrong, good and evil. Erotic dancer Storm knows right from the start who and what Brett is, and she likes it. The problem is, so many others–including police officer Allison Sullivan–like it too…