James Anderson
The Affair of the Mutilated Mink

The Earl of Burford can't believe his luck. Rex Ransom, his favourite star from the 'talkies', and his hot-shot producer, Haggermeir, want to film their next feature at Alderley, the family's country estate. Less enthusiastic is the Countess, who finds herself hosting a house party for the Hollywood crowd. Before long the guest list grows to include two of their wilful daughter Lady Geraldine's dubious suitors, an eccentric screenwriter and a professional blackmailer. It's almost too much for Merryweather, the family's imperturbable butler, to cope with. And that's before there's a murder in the dead of night. Inspector Wilkins must unravel the baffling mystery - and work out just what a mutilated mink coat has to do with anything.

Lin Anderson
Dark Flight

A six-year-old boy has vanished from his own back garden, his mother and grandmother horrifically murdered. At the scene, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod finds a chilling African talisman made from the bones of a child. Then the mutilated torso of a second child is pulled from the river. Has Stephen been snatched by human traffickers who intend to butcher him in a juju ritual? Can Rhona decipher the talisman's meaning and track Stephen down before he becomes the next link in the killers' chain? Her search for the truth takes Rhona and her old flame, DS Michael McNab, from Glasgow to Nigeria. There they must try to use science and logic to counter the powerful influence of juju, a religion whose dark side involves black magic and human sacrifice.

London, 1864. Orphan Sarah O'Reilly has disguised herself as a boy so that she can work in the offices of Septimus Harding's newspaper. She meets Lily Korechnya, a weillthy widow who takes Sarah under her wing. Lily has been enlisted by Lady Cynthia Herbert to help catalogue her magnificent collection of jewels. She is especially struck by several large gems belonging to the Maharajah of Benares. The gems include a fiery red diamond that seems to exert an unsettling influence over anyone who touches it. Then two gruesome murders occur - first a customs officer and then a jeweller. Lily and Sarah are not convinced the police have the right man. Soon they are on a trail that leads back to India and the dangerous cult of the destroyer goddess Kali.