'What Colin Dexter did for Oxford, Julie Wassmer is intent on doing for Whitstable' Daily Mail Pearl Nolan always wanted to be a detective but life, and a teenage pregnancy, got in the way of a police career and instead she built up a successful seafood restaurant in her coastal home town of Whitstable - famous for its native oysters. Now, at 39, and with son Charlie away at university, Pearl finds herself suffering from empty nest syndrome . . . until she discovers the drowned body of local oyster fisherman Vinnie Rowe, weighted down with an anchor chain, on the eve of Whitstable's annual oyster festival. Is it a tragic accident, suicide - or murder? Pearl seizes the opportunity to prove her detection skills and discover the truth but she soon finds herself in conflict with Canterbury city police detective, Chief Inspector Mike McGuire. Then another body is discovered - and Pearl finds herself trawling the past for clues, triggering memories of another emotional summer more than twenty years ago . . .

What is lost when knowledge is withheld? In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of going to Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has. She is extraordinary but vulnerable. Peggy needs to watch over her. When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and through the sisters' lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can use her intellect and not just her hands, but as war and illness reshape her world, it is love, and the responsibility that comes with it, that threaten to hold her back. The Bookbinder of Jericho is a story about knowledge - who makes it, who can access it, and what is lost when it is withheld. In this beautiful companion to the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams explores another little-known slice of history seen through women's eyes. Intelligent, thoughtful and rich with unforgettable characters.

Escape with Jenny Colgan in 2021. The paperback of Jenny's latest bestseller, FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM YOU and her new feel-good novel, SUNRISE BY THE SEA, are both out now. 'Nobody does get-away-from-it-all romance like Jenny Colgan' Sunday Express Sun, sea and laughter abound . . . 'A total joy' Sophie Kinsella 'Gorgeous, glorious, uplifting' Marian Keyes 'Irresistible' Jill Mansell 'Just lovely' Katie Fforde 'Naturally funny, warm-hearted' Lisa Jewell 'A gobble-it-all-up-in-one-sitting kind of book' Mike Gayle ___________________________________ Evie is desperate for a holiday - a good one. Not only because she's been working all hours as a receptionist for two high-powered plastic surgeons, but also because every holiday she's ever been on has involved sunburn, arguments and projectile vomiting - sometimes all three at once. Why can't she have a normal holiday like everyone else: peaceful beaches, glorious sunshine and (fingers crossed) some much-needed sex? So when Evie's employers invite her to attend a conference with them in the beautiful South of France, she can't believe her luck. At last, the chance to hob nob with the rich and glamorous, to party under the stars, to live life as she'd always dreamt of it. It's the holiday of a lifetime - but things don't happen in quite the way Evie imagines . . . ___________________________________ Why readers ADORE Jenny Colgan 'Her books are so compelling that you can feel the cool breeze on your face, smell the salty air' 'Her descriptions of scenery (and food!) are beautiful' 'I wish her places were real' 'Her books are so good I want to start over as soon as I have finished' 'There's something so engaging about her characters and plots' 'Her stories are just so fabulous' 'She brings her settings and characters so vividly to life' 'The woman is just magic'

'Probably the most suspenseful book I will read all year.' Liz Nugent No one saw it happen. You stand on a crowded tube platform in London. Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you. As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind. Everyone is lying. By the time you get to the next stop, you've convinced yourself that everything will be fine. But you soon start to panic, because there aren't two children waiting for you on the platform. There's only one. Someone is to blame. Has your other daughter got lost? Been taken by a passing stranger? Or perhaps the culprit is closer to home than you think? No one is telling the truth, and the longer the search continues, the harder she will be to find... Your favourite authors love Andrea Mara: 'Andrea Mara is a star.' Lee Child 'Andrea is an author to watch.' Sarah Pearse 'Mara knows how to take every parent's worst nightmares and turn them into top-class page turners.' Ellery Lloyd

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Train journey

Wispy Fescue runs a detective agency with his colleagues, Strangely Drye and Miss Wanda Cushway. They’ve had a few unlikely successes, but recently there’s been a conspicuous lack of wires looking for their services. If they’re ever to make a name for themselves, they need a high-profile case – and soon.

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! * * * Could this Christmas be the start of a whole new chapter? ‘A heart-warming Christmas story of friendship, family and love – what a treat’ Lucy Diamond, author of The Best Days of Our Lives ‘Uplifting and compelling’ My Weekly * * *

He wants to remember. She needs to forget. . . . Memento meets Sharp Objects in a gripping psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Something in the Water and The Disappearing Act. “Twisty . . . highly imaginative . . . deliciously provocative.”—The Washington Post Who is Mr. Nobody? When a man is found on a British beach, drifting in and out of consciousness, with no identification and unable to speak, interest in him is sparked immediately. From the hospital staff who find themselves inexplicably drawn to him, to international medical experts who are baffled by him, to the national press who call him Mr. Nobody, everyone wants answers. Who is this man? And what happened to him? Some memories are best forgotten. Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Emma Lewis is asked to assess the patient in a small town deep in the English countryside. This is her field of expertise, this is the chance she’s been waiting for, and this case could make her name known across the world. But therein lies the danger. Emma left this same town fourteen years ago and has taken great pains to cover all traces of her past since then. Places aren't haunted . . . people are. But now something—or someone—is calling her back. And the more time she spends with her patient, the more alarmed she becomes that he knows the one thing about her that nobody is supposed to know.

Escape with Jenny Colgan. 'This uplifting story is one of Colgan's best to date' Daily Mirror 'I wanted to hot-foot it to the Scottish islands' Daily Mail 'With a cast of memorable characters and an uplifting storyline, Five Hundred Miles From You is one of her best novels' Sunday Express Lissa loves her job as a nurse, but recently she's been doing a better job of looking after other people than looking after herself. After a traumatic incident at work leaves her feeling overwhelmed, she agrees to swap lives with someone in a quiet village in Scotland. Cormac is restless. Just out of the army, he's desperately in need of distraction, and there's precious little of it in Kirrinfief. Maybe three months in London is just what he needs. As Lissa and Cormac warm to their new lives, emailing back and forth about anything and everything, finally things seem to be falling into place. But each of them feel there's still a piece missing. What - or who - could it be?