How to Write a Mystery by Lee Child (2021)

From 70 of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries—from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers—“this is a writing guide that readers and writers will turn to again and again” ( Booklist , starred review). Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is known for providing unparalleled resources on the craft, art, and business of storytelling, helping writers of all levels improve their skills for nearly a century. Now, this handbook helps authors navigate the ever-shifting publishing landscape—from pacing, plotting, the business side of publishing, to the current demand for diversity and inclusivity across all genres, and more. Featuring essays by a new generation of bestselling experts on various elements of the craft and shorter pieces of crowd-sourced wisdom from the MWA membership as a whole, the topics covered can be categorized as —Before Writing (rules; genres; setting; character; research; etc.) —While Writing (outlining; the plot; dialogue; mood; etc.) —After Writing (agents; editors; self-pub; etc.) —Other than Novels (short stories; true crime; etc.) —Other Considerations (diverse characters; legal questions; criticism) Also included is a collection of essays from MWA published authors—including Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen , and Charlaine Harris —selected by bestselling authors Lee Child and Laurie King and arranged thematically answering, “What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d had at the beginning of your career?” “Everything you wanted to know about how to plan, draft, write, revise, publish, and market a mystery” ( Kirkus Reviews ), this inclusive manual provides practical, current, easily digestible advice for new and established authors alike.

Castle Shade by Laurie R. King (2021)

Want to Know a Secret? by Freida McFadden (2021)

**Everyone has secrets.** YouTube baking sensation April Masterson knows the secret to the perfect gooey brownies. Or how to make key lime squares that will melt in your mouth. But if you keep watching her offline, you may find out some other secrets about April. **Secrets she’d rather you didn’t know**. Like where did her son go when he snuck out of the house? What was she doing with the local soccer coach behind fogged windows? **And what’s buried in her backyard?** Everyone has secrets. Some are worse than others. April’s secrets are enough to destroy her. **I’ll make sure of that.**

Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden (2021)

**Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime.** To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she's done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn't the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching. In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

The Locked Door by Freida McFadden (2021)

**Some doors are locked for a reason…** While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement. Until the day the police arrived at their front door. Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way. Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Ivy by Devney Perry (2021)

Can you keep a secret? Aston University might be teeming with prestigious and wealthy students, but the currency on campus isn’t their millions. It’s their secrets. And the three women living at Clarence Manor are filthy rich in lies and deceit. Two of the roommates have played this game for years. Some would consider them masters of a ruse. The third might be new to Aston, but she’s no stranger to secrets. Cassia, the outsider. Elora, the ice princess. And Ivy, the puppet master. Who’s hiding the ugliest truths? We’ll let you be the judge. Go ahead. Whisper your confessions in our ear. We promise not to tell.

Devil's Table by Kate Rhodes (2021)

A MISSING CHILD St Martin’s is shrouded in bitterly cold fog when Jade Minear and her twin brother, Ethan, are attacked in a field, late at night. Ethan manages to return home but the shocking events of Jade’s disappearance have rendered him mute. A LONG-HELD GRUDGE On a small island where there are few places a child can hide, DI Ben Kitto must battle the elements to search for Jade. When his investigation reveals that the Minear family have many enemies on the island, Kitto grows increasingly worried that Jade is in danger. A KILLER HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT . . . Meanwhile, someone on the island knows exactly where the girl is. Someone with a deep-seated hatred of Jade's family. To find the truth, Kitto must investigate the lives of the people he has known all of his life. Because one of them is lying – and it isn’t long until a body is found . . .

Five Minds by Guy Morpuss (2021)

**SHARING A BODY CAN BE MURDER** Alex, Kate, Mike, Sierra and Ben have spent twenty-five years trapped together. And there's no escape. They share one body, part of humanity's answer to its dangerously spiralling population. After more than two decades of bickering and petty vendettas, the one thing they can agree on is that they need a better host, and so they travel to a Death Park where they can win enough to get them the upgrades that will make the next twenty-five years bearable. But things go very wrong when Kate accepts a dangerous offer, and one of them disappears. Someone is trying to kill off members of the commune. But why? Is one of them responsible? Or is an outsider playing a deadly game? It's hard enough to catch a murderer. It's almost impossible when you might be sharing a body with them...

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (2021)

In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.

A Sanctuary for Soulden by J.A. Rock (2021)

**He wasn't meant for a quiet life.** Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden, is a fop. An idle popinjay with nothing more on his mind than how to best knot his cravat. He definitely doesn’t spy against the French. Or arrange hasty weddings. Or occasionally commandeer the navy. And he certainly doesn’t seek out mortal danger in order to combat his pervasive ennui. It’s all just a big misunderstanding when he’s shot by a French intelligence officer during a merry riverside chase. And what a wonderful bit of quick thinking to pretend to be a corpse in order to get himself taken to the local surgeon's autopsy cellar. The French will never find him there. If the French are even looking for him. Which they’re not. Now he just needs to locate a way out before this surgeon fellow attempts to dissect him. **He'd rather deal with the dead than the living.** Surgeon Edmund Fernside does his best to heal the living, but in truth, he'd much rather look into the gaping chest cavity of a corpse than into the startling blue eyes of a...corpse that just climbed off his autopsy table. Well then. Lord Soulden is clearly a man with some complicated secrets. But with the French in hot pursuit and a rather brutal gunshot wound, Soulden’s not going anywhere anytime soon, and Fernside discovers that he enjoys the pleasure of his company. In more ways than one. **Now, trusting each other could mean the difference between life and death.** As Soulden learns to be still for the first time in his life, Fernside wonders if perhaps it’s time to spread his wings a little. They can only hide from the outside world—and from their pasts—for so long before the secrets they’ve uncovered about each other strain the growing attraction between them. Each man must decide whether a life of comfortable lies is preferable to one full of difficult truths. And whether the sanctuary they’ve created together is something worth fighting for.

Neurotic Hell by Thomas Vancura (2021)

Harmon Tandler, an investigative journalist fresh out of college, works for anarchist newspaper *The Daily Dystopia*. His assignment is to investigate the suspicious Sunwest Society. After a mysterious neck injury, Harmon gradually descends into compulsive self-harm, injuring his own flesh with mutilation in a sick quest for bliss. His death, lying in his blood-drenched apartment with defamation charges written against his editor, led by conspiracy theories. To show the events that follow, his friend, Beckham Coletti, tells this tale in a journalistic following epilogue, also open to interpretation. The tale critiques rampant corruption, the improper handling of mental health, and the dangers of seeking the truth in a world so broken, culminating in an ominous atmosphere that pervades throughout. --- **“Neurotic Hell” © 2021 by Thomas Vancura is licensed under [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).**

Hold Me by Willow Winters (2021)

I was born into luxury and used to getting what I wanted. What I desired most, with my life in disarray, was the man who sat across from me. He was tall, dark and handsome, but, most notably, forbidden. It made every accidental touch more sinful and every session more addictive. There was so much tragedy and he was supposed to fix me. I shouldn’t have wondered how it would feel to be trapped under his broad shoulders. I shouldn’t have focused on the way he licked his bottom lip every time his gaze dropped from mine and roamed my curves. I shouldn’t have dreamed about him breaking the rules to comfort me the way I desperately needed. I did though, and I was the first one to break. He was my protector and my confidant and then he became my lover. I teased him, tempted the two of us and now there’s no way to take it back. With everything I've been through, I didn’t expect to fall for him. *There’s only so much heartache I can take.*

Bound by Lauren Landish (2021)

I had everything. Wealth, power… and her. It started as an irresistible and provocative game. Only elite circles knew about the club and what happened behind closed doors. A monthly auction. A high price bid. A woman I was never supposed to fall in love with. I taught her what submission is and she loved it more than I could ever imagine. It was perfect… like we were made for each other. One tragic night tore her from me and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. For years, I’ve waited. I thought I could have her again. I thought the past wouldn’t catch up to us… I couldn’t have been more wrong. I brought danger to her doorstep, but I’ll burn it all down before I’ll ever let her go again. ---------- ***Bound*** is a full-length romance with a Happily Ever After. It can be read as a standalone.

The Emperor by RuNyx (2021)

**What happens when a legacy of ruin mates with a realm of blood?** Heir to the notorious Tenebrae Outfit, Dante Maroni has been trained since birth. A silent rebel in the shadows, he has learned to hide his ruthlessness under his charm, his brutality under his suits, and his love for one woman under his silence. Infiltrating the Syndicate responsible for the missing children, Dante discovers information that shatters his reality and forces him to trigger a lethal game. Daughter of the Maroni housekeeper, Amara has loved Dante for longer than she's known it. Abducted and tortured at the young age of fifteen, she loses herself, her life, and her home as she knows it. Years after, unknowingly protected, she's found some semblance of normalcy when her world collapses again, forcing her to join the game. Mysteries are unraveled. Secrets are discovered. And their young love is transformed, replaced by a deep intimacy, power, and survival. The reluctant king and inevitable queen play. **An empire of death is born.**

Many Deadly Returns by Martin Edwards (2021)

Murder Squad, a group of award-winning crime and mystery writers, celebrate their twenty-first birthday with a bang in this criminally good collection of short stories. A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope . . . Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results . . . A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive' . . . A train traveller teaches a valuable lesson in reading labels . . . A day at the seaside turns stormy for a woman who doesn't care for foreigners . . . A wealthy retiree makes a new friend who connects her to the Other Side . . . and much much more. Short, sharp and packed with twists, these 21 unputdownable tales showcase Murder Squad's range and talent throughout the years. So why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad 'Many Deadly Returns'. With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

En plena noche by Mikel Santiago (2021)

**Un grupo de rock. Un concierto. Una chica desaparecida.** ¿Puede una noche marcar el destino de todos los que la vivieron? Han pasado más de veinte años desde que Diego Letamendia, estrella del rock en declive, actuó por última vez en su pueblo natal, Illumbe. Esa fue la noche del final de su banda y su grupo de amigos, y también la de la desaparición de Lorea, su novia. La policía nunca logró esclarecer lo ocurrido con la chica, que fue vista saliendo a toda prisa de la sala de conciertos, como si huyera de algo o de alguien. Después de aquello, Diego emprendió una carrera de éxitos en solitario y jamás regresó al pueblo.

Last Day Alive by Jeneva Rose (2021)

One hot summer’s evening, ten-year-old Piper Chase went off on her pink bicycle towards the dark woods on Black Heart Lane. Detective Kimberley King knows that the first twenty-four hours in a missing child investigation are the most critical. Piper was heading to a sleepover at her best friend Miley’s house, just like a hundred times before. But now Piper’s grandparents are blaming themselves, shaking with grief, and Kimberley knows the family will never be the same. With no witnesses, and darkness falling, she begins to fear the worst. She longs to find the little girl with wide blue eyes and an infectious smile, but when her team discovers Piper’s body in a woodland clearing, lying on a bed of moss, something inside her dies. Then she gets a call that chills her to the bone. Piper’s friend Miley has gone missing too. Desperate to find the monster who has taken these little girls, Kimberley chases down all the leads she has. The summer camp counsellor, who the little girls hero-worshipped. Piper’s downbeat uncle, who arrived back in town the day she disappeared… And as another dark night descends, Kimberley can’t stop thinking about Miley, trapped and frightened. With the clock ticking, Kimberley knows she must act fast, before another innocent life is stolen.

A Case for Christmas by J.A. Rock (2021)

**He loves no-one and never will.** Lord Christmas Gale is a genius and a misanthrope, and, quite to his disgust, adored by all of Society for his capacity to solve mysteries. When a man approaches him seeking help in locating a lost dog, Gale rebuffs him. But what begins with a missing dog ends in murder and intrigue—two of Gale’s favourite things, if it weren’t for the orphan that comes attached to them. Oh, and Benjamin Chant. **He has sworn to never love again.** The Honourable Mr. Benjamin Chant isn’t sure how he got swept up in Gale’s mad investigation, but there’s something intriguing about the man—a vulnerability that most of the world doesn’t notice, but which captures Chant’s interest, and his sympathy, from their first meeting. After a disastrous love affair in the past, Chant has sworn to never give his heart away again. Especially to a man who does not want it. **But it isn’t just their hearts at stake.** When their investigation takes a dangerous turn and their lives are threatened, both Gale and Chant are forced into the realisation that perhaps two imperfect men might fit perfectly together—that is, if they can outwit the killer who is intent on seeing them both dead.

バッカーノ！1932-Summer man in the killer by 成田良悟 (2021)

バッカーノ！1711 Whitesmile by 成田良悟 (2021)