Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

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Danielle Steel

For fourteen years, Steve and Meredith Whitman have sustained a marriage of passion and friendship, despite the demands of two all-consuming careers. Meredith is a top investment banker, Steve a gifted physician - the only thing missing in their life is children. Steve longs for them. But Meredith keeps putting off motherhood, and now she has been offered an extraordinary job opportunity in San Francisco, three thousand miles away. Steve urges her to accept, saying that he's more than happy to uproot himself and will join her as soon as he can find a new job himself. Perhaps in California, he hopes, they can begin a family at last. 
 
Neither Steve nor Meredith had reckoned on a prolonged separation, but Steve's job keeps him in New York for months longer than planned. Weekends together fall prey to their hectic schedules. Alone in San Francisco, Meredith is spending long hours at the office with her boss, charismatic entrepreneur Callan Dow. Steve is working late shifts at the hospital, grabbing an occasional dinner with a new female colleague. Almost unnoticed, Steve and Meredith have begun living separate lives, and irresistible forces start to tear their lives and hearts apart.

Irresistible Forces

Johanna Lindsey

The headstrong child of Chandos Straton and Courteney Harte, Casey Straton inherited her mother's eyes and her father's stubborn temperament. Despite her prowess at roping, riding and shooting, the responsibility of running the family ranch is given to Casey's brother - so high-spirited Casey storms away from her Texas home, determined to prove to her family that she can do much more than "women's work". 
 
Damien Rutledge III, a successful New York businessman, has come west to kill the man who murdered his father. Despite his powerful physique and unwavering courage, his inability to handle a gun in this untamed country would have cost him his life if it weren't for the timely intervention of a youngster called "Kid". But there is more to Kid than meets the eye - for beneath the wide-brimmed hat and poncho is a stunningly sensuous woman - Casey Straton. The nearness of this handsome and fearless man awakens the fires of passion and touches her vulnerable heart, on the rocky trail that winds from dangerous duty to irrepressible love.

All I Need Is You

Paula Daly

The basis for DEEP WATER, now a major ITV TV series, starring Anna Friel. 
 
If you slept with a stranger for money, who'd really end up paying? 
 
'A page-turning thriller with heart' Renée Knight, author of Disclaimer 
 
We all think we know who we are. 
 
What we’re capable of. 
 
Roz is a single mother, a physiotherapist, a sister, a friend. She’s also desperate. 
 
Her business has gone under, she’s crippled by debt and she’s just had to explain to her son why someone’s taken all their furniture away. 
 
But now a stranger has made her an offer. For one night with her, he’ll pay enough to bring her back from the edge. 
 
Roz has a choice to make. 
 
'A big-hearted, empathetic novel about ordinary lives and the tremors that can rock them' Guardian

The Mistake I Made

the basis for the TV series DEEP WATER

a totally addictive psychological thriller with characters you’ll believe in

Andy McNab

MI5 operative Sergeant Tom Buckingham is a new kind of SAS hero. In Red Notice, Fortress and State of Emergency, Buckingham unleashes a whirlwind of rage and retribution as he attempts to save Britain from threats that are often too familiar in today's troubled world.

On a freezing winter's night, a small craft skims the Thames towards London's most exclusive riverside hotel. On board is a lone assassin, his target - Britain's most powerful new politican. 
 
In a nation threatened by extremists, billionaire businessman Vernon Rolt's plans for a zero-tolerance crackdown have touched a popular nerve. 
 
MI5 operative Tom Buckingham is undercover inside Rolt's organisation, from where he must neutralise the rogue assassins out to kill his boss. 
 
All too soon, Tom gets caught up in a far more devastating plot which will change the political landscape of Europe, for ever . . .

State Of Emergency

(Tom Buckingham Thriller 3)

AJ Molloy

Shy student Alexandra – ‘X’ to her friends – arrives in Naples desperate for adventure beyond the sheltered life she’s led. As she explores the sun-soaked Italian city streets, she meets a man like none she has ever met before. Lord Marcus Roscarrick is handsome, charismatic and wealthy beyond all imaginings – and yet, underneath his smooth exterior, X senses he is a man well-acquainted with danger. 
 
He begins to dazzle her in a way that she cannot resist. As they embark on a passionate affair, X is drawn further into Roscarrick’s glittering world. But soon she discovers there’s a darker side to him. And as he reveals his darkest secrets, and urges her to submit to his desires, X must decide: is she in too deep, or dare she take the final plunge?

The Story of X

Mary Jane Staples

Boots Adams celebrates his 60th birthday in style with an old-fashioned Cockney knees-up, even if Gemma, James and the rest of the younger people insist that the music has to be rock and roll. The new generation of the family are growing up quickly - Philip and Phoebe are spending a lot of time together, and Maureen has ambitions to become a model, having her picture taken for the newspapers as she hopes for fame and fortune. Meanwhile, there are changes on the way. A local company wants to take over Adams Fashions, and Boots and Sammy have difficult decisions to make. Rosie and Matt are thinking about selling the farm, but worry about Joe and Hortense, their loyal workers. While Felicity has resigned herself to never regaining her sight, Polly sees a familiar face that she can't place - a mysterious stranger who is being sheltered in Walworth. Anneliese encounters someone she never wished to see again, and turns to Boots for help.

A Girl Next Door

An Adams Family Saga Novel

Catherine Cookson

Some wonen are destined to arouse in men either fierce hatred or insatiable desire. Such a woman was Katie Mulholland. 
 
At fifteen, a scullery maid in the house of the Rosires, she had been raped by the master. Now, many years later, she had enough money to maintain three carriages if she wanted to and she was on her way to see Bernard Rosier under very different circumstances. 
 
There was no pride in Katie Mulholland's heart, however, only fear, for half of Tyneside still talked about the way she had flouted convention, and sniggered about the way she had made her money. So she had decided that her only hope was to climb above them, and that she would conquer her fear with power . . .

Katie Mulholland

Christopher Paolini

Eragon thought he was just an ordinary farm boy, until one day he discovers his destiny; to be a Dragon Rider. He and his faithful dragon, Saphira, must protect the land from the evil king, Galbatorix, with a combination of magic, loyalty and swordsmanship. Set in the fantasy land of Alagaesia, these four books follow the pair through a series of epic battles as they fight to rid the land of evil and restore peace.

Darkness falls . . . Despair abounds . . . Evil reigns . . . 
 
Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesméra, land of the elves, for further training in magic and swordsmanship, the vital skills of the Dragon Rider. It is the journey of a lifetime, filled with awe-inspiring new places and people, each day a fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and Eragon isn't sure whom he can trust. 
 
Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle back home in Carvahall - one that puts Eragon in even graver danger. 
 
Will the king's dark hand strangle all resistance? Eragon may not escape with even his life . . .

Eldest

(Inheritance Book 2)

In life and love, it's never too late for a second chance... 
 
As editor-in-chief of New York's leading fashion magazine, Fiona Monaghan was utterly content with her life, jetting back and forth between Manhattan and Europe-until the day John Anderson strolled into her office.A widower with two daughters, John was as conservative as Fiona was freewheeling, and was both amused and appalled by her world of high-strung designers, anorexic models, and Sir Winston, her snoring bulldog.But after Fiona impulsively invited John to the Paris couture shows, somewhere between the magic of the catwalk and the stroll along the Seine, she let him into her heart. 
Within weeks of their return to New York, John was making friends with Sir Winston - and Fiona was making room in her closets. 
A dazzling tale of modern misadventures, career-crossed relationships, the heady magic of instant attraction and the hope that comes when we dare to do it all over again...

Second Chance

A dazzling tale of misadventures and instant attraction from the No.1 bestselling author

Jilly Cooper

Abigail Rosen, nicknamed Appassionata, was the sexiest, most flamboyant violinist in classical music, but she was also the loneliest and the most exploited girl in the world. When a dramatic suicide attempt destroyed her violin career, she set her sights on the male-dominated heights of the conductor's rostrum. 
 
Given the chance to take over the Rutminster Symphony Orchestra, Abby is ecstatic, not realising the RSO is in hock up to its neck and is composed of the wildest bunch of musicians ever to blow a horn or caress a fiddle. Abby finds it increasingly difficult to control her undisciplined rabble and pretend she is not madly attracted to the fatally glamorous horn player, Viking O'Neill, who claims droit de seigneur over every pretty woman joining the orchestra. And then Rannaldini, arch-fiend and international maestro, rolls up with Machiavellian plans of his own to sabotage the RSO. 
 
Effervescent as champagne, Jilly Cooper's novel brings back old favourites like Rupert and Taggie Campbell-Black, but also ends triumphantly with a rampageous orchestral tour of Spain and the high drama of an international piano competition.

Appassionata

A masterpiece of sex and drama from the Sunday Times bestseller Jilly Cooper

The most fun you can have under a Tenor

Five children meet on their first day of school, one bright September morning. Drawn by that magical spark of connection that happens to the young, Gabby, Billy, Izzie, Andy and Sean – each bursting with their own personality, all with strikingly different looks and diverse talents – soon become an inseparable group, known to everyone else as the Big Five. 
 
As they grow up, their seemingly perfect lives are altered by families falling apart, unfortunate mistakes, and losses and victories great and small. Throughout their adolescence, the five are able to turn back to their trusted group to regain their footing and steady their course. But as they emerge from school, their futures seem neither safe nor clear. As their lives separate, the challenges and risks they face become greater, the losses sharper, and it becomes much harder to know the right path to choose. 
 
But despite life’s ups and downs, together they are able to face up to challenges with the help of the important bonds forged all those years ago. And the five realise just how lucky they are to treasure valuable friendships that last a lifetime.

Friends Forever

Kathryn Haig

At the outbreak of world war II Laura, who was brought up in the manor house of Anstey Parva, where her formidable grandmother, Lady Anstey, rules the roost, decides to join the ATS. She is sent to Egypt where she meets and marries James, a young subaltern who is shortly afterwards killed in the desert.But Laura's heart belongs elsewhere , although she does not yet realise it; and her mind becomes increasingly occupied with the mystery of what happened to her father, who died, she has always been told, during the Great War. Why, then does his name not appear with the others on the village war memorial? Why do no photographs of him exist? Why is his name never mentioned? Laura tries to trace his final resting place through the war graves commission, but they have no record of him. She discovers, in the attics of Anstey House, his dress uniform beautifully preserved in tissue paper, together with some letters which indicate that he was court-martialled and killed by a firing squad. But why? What was his offence? Laura has to find out, and in doing so uncovers an extraordinary story which results in an immensely moving reunion.

Apple Blossom Time

Job and Jemima Hardy weren't Londoners by birth. They had both lived in a Sussex village until lack of work had sent Job and the family to Walworth - to a house in Stead Street. They got it cheap because of the poltergiest but they were sensible folk and decided that eight shillings a week rent was a bargain and - well - if the floors and doors sometimes moved a bit, they could live with it. They settled quickly into London life - particularly Jonathan, the eldest. Jonathan got a job at Camberwell Green and it was there, in Lyons teashop, that he met Emma Somers, niece of Boots Adams. Over a long and hazy summer - the summer of 1939 - the two young people met, always at lunchtime, and never allowing their friendship to progress too far. 
 
Then, as the clouds of war gathered over Europe, Jonathan got his call-up papers. And the first alarms of conflict began to affect the Adams family in other ways. Boots, on the Officer's Reserve list, was called onto the staff of General Sir Henry Sims, and Polly Sims herself joined the Auxiliaries. Suddenly there was only a little time left for people to lead ordinary lives - and Jonathan Hardy and Emma Somers had to make decisions about their future.

The Last Summer

Anne McCaffrey

Margaret Ball

Three old space mining prospectors in their beat-up space ship discover a small pod floating in space. Inside is a tiny girl child, with funny little hooves, a wealth of silver hair growing on her body, and a lump in the middle of her forehead which, as time elapses, grows into a horn. It is a sort of unicorn. 
 
When the old prospectors come to sell their ores on the home planet controversy breaks out. Bureaucrats want to put her in a home and cut off her deformity, scientists want to study her and isolate her, and so the old three kidnap her back on their ship and go roaring off round the universe, having adventures, saving her, and finally having her save all the child slaves on a terrible planet called Kezdet. It is space opera at it's best and will be followed by more in the series, no doubt tracing Acorna to her home planet.

Acorna

The Unicorn Girl

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

In Deluge the selkie twins, Ronan and Murel, leave Petaybee on a mission to help rescue their friend Marmie, who has been falsely arrested on the orders of a corrupt Colonel. However, the Colonel has more power in the Company than they realized and they end up being imprisoned themselves and taken to the Gwinnet Incarceration Colony. There they have to try to evade the clutches of their old adversary Dr Mabu, an unscrupulous scientist who wants to study their unusual shape-changing ability, and doesn't care how much pain her experiments cause them. 
 
Meanwhile, the powerful and avaricious Company is making another attempt to take over the world of Petaybee for its resources, and the twins parents, Yana and Sean, along with the entire planet, must fight for the independence of their sentient world once and for all...

Deluge

Robert Rankin

We read him for his exuberant salmagundi of old jokes, myths, urban and otherwise, catchphrases, liberatingly crazy ideas, running gags, recurring characters and locations, unreliable authobiographical anecdotes, and not forgetting the now legendary 'load of old toot'. He becomes funnier the more you read him' Mat Coward, Independent on The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag 
 
Society's plug is about to be pulled, big time. At the stroke of midnight on 31 December 1999, computer systems all over the world will crash and plunge us into chaos. But so what if it's the downfall of civilization? These things happen. We'll just have to take it on the chin. Or at least up the nose. Because rejoice and give thanks, snuff is making a comeback. And who do we thank for this? Who is the man who brings joy to the nostrils of the nation? The tender blender with the blinder grinder? The master blaster with the louder powder? The geezer with the sneezer that's a real crowd pleaser? Mr Doveston, that's who, and this is his story. So forget about impending doom and enter the glamorous world of snuff-snorting. Oh, and don't forget to bring a hanky. Things could get a little messy later. 
 
Robert Rankin's novel gleefully chronicles the collapse of civilisation, as the world slides into chaos with a smile on its face and a finger up its nose. Prophetic vision of an imminent dystopia? Or just the rabid ranting of a snuff-crazed technophobe?

Snuff Fiction

As the 1950s progress, several unexpected happenings ruffle the usually calm atmosphere of Adams family life. Sammy and Boots are troubled by the first stirrings of industrial unrest, as the unions start to flex their muscles and old loyalties change, while an attractive new employee causes Sammy some troubles of a different kind. 
 
The older generation are more than a little surprised at what they see around them as society moves on and the lives of the youngsters are being taken over by rock 'n' roll. Young Emily, still only thirteen but old beyond her years, catches the eye of a teddy boy, while Linda is pursued by a smooth-talking young man. But good sense and good luck prevail, and the Adams family find the strength to cope with these challenging times.

Ups And Downs

Jack Sheffield

A NEW YEAR AT RAGLEY-ON-THE-FOREST SCHOOL... 
 
It's 1981, the time of Adam and the Ants, Rubik's Cube, the Sony Walkman and the Falklands War, as head teacher Jack Sheffield returns to Ragley-on-the-Forest School for another rollercoaster year. 
 
Vera, the ever-efficient chool secretary, has to grapple with a new-fangled computer - and enjoys a royal occasion - while Ruby the caretaker rediscovers romance with a Butlin's Redcoat. And for Jack, wedding bells are in the air. But the unexpected is just round the corner...

Please Sir!

QUIVER AT! Horrible demonic stuff oozing out of computer screens! 
 
SHOCK HORROR! Elvis Presley pulling his face off! 
 
GASP AT! a talking brussels sprout! 
 
SEE! Cannibals on the rampage! 
 
HEAR! Fido the Dog do Frankie Howerd impressions! 
 
SEE! Rex Mundi, Rambo Bloodaxe, Deathblade Eric, Hugo Rune and a cast of millions caught up in Events Beyond Their Control! 
 
THRILL TO! all the loose ends from Armageddon the Musical magically tied up! 
 
WATCH! A comic genius doing the business! 
 
SEE?

They Came And Ate Us

Armageddon II: The B-Movie

They were misfits, the outcasts, the murderers without Hold or Crafthall. Some were resentful, some sought vengeance, but it was not until Thella, Lady Holder of Telgar, began to weld them together into a terrifying and brilliantly evil clan that they became the Renegades of Pern. it was a time of great turmoil on the planet. The pass of the Red Star had brought a new terrible reign of Threadfall, and in the southern Hold, Toric was carving out an enormous empire for himself from lands as yet uncharted. And as the times of trouble grew, so did the ravages of Thella and her band, turning from theft to murder to vicious and insane revenge. 
 
Jayge Lilcamp, the young and roving trader, was one of the first to fall foul of the renegades, and as he saw what Thella had done to his family and his wagon train he began to seek his own revenge, a revenge which grew into a determination to destroy the most evil woman on Pern.

The Renegades Of Pern

(Dragonriders of Pern: 10): an awe-inspiring epic fantasy from one of the most influential fantasy and SF novelists of her generation

Shari Lapena

'The queen of the one-sit read' Linwood Barclay 
 
'Shari Lapena is one of the best thriller writers in the business' Steve Cavanagh 
 
'A masterful whodunnit, perfectly paced and expertly plotted, that had me guessing all the way through' C L Taylor 
 
****** 
 
The gripping new thriller from the No. 1 bestselling author of The Couple Next Door. 
 
It can be hard keeping secrets in a tight-knit neighbourhood. 
 
In a tranquil, leafy suburb of ordinary streets - one where everyone is polite and friendly - an anonymous note has been left at some of the houses. 
 
'I'm so sorry. My son has been getting into people's houses. He's broken into yours.' 
 
Who is this boy, and what might he have uncovered? As whispers start to circulate, suspicion mounts. 
 
And when a missing local woman is found murdered, the tension reaches breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their secrets? 
 
Maybe you don't know your neighbour as well as you thought you did . . . 
 
****** 
 
Readers are obsessed with Shari Lapena: 
 
'I was reading with my mouth open as I raced towards the final page.' 
'I read it in one sitting, as I simply could not put it down.' 
'An incredibly gripping read.' 
'Fantastic book, from the first page I was hooked, couldn't put it down!' 
'An excellent atmospheric thriller, full of intrigue and suspense.' 
 
COMING SOON: the gripping new novel from Shari Lapena: EVERYONE HERE IS LYING. Available to pre-order now!

Someone We Know

Marcus Sakey

It starts with you waking on a Maine beach, naked, half-drowned and very, very cold. 
 
Your name is Daniel Hayes. At least, you think it is. That’s the name on the insurance card you find in the BMW parked near you. How did you get here? And why? 
 
All you remember is a woman’s face. So you set off to the only place you might find her. 
 
But this raises the most chilling question of all: what will you find when you get there? 
 
 
From Lee Child . . . 
 
"Like any reader, I love old favourites . . . but I love new voices too, and I especially love it when a new voice starts to become an old favourite. It doesn't happen often, but right now it's happening with Marcus Sakey. He's got it all. he writes like a dream, he creates characters exactly like people you know, he scares you, and above all keeps you turning the pages. 
 
But most of all he does the 'what if' thing better than anyone in the business. 
 
'What if' questions power a lot of plots, but Sakey is special. He doesn't just check a box or construct a neat twist for the sake of it. Reading him between the lines, I guarantee he lives this stuff. . . he thinks it through and sweats it out, probably for weeks at a time. I can see him, looking around at all the things he loves, looking at his house, turning and looking at his wife, asking himself, 'What if? What if I had to put all this at risk? Would I? Could I? How would it feel? What would be the effect on me?' 
 
It's that kind of depth and intelligence and passion and emotion that sets Sakey apart. These are not just clever plots. These are real people with night sweats and wide eyes and everything to lose. 
 
The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes takes 'what if' in a new direction and to new heights. Every writer muses, 'What if the reader isn't sure whether the husband killed his wife, or not?' That's a basic whodunit. But Sakey asks, 'What if the husband isn't sure whether he killed his wife, or not?' That's a terrific premise, and it boosts an already-terrific thriller plot into the stratosphere."

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes

DO HOLOGRAMS DREAM OF ELECTRIC CINEMA? He wanted Hollywood. He got Brentford. He wanted Spielberg. He got Fudgepacker. He got who? 
 
Fudgepacker. Ernest Fudgepacker. Directed all those weird B-movies back in the Fifties. Whatever happened to him? He retired. Opened Fudgepacker's Emporium, a prop house catering to the more bizarre needs of the film industry. Amazing place. There you could hire anything from shrunken heads to a pickled homunculus. Trouble is, they just don't make that kind of movie any more. Ernie's going bust. In fact, if he can't come up with some big bucks pretty damn quick, he's going to lose the business. It will take a miracle to save him now. 
 
Young Master Robert believes in miracles. He has a dream. He wants to star in movies alongside The Greats. The Golden Greats. The dead Golden Greats. He's a boy boffin with computers and he's invented this system that could put the stars of yesteryear right back up there on the screen. Next to him. He's written a script and he's got piles of money (his dad owns the brewery), but Hollywood isn't keen. And Mr Spielberg didn't ring back. The lad needs a director and Ernie needs the dosh, and Ernie only lives up the road. Could this be the perfect partnership? 
 
Well, it could be...but then this is Brentford and when you make movies in this neck of the woods, you can be sure of a BIG surprise. And when Brentford takes on Hollywood, then Hollywood had better pack up and head for the hills.

Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

As the 1982 school year begins, Jack Sheffield returns to Ragley village school for his sixth year as headteacher. Nora Pratt celebrates twenty-five years in her coffee shop, Ronnie Smith finally tries to get a job, and little Krystal Entwhistle causes concern in the school Nativity play. It's the time of ET and Greenham Common,. Price William's birth, Fame legwarmers and the puzzling introduction of the 20p piece. Meanwhile, for Jack, the biggest surprise of his life is in store...

Educating Jack

The Shongili twins, Ronan and Murel, accompany their friend Marmie on her luxury space craft Piaf to rescue their friend Ke-ola's family from an uninhabitable planet. They arrive to find the planet in the midst of a terrible meteor storm and when they go down to the surface find that the survivors have taken refuge under ground. Ronan and Murel change into seal form and find the survivors and their totem animals or aumakua, the giant turtles, or Honu, and the sharks. 
 
Back on Petaybee the twins, in their seal form, escort the Honus to their new home in the middle of the ocean. They also want to warn the otters and seals about the sharks. It is a long journey and Murel falls asleep and gets separated from the rest. She is surrounded by a pod of Orcas who, thinking she is a normal seal, try to eat her. Before they can do so she is caught up in a whirlpool caused by the volcanic activity in the area, as is Ronan, who had swum back to try to rescue her. 
 
They are rescued from the whirlpool by the mysterious deep sea otters and taken into their shielded city on the ocean floor. While their leader, Kushtaka, is talking to them her son Jeel sees the sharks and goes to inspect them, Murel races after him but is too late and Jeel is killed. 
 
Meanwhile Marmie and her crew are arrested on trumped up charges of kidnapping Ke-ola's family and taken to Gwinnett Incarceration Colony, along with most of the survivors they rescued. 
 
When Murel and Ronan return to their family and discover that Marmie has been arrested and the Piaf impounded they realize they need to get off the planet and go to her rescue. While staying with Kushtaka they were told that the deep sea otters were not just otters but beings from outer space who had hidden in the depths of Petaybee's oceans for years. Now that they have been discovered they plan to leave, the twins persuade Kushtaka to take them with her and to help them rescue Marmie.

Maelstrom

There was a double wedding planned in Walworth. Sally Brown was marrying Horace Cooper, and her brother, Freddy, was at last getting hitched to his childhood sweetheart, Cassie Ford. But the wedding wasn't the only thing being planned, for Ginger Carstairs and Dusty Miller were working out a bank robbery and, unbeknown to the inhabitants of Walworth and Denmark Hill, both Freddy Brown and the Adams family were to be deeply involved and put in considerable danger. 
 
It took much ingenuity on Boots's part to come up with a scheme that would foil the plans of the raiders. And all this was happening at a time when Boots had other worries in his life, and when the unity of his own little family was being threatened.

The Camberwell Raid

Welcome to the 80s, the decade of decadence… 
 
‘Joyful and mischievous’ Jojo Moyes 
‘Fun, sexy and unputdownable – a classic’ ­Marian Keyes 
 
The glamorous, cutthroat world of 1980s British television is all about power, a time when the affluent elite exist in a bubble of immense wealth and influence, and will use any means to get what they want. Lord Baddingham is desperate to retain his Corinium TV franchise, and to do so he’s hired Declan O’Hara, an Irish talk show mega-star. Baddingham has also enticed on board Cameron Cook, a gorgeous and brash executive, to produce Declan’s program. But Declan and Cameron detest each other, soon provoking a storm of controversy. 
 
Enter into the fray everyone’s favourite hate-to-love-him bad-boy, Rupert Campbell-Black. As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and everyone is competing—in bed and in the boardroom—to come out on top. 
 
‘Flawlessly entertaining’ Helen Fielding 
‘Pure, unadulterated joy’ ­Sophie Kinsella

Rivals

Hugo Rune returns. And just in time, for the evil fairies of Brentford are planning to conquer the world. To publicise his mission, Hugo plans to kidnap the Queen while she addresses the world before a gig by the greatest rock band on earth, Gandhi's Hairdryer.

Raiders Of The Lost Carpark

Time to blow out the candles, say goodbye to the past, and make a wish for the future! 
 
For April Wyatt, turning thirty is not what she had expected. She’s single, with no interest in changing that. Her successful restaurant in downtown New York consumes every ounce of her passion and energy. Ready or not, though, April’s life is about to change, in a tumultuous discovery on the morning of her milestone birthday. 
 
April’s mother Valerie is a popular TV personality. Since her divorce, she has worked tirelessly to reach the pinnacle of her career. But she’s having trouble equating her age with how she feels, and all the hours with personal trainers, top hairdressers and plastic surgeons can’t hide the fact that she is turning sixty – and the whole world discovers it on her birthday. 
 
It is also Jack Adams’ birthday – the most charismatic sports announcer and hall-of-fame football star on TV, a man who has his pick of desirable younger women. But he fears his age may finally be catching up with him when he wakes up on his fiftieth birthday needing an emergency visit to the chiropractor… 
 
As these three very different people celebrate their birthdays, they discover that life itself is a celebration – and that its greatest gifts are always a surprise…

Happy Birthday

Belinda Bauer

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SNAP 
 
'Extraordinarily powerful and evocative . . . will leave you breathless.' Daily Mirror 
 
VOTED CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR when it was first released, and still the most gripping, powerful thriller debut you will read this year. 
 
___ 
 
Steven Lamb is 12 when he writes his first letter . . . to a serial killer 
 
Every day after school, whilst his classmates swap football stickers, twelve-year-old Steven digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. His uncle disappeared aged eleven and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery - but his body has never been found. 
 
Steven's Nan does not believe her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it's too late - even if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son. 
 
But when Steven realises this is an impossible task, he crafts a careful letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored psychopath . . . 
 
Readers love Blacklands: 
 
'A dark, gripping story . . . full of tension' ***** 
'A truly chilling and disturbing read' ***** 
'An intelligent crime thriller that seeps with atmosphere' ***** 
 
*Belinda Bauer's pulse-pounding new thriller, EXIT, is out now*

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