Patricia Hall

> From picturesque canals to the swirling currents of the ocean, a world of secrets lies buried beneath the surface of the water. Dubious vessels crawl along riverbeds, while the murky depths conceal more than one gruesome murder. >The stories in this collection will dredge up delight in crime fiction fans, as watery graves claim unintended dwellers, and disembodied whispers penetrate the sleeping quarters of a ship's captain. How might a thief plot their escape from a floating crime scene? And what is to follow when murder victims, lost to the ocean floor, inevitably resurface? >This British Library anthology uncovers the best mysteries set below the surface, including stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Hope Hodgson, and R. Austin Freeman.

"Class reunions: a time for memories--good, bad, and, as Virgil Flowers is about to find out, deadly--in the thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series Virgil knows the town of Trippton, Minnesota, a little too well. A few years back, he investigated the corrupt - and as it turned out, homicidal - local school board, and now the town's back in view with more alarming news: A woman's been found dead, frozen in a block of ice. There's a possibility that it might be connected to a high school class of twenty years ago that has a mid-winter reunion coming up, and so, wrapping his coat a little tighter, Virgil begins to dig into twenty years' worth of traumas, feuds, and bad blood. In the process, one thing becomes increasingly clear to him. It's true what they say: High school is murder"--

"When photographer Kate O'Donnell takes off for London from swinging Liverpool she has two things in mind: to make a career and to track down her missing older brother. But when she does find a trace of Tom, he's still missing--leaving behind a dead flatmate and some very suspicious cops, including Harry Barnard of the vice squad. Kate determines to clear her brother's name, but her investigations take her on a terrifying journey, and soon she isn't sure if even the charming Barnard can be trusted ..."--Amazon.com.

Laura Ackroydk, journalist girlfriend of DCI Michael Thackery, becomes drawn into the plight of Julie Holden and her daughter Anna when she writes an article about domestic abuse. Julie takes flight to a women's refugek, but her dreams are shattered when Anna goes missing ...

Assistant D.A. Kate Megason is about to prosecute the case of her career when someone starts sending her terrifying messages. Someone who obviously knows her deep, dark secret. Now, she needs the help of Frank Matrone--an investigator with his own shadowy past--or else Kate may have no chance of surviving a killer's brutal wrath.

The Ackroyd & Thackeray series. Having discovered she is pregnant, journalist Laura Ackroyd must gather the courage to tell her partner, DCI Michael Thackeray - so she could have done without the task of profiling elusive venture capitalist Sir David Murgatroyd. Gradually she discovers more about Murgatroyd, especially his power to persuade others to his way of thinking. Meanwhile, Thackeray is busy with the disappearance of Karen Bastable, who went missing after an illicit meeting in the local forest. As the two future parents' careers collide, Laura must think of her own safety as she becomes entangled in a reality far darker than she could have ever imagined.

Kate O'Donnell and her police sergeant partner, Harry Barnard enter dangerous waters when they uncover evidence of a top-level conspiracy. On a busy Friday night in 1964, a woman's partially clothed body is discovered in London's Soho Square. She has been raped and strangled. With no one reported missing, her identity remains a mystery. Assuming the victim to be a prostitute, DCI Jackson is inclined to dismiss the case. Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard disagrees. Harry's partner Kate meanwhile has been despatched to her native Liverpool to work on a magazine feature about the city's remarkable regeneration, timed to coincide with the release of the Beatles' movie, A Hard Day's Night. As Harry's investigations point to evidence of a cover-up at the highest level, Kate's assignment leads her to uncover a darker side to 1960s' Liverpool - and a possible link to the Soho murder victim. Are she and Harry getting into something too deep and dangerous for them to handle?

In 1963, a young photographer from Liverpool finds the darker side of London's fashion industry when she goes to work for at a fashion photographer's studio.

In the dark of the night, two girls are running for their lives. Terrified, one falls and, unable to get up, she forces her friend to go on without her, to save herself. For her, there is no escape as the attackers close in ... The following morning the body of a young girl is found in the canal. DCI Thackeray, recently returned to the force after a bungled kidnapping operation left him near death, is put on the case. But with the entire town's attention focused on the football team's upcoming match against Chelsea, no one seems to be able to tell the police anything about how the girl died, let alone identify her. Thackeray's girlfriend, reporter Laura Ackroyd, also has much to investigate. The appointment of a female chairman at the football club has annoyed many people, in particular the men who dominate the shareholders and who will apparently stoop to any depth to force her out. Thackeray and Ackroyd soon discover that their two stories are linked, and the common denominators are the shady dealings of the club's directors and the unsavory goings-on at post-game parties. But as Laura becomes more and more involved in the case, does she risk putting Thackeray's job and her life in danger?