His Hands were Quiet and a round-up of new releases

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott-once his assistant, now a partner in the agency-set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been-Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.

Someone has a chip on their shoulder and it isn’t made of chocolate.

Madeline Flynn, her posse of girlfriends and Gran, as well as Big Red, her faithful Maine Coon, are whisked up an investigation that will take all their sleuthing skills to solve as they wade through clues as thick as cookie batter, hoping that the timer won’t go off on another murder.

With the handsome Sheriff’s protection, can Maddie and her team solve this Maple Falls crime or have they taken on more than they can chew?

Banking heiress Trish and her husband, James, seem to have it all, from a lavish lifestyle to a historic mansion in the nation’s capital. All that’s missing from their privileged life is a baby.

So when Trish sees Anne Elise for the first time, it’s no surprise that she falls deeply in love. There’s just one problem: Trish isn’t the mother. The baby belongs to Laurel, James’s young mistress. And James and Laurel want the wife out of the picture.

When Trish becomes perversely obsessed with making Laurel’s baby her own, the lovers come up with a wicked plan to end James’s marriage that quickly goes awry. As the love triangle becomes more and more dangerous, how far is each of them willing to go to get what they want?

Each morning, Roland left her a new note. Different words but the same theme.

Each night and without fail, he now came home to share the dinner she now ate alone in her room.

It didn’t matter that the affair was over before she found out.

For twenty years she had been the loyal corporate wife, loving mother and best friend. Now, Juliette longed for the hippy child inside to reclaim the woman she had become. And she might have found just the man to set her soul and body free.

Michael Hudson spends the long days in prison devouring books given to him by the prison’s librarian, a young woman named Anna who develops a soft spot for her best student. Anna keeps passing Michael books until one day he disappears, suddenly released after a private detective manipulated a witness in Michael’s trial.

Outside, Michael encounters a Washington, D.C. that has changed a lot during his time locked up. Once shady storefronts are now trendy beer gardens and flower shops. But what hasn’t changed is the hard choice between the temptation of crime and doing what’s right. Trying to balance his new job, his love of reading, and the debt he owes to the man who got him released, Michael struggles to figure out his place in this new world before he loses control.

Can you handle the hidey-hole truth? How about hidden tunnels and ghostly chills? Covert witch Amanda and her ever-grumpy cat Tempest take on Sunken Madley Manor.

Just one more page before you turn out the light? The first in this English village cozy mystery series will test your resolve.

Army Ranger Henry “Biggs” Biggston just can’t seem to fit in. The recently discharged vet desperately wants to put his specialized skills to good use. And when a security gig reveals a stray CCTV clip of shocking sex-trafficking footage, Biggs’ desire to nail the bad guys kicks into action.

Teaming up with a no-nonsense school friend turned cop, the burly ex-Ranger discovers he’s up against a seriously organized crime syndicate. It doesn’t take long for the mobsters to put a price on his head, and the first life Biggs will have to save is his own. Can the ranger save the innocent girls from sexual slavery or will a murderous cartel cut his retirement short?

Not even death can stop her.

Fearsome demon hunter Nadira has been torn from her next life and resurrected in present-day New York. The demons she once battled have made peace with humans. Or, so they claim. But brawls between demons and humans are becoming more frequent, and human leaders are disappearing.

Tasked by the shadowy organization that trained her, she must battle her own personal trauma and once again fight for the souls of mankind. Will Nadira remain a beacon of light to those fighting for humankind? Or will she lose her humanity to the darkness within?

Lady Hardcastle and her trusted lady’s maid, Florence, find themselves hosting a colourful cast of actors whose spooky moving picture, The Witch’s Downfall, is being shown to mark Halloween. But things take a macabre turn when the first night’s screening ends with a mysterious murder, and the second night with another…One by one the actors turn up dead in ways that eerily echo their film.

With the police left scratching their heads, Lady Hardcastle calls upon her amateur sleuthing skills to launch an investigation, with Flo’s able assistance. Surrounded by suspects both human and supernatural, Lady Hardcastle must use a little trickery of her own to unmask the murderer.

Ruby and Fina find themselves in a world of glamour once again, this time on a private island owned by a famous Italian shoe designer.

A riotous guest list of artists, flowing wine, passion and political intrigue guarantee a thrilling time for all.

But it could be a little too thrilling unless Ruby and Fina find the murderer.

Soon.

Meet Mia Weston. Former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, certified dog lover and the lone employee of Sierra Bay Investigations. During the morning, Mia works in her sister’s flower and gift shop, Petals & Pearls. When Aunt Vivian arrives for the afternoon shift behind the cash register, Mia climbs the stairs to a small office in the same building to work on cases, drink endless cups of coffee and confer with a trustworthy Golden Retriever named Lulu.

For Mia, returning to her charming seaside hometown after more than a decade is a fresh start in every way. She’s living in the cozy guest cottage behind her mother’s house. She’s having a great time reconnecting with childhood friends. And she lands her first client before the paint is dry on her office walls.

But when the seemingly simple job becomes a homicide case, Mia agrees to work alongside Detective Luke Stewart from the Sierra Bay Police Department. The case propels Mia and Luke into an intricate whodunit involving a diamond evil eye pendant, local gossip and family scandals, anonymous threats delivered by email, a stolen flash drive filled with secrets, a blood-stained steak knife and a commemorative bottle of Lilac Mist, the signature fragrance from the grand opening of Petals & Pearls.

As a paramedic, Rocco Pierce is no stranger to making life-and-death decisions and delivering devastating news.

But he has never faced a situation quite like this.

What exactly do you do with a letter informing you that your wife is dying of breast cancer when you’ve never been married?

Is it a bureaucratic failure or divine intervention?

Crime reporter Mallory Yoshida is used to getting odd fan mail, so
why should she pay attention to this guy who wants to talk to her about a mysterious letter?

After all, it’s not like it’s a matter of life and death.

When Max Kane gets word that a retired Navy SEAL friend of his has been picked up for suspicion of murder, he rounds up his sister and they drive to NAS Corpus Christi, Texas to discover the truth. NCIS has decided Chief Petty Officer Clive Garrett is guilty of killing his ex-wife. And why not? Since the chief retired six months ago, he had turned heavily to the bottle for comfort, and the ink on his divorce was barely dry before his ex-wife married a Navy pilot.

But Max quickly finds out that not all murders are as clear-cut as they seem. Max must fight JAG lawyers who don’t seem interested in alternative theories, as well as an old friend who might have been too drunk to know if he killed his former wife. As everything seems to be stacked against this highly-decorated SEAL, Max relentlessly fights for the truth. Can he return his friend’s stolen honor and find the killer?

Connie Winters imagines that allowing all of the residents of Mystic Springs to see the spirits who live amongst them will let her live a quiet life.

She couldn’t be more wrong.

When a gypsy woman discovers a historic journal, the woman will pay the ultimate price for her treasure.

Everyone knows that Mystic Springs was discovered, and founded, by a group of women. Or, at least, that’s what they’ve been told. This journal tells another story. A story that nobody wants to believe.

But who would want the journal badly enough to kill for it?

Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.

Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him — a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy…

Ray Jacobs hasn’t dealt with the trauma of his last mission more than a decade ago. Now, separated from his family and still haunted by the demons of his past, he is struggling to survive.

When his eleven-year-old daughter, Hannah, is kidnapped without demand for ransom, Ray’s purpose immediately comes into sharp focus. He gets crystal clear on his new mission. He must find and rescue Hannah. Failure is not an option this time. Even as a deadly virus ravages the nation, racking up fatalities within days of exposure, Ray must do whatever it takes to protect Hannah and hunt down her assailants.

John Rebus is not as young as he was, but his detective instincts have never left him. And after the daughter of a murder victim turns up outside his flat, he’s going to need them at their sharpest.

Enlisting the help of his old friend DI Siobhan Clarke, Rebus is determined to solve this cold case once and for all. But Clarke has problems of her own, problems that will put her at odds with her long-time mentor and push him into seeking help from his age-old adversary: ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty.

This haunting story takes Rebus to places he has never been before, sets him and his long-time foe on a collision course and takes us deeper into one of the most satisfying conflicts in modern fiction.

When a family tragedy rips a young woman from her quiet existence, only two things give Delia any solace: steely determination, and the butcher’s son. Well, that and the ominous whispers that warned her of impending danger throughout her childhood.

Years later, violent conflicts and machinations of war shape the headstrong young woman and her far-flung soldier into people they don’t even recognize anymore. Though Delia finally finds her true self in the arms of an unconventional lover, danger is closer than ever before.

The whispers in the shadows have never been more urgent. Soon, the ties of her violent past will collide with everything she holds dear.