Recommendations based on "Shocking Deceptions"

A wildly charming and fast-paced mystery written with all the panache of the hardboiled classics, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces Pentecost and Parker, an audacious new detective duo for the ages.“Razor-sharp style, tons of flair, a snappy sense of humor, and all the most satisfying elements of a really good noir novel, plus plenty of original twists of its own.”—Tana French, bestselling author of The SearcherIt's 1942 and Willowjean "Will" Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York's best, and most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn't expect to be offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian's multiple sclerosis means she can't keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will is to receive a salary, room and board, and training in Lillian's very particular art of investigation.Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home—her body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding answers where the police have failed.But that's easier said than done in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive spiritualist, and Becca Collins—the beautiful daughter of the deceased, who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca's relationship dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous territory, and discovers she may have become the murderer's next target.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough – who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .

"1931. Maisie Dobbs's new case takes her to the Kent Weald where acts of arson, theft and vandalism around the village of Heronsdene have gone unreported for more than a decade. Maisie accepts the assignment from an old friend who wants her to uncover the truth behind these crimes before he buys part of the Sandermere estate at the heart of the village. Maisie discovers that the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders and, even more troubling, seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid“--Provided by publisher.

It is the winter of 1379 and a sea of trouble is besetting England as French privateers continue to attack the southern coast on a path to threaten London itself. In response an English flotilla of warships, with God's Bright Light in its number, has dropped anchor in the Thames. When the sun rises on the flotilla's first morning, the first mate and two of the crew of God's Bright Light have disappeared without a trace. Sir John Cranston?the wine-loving Coroner of the City?and his clerk Brother Athelstan are summoned to resolve the mysteries on board the ill-omened warship. In particular, they must search out the truth behind the death of Sir Henry Ospring, who after visiting the ship's captain was later viciously stabbed to death in a tavern chamber. As Cranston and Brother Athelstan investigate, they find themselves in the thick of a bloody battle as scandal, treason, and murder rule the day.

The new Inspector Woodend mystery The discovery of the body of a young, red-haired school mistress, lying in a pig-pen with her face half-eaten away, is the beginning of a new investigation for Charlie Woodend. But it is to be an investigation he is soon ordered to abandon when Helen Dunn, the daughter of Wing Commander Dunn - and a pupil at the school where the dead woman taught - suddenly vanishes into thin air. While Woodend and Rutter race against time in the desperate hope of finding the girl alive, Woodend's bagman, Monika Paniatowski, continues to work on the murder, under the supervision of the mysterious Chief Inspector Horrocks, a Scotland Yard man who seems to have only a mild interest in finding the killer. Are the two cases connected? Woodend begins to wonder. And if they are, who is it who seems to be blocking both investigations at every turn?

Stoneham, New Hampshire, was a dying town until community leaders invited booksellers to open up shop. Now, its streets are lined with bookstores—and paved with murder… Murder is Binding: When she opened her mystery bookstore, city slicker Tricia Miles met friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason killed by a carving knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on Doris’ rare cookbook—and the locals think that someone is Tricia. Bookmarked for Death: To celebrate her bookstore’s anniversary, Tricia hosts a book signing for bestselling author Zoe Carter. But the event takes a terrible turn when the author is found dead in the washroom. With both police and reporters demanding the real story, Tricia will have to take matters into her own hands and read between the lines. Bookplate Special: After weeks of putting up with her uninvited college roommate Pammy Fredricks, Tricia finally gets fed up and kicks her out. But when Pammy is later found dead in the trash cart, Tricia will need to dive in head-first if she wants to solve the case.

Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting double life, has now retired in simple luxury to the south of France. But when an old enemy resurfaces, threatening to expose the countless fake jewels Kick had carefully substituted during her years of secret theft, she is ready to act. Back in London, Kick finds herself with more employment than she bargained for at a company whose status is much more precarious than she'd thought. Her enemy, in disguise, circles ever closer. And a young nun comes to Kick with a mysterious jewel-encrusted figurine, and a story of greed and murder. To balance on this high wire, Kick must sneak into an upper-crust wedding in the Italian Alps, break into an ancient castle owned by a very modern murderer, and do it all with her customary panache, style, and grace. Can she keep one step ahead of the most seductively ruthless foe she's ever encountered?

An uninvited guest...a deadly secret....and a terrible crime. When a well-loved family of five are found dead sitting around their dining table with an untouched meal in front of them, it sends shockwaves throughout the community. Was it a murder suicide, or was someone else involved? It's one of DCI Whitney Walker's most baffling cases, and even with the help of forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish, they struggle to find any clues or motives to help them catch the killer. But with a community in mourning and growing pressure to get answers, Cavendish and Walker are forced to go deeper into a murderer's mind than they've ever gone before. Dark Secrets is the eleventh book in the Cavendish & Walker series. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Joy Ellis and Rachel McLean.

* THE FOURTH NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING MODESTY BLAISE SERIES * 'The finest escapist thrillers ever written' THE TIMES 'Before Buffy, before Charlie's Angels, before Purdy and Emma Peel, there was Modesty Blaise' - OBSERVERDinah Pilgrim and her sister Judy are vacationing in Panama when they're attacked on a lonely beach by a pair of gunmen. Judy is killed and Dinah is almost taken prisoner, and only the intervention of Willie Garvin - loyal lieutenant to Modesty Blaise - saves her. But with the entire Panamanian underworld searching for them, Willie and Dinah must go into hiding.It's not enough - Dinah is brutally kidnapped. Modesty and Willie must travel to Algeria and The Sahara to rescue her. But they're up against the most formidable opponents they've ever crossed swords with, quite literally. In the high reaches of an abandoned Foreign Legion fort, Modesty will find herself in a duel to the death with a swordmaster who has no mercy...

Get the latest mystery in the bestselling Railway Detective series ... 1866. On a train bound for Portsmouth, an elegant woman shares a compartment with the lecherous Giles Blanchard. It is a lucky encounter for her, as she steps off the train after picking his pocket and in possession of scandalous material for a potential blackmail. It is a less fortuitous meeting for Blanchard, who will never reach his home on the Isle of Wight alive. Detective Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are swiftly dispatched to sift through the evidence. With Queen Victoria poised to spend the summer on the island, a speedy resolution to the case is imperative for their superiors. Tracing Blanchard's killer is an endeavour freighted with difficulties, but will the fact that their inquiries lead them to the door of a royal residence be one complication too many?