P.D. James
The Lighthouse

Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered. Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. Hardly have the team begun to unravel the complicated motives of the suspects than there is a second brutal killing, and the whole investigation is jeopardised when Dalgliesh is faced with a danger more insidious and as potentially fatal as murder.

`The setting is wonderfully atmospheric... A cunningly plotted novel. Great fun' - Peter Gutteridge, Books Quarterly

Susan Lewis
The Mill House

Julia has a terrible secret that is threatening to tear her world apart. Her beloved father walked out one day when she was sixteen and never contacted her again. Her mother refuses to speak of him, her sister seems to hate him, yet Julia can only remember the man who adored her. Joshua, Julia's husband, is devoted to his wife and children, but the ghosts of Julia's past begin to move into their marriage. Then two telephone calls change everything. Julia moves from London to a remote mill house in Cornwall, determined to discover the truth about her father and to find a way to break free from the past and save her fractured relationship with josh. But it is here that she makes her own fatal mistake and once more her marriage is rocked to its very foundation.

`Spellbinding... you just keep turning the pages, with the atmosphere growing more and more intense as the story leads to its dramatic climax'- Daily Mail

For twenty-one-year-old Harriet Purcell life changes the moment she leaves her respectable suburban home. Ignoring her father's protests that 'only fools, Bohemians and tarts' live in Kings Cross, a colourful district in the heart of Sydney, she moves into the rooming house owned by Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz. Mrs Schwartz, who earns a living telling fortunes, opens Harriet's eyes to the real world, a world of excitement, passion and adventure. As she learns about life, love and men, Harriet finds that following your heart is not always easy and that the future might not be as transparent as Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz's crystal ball and tarot cards suggest. But of one thing Harriet is certain: Mrs Schwartz's beautiful, mute four-year-old daughter, Flo, has enchanted her, marking the start of a lifetime bond. Then tragedy strikes and Harriet learns that protecting those you care for most can be the hardest thing of all...