LATEST additions to the groaning Library shelves include the last novel by multi award-winning thriller and psychological-mystery writer Ruth Rendell, who sadly died in May of last year, and a new work by Felix Francis, the younger son of the legendary Dick Francis who died in February 2010 but whose work promises to live on through Felix.
Dark Corners
by Ruth Rendell
WHEN CARL sells a packet of slimming pills to his close friend, Stacey, inadvertently causing her death, he sets in motion a sequence of catastrophic events, which begin with subterfuge, extends to lies and culminates in murder.
Songs of Love and War
by Santa Montefiore
THEIR LIVES were mapped out ahead of them. But love and war will change everything. The turn of the year in 1900 marks the end of a new century and the birth of three very different women in West Cork, Ireland.
Kitty Deverill is the flame-haired Anglo-Irish daughter of the castle; Bridie Doyle, the daughter of the Irish cook, and Celia Deverill, Kitty’s flamboyant English cousin. Together they grow up in the grounds of the family’s grand estate, Castle Deverill. Yet their peaceful way of life is threatened when Ireland’s struggle for independence reaches their isolated part of the country.
A bastion of British supremacy, the castle itself is in danger of destruction as the war closes in around it, and Kitty, in love with the rebel Jack O’Leary and enflamed by her own sense of patriotism, is torn between loyalty to her Anglo-Irish family and her deep love of Ireland and Jack. Wrenched apart by betrayal, their world turned to ash, the girls’ friendships seems all but lost as they are swept to different parts of the globe. Yet they have one thing in common, a fierce and unwavering longing for Castle Deverill, and all the memories contained within it.
Refusal
by Felix Francis
SIR RICHARD STEWART, chair of the horse racing authority, wants ex-investigator Sid Halley to examine some suspicious races. But he gets a firm ‘no’. Sid retired six years ago – and nothing will make him go back. But then Sir Richard is found dead, Sid’s six-year old daughter goes missing and Sid receives an anonymous call demanding he declare the alleged race fixing clean ‘or else’. With his family in danger, how can Sid refuse?
But this anonymous foe has under-estimated the guile and determination of Sid Halley. Extreme situations demand extreme solutions and Sid will do anything to get his life back, or die trying.
Trust In Me
by Sophie McKenzie
JULIA HAS ALWAYS been the friend that Livy turns to when life is difficult. United 18 years ago by grief at the brutal murder of Livy’s sister, Kara, they have always told each other everything. Or so Livy thought. When a fresh tragedy strikes, Livy cannot accept what Julia is supposed to have done. But little does she realise that digging into her best friend’s private life will tear apart the very fabric of her own existence.