Updates - Week Ending 25th August

Will the mountain give up its secrets? While walking on an isolated track in the windswept Wimmera, rock-climber Skye discovers the body of a young woman. The body has injuries that suggest a rock-climbing accident, but it's been found more than 5km from the nearest cliffs at Mount Arapiles.

When ex-Marine Jack Ford receives a letter containing news of a daughter he never knew he had, he feels compelled to return to China, a country he hasn’t visited since 1989 when, as a young American spy, he fell in love with a beautiful student activist and found himself caught up in the horrors of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But why has Xia got in touch now, after a thirty-year silence?

On arrival in Beijing, Jack finds himself accidentally in possession of an explosive piece of information both the Chinese and American governments are desperate to get their hands on. Alone in a strange city, suspected of being a traitor by his own side, not knowing whom to trust, Jack is faced with an impossible dilemma: should he save his new-found daughter or prevent a new world war from breaking out?

They’re the perfect couple. They have the perfect plan. All they need is the perfect victim.

Julia and Christopher Hygate have the picture-perfect Gobs of money thanks to their lucrative shipping enterprise, an estate on a secluded island, and a baby on the way.

When they meet Eve Sylvester, they know she is the exact person they should hire to be their son’s nanny. Eve doesn’t have any living relatives, she’s lost touch with her friends, and her partner is out of the picture. Best of all, she’s also expecting a child.

Eve thinks she’s landed the best possible gig—previously desperate and penniless, now she’ll live like a queen and have a promising future for her daughter.

But the job seems too good to be true. Why would the Hygates hire Eve if she has no prior nannying experience? Why must Eve stay out of sight? And what’s with the mysterious yachts coming in and out of the Hygate’s private marina?

It's too late to ask questions, though, Eve is already in far too deep to turn back.

Set against the backdrop of a remote island, an endless stream of secrets, and unbelievable wealth, No One Will Know is a propulsive, seductive novel of suspense that shows the terrible consequences of shocking greed, staggering lies, and fatal mistakes.

The night before

Rupert's 30th is a black tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald's - catered with cocaine and Veuve Clicquot.

The morning after

His girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath. All the party-goers have alibis. Naturally.

This investigation is going to be about Classics degrees and aristocrats, Instagram influencers and who knows who. Or is it whom? Detective Caius Beauchamp isn't sure. He's sharply dressed, smart, and as into self-improvement as Clemmie - but as he searches for the dark truth beneath the luxury, a wall of staggering wealth threatens to shut down his investigation before it's begun.

Can he see through the tangled set of relationships in which the other half live, and die, before the case is taken out of his hands?

A young woman is hiding out in a sleepy North Queensland tourist town, trying to stay under the radar, when she stumbles across a dangerous drug cartel. Anyone else might back away shaking their head, pretend they hadn't seen anything, keep quiet, even though people are getting hurt. But Maggie is no ordinary girl. She's got skills, as well as plenty of secrets to keep, burdens to carry - and anger to burn.

When circumstances mean that she has to get out of town - fast - she heads towards Melbourne, where she just might find the answers that she needs - answers about her family and who she really is. With a bent cop for a dubious ally, the police tracking her and furious bikers on her trail, Maggie is in deep trouble. She's only got her ingenuity and wits on her side - and a determination not to inherit the sins of her father.

Some people are in
On the last Saturday in August, politicos and socialites trade tidbits of gossip and sips of Pimm's under the tasteful bunting of a Richmond garden party. They'd never guess that the police are just a stone's throw away, pulling a body out of the river Thames.

Some people wish they were
The drowning appears to be a tragic accident - until Detective Caius Beauchamp gets an unexpected tip. The victim, it seems, had enemies in high places. Did being on the wrong side of them get her killed?

Either way, being out is absolute murder

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Frank is a service station owner on a little-used highway who just wants a quiet life. His granddaughter has been sent to stay with him to fix her attitude, but they don't talk a lot.

When a badly injured young woman arrives at Frank's service station with several cars in pursuit, Frank and a handful of unsuspecting customers are thrust into a life-or-death standoff.

But who are this group of men and women who will go to any lengths for revenge? And what do they want? Other than no survivors ...?

 

Jimmy is a kid growing up fast on the poorest street in town. He tries to do everything right and look out for his mum and his younger brother. His older brother is in jail, so it's up to Jimmy to hold things together. But small-town life is unforgiving if you're from the other side of the tracks.

If only his mum didn't drink so much.
If only he could win the school billycart race.
If only his best friend understood.
If only he could stop his mum's boyfriend from getting angry.
If only he was there.

Jimmy soon learns that even when you get things right, everything can still go wrong.

Jane Halifax will need all her forensic experience to unlock the secrets of one of the world’s most formidable a Silicon Valley billionaire whose ex-business partner has just been murdered … A thrilling journey into the dark places where genius, money and murder meet.

It’s been ten years since Jane was in New York, but within hours of arriving in the city for a well-earned break and to catch up with her step-daughter Zoe, she’s dragged into a case … and finds herself up against one of the toughest minds she’s ever had to crack.

Sarah Noble is the darling of the tech world – the genius behind an AI defence system that hijacks enemy missiles and turns them against those who launched them. But when Sarah’s estranged business partner is killed in a mysterious plane crash, suspicion immediately falls on one of the few people who could hack the plane’s guidance system and had a motive to do Sarah herself. Brilliant, ruthless, erratic, addicted – but is she a murderer?

Against her better judgement, Jane Halifax agrees to profile Sarah – and is immediately sucked into a world beyond her control, where money is no object, murder a tool of trade and the stakes go straight to the heart of the United States itself.

The latest unputdownable Jane Halifax thriller takes us deep into the smartest – and deadliest – places in the where Silicon Valley and the US defence industry combine, billions of dollars are made, and souls are for sale.