Jo Bannister

While Gabriel Ash risks his life to investigate an allegation that his abducted sons may still be alive, Hazel Best gradually returns to police work while investigating the discovery of an unusual grave. By the acclaimed author of Deadly Virtues.

A Mystery

Perfect Sins

Fathers and sins

In this fast-paced thriller, Deadly Virtues, acclaimed writer Jo Bannister proves once again why she is considered "one of the genre's best" (Booklist) The town of Norbold, England is famous for its low crime rate, thanks to the zero-tolerance policy of Chief Superintendent John Fountain. And Norbold's newest police recruit, Hazel Best, is happy to help keep it that way. But numbers never tell the whole story, do they? Jerome Cardy knew he was going to die. He also knew that it would be made to appear like an accident. He might not be able to prevent it, but Jerome was determined to make sure that someone knew what was going to happen—even if that someone was a man with a concussion lying with his dog in a jail cell next to him. After Jerome is found beaten to death by a fellow inmate in another cell, Ash is unable to forget Jerome's last awkward words to him: "I had a dog once. Othello. That was its name. Othello." Certain there is a hidden message in these words, Ash is determined to discover the truth. But it won't be easy—no one believes his account of that night. And Hazel Best must decide whether pursuing the truth is worth her career.

Deadly Virtues

The Garden City of Chad was an oasis in a barren land, too rare and precious to escape the predation of someone like harry Jess. But the Barbarian made a mistake when he brought, along with his silver-studded cavalry, his concubine. Because when the bedslave teamed up with a nuclear engineer to rescue from Harry's evil clutches the last scion of the royal house of Chad the results were, literally, devastating. The paths of the protagonists lead from the palace at Chad to the enigmatic convent-fortress of Oracle, from the chill wastes of the Ice Desert to the secret reserves of the human psyche. The stark, often brutal, drama of conflict and consequence is relieved by small triumphs of humour, courage, endurance and love.

The Winter Plain

A popular mystery writer and author of the Castlemere whodunits begins a new series starring beloved Birmingham, England, newspaper advice columnist Rosie Holland, who has been known to take a turn at amateur sleuthing.

The Primrose Convention

The haunting new novel from an acclaimed crime writer - Laurence Schofields world was torn apart when his teenage daughter vanished. No trace was ever found. But six years later, a TV crew filming in London records a few seconds footage of a girl who just could be her. Schofield heads for the capital. But this isnt the London of the tourist brochures: its the Tinderbox, an area of dangerous dereliction where the homeless have created an alternative society with its own rules...

The Tinderbox

There was more to the brooding forest world of Mithras than the great Hive rising from its clearing, and somewhere there was an intellect more ruthlessly domineering than even the Lady Amalthea’s. Shah could feel it but not find it, at least not in time, and Paul with a war to prosecute, had other matters on his mind. Deceit and treachery hung about the city like a shroud. Who were the Hive people? Who were the Drones, and where did they go through the high hedge that Amalthea’s warriors dared not follow? When the answer started to come and Shah understood where the real authority on Mithras lay, it spelt danger for the Lady and for her Hive, but mostly for Paul, trapped between the monstrous ambitions of mad, magnificent Amalthea and the sheer power and implacable hatred of the silent enemy that had grown weary of waiting.

A Cactus Garden

"A kidnap attempt outside the school gates in broad daylight convinces Gabriel Ash that his renegade wife is trying to steal their sons from him. Only the intervention of his friend Constable Hazel Best kept them safe. It's a simple if alarming explanation, but is it the truth? Hazel uncovers disturbing information about another crime, the repercussions of which are still threatening innocent lives seventeen years later. Once again Hazel finds herself at loggerheads with her superiors. Did they really conspire to protect a murderer? And this time she isn't getting the support she needs from Ash. She'd thought they were kindred spirits: now she's not sure what his motives are. One thing is certain: with her life in imminent danger, Hazel's going to need friends like never before ..."--Publisher's description.

Kindred spirits

Silent Footsteps

The idyllic peace of a remote Scottish anchorage is shattered by an explosion aboard a luxury cruiser, which kills the woman on board and brings to an abrupt end the restful holiday which Clio Marsh prescribed for her detective husband Harry. Was the wreck of the “Skara Sun” an accident? Was Alison MacAllister murdered, by the penniless young man sailing with her or by the rich older one to whom she was married? The local police investigate. Harry Marsh investigates. No-one who knows Clio would expect her to mind her own business. The savage beauty of the wild west coast forms a backdrop to, and ultimately plays its own role in the developing drama as Clio discovers that even deadly Corryvreckan can be friend in the face of human treachery.

The Going Down of the Sun

A town the size of Castlemere might expect to see one major fire a year. When a derelict warehouse burns down just days after a blaze destroys Rachid’s Eight-Till-Late, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Shapiro is worried. Either of the fires could have been accidental, but together they suggest an arsonist at work. A third, and fatal, episode confirms it. Helped by his enigmatic Irish sergeant, Cal Donovan, Shapiro investigates, well aware that any delay in making an arrest will invite further attacks. But before much progress can be made Shapiro is relieved of duty, accused of destroying vital evidence in an earlier investigation – evidence that would have spared an innocent man an eight-year prison sentence. Shapiro’s closest colleagues, Detective Inspector Liz Graham and Detective Sergeant Donovan, are incredulous: the allegation wars with everything they know about a man they have worked for and respected for years. And yet the evidence can’t be ignored. Liz and Donovan must embark on a race against time to clear Shapiro’s name – if they can – and to track down a pyromaniac before he brings his career to a truly horrifying climax.

Burning Desires

American news photographer Mickey Flynn, recovering from a gunshot wound, visits a Popular Front terrorist training camp, not knowing that the terrorists suspect that he is an Israeli agent and are planning his death

Shards

When Matt Gosling, proprietor of "The Skipley Chronicle," hired Primrose Holland as his paper's agony aunt it was either the best decision he ever made, or the worst. For Rosie is larger-than-life in every sense, an ex-pathologist with enthusiasm, intelligence and heart - but no tact whatsoever. Perhaps that's why her column 'The Primrose Path' is such a huge success. Faced with queries on everything from inadvertently eating a slug to the etiquette of finding your mother in bed with her toy-boy, Rosie's advice is always unorthodox, frequently hilarious, and often lands her in deep water. But never deeper than when she helps Fiona Morris look for her brother Philip, who disappeared while birdwatching in the Hebrides. Worried by conflicting news of him, Rosie sets off for Scotland with Fiona, bird-watching expert Arthur Prufrock, and reluctant psychic Shad Lucas. A more competent psychic would have known better than to get involved. Because Rosie's solution to this particular problem is about to prove very dangerous indeed . . . 'A most surprising and enjoyable mystery from one of the very best' "Booklist"

The author takes his protagonist, and his readers, to the Mexico-Texas border, where Mexican workers, smuggled into the U.S., are robbed and left to die

The Mason Codex

A young couple is mugged and brutally attacked, leaving one of the victims in the ground and the other in a wheelchair. Wracked with guilt, the mother of the man accused of their attacks enlists Brodie's friend Daniel to help track down the jewelry her son stole from the victims. Although the chances for recovery of the jewels are slim, and Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon thinks it's a lost cause, Daniel and Brodie refuse to give up the case. But just as new clues are uncovered, and events begin to spiral out of control, Brodie faces the challenge of her life, an investigation that trumps them all—a trek across the globe in search of a cure for her son's brain tumor. But is this the one search for which detective Brodie Farrell is destined to fail? "Bannister is one of the undersung treasures of the mystery genre." ---Chicago Tribune

A Brodie Farrell Mystery

Liars All

When she called her business "Looking for Something?" Brodie Farrell hoped to receive challenging commissions from interesting clients. Even by her standards, though, demon rock musician Jared Fry is hard to please. Fortunately his manager, the charismatic Eric Chandos, is easier to like, and it's with him that Brodie works to find a new home for the rock star. An old coaching inn on the Downs seems the perfect choice. Though the locals are appalled---and their teenagers thrilled---at the arrival of the self-styled Satanist, Fry's primary concern is his new swimming pool. And that's when he realizes that the protestors outside are the least of his problems. Brodie's troubles are only just beginning, too. She has a long-term relationship with gruff, hardworking Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon and an important platonic friendship with Daniel Hood, a quiet young teacher with hidden depths. So why does she find herself so drawn to Chandos? And how much is she going to risk before the real trouble starts?

Breaking Faith

You can waste a lot of time looking. . . . Or you can pay me to find it for you. Brodie Farrell is a busy woman, what with running her one-woman firm Looking for Something? and raising her daughter. So on her night off, all she wants is to spend a relaxing evening teaching her friend Daniel Hood to drive. But the evening takes a disturbing turn when Daniel hits a young woman who seems to appear out of nowhere. The girl, Alison Barker, is mostly uninjured, but before she runs off she accuses Daniel of trying to kill her. The other man in Brodie's life, Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon, isn't much help; he's too busy investigating a dangerous new drug called Scram. But when Alison Barker turns up at the hospital, not as a result of the car accident but because of the lethal amount of Scram in her system, Jack is forced to get involved. Alison claims that the death of her father, a local purebred horse dealer, was murder---and that unless someone helps her, she'll be next. Brodie once again finds herself torn between the two men in her life---Daniel believes Alison's story, Jack doesn't. It's up to Brodie to infiltrate Alison's world of show jumping and discover the truth herself, before it's too late.

Requiem for a Dealer

"Bannister is one of the undersung treasures of the mystery genre." ---Chicago Tribune Although she has been trying to put her work, running a one-woman detective agency, on hold while she cares for her new baby, Jonathan, Brodie soon learns that taking time off is not as easy as it sounds. Not only does Jonathan have a rare disease that may leave him blind, his father, Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon, is going after the nastiest crook in town, Joe Loomis, who quickly retaliates by threatening Brodie and little Jonathan. When Loomis bleeds to death while trying to utter a name that begins with the letter "D," Brodie isn't quite sure it is just a coincidence and worries Deacon may have become entangled in yet another crime. But Loomis had plenty of enemies and Deacon isn't the only one who had reason to do him harm. When Dev Stretton, another suspect, turns out to be linked to Brodie's best friend, Daniel Hood, she has no choice but to take up the search for the killer. As events spiral out of control and entanglements weave together in complex patterns, Brodie must learn to keep her friends close, and her enemies closer still.

Closer Still

Brodie Farrell's life, on the surface, is unremarkable. A single mother to one daughter, five-year-old Paddy, in a small seaside town, she spends her days running a "finding agency"---helping clients locate items that have proved elusive by more conventional methods. She has a healthy relationship with Jack Deacon, a detective superintendent in the local police force, and a solid network of friends---except for one. Her most important ally, Daniel Hood, has been ignoring her since a bitter disagreement ripped their friendship apart at the seams. Now his house is up for sale, and Daniel has disappeared. At first Brodie is just angry---angry that he would leave without telling her, without trying to sort things out. But when Daniel's family seems unconcerned that he has vanished into thin air, Brodie starts to get worried. Perhaps she was the only person to care about Daniel, and she cut him off. What if he does something stupid? Or what if he already has? Unfortunately, even her advanced tracking skills can't locate her friend. Brodie's worrying intensifies when she seems to become the victim of a sustained hate campaign. First her car windshield is smashed, then the vehicle itself is set on fire. Her handbag is stolen, and she is terrorized in the local library after a call from Daniel imploring her to meet him there alone. The conclusion is obvious, but Brodie refuses to believe it. Until, that is, she is attacked again....

The Depths of Solitude

No one ever said: See Norbold and die. So why would a man from DC Hazel Best's past cross England in order to get himself beaten senseless in this uninspiring Midlands town? Everyone assumes he was looking for Hazel. She can't think why he would; and when David Sperrin wakes up, he can't think why he would either. Amnesia - or something to hide?

Jo Bannister

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