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The Retirement Plan: The most entertaining and deliciously dark debut of 2025
By Sue Hincenbergs. 2025
Dark humour, dirty deeds, marriages and murder . . . The perfect new read for fans of The Thursday Murder…
Club, How to Kill Your Family and White Lotus'An absolute scream from the first page to the last' Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal'Incredibly funny with plot twists you won't see coming' StylistTheir husbands are driving them mad, and murder is on their minds . . . but the men have a plan of their own. Pam, Nancy and Shalisa once imagined retirement would mean setting aside their worries, picking up their margaritas, and lying back in a hot tub. Right up until their husbands lost all their savings in a reckless investment. Now, collecting their husbands' life insurance is starting to sound more appealing than growing old with them. But enlisting the help of the local barber/hitman isn't merely the most daring thing the friends have ever done - it's also where the trouble really begins. Because they don't realise their husbands have some tricks up their sleeves. And there's no turning back now . . .From the first laugh to the final twist, The Retirement Plan is full of characters who will steal your heart while plotting their dark deeds.'Clever, funny, tender. A triumph' Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things'Blending Desperate Housewives and White Lotus vibes, this is a darkly funny crime novel' My Weekly'Funny, twisty, deviously dark!' Sarah Pearse, author of The Sanatorium'A total riot' Clare Pooley, author of The Authenticity Project'Hincenbergs knocks it out of the park' Publishers Weekly, starred review'Thoroughly addictive' Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants'Relentlessly entertaining' Chris Brookmyre, author of The Cracked Mirror'Absolutely hilarious' Jessica Bull, author of Miss Austen Investigates'Packed full of humour and charm' Amy McCulloch, author of Breathless'Deliciously funny and unpredictable' Keith Stuart, author of A Boy Made of Blocks
The Retirement Plan: A Novel
By Sue Hincenbergs. 2025
In order to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies, three middle-aged friends turn to murder—unaware that their husbands have…
a devious plan of their own, in this darkly funny debut perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and Everyone in My Family Has Killed SomeoneMeet three wives who want a new life, and three husbands who are in their way . . .After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until the husbands pool their funds in an investment that goes terribly wrong. With their dreams of beachfront condos and a sunny, carefree retirement shattered, the women’s golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.Then one of the husbands dies in a freak accident and the other three women are shocked to see their friend rebound with a huge life insurance payout and a new life in Florida. In the aftermath, the three discover that their husbands have identical, seven-figure life insurance policies. A new dream begins to take form, and this time it involves a hitman.Meanwhile, the remaining husbands have a secret retirement plan of their own. But when things begin to go awry, they fear their own scheme may have backfired . . . with deadly consequences. The husbands scramble to stay alive, but they may not be fast enough to outmanoeuvre their wives.What follows is a high-stakes tale of cat and mouse that is both laugh-out-loud funny and unbearably tense and, ultimately, a big-hearted look at friendship, marriage, and middle age.
Every Fall
By Angela Douglas. 2024
A chilling thriller, perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and Lisa Gardner, exploring the dark side of police culture and…
family trauma.Bree knew that life married to a beat cop would be tough, especially in the crime-infested city of East Bernheim, but she believes they will be fine living in "the Burner" even after she has their first child. Family life is manageable until one day crime follows them home, threatening their safety. At a loss of how to keep his family safe and keep his job, Jake agrees to stretch their finances and move an hour away, to a bigger house in a somewhat better neighborhood. Their life seems to improve until Bree, heavily pregnant with their second child, begins to hear voices and suffer strange dreams. And then when tragedy strikes on the job, Jake enters a spiral of guilt and grief that degrades his grip on reality. Bree, isolated and struggling, must protect her children from the one person she thought would always keep them safe. She and Jake are haunted in every way, and not just by whatever is lurking inside the house. A thriller that tackles toxic masculinity in police culture and trauma, Every Fall will have you on the edge of your seat. Content Warnings: postpartum depression, spousal abuse, infidelity, violence, opioids, and death
Bark Twice for Murder (Orca Currents)
By John Lekich. 2025
After the death of his parents, Harry keeps busy by making food for the unhoused in his grandmother’s food truck.…
That’s how he meets and befriends Stanley, an excellent cook and teacher with only two possessions: a precious recipe binder and a grumpy dog named Waffles. Then Stanley turns up dead, the victim of a grisly murder, and his treasured recipe book is gone. Harry is shocked—who would do such a thing? That is exactly what Waffles wants to find out. Yes, Waffles, the dog that is now talking to Harry and only Harry. Waffles reveals that in his past life he was a detective and Stanley’s friend before he too was murdered and then reincarnated as a dog. Waffles wants to follow the crumbs and piece together Stanley’s murder, but he can’t do it without Harry. Will this souped-up duo be able to take down a heaping serving of criminal characters, or will they be the next dish on the murderer’s menu? This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading-level book for middle grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!
The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall
By Charis Cotter. 2012
Set in the '60s at a summer camp, The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall is a spooky, atmospheric middle-grade…
story for fans of classic ghost stories, unlikely friendships and intriguing mysteries.Bee's mom has a job in New York City for the summer, so Bee is being sent to summer camp. She's not excited about it. Being around other people is hard for her, plus she knows nothing about campfires, she's not a good swimmer and she's never even been in a canoe.When she first arrives, things go pretty much as she expected. The other girls either make fun of her or ignore her, and the woods surrounding the camp give her the creeps: she keeps hearing elusive music coming from somewhere in the distance, and there's something unearthly about it.But then Zippy comes on the scene — an oddball like Bee, but with a lot more confidence and hard-won knowledge gleaned from many summers spent at this exact camp. And most importantly, Zippy has also discovered mysterious behavior going on at the camp: the older girls from the Hawks cabin are sneaking out to do . . . something. They're always exhausted, and their flashlight batteries are running out at an alarming rate. But their counselors are never woken up by girls sneaking out, no one on staff doing nightly rounds ever sees them outside the cabin, and even when they start doing a bed check at night, the girls all seem to be in their bunks.Zippy and Bee are on the case, and with the help of an unlikely ally, they try to figure out what the Hawks are up to. But they soon discover there's more going on than just the usual summer-camp hijinks. How are the Hawks getting out at night? What is the deal with the (very cute) mysterious boy who seems to be working with the groundskeeper? Where is the distant music coming from? And what does the reclusive camp founder know about all of it?
Hitman: The Untold Story of Canada's Deadliest Assassin
By Julian Sher, Lisa Fitterman. 2025
The wild and gripping story of Yves “Apache” Trudeau. Ideal for true crime readers and fans of crime podcasts. For…
Yves Trudeau, the blood was all business. An assassin for the Hells Angels in the ’70s and ’80s, Trudeau was known as Apache, the Mad Bumper and the Mad Bomber. As a contract killer, he did his job so well that the bikers sometimes lent him out to other organized-crime empires in Montreal, including the east-end French gangs led by the deadly Dubois brothers and the upstart Irish Mafia in the west end.Yves Trudeau remains one of Canada’s most prolific serial killers. When he narrowly missed being assassinated because he was in rehab, he turned government informant and confessed to his crimes, which included killing forty-three people. But as a witness, Trudeau was a disaster. His testimony led to so many acquittals that prosecutors avoided him. Award-winning writers Julian Sher and Lisa Fitterman tell the incredible story of how this assassin escaped the police and the justice system for over a decade. A compelling and revealing account of corruption, incompetence and murder, Hitman is based on extensive research and exclusive new interviews with police, lawyers and bikers who knew Yves “Apache” Trudeau.
On the Lam: Great (and Not So Great) Escapes from Prison
By Lorna Poplak. 2025
Fascinating stories of the age-old tug-of-war between prisons struggling to keep inmates inside and escapees desperate to get out. A…
convict who returned to the prison he had recently escaped from in a vain attempt to foment a mass breakout; a murderer on the run who veered from folk hero to persona non grata after killing a police dog; a fugitive from the United States who was seized in Canada after being featured on America’s Most Wanted; a repeat escapee who shot himself, preferring death to recapture; a serial killer on the prowl in a small community — these are just a few of the felons whose prison break escapades continue to enthral and terrify. Along with probing the origins, structure, and shortcomings of a variety of historic and contemporary correctional institutions, On the Lam brings into sharp focus the attempts — sometimes successful, occasionally deadly — of masterminds, tricksters, scoundrels, and innocents to claw their way to freedom.
The Hitchhikers: A Novel
By Chevy Stevens. 2025
Chevy Stevens, the beloved New York Times bestselling author of Still Missing and Those Girls, returns with her most breathtaking…
thriller yet.With its relentless pace and unforgettable twists, The Hitchhikers delivers what bestselling author Karin Slaughter calls “a frightening and viscerally chilling road-trip-gone-wrong story.”Desperation is a dark road…It’s the summer of 1976. Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal after a devastating tragedy.They’ve planned the trip perfectly, every detail accounted for. Then they meet two young hitchhikers and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them.Now Alice and Tom are prisoners in a deadly game with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes:In whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day?A chilling, twist-laden ride to the final page, The Hitchhikers is that rare novel that will break your heart as it holds you in suspense.
The City of Lost Cats
By Tanya Lloyd Kyi. 2025
A stubborn young girl named Fiona stumbles upon an abandoned house full of stray cats, just as it is threatened…
by a demolition team, a leadership crisis, and two potentially malicious parakeets. Can Fiona save the house and all its inhabitants? A new middle-grade novel by critically acclaimed author Tanya Lloyd Kyi.When Fiona wanders into an abandoned mansion down by the harbor, she discovers the house is full of stray cats (and two chaotic parakeets). Fiona feels a great deal of sympathy for the animals; she understands what it's like to need a safe home. Ever since her parents died, she's been struggling to adjust to the tiny apartment where she and her Aunt Tanis now live. And Aunt Tanis has little time to spare for Fiona, between her job at The Municipal Hall and her horrible, hair-gelled boyfriend. When the mansion is threatened by a demolition team, Fiona is determined to save "The City" and its residents. But the cats have their own priorities. Cot (short for Cottonball Fluffikins Magnificent III, a name he refuses to acknowledge) has lived in the mansion for two years and is the self-proclaimed king. He's convinced the demolition effort has been organized by the recently arrived parakeets. Those birds have got to go! Cot's feline rival, Piper, is sure she can intimidate the demolition team and force them to leave, if Fiona will simply stay out of her way. And the parakeets . . . well, the parakeets just want to go home.As the demolition team begins tearing down the house next door, Fiona looks for any help she can find — at the library, the butcher shop, and even at The Municipal Hall. Can the efforts of one small girl and an assortment of animals stop a luxury condo development? Can they create something better in its place? It's going to take some quick thinking on the part of Fiona, not to mention the cooperation of all the cats, to give The City a future.
A Skeleton in the Closet (The Mizzy Mysteries)
By Claire Hatcher-Smith. 2025
Twelve-year-old Mizzy wants to prove to the world that she can solve mysteries just like Sherlock Holmes, despite a reputation…
for tall tales. A charming new mystery series for middle-grade readers, starring a girl with Down syndrome.Twelve-year-old Mizzy dreams of being a detective and she won't let anything stand in her way — not her reputation for tall tales, or her embarrassing fear of escalators, and definitely not her Down syndrome. Dumped for the summer with cousins who've outgrown her, Mizzy feels even more sidelined than usual. But when she discovers Great Aunt Jane's diaries in a locked wardrobe in their spare room, and realizes her aunt didn't just die in her sleep but under suspicious circumstances, everything changes. What's more . . . someone in the family appears to have been involved.Under the guise of a family tree project for school, and armed with a brand-new set of Pip-Squeaks markers, Mizzy grabs the chance to prove herself to her cousins — and the world.
Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada's North
By Kathleen Lippa. 2025
The shocking crimes of a trusted teacher wrought lasting damage on Inuit communities in Canada’s Arctic. In the 1970s, a…
young schoolteacher from British Columbia was becoming the darling of the Northwest Territories education department with his dynamic teaching style. He was learning to speak the local language, Inuktitut, something few outsiders did. He also claimed to be Indigenous — a claim that would later prove to be false. In truth, Edward Horne was a pedophile who sexually abused his male students. From 1971 to 1985 his predations on Inuit boys would disrupt life in the communities where he worked — towns of close-knit families that would suffer the intergenerational trauma created by his abuse. Journalist Kathleen Lippa, after years of research, examines the devastating impact the crimes had on individuals, families, and entire communities. Her compelling work lifts the veil of silence surrounding the Horne story once and for all.
The Hunger We Pass Down
By Jen Sookfong Lee. 2026
Jordan Peele&’s Us meets The School For Good Mothers in this horror-tinged intergenerational saga, as a single mother&’s doppelganger forces…
her to confront the legacy of violence that has shaped every woman in their family. Single mother Alice Chow is drowning. With a booming online cloth diaper shop, her resentful teenage daughter Luna, and her screen-obsessed son Luca, Alice can never get everything done in a day. It&’s all she can do to just collapse on the couch with a bottle of wine every night. It&’s a relief when Alice wakes up one morning and everything has been done. The counters are clear, the kids&’ rooms are tidy, orders are neatly packed and labeled. But no one confesses they&’ve helped, and Alice doesn&’t remember staying up late. Someone–or something–has been doing her chores for her. Alice should be uneasy, but the extra time lets her connect with her children and with her hard-edged mother, who begins to share their haunted family history from Alice&’s great-grandmother, a comfort woman during WWII, through to Alice herself. But the family demons, both real and subconscious, are about to become impossible to ignore. Sharp and incisive, The Hunger We Pass Down traces the ways intergenerational trauma transforms from mother to daughter, and asks what it might take to break that cycle.