Books published by Hodder & Stoughton

When she swore off love, he was the last man she imagined would steal her heart.If driving a tow truck through the seediest part of town with a gun beside her means putting a roof over her son's head, then single mother Samantha is going to be the best repossession woman on the books. But when she hooks her truck up to a flashy BMW, the last thing she expects is to find a beaten, bloody man in the trunk - or to be catapulted into a terrifying fight to survive.Daniel knows the drug runners who kidnapped him from protective custody will stop at nothing to see him dead. With his life on the line, his only option is to take his pretty saviour hostage and force her to help him. Sam and her four-year-old son are in too deep. With ruthless killers on their trail, she must reluctantly trust this handsome, menacing stranger. And as Sam relinquishes control, she feels an unmistakable desire. But what is the price of falling for a man who operates on the edge of danger - her heart, her life . . . or both?

Dr Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. An expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. She's been obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes since she was sixteen, when a man butchered the family of her best friend Holly, then left the girl's body on a seaside boardwalk one week later. Charlie kept quiet about her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing it might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, she tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world. Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli suspects the Boardwalk Killer is back. A teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. With time running short for the innocent girl, Bartoli turns to the only person who could stop this vicious murderer. But Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.

When Nick Spalding self-published Love... From Both Sides and Love... And Sleepless Nights he became one of the bestselling ebook authors of 2012. Now for the first time the Love... books are being published in a longer format with more of the love story, more of Laura and Jamie's ups and downs and more of the laugh-out-loud hilarious moments that fans have come to know and love. Sometimes, the hardest part of becoming a parent is keeping a straight face... Just ask Jamie and Laura Newman, who (thanks to a rather relaxed attitude to contraception) find themselves about to have a baby. It's obviously a terrifying prospect for a newly married couple, but as long as they stick together they'll be just fine... right? They'd better because the path between falling in love and those first few baby steps is littered with obstacles. Featuring a hilarious cast of characters including an overbearing mother-in-law, a terrifying midwife and at least one chorus of mating humpback whales, Love... And Sleepless Nights is the hilarious follow up novel all about what happens beyond the happy ever after. Falling in love with another person is easy, making a new one is where things get complicated.

Secrets After Dark will take you one step closer to the edge of passion: the perfect read for fans of L.S. Hilton's Maestra, Sylvia Day's Crossfire series, or E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey. Ours was a love bound by power...Falling in love with Dominic changed me. I relinquished myself completely and placed my heart and my trust in Dominic's hands, but in one exquisite, excruciating moment he abandoned his control. Anguished by his actions, he has locked those darkest desires inside, unable to share my conviction that it would never happen again. Now it's not only Dominic who craves that delicate, seductive game of give and take, of walking the line between pain and pleasure, abandon and release. Persuading Dominic to let those secret parts of himself unravel will be the biggest risk I've ever taken, but I can't resist. Even if it means we fall apart...Provocative and sophisticated, exhilarating and seductive, the AFTER DARK series is a compelling pleasure we should all indulge in.

Whether he is in Cannes, St Tropez, Nassau or Lucerne, the Saint always finds some action to interest him. In these seven stories Simon faces competition in the jewel thief business, encounters an unpleasant movie mogul, uncovers a Ponzi scheme that isn't what it seems, deals with sabotage in the world of motor racing, finds a missing body, tangles with the Russians and rescues an heiress. Evil flourishes in the sun as well as the shadows, but the Saint always stands ready to prevent it.

In these six stories, the Saint encounters monsters of both the human and the animal variety: unscrupulous fraudsters in Hamburg; a confrontation with a rhino; perfect murders in Paris; a temperance leader deserving to be taken down a peg or two; a thief duping tourists in Sweden; and the hunt for the most famous monster of them all on the shores of Loch Ness. You can trust the Saint to deal with anything life throws at him with charm, imagination and steely determination...

The Saint has become better known - but that just increases the number of people who seek out his help. In these nine short stories Simon has a chance to show off his skills: he matches his wits against confidence tricksters, objects to a hanging, gets the better of a patent pill millionaire, solves a locked-room murder in a secret laboratory, goes fishing, turns journalist and ends the book with a bang - literally!

The female of the species is supposed to be deadlier than the male... Simon Templar is about to find out if that's true. In this collection of stories, the Saint encounters nine fascinating women. Whether they need help, to be avenged, or to brought to justice, the Saint handles their cases with panache and in his usual gentlemanly style.

In these two novellas, the Saint puts his life on the line to tackle two very different crimimals. In 'The King of the Beggars', he and Hoppy get on the wrong side of a protection racket in Chicago - leading to murder charges, danger and a meeting with the King himself. Back in New York, Simon's sense of fair play is offended by a crooked boxing promoter, setting him off on an investigation which will end in a life-or-death encounter in the boxing ring.

Simon Templar heads to New York - to sip cocktails, listen to jazz, and have a good time. But he has a way of making enemies, and a quiet night in 'Cookie's Cellar' sets him on a trail involving drugs, smuggling, dead bodies, a beautiful singer called Avalon Dexter and finally the loathsome Cookie herself. The battle is on.

The Saint is in Washington DC when a young woman asks for his help. Her father, a noted scientist, has invented a new form of synthetic rubber. But he has disappeared, and she is under threat. She turns to Simon Templar, who soon finds himself involved in war time intrigue.

In this collection of nine short stories the Saint encounters a clever detective who isn't, a well-meaning mayor, a man who likes ants and a producer who turns out, much to the Saint's surprise, to be actually quite smart.

The Saint and Patricia go to visit some friends in Miami - but when they get there they are shocked to learn their friends have disappeared. They move into their friends' house and start to investigate. Things get complicated when a tanker explodes off the Florida coast and a dead British sailor washes up on the shore. Simon suspects a link between the explosion and the disappearance, as well as the activities of shady millionaire Randolph March. There seems to be a Nazi spy ring operating out of Florida...

In these three stories, everyone's favourite criminal follows his nose and finds yet more trouble. In The Miracle Tea Party, an attack on Inspector Teal leads Simon to discover a packet of Miracle Tea with truly miraculous properties. In The Invisible Millionaire the Saint and Hoppy agree to meet a woman with information on a major swindle - only to find her dead. And finally, in The Affair of Hogsbotham, Simon is irritated by the self-appointed guardian of the nation's morality Ebenezer Hogsbotham and decides to take him down a peg or two. But though he sets out for some light-hearted fun, he soon stumbles into the middle of a bank-robbing conspiracy . . .

The Saint's holiday in Tenerife comes to a dramatic end when he rescues an elderly Dutch diamond cutter and his daughter from a vicious attack. It seems the old man is a reluctant member of a jewel-smuggling gang, and naturally Simon offers to help him out for just a small share of the boodle. But things get complicated when the Saint learns the old man had a lottery ticket worth $2 million - which has now gone missing. As the plot gets more complex, Simon struggles to play a winning hand.

In Prohibition-era New York, criminals rule the city: the gangsters do what they like, and pay the judges for the privilege; the few honest cops are helpless; and above them all the Big Fellow pulls the strings. With that many sinners, cleaning up the town will take a Saint...Simon Templar is a long way from home, and facing great danger from directions both expected and entirely unforeseen. But he promised to do the job; and a saint never goes back on his word.

In this collection of short stories, the Saint intervenes to teach a motley bag of criminals the error of their ways. Crooked financiers, bookies, fake inventors, dodgy bankers, dealers in pornography, unethical businessmen, murderers, thieves and liars - all will come to regret the day their actions caught the Saint's attention.

Three more stories of Saintly adventure show Simon Templar interpreting the law to his own advantage. In The Simon Templar Foundation, a poisonous legacy from his enemy Rayt Marius gives him the opportunity to make a great deal of money - if he can survive equally great danger. The Higher Finance puts him up against the police, a reclusive millionaire, and the wild beast that roams his mansion at night. And in The Art of Alibi, he faces the most impudent opponent of all: someone who is stealing his symbol, and committing crimes in his name.

Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time.In Paris, a dying man claims his brother can make gold... a secret that men are prepared to kill for. In London, a small-time American criminal sets up a violent gang, only to learn that there are certain things the Saint will not put up with. And in the Scilly Isles, drug-smuggling, drugged beer and a damsel in distress combine to make for a most unusual holiday for Simon Templar. In these three stories, the Saint needs all his wits to survive - and to stay out of jail.

When her post office burns down, postmistress Veronique starts lobbying for its replacement. But her fellow residents of the small commune of Fogas in the French Pyrenees are too preoccupied to rally to her cause. Mayor Serge Papon, overwhelmed by grief at the death of his wife, has lost his joie de vivre and all taste for village politics (and croissants) and it seems as though deputy mayor Christian (whose tendresse for Veronique makes him her usual champion) will soon be saying au revoir to the mountain community. And to Sarko the bull. Add to this a controversial government initiative to reintroduce bears to the area and soon the inhabitants are at loggerheads, threatening the progress of the sacred Tour de France and the very existence of Fogas itself. In yet another tale with more ups and downs than a Pyrenean horizon, things are about to get grizzly.

It all starts, as these things sometimes do, with a dead man.He was a neighbour, not someone Abby knew well, but still, finding a body when you only came over to borrow a tin of tomatoes, that comes as a bit of a shock.At least, it should.And now she can't shake the feeling that if she hadn't gone into Simon's flat, if she'd had her normal Wednesday night instead, then none of what happened next would have happened. And she would never have met Melody Black . . .Wild and witty, searing and true, THE MIRROR WORLD OF MELODY BLACK is about the fine line that separates normal from not - and how life can spin, very swiftly, out of control.

*Perfect for fans of A BOY MADE OF BLOCKS***RICHARD AND JUDY summer bookclub read 2013, Amazon Rising star, and shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize***** A funny and touching story of an unlikely friendship and an improbable journey***Alex Woods knows that he hasn't had the most conventional start in life. He knows that growing up with a clairvoyant single mother won't endear him to the local bullies. He also knows that even the most improbable events can happen - he's got the scars to prove it. What he doesn't know yet is that when he meets ill-tempered, reclusive widower Mr Peterson, he'll make an unlikely friend. Someone who tells him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make the best possible choices. So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the passenger seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing.A tale of an unexpected friendship, an unlikely hero and an improbable journey, Alex's story treads the fine line between light and dark, laughter and tears. And it might just strike you as one of the funniest, most heartbreaking novels you've ever read.

The sixth instalment of the brilliant William Dougal crime series, from the bestselling author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London. William Dougal's life seems to be running smoothly. Now working with his old rival, Hanbury, his reputation is gaining him cases from every corner. But with every climb, there has to come a fall . . .When Dougal agrees to investigate the disappearance and suspected murder of publisher Oswald Finwood, he is faced with an array of suspects, all with the means and motive - from Finwood's estranged wife to an elusive author who had an appointment with Finwood on the day he disappeared.

'ADDICTIVELY GOOD' The Times'Over-whelming' Independent'Supercharged' Evening Standard'Deliciously, startlingly, exuberantly fresh' GuardianWith GLOW, Ned Beauman has reinvented the international conspiracy thriller for a new generation.A hostage exchange outside a police station in Pakistan.A botched defection in an airport hotel in New Jersey.A test of loyalty at an abandoned resort in the Burmese jungle.A boy and a girl locking eyes at a rave in a South London laundrette . . .For the first time, Britain's most exciting young novelist turns his attention to the present day, as a conspiracy with global repercussions converges on one small flat above a dentist's office in Camberwell.

STARBUCKED is the first book to explore the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fuelled its success. Part Fast Food Nation, part social history, STARBUCKED combines investigative heft with witty cultural observation. How did Starbucks become an international juggernaut? What made the company so beloved that more than 40 million customers visit every week, yet so loathed that protestors have firebombed its stores? Why did Americans suddenly become willing to pay $4.50 for a cup of coffee? And why did the world follow? Taylor Clark provides an objective, meticulously reported look at how Starbucks manipulates psyches and social habits to snare loyal customers, and why many of the things we think we know about the coffee chain are false.

Why are levels of anxiety and stress rising faster than ever before? Why has no one come up with a solution that offers true and lasting relief? Why has no one found the key to calm? Based on Linda Blair's years of experience as a clinical psychologist, this book not only answers these questions, but offers solutions to achieve calm and serenity in our everyday life. In five simple and effective steps we learn to:Stop, Look and Listen - Stop reacting to what's going on 'without', and regain inner balance and focus.Take Care of Your Best Asset - The best way to adapt to change and solve new problems is to start with the healthiest body and mind possible.Know Yourself - Discover your talents and possibilities, and learn how to use them to best advantage.Simplify - Streamline your life so you have the time and energy not only to cope more effectively with everyday life, but also to embrace new challenges.Reach Out - Understand the benefits of connecting socially, and learn to do so in a way that ensures a sense of safety and meaning.Linda Blair's proven programme will teach you how to find the balance, purpose and tranquillity you seek and enable you to find calm.

Hoping to attract a generous endowment, St Agatha s College, Cambridge, invites fabulously wealthy Sir Julius Farran to dine. The evening is a disaster for everyone but Imogen Quy: Farran invites her to come and work for him. She declines, but when Farran dies, suddenly and shockingly, she has to look into it. His death left a large hole in his company accounts that could mean financial ruin for St Agatha s. To save her college, Imogen starts to cast her cool eye over the financier s heirs, employees and enemies. What is right about the death of Sir Julius? What is wrong about it? And why did it happen? After all, her name rhymes with ''why''.

Imagine if you couldn't seecouldn't hearcouldn't speak...Then one day somebody took your hand and opened up the world to you.Adeliza Golding is a deafblind girl, born in late Victorian England on her father's hop farm. Unable to interact with her loving family, she exists in a world of darkness and confusion; her only communication is with the ghosts she speaks to in her head, who she has christened the Visitors. One day she runs out into the fields and a young hop-picker, Lottie, grabs her hand and starts drawing shapes in it. Finally Liza can communicate.Her friendship with her teacher and with Lottie's beloved brother Caleb leads her from the hop gardens and oyster beds of Kent to the dusty veldt of South Africa and the Boer War, and ultimately to the truth about the Visitors.

'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the final instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth seriesAs a young police officer in Palestine during the closing months of the Mandate - the cradle of Middle Eastern terrorism - Richard Thornhill saw and did things which still haunt his dreams and make him fear for his sanity. Is he himself a killer? Now, when a retired police officer is found dead in the ruins of Lydmouth Castle, the past has come back to claim Detective Inspector Thornhill, and he is under suspicion of another murder. His wife Edith and former lover Jill Francis join forces in an uneasy alliance to try to help him. But there are many complications - scandalous allegations have been made about Miss Awre's School of Dancing; the Ruispidge Charity's annual dance for young people is under threat; teenagers haunt the newly opened Italian coffee bar and yearn for fumbled intimacies in the sheltering darkness of the Rex Cinema. And the Spring floods are rising higher than they have in living memory, drowning a multitude of secrets . . .'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid 'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out

The first book in the brilliant William Dougal crime series, from the bestselling author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London. William Dougal, a post-graduate expert in the medieval script of Caroline Minuscule, stumbles on the garroted corpse of his tutor - and finds himself embroiled in a hunt for a cache of diamonds, a deadly fairy story in which no one obeys the rules, least of all Dougal's girlfriend Amanda. As the body count rises, the couple pursue both the diamonds and their doom from London, to an East Anglian cathedral close, from Cambridge to a wintry Suffolk estuary.