Recent books from CWA members

Newly promoted Detective Superintendent Henry Christie could well do without the sideshow of dealing with Felix Deakin, a convicted drug dealer serving a heavy prison sentence, who suddenly volunteers some new evidence that could be crucial in the upcoming murder trial of a gangland lord.

But things go horribly wrong when Deakin escapes from custody on his way from a court hearing. Henry suddenly finds himself in charge of a manhunt with a twist when a desgraced ex-cop's son is kidnapped by a desperate Deakin, and the boy's life becomes a deadly bargaining counter.

As the chase escalates, it's a race against time for Henry Christie...

Inspector Andy Horton’s holiday peace is shattered when stepping out across an abandoned golf course on the Isle of Wight on a cold, grey January, he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand leaning over a corpse in one of the discarded bunkers. When she professes to be the dead man’s sister and psychic, Horton’s old adversary, DCI Birch, is convinced she is mentally disturbed and the killer, but Horton is not so sure. He feels a strange affinity towards the woman, and a sense of recognition even though he’s convinced they’ve never met. When it’s revealed that the dead man was working on a top-level environmental project on behalf of the European Commission, Horton is urged by Superintendent Uckfield to go undercover. His mission is to trap a clever killer, but he soon finds his own life in danger... Then another death changes everything. With no clear suspects, and a confusion of possible motives, a frustrating, complex case is complicated still further by Horton’s growing feelings and concern for the woman. As he goes in search of the truth, aided by Sergeant Cantelli, Horton uncovers a web of intrigue that ripples down the years, and which someone is determined should never be revealed.

DI Horton is called to investigate a suspicious fire on board a boat, but as soon as he arrives at the marina he experiences a premonition so strong that it's almost audible. As he views the charred remains of the dead man he knows instinctively that this investigation will be like no other, and he's right. Soon Horton is forced to confront the past, not just the victim' past, but the mystery surrounding his mother's disappearance over thirty years ago. As the pieces of a long ago puzzle begin to unravel, it soon becomes clear to Horton that this is one case someone is determined he should never solve - masterminded by a dangerous adversary who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from coming out...

Murray Watson is a disenchanted academic whose research is going nowhere. The object of his study is Archie Lunan, a young poet, the brightest of his generation, who disappeared thirty years previous in mysterious circumstances. When Murray is caught inflagrante delicto with the wife of a certain influential colleague, Murray's life goes into freefall and he flees to the island of Lismore, the last place Lunan was seen alive, and a safe haven for Murray. Or so he believes... Loaded with Welsh's trademark wit, colour and gothic charisma, this gutsy adventure novel weaves the lives of Murray and Archie together in a tale of literature, sex and black magic.

The TV Detective finds television reporter Dan Groves newly assigned to the crime beat, and in a state of angst about it. He needs a crash-course in police work; the solution is to shadow Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen on a high-profile murder inquiry, which doesn't go down well with some members of the police force. The victim is a notorious local businessman, Edward Bray, a man with so many enemies that one of the problems the inquiry faces is having a surplus of suspects. Bray is killed at a prearranged meeting, in a lay-by on a dark and storm-lashed night, by a blast through the heart from a shotgun. Adam investigates and uncovers a tantalising question, which seems to be at the heart of the case: why was the killing planned for a different day, but put off apparently because the weather was sunny? Tensions abound between Dan and the police, and he comes close to being thrown off the case - until the detectives come to realise he might actually be helpful, in using the power of television to tempt the murderer into a trap.

How do you solve a crime when there's no evidence one has been committed? When Sarah Kelly fails to return from a night out, DI Mike Nash can only speculate, until a chance remark causes him to look deeper into other cases; girls who have vanished without trace. Nash spots chilling similarities: no bodies, no witnesses, all disappearances explained away. While investigating seemingly unconnected crimes, Nash strives to come to grips with the psyche of a most unusual serial killer. He needs to find a solution and fast as two more women vanish, making it personal and potentially fatal; both for Nash and for the women who have been chosen...

The first three adventures in the best-selling children's history mystery series

When novelist Theo Kendal inherits the remote Norfolk house in which his cousin Charmery was murdered, he believes it will bring him closer to the truth about her death. It will also be the ideal place to finish his new book. But the bleak Fenn House is an uncomfortable place to spend the winter. Plagued by unexplained noises, a clock that winds up by itself and a rose mysteriously left on the dining room table, Theo is beginning to regret his decision. Even stranger, his new novel seems to be writing itself – and heading in an unplanned direction. Theo finds himself describing a young boy called Matthew who lives in constant fear of a visit from the cold-eyed men. Struggling to understand the dangerous secrets that surround him and his family, Matthew inhabits a terrifying world where people die in macabre circumstances, where they can be imprisoned without trial or reason, their identities wiped from the world forever.

And then Theo discovers that Matthew and his family really existed – that they are part of a dark and violent segment of recent history that threatens to reach across the years to tear his life apart. And somehow it all connects to the death of his cousin Charmery...

Horton and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where an elderly resident, suffering from dementia, claims she's been attacked by an intruder. Horton is ready to dismiss it as senile ramblings until he discovers that her room-mate has died, the dead woman's belongings are missing and her son, convicted for armed robbery, has been found dead in his cell. As if this isn't enough, Horton also has to deal with a series of threatening telephone calls to a television personality, and a mother's conviction that her son's death on Christmas Eve was no accident. Soon, to his surprise, Horton finds he is caught up in a complex investigation that has far-reaching international implications. With the pressure on to find a killer, and hampered by his belief that his bosses are lying to him, Horton discovers that he's stepped into a web of intrigue, deception and corruption that stretches back into the past.

Detective Inspector Michael Angel and his team of regulars are searching for a serial killer on the loose in the South Yorkshire town of Bromersley.

Clues are sparse and confusing. A character in early Roman attire is observed at every murder and a laurel leaf left on every corpse. DNA links a woman of oriental origin to the murders but the evidence doesn’t fit any of the suspects. The motive seems to be linked with the death of a matinée idol of the 1980’s.

The investigations become more mystifying and dangerous, as Inspector Angel races to find the killer to prevent more mayhem and unexpectedly encounters the murderer’s secret shrine to murder.

This is the 15th in the highly successful Inspector Angel series.

Detective Inspector Angel and his team investigate a puzzling case of abduction and possible murder in the South Yorkshire town of Bromersley. A rich woman marries a man she hardly knows then disappears. Investigations reveal that her husband, Harry, never existed.

Also, four men who claim they have nothing in common, staying at the luxurious Feathers Hotel, wake up in the middle of the night having been attacked in their sleep, and each suffering from a painful broken finger. At the same time, a hit man, known as The Fixer, is at large, causing every villain and policeman to be apprehensive and on their toes.

This is the 13th in the highly successful Inspector Angel series.