Showing results for "Past" in Suspense

Five haunting tales from Benedict Ashforth, the best-selling author of Abbot's Keep.

With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question short, mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself having in romantic desperation logged on to the Friends Reunited Web site searching for the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of '86 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more.

A defense attorney who lives his life in shades of gray, Victor Carl fights all the right fights for all the wrong reasons. With a failing legal practice, a dead-end love life, and a pile of unpaid traffic tickets, Victor skates on the razor's edge of legal ethics in search of the easy buck. But...

Why should distinguished Edwardian Cabinet minister Edwin Straford resign at the height of his career? Why does the woman he loves so suddenly reject him? Why, 70 years later, should people go to such lengths to prevent the truth coming out?

When his estranged grandfather is shot and left for dead, an Army Ranger plunges into the criminal underworld of his youth to find a murderer . . . and uncovers a shocking family secret From the time he was six years old, Van Shaw was raised by his Irish immigrant grandfather Donovan to be a...

For holidaymakers it’s a glorious time of breathtaking scenery, picnics on beaches, and flocks of tourists on their summertime holidays. But for Miss Judy Dimont, this is all a trifle dull. As a reporter for local rag, The Riviera Express, she needs scandal and intrigue - and one morning, as the clock strikes the quarter hour, she gets it. A woman has been shot dead in one of Buntorama’s upmarket holiday huts, the toffee-nosed rival hotelier next door is rubbing his hands with glee, and Judy and her trusty moped, Herbert, are off like a shot to survey the scene of the crime.

Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is preparing for her forthcoming wedding to Assistant Chief Constable Mark Turner, but renovations at the rectory they plan to move into are disrupted by the discovery of a skeleton buried in the vegetable patch. As investigations into its identity progress, it's also clear that Mark's two grown-up children are less than ecstatic at the prospect of their father's forthcoming nuptials. In fact, at least one of them seems to be behaving very strangely indeed.…

At forty-five, Hannah Smith is at a crossroads. That's her spin on it. The reality is she's divorced, jobless, and moving back to her family home in Iowa to keep an eye on her mother, who's slipping into dementia. Her return stirs up the same unnerving sense of disconnect Hannah has felt since childhood - always the odd girl out, the loner outshone by her two older sisters. Hannah knew the feelings of hurt would come back. But she never expected fear....

A young girl disappears after escaping from a religious orphanage, and another is caught on grainy film being abducted as her family home burns down. While investigating the missing girls, Karl Kane catches a glimpse of a demon from his past – could it be that Walter Arnold, the monster who raped and murdered his mother, is walking the streets again? Kane is determined that this time he will face down his darkest fears and confront the evil killer.

Tobias Campion, rector of Moreton St Jude, is delighted to welcome the widowed Lady Chase as his parishioner. Although charming and generous-spirited, she harbours a secret sorrow: her son, Hugo, is missing, presumed dead. Her late husband's nephew, Sir Marcus Bramhall, making a prolonged, unwelcome visit to Moreton Hall, speaks darkly of bringing a court case to declare him the heir.

When Sonya Daniels finds a kidnapped baby's birth certificate hidden in her late mother's home, she's shocked. What was her family's connection to the child, still missing for over two decades? And what happened to the little girl? Sonya hires detective Brandon Hayes to help her get to the truth. But someone doesn't want the truth to come out and will stop at nothing to keep them from investigating. Sonya knows the guarded cop won't rest until he unravels the mystery - but the answers could be more than she can bear alone.

Bea Hughes had put the past behind her. Until an anonymous caller phoned to say they knew what she'd done. To make matters worse, Bea suspects someone else in the house was listening in on the line. Fearful she's been found out and desperate to keep her family together, Bea must identify and silence the person who stands in the way of her happiness.

Eighteen months after Sara's terrifying encounter with a demented kidnapper, life has finally returned to normal. Almost. Her memories of the game still haunt her dreams, and every day, society appears to go a little bit crazier. Around the world, from London to Rio to Moscow, a small terrorist group known as The Clan eliminates targets one by one. Are they really connected in some way, as the media claims, or is it simply coincidence?

After selling his company for millions, Colby Walker takes his family - and his son's friend Jess - on vacation, wanting nothing more than to unwind in the sun and surf. But he spots the alarming signs in short order: Jess' downcast eyes, a familiar passivity, and angry red welts marching across the boy's bare back. Walker understands what they mean because he'd been that boy, many years ago. He'd suffered in silence, too.

Finally Jackson Donne has it figured out. After giving up on the private investigation business, he's looking toward the future - one that involves getting married to Kate Ellison. Kate's got him focused on living the good life: planning the wedding, finishing college, and anticipating a romantic Hawaiian honeymoon. Until an anonymous email with a link and an old picture of him on the police force shows up in his mailbox. And once Donne clicks the link, nothing else in his life matters.

Private investigator Heredia spends his days reading detective novels; commiserating with his cat, Simenon; and peering out over the Mapocho River from his Santiago apartment. The city he loves may be changing, but Heredia can't stop chasing the ghosts of the past. This time, they've come to him...

Leah Mills lives a life of a fugitive - kept on the run by one terrible day from her past. It is a lonely life, without a social life or friends until, longing for a connection, she meets Julian. For the first time she dares to believe she can live a normal life. Then, on the 20th anniversary of that day, she receives a card. Someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won't stop until they've destroyed the life Leah has created. But is Leah all she seems? Or does she deserve everything she gets?

In the first thaw of spring the body of a young woman surfaces in the River Torne in the far north of Sweden. Rebecka Martinsson is working as a prosecutor in nearby Kiruna, her sleep troubled by visions of a shadowy, accusing figure. Could the body belong to the girl in her dream? Joining forces with Police Inspector Anna-Maria Mella, Martinsson will need all her courage to face a killer who will kill again to keep the past buried under half a century of silent ice and snow.

Crime and criminals keep getting in the way of Detective Garda Sergeant Mike West's personal life. The woman he loves is living in his house, in his spare bedroom. It should be simple, but it isn't. He has a solution. A romantic weekend away, in a lighthouse on Clare Island. A stunning place, a beautiful woman. What could be more perfect? When one of the islanders dies in a bizarre and a tragic accident, West is roped in to help. But it isn't an accident, and there is more than one suspect. There's also more than one secret. Can West solve the case before someone else dies?

It's Christmas in 1911, and John Decker is stuck in London, far from those he loves. When he gets invited to a holiday party at a manor house in the country, he reluctantly agrees to go, expecting a quiet few days of holiday cheer. But Blackthorn Manor is not just any country house. It hides a dark secret from centuries past, and a restless spirit that never left.