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The murderer in ruins (Inspector Frank Stave #01)
By Cay Rademacher, Peter Millar. 2015
Hamburg, 1947. Career policeman Frank Stave worries about his missing son, even as he works with colleague Maschke from the…
vice squad and Lt. MacDonald of the British military to track down a killer. Translated from the original 2011 German edition. Strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex. 2015The forger (Inspector Frank Stave #03)
By Cay Rademacher. 2020
Hamburg, 1948. During a routine operation, Chief Inspector Frank Stave is shot. After he recovers, he transfers from the office…
combatting the black market. But then the women clearing rubble discover works of art from the Weimar period--next to a corpse. Translated from original 2013 German edition. Some violence and some strong language. 2018Nuptial Sacrifice (The Falconer Files)
By Andrea Frazer. 2017
After many trials and tribulations, eternal bachelor Detective Inspector Harry Falconer has finally decided to get hitched. His bride -…
the delectable Dr Honey Dubois! With his trusty sergeant Carmichael as best man, Falconer is in remarkably good spirits as the big day closes in. OK, so the normally lugubrious Carmichael is having trouble getting his words out, and there's the unenlightened Mrs Falconer senior to deal with. But surely nothing serious can go wrong? With impeccable timing, it does - will bride and groom last long enough to cut the cake, or will it all be over before it even begins?The final instalment in the much-loved Falconer Files series by acclaimed author Andrea Frazer.Choral Mayhem
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
Who would believe that choral singing could prove such a deadly pastime? Virginia and Richard Grainger, new members of the…
Standchester Choral Society, are looking forward, nervously, to their first public performance with the choir, in a production of Berlioz's 'Romeo and Juliet'.As the performance opens, though, tragedy strikes in the form of a very public death. While coping with the repercussions of this, Virginia also has to tussle with the personal problems of her next-door neighbour, Caroline.As plans to re-schedule the concert are being made, another death occurs, and Virginia begins to realise that her own life may be in danger, as she feels the tangled web of deceit and malice tighten around her …Battered to Death: Brief Case (Briefcases #3)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
The third of a series of short stories covering the elapsed time between the books in The Falconer Files series.This…
story covers events that occur between the books 'Pascal Passion' and 'Murder at the Manse'.DI Falconer and DS Carmichael are both enjoying a well-earned rest day, when they are summoned to a most distressing incident that has occurred at a chip shop on the parade of shops in Upper Darley.It was obviously murder, but was it something to do with the robust behaviour of some of the more aggressive customers from the night before or was it closer to home?Driven to it: Brief Case (Briefcases #5)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
The fifth of a series of short stories covering the elapsed time between the books in the Falconer Files series.Abigail…
Wentworth is looking forward to her reunion lunch with Alison Fairweather. They are old schoolfriends who met twice a year, usually for Alison to dish the dirt on the others they had known when they were younger – and for Abigail to gloat over their ‘inferior’ circumstances, in comparison to her own respectable existence.During one such lunch, though, Abigail recognizes a face from the past – and from that moment onward, her life skids completely out of control …Death in High Circles (The Falconer Files #10)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
There is mischief afoot in the village of Fallow Fold. Persons unknown have been on a spree of vandalism, scratching…
cars, smashing colourful pots of flowers in full bloom, breaking greenhouse windows???and defiling a front door with a racist word, written in spray paint. The police are called, and given the unavailability of more junior personnel DI Harry Falconer and DS ?Davey? Carmichael arrive to investigate, but there are no obvious suspects.?Then a resident is attacked as he keeps a nocturnal vigil, hoping to catch whoever is responsible for the vandalism. Soon, there is a surfeit of uncharacteristic behaviour from those who live there, and Falconer begins to suspect that there is more to come.?When?the man who runs the local bridge circle disappears, there is a palpable whiff of evil in the air???which leads to a murderous attack on one of the police officers. This is a time when DI Falconer is forced to search his soul to discover what, and who, is really important in his life, and what really matters in it.Death in High Circles is the tenth full-length instalment in the Falconer Files, detective novels featuring dastardly deeds done in picture-postcard villages???and a delightful slice of humour.Arab Jazz
By Karim Miské. 2012
Kosher sushi, kebabs, a second hand bookshop and a bar: the 19th arrondissement in Paris is a cosmopolitan neighbourhood where…
multicultural citizens live, love and worship alongside one another. This peace is shattered when Ahmed Taroudant's melancholy daydreams are interrupted by the blood dripping from his upstairs neighbour's brutally mutilated corpse. The violent murder of Laura Vignole, and the pork joint placed next to her, set imaginations ablaze across the neighborhood, and Ahmed finds himself the prime suspect. However detectives Rachel Kupferstein and Jean Hamelot are not short of leads. What is the connection between a disbanded hip-hop group and the fiery extremist preachers that jostle in the streets for attention? And what is the mysterious new pill that is taking the district by storm? In this his debut novel, Karim Miské demonstrates a masterful control of setting, as he moves seamlessly between the sensual streets of Paris and the synagogues of New York to reveal the truth behind a horrifying crime.A Woman Much Missed: A Commissario Soneri Investigation
By Valerio Varesi. 2004
Italy's Maigret returns in another smouldering noir from a master of the police procedural "A master storyteller" Barry Forshaw, IndependentA…
few days before Christmas, with Parma gripped by frost and fog, Ghitta Tagliavini, the elderly owner of a guesthouse in the old town centre, is found murdered in her apartment. The case is assigned to Commissario Soneri, but the investigation holds a painful, personal element that sends waves of nostalgia sweeping through him. Tagliavini's guesthouse is where Soneri met his late wife Ada, and where the young couple spent unforgettable hours in each other's company. But the present can embitter even the sweetest memories. An old photograph of Ada with another man sends Soneri into a spiral of despondency, ever more so when he realises her death may be linked to Tagliavina's lucrative sideline as a backstreet abortionist and faith healer. Though Soneri would like nothing more than to be allowed to drop the case, he doggedly persists, uncovering at last, along with the truth behind Tagliavini's death, rife corruption at Parma's rotten heart and a raft of ghosts from Italy's divisive past.Translated from the Italian by Joseph FarrellWritten Out
By Andrea Frazer. 2014
A regional television programme, Get One Over, where amateurs search for and discover antiques and valuable objects in junk shops,…
has captured the nation’s zeitgeist and gone nationwide.The Christmas episode is to be filmed in Market Darley, and both antiques fan, Miss Emily Jarvis, and DI Falconer and DS Carmichael plan to be in town to bump into the stars of the programme. Carmichael loves the programme for its jokey narrator, but Falconer, along with a host of other viewers, hates the man’s rude and condescending commentary.But on a crispy cold December morning, as the chase around the town to find the TV stars continues, it proves to be a terminal performance for one of their number.Ashes
By Sergios Gakas. 2011
When Sonia Verika, a former actress who takes solace in alcohol and isolation, is pulled from the fire, her body…
is burned almost beyond recognition. The house she shared with a retired director and a small family of African refugees is entirely destroyed, and she is the only survivor. For her ex-lovers, Police Inspector Chronis Halkidis and Simeon Piertzovanis, a failed lawyer and the landlord of the gutted property, her fate is a heavy reckoning. Reflection gives way to guilt, and then to a fanatical desire to uncover the truth behind the blaze and hold those responsible to account - by any means necessary. But with corruption rife throughout the force, Chronis soon finds his investigation shackled from within. Fuelled by their need for revenge, and by their twin addictions to alcohol and cocaine, Simeon and Chronis must resort increasingly to violence if they are to unmask a conspiracy that unites church and state against the interests of justice. A classic noir thriller, Ashes is unflinching in its examination of the violence and extortion bred by corruption, but at the same time tender in its treatment of human weaknesses, of guilt, addiction and regret.BOOK ONE IN THE MILLION-SELLING LEWIS TRILOGY.A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. A RICHARD & JUDY PICK. WINNER OF THE USA'S BARRY…
AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR.PETER MAY: THE MAN WHO BROUGHT MURDER TO THE OUTER HEBRIDES'One of the best regarded crime series of recent years' IndependentA brutal killing takes place on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland: a land of harsh beauty and inhabitants of deep-rooted faith.A MURDERDetective Inspector Fin Macleod is sent from Edinburgh to investigate. For Lewis-born Macleod, the case represents a journey both home and into his past.A SECRETSomething lurks within the close-knit island community. Something sinister.A TRAPAs Fin investigates, old skeletons begin to surface, and soon he, the hunter, becomes the hunted.LOVED THE BLACKHOUSE? Read book 2 in the Lewis trilogy, THE LEWIS MANLOVE PETER MAY? Buy his latest frontlist thriller, A SILENT DEATHRiver of Shadows: A Commissario Soneri Mystery
By Valerio Varesi. 2003
Introducing Commissario Soneri - Italy's answer to Inspector Maigret - and shortlisted for the C.W.A. International Dagger, River of Shadows…
is a brooding, visceral crime novel packed with atmosphere and tension."A master storyteller" Barry Forshaw, IndependentA relentless deluge lashes the Po Valley, and the river itself swells beyond its limits. A barge breaks free of its moorings and drifts erratically downstream; when finally it runs aground its seasoned pilot is nowhere to be found. The following day, an elderly man of the same surname falls from the window of a nearby hospital. Commissario Soneri, scornful of his superiors' scepticism, is convinced the two incidents are linked. Stonewalled by the bargemen who make their living along the riverbank, he scours the floodplain for clues. As the waters begin to ebb, the river yields up its secrets: tales of past brutality, bitter rivalry and revenge.The Dark Valley: A Commissario Soneri Investigation
By Valerio Varesi. 2005
Commissario Soneri returns home for a hard-earned autumn holiday, hoping to spend a few days mushroom picking on the slopes…
of Montelupo. This isolated village relies on the salame factory founded in the post-war years by Palmiro Rodolfi, and now run by his son, Paride. On arrival, Soneri is greeted by anxious rumours about the factory's solvency and the younger Rodolfi's whereabouts. Not long afterwards, a decomposing body is found in the woods. In the shadow of Montelupo, carabinieri prepare to apprehend their chief suspect - an ageing woodsman who defended the same mountains from S.S. commandos during the war.The First Fingerprint
By Xavier-Marie Bonnot. 2008
In an underwater cavern off the coast west of Marseille are the first human engravings known to man. Among them…
is a crude drawing of a three-fingered hand, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Is it a hunting signal? A mystic sign invoking the spirits? Or is it, as many believe, evidence of ritual mutilation in a Shamanistic world? "The Hunter" evidently believes the latter. Driven by inhuman voices to maim and kill, he severs the body parts of his victims - and signs his savagery with a print of a three-fingered hand. Commandant Michel de Palma, of the Marseille murder squad, heads to the university in Aix-en-Provence to investigate further, but the clique of pre-history professors he encounters are as hard to unravel as the meaning of the cave-drawing itself. As he gets closer to the truth, the group of academics close ranks. Slowly and alone, de Palma begins pursuing a mystery that dates back to the Ice age.The First Fingerprint introduces a policeman as polished as he is brutal, as charming as he is deceptive. Michel de Palma, called "the Baron" by his colleagues, knows the dark underside of the city of Marseille as do none of his rivals. But his enemies are everywhere: in the crime-infested sinks of the suburbs; in the sleek and squalid bars of the old quarter; even in the police ranks themselves.Strict and Peculiar: The Falconer Files - File 7 (The Falconer Files #7)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
In the village of Steynham St Michael, the old Strict and Particular Chapel is, at last, undergoing renovation, to the…
delight of the local inhabitants, who believe it will prove useful as a tourist attraction for the village. The renovations, however, have been dogged by the sightings of mysterious hooded figures, and tributes of flowers, left here and there on the site. The newly painted interior is then found defaced by a mysterious message in red paint, and this last prompts a call to the police. DI Falconer and DS Carmichael of the Market Darley CID make an initial visit, and believe that the unexplained events at the Chapel may be the work of a small cult, believed to originate from the college in Market Darley. When a new DC, on secondment, arrives, Falconer immediately sends him undercover as a student, spending his own time trying to lay his hands on a local drug dealer. Then, a body is found on the stone altar table in the Chapel, and events begin to spiral out of control.Gold, Frankincense and Dust: A Commissario Soneri Investigation
By Valerio Varesi. 2007
Parma. A multiple pile-up occurs on the autostrada into the city. A truck transporting cattle skids off the road. Dozens…
of cows and bulls go on the rampage, injured and crazed. In the chaos, the burned body of a young woman is found at the side of the road. Her death has no apparent link to the carnage. Commissario Soneri is assigned the case. It is a welcome distraction: his mercurial lover Angela has decided to pursue other options, leaving him even more morose than usual. The dead woman is identified as Nina Iliescu, a Romanian immigrant whose beauty had enchanted a string of wealthy lovers. Temptress, muse, angel - she was all things to all men. Her murder conceals a crime and a sacrilege, and even in death she has a surprise waiting for Soneri.Music to Die For (The Falconer Files #6)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
The last three Musical Directors of 'The Dalziels' had left them high and dry by moving to France. Their next…
one was to make the 'ultimate move' by getting himself murdered! The village band in Swinbury Abbot has jogged along quite happily for nigh on a decade. Band practices are free and easy affairs, the music never commencing until after a rather lavish meal with wine, followed by more wine, and then maybe running through a piece or two, just for form's sake. Until the vicar turns up with a new musical director, who plays quite a different tune? For the newcomer's ideas of what a band?s routine should consist of are completely at odds with the musicians? current practices. His clashes with the various band members cause enormous resentment, and, in one of them, a hatred strong enough to provoke murder! Into this welter of negative emotions, Detective Inspector Falconer and Detective Sergeant Carmichael of the Market Darley CID arrive, determined to get to the bottom of things and bring the killer to justice, while simultaneously dealing with their own domestic problems. But the musical mayhem???and the murderousness??? doesn't stop there?Grave Stones (The Falconer Files #9)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
Grave Stones is the ninth instalment of Andrea Frazer?s Falconer Files, a detective series chock-full of picture-postcard villages, dastardly deeds,…
and a delightful slice of humour.The residents of Shepford St Bernard are to have a party in the church hall, in response to a request to boost congregation numbers???only their new vicar is a woman, and a young one to boot, which is not to everyone's liking??The morning after the party, the extent of the brooding resentment felt in the small community is revealed when an elderly woman is found dead outside her house, the contents of her safe having disappeared along with her attacker.?When Detective Inspector Harry Falconer, Detective Sergeant Carmichael, and Detective Constable Roberts arrive on the scene, they learn that the late Lettice Keighley-Armstrong?s safe had recently held a large quantity of very valuable pieces of jewellery??As the investigation progresses, with efforts made to find out just who might have been tempted enough to commit such a crime, the violence escalates???making it urgent that the offender is quickly apprehended??Pascal Passion (The Falconer Files #4)
By Andrea Frazer. 2012
Shepford Stacey is an unassuming little village, its greatest asset being its small but excellent Church of England Primary School.…
This delightfully old-fashioned establishment of only two classes, one of infants, the other of juniors, has been run by the same pair of ladies for decades. It is in the year that the headmistress, Audrey Finch-Matthews, is to retire, that the smooth running of this long-established educational establishment is interrupted by murder. When Detective Inspector Harry Falconer and Detective Sergeant Davey Carmichael of the Market Darley Police arrive to investigate, they discover a host of motives, both past and present, and grudges that reach right back through the years. As the Easter weekend grinds inexorably on its way, Death stalks the village again, and it suddenly becomes imperative that the murderer is caught before there are more fatalities. Falconer soon realises that this is not the work of an opportunistic psychopath passing through, but of someone within the small community itself, taking lives at will, and there is no indication that the slaughter will stop here.