Robert Goddard

When her boss takes on a new case, Umiko Wada will have to leave Tokyo and travel to London. In London, when an old friend of his late mother says there are things that Nick Miller needs to know about his parents, he can't ignore it. A chance encounter brings Wada and Nick together - and a series of violent events set off by their investigations. And when they discover Nick's father might have been the only witness to a dark secret forever buried, they realize there are some powerful people who will do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Author of "One False Move."

The Fine Art of Invisible Detection

A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club pick- An unlikely heroine. An even more unlikely detective. And a cold case that's resurfacing with deadly consequences. The new book from 'the world's greatest storyteller' (Guardian). From the multiple Sunday Times bestseller,'One of the finest crime writers of any generation, Goddard here exercises all of his elegant, understated style and meticulous eye for detail...Goddard at his impeccable best- do not miss it.' Daily Mail Umiko Wada has recently had quite enough excitement in her life. With her husband recently murdered and a mother who seems to want her married again before his body is cold, she just wants to keep her head down. As a secretary to a private detective, her life is pleasingly uncomplicated, filled with coffee runs, diary management and paperwork. That is, until her boss takes on a new case. A case which turns out to be dangerous enough to get him killed. A case which means Wada will have to leave Japan for the first time and travel to London. Following the only lead she has, Wada quickly realises that being a detective isn't as easy as the television makes out. And that there's a reason why secrets stay buried for a long time. Because people want them to stay secret. And they're prepared to do very bad things to keep them that way... What readers are saying- 'Edge-of-the-seat stuff . . an explosive finale . . . The characters, as always in a Robert Goddard novel, are unforgettable.' 'One of the best authors in the business . . . another intriguing and sophisticated plot, with stylish prose and dialogue.' 'No-one comes close to equalling Robert Goddard's talent at writing this sort of mystery thriller with twist after twist after twist.'

The Thrilling BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick

On a stifling afternoon at Police HQ in Algiers, Superintendent Taleb, coasting towards retirement, with not even an air-conditioned office to show for his long years of service, is handed a ticking time bomb of a case which will take him deep into Algeria's troubled past and its fraught relationship with France. To his dismay, he is assigned to work with Agent Hidouchi, an intimidating representative of the country's feared secret service, who makes it clear she intends to call the shots. They are instructed to pursue a former agent, now on the run after twenty years in prison for his part in a high-level corruption scandal. But their search will lead them inexorably towards a greater mystery, surrounding a murder that took place in Paris more than fifty years ago. Uncovering the truth may be his responsibility, but Taleb is well aware that no-one in Algeria wants to be reminded of the dark deeds carried out in the struggle for independence - or in the violence that has racked the nation since. Before long, he will face a choice he has long sought to avoid, between self-preservation and doing the right thing. And, ultimately, the choice may not even be his to make.

Bestselling Author of the Fine Art of Invisible Detection

This Is the Night They Come for You

"A search for missing documents in an international mining company becomes a voyage into dangerous waters. A dead friend, a lost lover and a clutch of mysteries from Jonathan Kellaway's youth in Cornwall and Italy in the late 1960s come back to haunt him when he is tasked with discovering why there is a gaping hole in his employer's records - and to tempt him with the hope that he may at last learn the truth about the tragedies of those years. It is a truth that has claimed several victims before. If he pursues it hard and long enough, he may only add himself to the list. But pursue it he will, because the truth, he comes to realize, is the secret that has consumed his life. This time he will not stop ... until he has found it"--P. [4].

Fault Line

Eldritch Swan is a dead man. Or at least that is what his nephew Stephen has always been told. Until one day Eldritch walks back into his life after thirty-six years in an Irish prison. He won’t reveal any of the details of his incarceration, insisting only that he is innocent of any crime.His return should be of interest to no one. But the visit of a solicitor with a strange request will take Eldritch and his sceptical nephew from sleepy seaside Paignton to London, and an exhibition of Picasso paintings from the prestigious Brownlow collection. This is the starting point on a journey that will transport them back to the Second World War and the mystery behind Eldritch’s imprisonment.In 1940 he was personal assistant to a wealthy diamond dealer in Antwerp, whose collection of modern art was the envy of many. The subsequent disappearance of those paintings began a trail of murder and intrigue that was to have a catastrophic effect on Eldritch’s life. But untangling the web of murky secrets, family ties and old betrayals that conceals the truth will prove to be a dangerous pursuit for Eldritch and Stephen. Before long, a mysterious enemy is doing everything possible to stop the truth emerging – at whatever cost...

Long Time Coming

Why should distinguished Edwardian Cabinet minister Edwin Strafford resign at the height of his parliamentary career? Why does the woman he loves so suddenly and coldly reject him? Why, seventy years later, should people go to such lengths — even as far as murder — to prevent the truth from being revealed? Martin Radford, history graduate, disaffected and unemployed, leaps at the chance to get to the island of Madeira and begin the hunt for a solution to the intriguing secret of Edwin Stafford's fall from grace. However, his seeming good fortune turns to nightmare as his investigation triggers a bizarre and violent train of events which remorselessly entangles him and those who believed they had escaped the spectre of crimes long past but never paid for...

Past Caring

There's no such thing as easy money - as surgeon Edward Hammond is about to find out. 13 years ago he performed a life saving operation on a Serbian gangster, Dragan Gazi. Gazi is now standing trial for war crimes in the international court in The Hague. Now Gazi's family want more from Edward - in exchange for keeping his secret.

Blood Count

Never Go Back

Sight Unseen

A sequence of extraordinary events over the past 300 years. A chain of intrigue, deceit, greed and murder. The loss of H.M.S. Association with all hands in 1707. An admiralty clerk's secret mission thirty years after. A fatal accident during a dive to the wreck in 1996. An expatriate's reluctant return home ten years later. The simple task he has come to accomplish, shown to be anything but. A woman he recognises but cannot identify. A conspiracy of circumstances that is about to unravel his life. And with it, the past.

Name to a Face

When a young woman who has befriended him disappears, Harry Barnett, the down-and-out caretaker of a villa on the island of Rhodes and a prime suspect in her disappearance, follows a sparse trail to England in search of her and into the heart of a dangerous mystery. Reprint. 22,500 first printing.

Into the Blue

Struggling actor Toby Flood, formerly of big and small screen but now seldom seen on either, arrives in Brighton on the first Sunday in December with the other cast members and reluctantly takes on a investigation into the sinister stranger who is apparently stalking his estranged wife. By the author of Into the Blue. Original. 22,500 first printing.

Play to the End

Michael Paleologus, retired archaeologist and supposed descendant of the last Emperors of Byzantium, lives alone in a remote and rambling house in Cornwall. His son, Nicholas, is summoned to resolve a dispute which threatens to set his brothers and sisters against their aged and irascible father. An overly generous offer has been made for the house, but Michael refuses to sell. Only after the stalemate is tragically broken do Nick and his siblings discover why their father was bound at all costs to reject the offer. Their desperate efforts to conceal the truth drag them into a deadly conflict with an unseen enemy, who seems as determined to force them into a confrontation with their family’s past as he is to conceal his own identity. Nick realizes that the only way to escape from the trap their persecutor has set for them is to hunt him down, wherever -- and whoever -- he may be. But the hunt involves excavating a terrible secret from their father’s past. And, once that secret is known, nothing will ever be the same again.

Days Without Number

1919. The eyes of the world are on Paris, where statesmen, diplomats and politicians have gathered to discuss the fate of half the world's nations in the aftermath of the cataclysm that was the Great War. A horde of journalists, spies and opportunists have also gathered in the city and the last thing the British diplomatic community needs at such a time is the mysterious death of a senior member of their delegation. So, when Sir Henry Maxted falls from the roof of his mistress's apartment building in unexplained circumstances, their first instinct is to suppress all suspicious aspects of the event. But Sir Henry's son, ex Royal Flying Corps ace James 'Max' Maxted, has other ideas. He resolves to find out how and why his father died - even if this means disturbing the impression of harmonious calm which the negotiating teams have worked so hard to maintain. In a city where countries are jostling for position at the crossroads of history and the stakes could hardly be higher, it is difficult to tell who is a friend and who a foe.And Max will soon discover just how much he needs friends, as his search for the truth sucks him into the dark heart of a seemingly impenetrable mystery.

The Ways of the World

'The world's greatest storyteller' Guardian'Is this his best yet?...Full of sinister menace and propulsive pace with twisty plotting? Lee Child*Sometimes the danger is on the inside . . .High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter.The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable - and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn?t know it?s there. She?s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she?s escaped. But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house?s owner, missing rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to know where his money has gone. Soon people are going to come knocking on the door, people with motives and secrets of their own, who will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can?t - or won?t - want to answer.And will the panic room ever give up its secrets?PANIC ROOM is Robert Goddard at his nerve-shredding best. A sliver of a mystery kicks off a juggernaut of a thriller. Layers of secrets, half truths and lies must be peeled back to reveal what really lies within.

Panic Room

Hand in Glove

"Four years of horrific fighting have finally ended on the battlefield, but in the spring of 1919, Paris is filled with delegates from around the world who are still trying to hammer out the terms of peace. One such delegate is British diplomat Sir Henry Maxted, in charge of liaising with the Brazilians regarding seized ships. But before a deal is reached, Sir Henry turns up dead outside a Montparnasse apartment building, apparently having fallen from the roof. His sons Max and Ashley are sent to Paris to collect the body, and it quickly becomes clear that the theory the French police have put forward is flawed. But since the murder of a diplomat could be disastrous for the peace conference, no one is keen to ask questions--except Max"--Amazon.com.

a James Maxted thriller

The ways of the world

James 'Max' Maxted, former Great War flying ace, returns to the trail of murder and treachery he set out on in The Ways of the World. He left Paris after avenging the murder of his father, Sir Henry Maxted, convinced the only man who knows about the mysterious events leading up to Sir Henry's death is elusive German spymaster, Fritz Lemmer.

Robert Goddard

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