Quercus
Books published by Quercus
The Darkest Place
Out-of-favour DCI Tom Reynolds gets a Christmas day call to a mass grave on an island off the Kerry coast, once the home of a controversial psychiatric institution, where there is one body too many – probably that of one of the doctors, missing for more than 40 years.
Reviewed on 10 August 2019 by John Cleal
White Hot Silence
Aid worker Anastasia Cristakos is kidnapped. Her billionaire husband hires ex-MI6 man Paul Sampson, her former lover, to find and free her.
Reviewed on 27 July 2019 by John Cleal
The Body in the Castle Well
When the body of a rich and well-connected American art student is found down a well in the grounds of a castle, Bruno, Chief of Police, must work out whether she fell or was pushed.
Reviewed on 29 June 2019 by Linda Wilson
Metropolis
In Weimar Republic Berlin, Sergeant Bernie Gunther transfers to the murder squad and is designated to investigate a string of murders of prostitutes.
Reviewed on 15 June 2019 by Chris Roberts
The Stranger Diaries
Clare, a teacher at Tolgarth High, is discussing a short story called The Stranger with members of a creative writing group. The story is a Gothic horror but Clare has no reason to believe that the school is about to undergo its own horror story.
Reviewed on 11 May 2019 by Arnold Taylor
An Autumn Hunting
Akyl Borubaev is back in the Bishkek murder squad but shooting the Minister for State Security makes him a pariah, and someone of interest to Kyrgyzstan’s top criminals.
Reviewed on 13 April 2019 by Chris Roberts
The Stone Circle
Archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson encounter some unwelcome echoes from the past when bones are discovered on an ancient Norfolk site.
Reviewed on 23 February 2019 by Sharon Wheeler
The Confession
A man beats a disgraced banker to a pulp in front of his wife. He hands himself in, confesses the attack, but claims it was not premeditated and he didn’t know his victim. DS Alice Moody must discover whether this a random act or linked to the banker’s shady past.
Reviewed on 08 December 2018 by John Cleal
Destroying Angel
1655. Captain Damian Seeker of Oliver Cromwell’s handpicked guard has been sent north to prepare the way for stringent new anti-Royalist laws. What should be a to a routine visit to a village on the North York moors uncovers a stew of hatred, ambition and treachery.
Reviewed on 10 November 2018 by John Cleal
Firefly
A young Syrian refugee making his way to the West to make a new life for himself and his family carries information about ISIS, who are determined to stop him.
Reviewed on 13 October 2018 by Chris Roberts
Blood Feud
Corporate lawyer Kerry Casey is pitchforked into taking over her father’s gangland empire when her brother is assassinated, and then her mother killed at his funeral.
Reviewed on 13 October 2018 by John Cleal
The Memory Chamber
In the not-too-distant future architects can design a heaven specifically for you but there are regulations and controls. Isobel is not supposed to fall in love with her client and the implications when his wife is murdered, are destructive.
Reviewed on 13 October 2018 by John Barnbrook
Wrong Way Home
DI Grace Fisher of the Essex Major Investigation Team re-opens a 25-year-old cold case in which a girl was raped and killed. The possible involvement of a local hero and a young true-crime podcaster hampers her investigation.
Reviewed on 01 September 2018 by John Cleal
The Dark Angel
University lecturer and forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is asked to lend her expertise to the discovery of bones in an Italian hilltop village. But the past and present collide when there’s a present-day murder.
Reviewed on 21 July 2018 by Sharon Wheeler
A Taste for Vengeance
Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police in St Denis, has been promoted and now must deal with a far wider area. His first case in his new role is a possible murder-suicide with links to a terrorist organisation.
Reviewed on 23 June 2018 by Linda Wilson
Greeks Bearing Gifts
Bernie Gunther starts a new career as an insurance investigator, but a trip to Greece to investigate a claim for a lost ship has a none-too-comfortable connection with wartime events.
Reviewed on 23 June 2018 by Chris Roberts
A Summer Revenge
An ex-girlfriend of the Kyrgyz Minister for State Security has absconded to Dubai with a memory stick he is keen to retrieve. Akyl Borubaev is sent to bring her back.
Reviewed on 31 March 2018 by Chris Roberts
After I've Gone
Jess Mount lives a fairly ordinary life for a 20-something— until her Facebook page begins to show posted items about her death, 18 months in the future, which only she can see.
Reviewed on 31 March 2018 by Kate Balfour
The Hit
Reporter Rosie Gilmour, investigating the disappearance of an accountant and the killing of his wife’s lover, becomes involved in an international crime ring which steals and sells babies as well as trafficking people.
Reviewed on 20 January 2018 by John Cleal
Sweet After Death
Detective Alice Madison is out of her comfort zone investigating a murder in an isolated town in midwinter.
Reviewed on 16 September 2017 by Kati Barr-Taylor
The Templars' Last Secret
When the body of an unknown woman is found at the base of the walls of a ruined castle, Bruno, Chief of Police, is called to investigate.
Reviewed on 22 July 2017 by Linda Wilson
Death Trap
Reporter Rosie Gilmour, investigating a white slavery ring, is hunted by a sadistic killer.
Reviewed on 08 July 2017 by John Cleal
The Night Visitor
Professor Olivia Sweetman, a noted historian, has used a Victorian diary to write the biography of one of the earliest women to become a doctor. But in the background is the ominous presence of the woman who gave her the diary, who could destroy her hard-earned reputation.
Reviewed on 24 June 2017 by John Barnbrook
Prussian Blue
Bernie Gunther takes flight from a Stasi apparatchik 1956, putting him in mind of his 1939 investigation into a murder at the Berchtesgaden.
Reviewed on 27 May 2017 by Chris Roberts
The Blood Card
On the eve of the Coronation, DI Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto uncover an anarchist plot while they attempt to find the killer of their wartime commander.
Reviewed on 13 May 2017 by John Cleal
The Special Girls
DI Grace Fisher is called in to investigate a violent death in a camp for anorexic girls, only to then find herself investigating historical allegations of child abuse by the man running the programme.
Reviewed on 13 May 2017 by John Barnbrook
The Tunnel
Danny Katz searches for the killer of his former drug dealer Ramón. While following the faint trail of Ramón’s missing girlfriend Jenny, Katz is pulled into the darkest corners of Stockholm’s porn industry.
Reviewed on 01 April 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Chalk Pit
The disappearance of one rough sleeper and the deaths of two others all seem to have a connection to the mysterious network of old tunnels under the city of Norwich.
Reviewed on 18 March 2017 by Linda Wilson
The Girl Before
Like Emma had before, Jane can’t turn down the offer of the minimalistic house, despite the rules that go with renting it. But who was Emma, and how did she die?
Reviewed on 18 February 2017 by Kati Barr-Taylor
The Black Friar
Damian Seeker, captain of Cromwell’s guard, faces sedition, armed rebellion, a Royalist spy in his own ranks and the threat of a Stuart invasion.
Reviewed on 04 February 2017 by John Cleal
Are You Watching Me?
Liz Cafferky’s championing of a drop-in centre for older men catapults her into the media limelight, but that brings with it pressures and fears that she hadn’t foreseen.
Reviewed on 07 January 2017 by Linda Wilson
A Spring Betrayal
Exiled to remote Karakol, Inspector Akyl Borubaev of the Bishkek Murder Squad becomes involved when the bodies of seven small children are found together, all bearing wristbands from a Kyrgyzstan orphanage.
Reviewed on 26 November 2016 by Chris Roberts
Cuckold Point
River policeman Tom Pascoe tries to track down a consignment of stolen silk and becomes involved with brutal criminals and international espionage in a case which threatens his life, his family and his country.
Reviewed on 26 November 2016 by John Cleal
Kill Me Twice
Reporter Rosie Gilmour investigates a trail of abuse and murder from the sink estates of Glasgow to the corridors of Westminster.
Reviewed on 26 November 2016 by John Cleal
Beneath the Surface
A minister’s aide is murdered in the Irish parliament building. Detective Inspector Tom Reynolds and his team must uncover the truth in a sea of lies, corruption and secrets.
Reviewed on 12 November 2016 by John Cleal
Retribution
On a beautiful autumn day a Muslim suicide bomber triggers an explosion in the Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, killing more than 1000 people. A year goes by and, in spite of intensive efforts to find the criminals, no arrests have been made.
Reviewed on 12 November 2016 by Arnold Taylor
The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid
PI Lennox subcontracts ‘Quiet’ Thomas Quaid for a simple theft, but things go awry and Quaid ends up dead. Lennox is determined to find out why.
Reviewed on 19 October 2016 by Chris Roberts
Zambezi
Special Forces Master Sergeant Jed Banks flies to Africa to find the truth about his conservation researcher daughter, supposedly killed by a man-eating lion, and finds himself in the frontline of the war against terror.
Reviewed on 17 September 2016 by John Cleal
Goodbye to the Dead
Lieutenant Stride is investigating a street killing, and discovers a link to a murder in which he found himself on the opposite side to his late wife years before.
Reviewed on 23 July 2016 by John Cleal
Shot Through The Heart
A gunman kills five people, including the policeman boyfriend of his former wife, on Christmas Day, before turning the gun on himself. DI Grace Fisher traces the illegal weapon and discovers a web of police corruption, vendettas and revenge.
Reviewed on 09 July 2016 by John Cleal
The Other Side of Silence
Bernie Gunther is living a quiet life in the South of France in 1956 when an old enemy reappears, and he is asked to undertake a sensitive task for a distinguished local resident – the writer Somerset Maugham.
Reviewed on 25 June 2016 by Chris Roberts
Fatal Pursuit
Village police chief Bruno is on the trail of a missing wartime racing car, as well as investigating who killed a researcher.
Reviewed on 11 June 2016 by Sharon Wheeler
Rough Cut
Reporter Rosie Gilmour becomes suspicious after a young Pakistani bride falls to her death.
Reviewed on 11 June 2016 by John Cleal
With Our Blessing
The body of an elderly woman is found crucified in a Dublin park and DI Tom Reynolds must solve a killing which has its roots in Ireland’s darkest past.
Reviewed on 23 April 2016 by John Cleal
The Memory of Evil
It is 42 years since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi came to power in Libya, the country of Balistreri’s birth. He, however, remembers the year not for that but for the death of his mother – a ‘suicide’ that he has always regarded as actually murder.
Reviewed on 12 March 2016 by Arnold Taylor
The Woman in Blue
It’s almost Easter and pilgrims are due in the small Norfolk town of Walsingham. Except, two women have been murdered and female priests are the targets of poison-pen letters.
Reviewed on 27 February 2016 by Sharon Wheeler
Enough Rope
While his assistant investigates the parenthood of a baby once left in a telephone box, ex-copper and PI Lee Arnold helps out a police superintendent whose son has been kidnapped.
Reviewed on 13 February 2016 by Chris Roberts
The Savage Hour
The death of an aged woman doctor breaks the long-established pattern of relationships on the rural South African farm she owns.
Reviewed on 13 February 2016 by Chris Roberts
The Hanging Girl
Seventeen years ago a beautiful girl disappeared from school, only to be found dead, hanging in a tree. Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, is called to investigate the old case and discovers a bizarre cult hidden from prying eyes.
Reviewed on 30 January 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Dark Meadow
Afra has returned to the poverty-stricken Bavarian home she left as a 14-year-old. Her pregnancy places intolerable strains on her staunchly Catholic family. When she and her son are murdered, her father is convicted, but 18 years later the case is reopened.
Reviewed on 12 December 2015 by John Cleal
Taking Pity
Detective Superintendent Trish Pharaoh is hoping that a power struggle between criminals in north east England will give her the opportunity to take a few down, while DS Aector McAvoy tackles a very cold case.
Reviewed on 12 December 2015 by Chris Roberts
Dark Heart
A former British Army doctor and two of his lovers, a South African photographer and an Australian lawyer, were all damaged by their experiences of the Rwandan genocide. Years later, a mystery photograph puts them at risk.
Reviewed on 24 October 2015 by John Cleal
A Cold Killing
Crime reporter Rosie Gilmour, back from hiding in Bosnia, investigates the murder of a retired university lecturer who was far more than he appeared.
Reviewed on 10 October 2015 by John Cleal
Poisoned Ground
PI Mumtaz Hakim goes undercover in a psychiatric institution seeking evidence that a doctor has manufactured evidence to cover up his crimes.
Reviewed on 10 October 2015 by Chris Roberts
The Seeker
Damien Seeker is a mystery. His family and past are unknown, but as an enforcement agent for Oliver Cromwell he is known and feared as a ruthless investigator, sworn to protect the ruler of England at any cost.
Reviewed on 26 September 2015 by John Cleal
The Dying Season
Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges is caught in the middle of a row between hunters and conservationists in the Dordogne town of St Denis, as well as having a suspicious death to investigate.
Reviewed on 29 August 2015 by Linda Wilson
A Book of Scars
DS Cathal Breen is recovering at the Devon farm of his former partner Helen Tozer, whose sister was murdered five years before. When a second killing copies the style, Breen and Tozer investigate – and uncover secrets from the past.
Reviewed on 01 August 2015 by John Cleal
A Killing Winter
Inspector Akyl Borubaev of the Biskek Murder Squad is called to investigate the horrific and bizarre killing of a young woman, and soon finds that this is no random atrocity.
Reviewed on 01 August 2015 by Chris Roberts
African Sky
In a wartime RAF training camp in Rhodesia, a beautiful WAAF is found murdered. Local policewoman Pip Lovejoy thinks Squadron Leader Paul Bryant knows more than he is telling.
Reviewed on 06 June 2015 by Chris Roberts
The Lady From Zagreb
Bernie Gunther’s reputation as a detective gets him a place as a speaker at an international police conference, and a private job looking into a company run by some important names.
Reviewed on 06 June 2015 by Chris Roberts
Betrayed
Investigative reporter Rosie Gilmour senses there is more to the fading story of a missing barmaid – and finds herself drawn into the brutal and violent world of Glasgow’s Ulster Volunteer Force.
Reviewed on 18 April 2015 by John Cleal
The Root of All Evil
A young Arab girl is murdered in Libya and there appears to be no discernible motive. Thirteen years later an almost identical murder takes place in Rome. Commissario Michele Balistreri knows that the two crimes are connected and that a solution to one will lead to a solution of the other.
Reviewed on 18 April 2015 by Arnold Taylor
The Ghost Fields
Archaeologist Ruth Galloway uncovers some dark family secrets as she helps police investigate the discovery of a World War II fighter plane with the wrong body on board.
Reviewed on 04 April 2015 by Sharon Wheeler
Ostland
An idealistic young German policeman joins the hunt for a serial killer operating on the Berlin S-Bahn railway. When the investigation comes to a close he is transferred and takes up a position in the German Eastern colonies.
Reviewed on 21 March 2015 by Arnold Taylor
The Hunter
Safari guide Hudson Brand is asked by an insurance company to check the details of the death of a woman in Zimbabwe. What he finds embroils him in a story of multiple murder.
Reviewed on 21 March 2015 by Chris Roberts
A Possibility of Violence
Inspector Avraham returns to work after a break which followed a difficult case, but the errors made continue to haunt him and affect his approach to new enquiries.
Reviewed on 07 March 2015 by Chris Roberts
A House of Knives
DS Cathal Breen and DC Helen Tozer investigate the death and mutilation of an MP’s son in swinging – and corrupt – London in 1968.
Reviewed on 24 January 2015 by John Cleal
The Director
Post WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, the CIA is fast losing credibility. The president appoints as CIA Director Graham Weber, a wealthy businessman and a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, with full authority to make any changes he considers necessary,
Reviewed on 24 January 2015 by Arnold Taylor
The Axe Factor
Jimm Juree, an attractive ex-journalist, is sent to interview a British writer in his house in Thailand. His apparent obsession with axes is worrying especially when Jimm learns that his first wife has disappeared. What follows is completely unpredictable.
Reviewed on 29 November 2014 by Sylvia Maughan
The Rising Tide
Tom Pascoe is drinking himself to death grieving for his murdered wife. His last chance to save his job with the River Police is to investigate the death of an MP found floating in the Thames. His inquiries leads to a ruthless ring of slavers determined to preserve their trade at any price – even treason.
Reviewed on 29 November 2014 by John Cleal
Into a Raging Blaze
Carina Dymek is a high-flyer in the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When she’s handed a leaked document, it sends her career up in flames and attracts the unwelcome attentions of the British MI6.
Reviewed on 15 November 2014 by Sharon Wheeler
The Deliverance of Evil
On the day that Italy won the World Cup in 1982 a young and very beautiful girl is murdered. Twenty-four years later, with that murder still unsolved, Italy again wins the World Cup and again a young girl is murdered. Commissario Michele Balestreri blames himself for having failed to solve the earlier crime and is determined to solve this one.
Reviewed on 01 November 2014 by Arnold Taylor
Can Anybody Help Me?
Yvonne is struggling after the birth of her first child. She’s moved to Dublin because of her husband’s job and hasn’t yet built up a support network, so instead, she turns to an internet site for help. But not everyone on there is all they seem.
Reviewed on 20 September 2014 by Linda Wilson
Children of War
Inspector Bruno Courrèges has to juggle an investigation into the brutal death of an undercover French cop with the clandestine return to France of Sami, a young Muslim man who appears to have been involved in terrorist activities in Afghanistan.
Reviewed on 26 July 2014 by Linda Wilson
Original Skin
DS Aector McAvoy of the Humberside Serious and Organised Crime Unit finds a mobile phone which leads him to believe a young homosexual’s death, ruled a suicide, may be more. Already in the middle of a drugs war, he must now plunge into a world of sleazy and violent sex to uncover to uncover the truth.
Reviewed on 12 July 2014 by John Cleal
Extraordinary People
Former forensics expert Enzo Macleod is determined to get to the bottom of a series of unsolved murders. First up is the disappearance – and presumed death – of a man who went missing in Paris 20 years ago.
Reviewed on 28 June 2014 by Linda Wilson
Entry Island
A murder is committed on a remote island off the Canadian mainland – and appears to be linked to events in Scotland over a century earlier.
Reviewed on 19 April 2014 by Jude Evans
The Garden of Burning Sand
When a young girl is raped, human rights lawyer Zoe Fleming is involved in the prosecution of a man with powerful connections.
Reviewed on 05 April 2014 by Chris Roberts
The Outcast Dead
Archaeologist Ruth Galloway has uncovered bones which may belong to a Victorian murderess. But DCI Harry Nelson has a more modern death to worry about.
Reviewed on 22 March 2014 by Sharon Wheeler
The Wrong Man
Lawyer Jason Kolarich defends an ex-soldier accused of murder. Barred from an insanity defence he has to show his client’s innocence.
Reviewed on 08 March 2014 by Chris Roberts
Murder at Wrotham Hill
The year is 1946. Britain is struggling in post-war austerity. Dagmar Petrzywalski, a middle-aged, gentle, eccentric spinster, is found strangled at the side of a main road in Kent. Britain’s first celebrity policeman, Chief Inspector Robert Fabian – Fabian of the Yard – investigates
Reviewed on 08 February 2014 by John Cleal
The Devil's Recruit
College lecturer Alexander Seaton investigates the disappearance of a Highland clan chieftain's son and the death of a teenage girl, and is drawn into a web of lies and betrayal linked to his own past.
Reviewed on 25 January 2014 by John Cleal
A Cry in the Night
When two children go missing in the Lake District in winter, DS Zoe Barnes and her boss DI Sam Taylor are called in to investigate. Tensions in a small village are running high and there’s even talk of witchcraft.
Reviewed on 11 January 2014 by Linda Wilson
The Last Alibi
Lawyer Jason Kolarich has a visit from a client who expects to be arrested for murder; six months later he stands accused himself.
Reviewed on 28 December 2013 by Chris Roberts
The Cold Nowhere
When teenage streetwalker Cat arrives at Lieutenant Jonathan Stride’s home drenched, covered in blood and begging protection from an unknown killer, the detective is plunged back in time to the killing of her mother and his discovery of a terrified six-year-old child.
Reviewed on 28 December 2013 by John Cleal
A Song from Dead Lips
DS Cathal Breen is assigned to the murder of a young girl near the famous Abbey Road recording studios. He is given a young and impulsive temporary female DC as an assistant and together the pair follow a series of clues which lead them from the Beatles’ fan club to an African conflict in which millions are dying.
Reviewed on 14 December 2013 by John Cleal
Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach
Jimm Juree, a sometime reporter in Thailand, finds a severed head on the beach. Her attempts to find out who it belongs to leads her to discover a major international crime which she then has to tackle.
Reviewed on 30 November 2013 by Sylvia Wilson
The Resistance Man
Against a backdrop of rural France, Inspector Bruno Courrèges, Chef de Police in St Denis, has to deal with a series of burglaries that culminates in a vicious murder.
Reviewed on 16 November 2013 by Linda Wilson
An Act of Kindness
In the east end of London, private investigators, Lee Arnold and Mumtaz Hakim are caught up in protection rackets, sex-trafficking and the problems caused by slum landlords and moneylenders.
Reviewed on 18 October 2013 by John Cleal
The Riot
DI Ted Stratton is posted to Notting Hill in 1958 where racial tension and financial manipulation need to be untangled to solve several murders.
Reviewed on 20 September 2013 by Chris Roberts
