January Book Competition 2016

Coffin Road, by Peter May

The million-selling master of crime brings murder back to the Outer Hebrides. A man is washed up on the Isle of Harris, barely alive. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his identity is a map tracing a track called the Coffin Road.

He does not know where it will lead him. A detective crosses rough Atlantic seas to a remote rock twenty miles west of the Outer Hebrides. With a sense of foreboding he steps ashore where three lighthouse keepers disappeared more than a century before to solve the new mystery of a man found bludgeoned to death on that same rock.
A teenage girl lies in her Edinburgh bedroom, desperate to discover the truth about her father’s death. And the more she discovers about the nature of his research, the more she suspects that others were behind his disappearance.

Coffin Road follows three perilous journeys towards one shocking truth – and the realisation that ignorance can kill us. Peter May was born and raised in Scotland. He was an award-winning journalist at the age of twenty-one and a published novelist at twenty-six. When his first book was adapted as a major drama series for the BCC, he quit journalism and during the high-octane fifteen years that followed, became one of Scotland’s most successful television dramatists. Peter now lives in South-West France with his wife, writer Janice Hally. Author Website: www.petermay.co.uk

Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts

A secret that can’t be told. A love that can’t be denied. The irresistible novel of romance and suspense from Nora Roberts.
Roxy Nouvelle understands the art of deception. A world-renowned magician’s daughter, Roxy has inherited her father’s talents – and his secret life as a jewel thief. She loves the thrill of the game and can take care of herself. Roxy is smart and resilient, but she has one weakness: Luke Callahan, a sexy escape artist with a roguish reputation.

Five years ago they fell into a passionate affair – but then, true to his art – he disappeared, leaving Roxy broken hearted and furious. Now Luke is back, trailing secrets and danger in his wake. Why did he run out on Roxy all those years ago? And can she ever trust him again? Nora Roberts is the number one New York Times bestseller of more than 200 novels. She has achieved numerous top five bestsellers in the UK, and is a Sunday Times hardback bestseller writing as both Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb.

Author Website: www.noraroberts.com

The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

The new novel from the Edgar-Award winning author of The Wicked Girls and The Killer Next Door. Taut, emotive and utterly compelling, an unputdownable read from Alex Marwood, author of the huge word-of-mouth bestseller, The Wicked Girls. When three-year-old identical twin Coco goes missing during a family celebration, there is a media frenzy. Her parents are rich and influential, as are the friends they were with at their holiday home by the sea. But what really happened to Coco during her father’s 50th birthday weekend? Set across two weekends – the first when Coco goes missing and the second, at the funeral of Coco’s father, where at last, the darkest of secrets will be revealed. Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of a journalist who has worked extensively across the British press. She is the author of the word-ofmouth sensation The Wicked Girls, which won an Edgar Award and The Killer Next Door. Both novels have been optioned for the screen. Alex lives in south London. Author

Website: www.alexmarwood.com

No Mortal Thing by Gerald Seymour

More powerful, more vicious than the Mafia, the Ndrangheta are reaching their tentacles of crime from Southern Italy into every country of Europe. Two young men both studying business and finance: Jago is a kid from a rough part of London who has worked hard to get a job in a bank and is now on a fast-track secondment to the Berlin office. Marcantonio is one of the new generation in the Ndrangheta crime families from Calabria, Southern Italy, in Germany to learn how to channel their illicit millions towards legitimate businesses all over Europe. When Jago witnesses Marcantonio commit a vicious assault, the Englishman refuses to let the matter drop. But by pursuing the gangster to his grandfather’s mountain lair, Jago is stepping into the middle of a delicate surveillance operation. It also leads him to Consolata, a young woman who sees in Jago the chance to turn her non-violent protest campaign into something altogether more lethal.

No Mortal Thing is a novel of relentless power and mounting suspense, a brilliant portrayal of organised crime in Europe. Gerald Seymour exploded onto the literary scene in 1975 with the massive bestseller Harry’s Game.It was the first major thriller to tackle the modern troubles in Northern Ireland, changing the landscape of the British thriller forever. Gerald Seymour was a reporter at ITN for fifteen years. He covered events in Vietnam, Borneo, Aden, the Munich Olympics, Israel and Northern Ireland. He has been a full-time writer since 1978.

Author Website: www.geraldseymour.co.uk

This competition is now closed.