Books published by Hodder & Stoughton

Shortly before his unexpected coronation, King Richard passed a law letting all of England's prisoners go free. Shortly afterwards a young nun is found, gruesomely murdered. Richard swiftly employs an old military colleague of his, Josse d'Acquin, to unravel this hideous mystery. Who could have wanted to kill this innocent young novice, and, more worryingly, why?Josse goes to Hawkenlye Abbey to find out the answers to these questions. He is having little success until meets the Abbess Helewise, a woman who quickly proves herself to be his equal, both as an amateur sleuth, and as a figure the community can rely on during this turbulent time for England.This duo have to find the murderer, and find him quickly, or they'll have the King of England to answer to...

'I loved this book, I was moved by this book and now I will share this book with my own mother.' Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Middle Place comes a new memoir that examines the bond between mothers and daughters. Kelly Corrigan's mother summarised the the division of labour in her family as: 'Your father's the glitter, but I'm the glue.' This meant nothing to Kelly, who left her childhood sure that her mum would be nothing more than background for the rest of Kelly's life. After college, she took off see things and Become Interesting. In a matter of months her savings had dwindled and she needed a job. That's how she met John Tanner, a newly widowed Australian father of two looking for a live-in nanny.There, in that small, motherless house her mother's voice was suddenly everywhere.Each day she spent with the Tanner kids was a day she spent reconsidering her relationship with her mother, turning it over in her hands like a shell, trying to hear whatever messages might be trapped in its shadowy spiral. This is a book about who you admire and why, and how that changes over time.

Almost 500 years have passed since civilization's brush with extinction. Perfect order reigns and humanity's gretaest threats have been silenced by the ruling totalitarian government. There is no disease. No passion. No hate. No war. There is only peace.Until one man discovers the truth hidden in a secret journal: the human heart has been stripped of all that makes it human and exists only in a kind of living death. But when Rom exposed himself to the vial of blood contained in the journal he was filled with uncontrollable emotions. Only Rom is now truly alive, and only he has the knowledge that can reawaken humanity. But the way is dangerous and the cost staggering . . . the way is forbidden.

Two abandoned souls are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths will cross and lead to one twisted fate.Danny Hansen is a Bosnian immigrant who came to America with hopes of escaping haunted memories of a tragic war that took his mother's life. Now he's a priest. Yet that does not stop him from acting as an avenging angel on those who stay within the criminal law but live outside the laws of love and compassion. Renee Gilmore is the frail and helpless victim of one such powerful man. Having escaped his clutches, she now lives only to satisfy justice by destroying him, regardless of whom she must become in that pursuit.But when Danny and Renee's paths become inexorably entangled, neither of them may make it out of this hunt alive.

Samuel Johnson - with a little help from his dachshund Boswell and a very unlucky demon named Nurd - has sent the demons back to Hell. But the diabolical Mrs Abernathy is not one to take defeat lying down. When she reopens the portal and sucks Samuel and Boswell down into the underworld, she brings an ice-cream van full of dwarfs as well. And two policemen. Can this eccentric gang defeat the forces of Evil? And is there life after Hell for Nurd?

Vibrant and headstrong, Ally Pearce loves working on the Edith, her family's narrowboat, proving she's the equal of any man on the Leeds to Liverpool canal. Betsy, delicate, calculating and sensuously beautiful, wants only to become a 'lady' -- and will use the most unladylike means to become one. When Dr Tom Hartley enters the sisters' lives after a tragic accident both are attracted to him -- but for very different reasons...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Never one to shy away from moral and ethical dilemmas . . . Picoult gives her readers all the virtuosic plotting, cliffhangers and twists they've come to expect' Daily MailZoe and Max Baxter spent ten years trying to conceive, until the heartbreak of their failure finally broke their marriage apart.After the dissolution of their marriage, each seems on their own path to healing, as Max turns himself towards an evangelical church whilst Zoe finds solace in a new relationship with a woman, Vanessa. But when Zoe and Vanessa approach Max asking to use the frozen embryos left from their marriage, their paths come hurtling face to face.In Max's eyes, Zoe and Vanessa's desire to raise a child together is an aberration.And Zoe is not prepared to let her desire for a child go without a fight.'Jodi Picoult takes a controversial and provocative subject and uses it as a backdrop to a touching and emotional drama' Sunday Express

On the night of the 22 September 1943 Pearl Witherington, a twenty-nine-year-old British secretary and agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was parachuted from a Halifax bomber into Occupied France. Like Sebastian Faulks' heroine, Charlotte Gray, Pearl had a dual mission: to fight for her beloved, broken France and to find her lost love. Pearl's lover was a Parisian parfumier turned soldier, Henri Cornioley, who had been taken prisoner while serving in the French Logistics Corps and subsequently escaped from his German POW camp. Agent Pearl Witherington's wartime record is unique and heroic. As the only woman agent in the history of SOEs in France to have run a network, she became a fearless and legendary guerrilla leader organising, arming and training 3,800 Resistance fighters. Probably the greatest female organiser of armed maquisards in France, the woman whom her young troops called 'Ma M re', Pearl lit the fires of Resistance in Central France so that Churchill's famous order to 'set Europe ablaze', which had brought SOE into being, finally came to pass. Pearl's story takes us from her harsh, impoverished childhood in Paris, to the lonely forests and farmhouses of the Loir-et-Cher where she would become a true 'warrior queen'. Shortly before Pearl's death in 2008, the Queen presented her with a CBE in Paris. While male agents and Special Force Jedburghs received the DSO or Military Cross, an ungrateful country had forgotten Pearl. She had been offered a civilian decoration in 1945 which she refused, saying 'There was nothing civil about what I did.' But what pleased her most was to receive her Parachute Wings, for which she had waited over 60 years. Two RAF officers travelled to her old people's home and she was finally able to pin the coveted wings on her lapel. Pearl died in February 2008 aged 93.

'A wedding readers won't be able to resist crashing' - KirkusThe Carmichaels and Grahams have gathered for a wedding. Plans are being made according to the wishes of the bride's late mother, who left behind The Notebook: specific instructions for every detail of her youngest daughter's future nuptials. Everything should be falling into place for the beautiful event - but in reality, things are far from perfect.In the days leading up to the wedding, love will be questioned, scandals will arise, and hearts will be broken . . .**************Praise for Beautiful Day'A perfect summer read' - The Picky Girl'No other author screams summer read more than Elin Hilderbrand. Her novels ooze saucy, sandy, sunny secrets. This was such a fun book to read' - The Book Bag**************Further praise for Elin Hilderbrand'A gritty and moving read that oozes plenty of drama' - Heat'A gem of a summer read with a glamorous location, elite lifestyle, and Hilderbrand's appealing take on the constant stress that fills the lives of women everywhere' - Booklist'This book was a great read - you really care what happens to the characters. Perfect holiday reading. I didn't want to put it down' - Candis 'Touching and uplifting' - U Magazine

From the author of Thirteen Hours - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pick***Why would a mathematics professor from Cambridge University, renting a holiday home outside Cape Town, require a false identity and three bodyguards? And where is he, now that they are dead? The only clue to the bodyguards' murder is the snake engraved on the shell casings of the bullets that killed them. Investigating the massacre, Benny Griessel and his team find themselves being drawn into an international conspiracy with shocking implications. It seems it is not just the terrorists and criminals of Britain and South Africa who may fear the Professor's work, but the politicians too. As the body count begins to spiral viciously, Benny must put his new-found love life aside and focus on finding the one person who could give him a break in the case: a teenage pickpocket on the run in the city. But Benny is not the only person hunting for Tyrone Kleinbooi . . . Shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger, COBRA is a relentlessly suspenseful, topical and richly rewarding novel from an author who is acclaimed around the world as a brilliant voice in crime fiction.

Meet Ella Canfield, highly qualified evolutionary biologist. Attractive, if a little serious-looking in those heavy glasses but then she's about to put her career on the line. Dr Canfield is seeking funding for a highly unorthodox research project. She wants to prove that an extinct animal still roams in one of Australia's most popular national parks.Meet Daniel Metcalf, good-looking, expensively dishevelled millionaire. Quite witty but far too rich to be taken seriously. He heads the Metcalf Trust, which donates money to offbeat scientific research projects. He has a personal interest in animals that don't exist.Problem number one: There is no such person as Dr Ella Canfield.Problem number two: Della Gilmore, professional con artist, has never met anyone like Daniel Metcalf before. Someone is going to take a fall.A sparkling, sexy read from the author of Addition, a Richard and Judy book club hit, Fall Girl is a story about passion and loyalty, deceit and integrity, and the importance of believing in things that don't exist.

From the author of Thirteen Hours - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickI'll shoot a policeman every day until you arrest the murderer of Hanneke Sloet.Shortly after the South African Police Services receive this threatening email, a policeman is shot by a sniper and recovering alcoholic Benny Griessel is ordered to reopen the Sloet case.Hanneke Sloet was a sensual and ambitious lawyer. At the time of her murder she was working on one of the biggest Black Empowerment deals in South African history. She was found dead in her luxury Cape Town apartment, a single stab wound to her chest.After forty days, the trail has gone cold. The first investigation could find no motive and no leads, only a set of nude photographs, an ex-boyfriend with a rock-solid alibi, conniving attorneys and financial double-dealing.Benny has to deal with immense pressure from his superiors, the media and the unfathomable sniper, whose emails keep coming and who won't stop shooting. And then there's Benny's love interest, former pop sensation Alexa Barnard, who is also trying to rebuild her life after the ravages of alcohol, and Benny has to make sure she stays sober for her comeback.At the same time, Benny's feisty colleague, Captain Mbali Kaleni, is hunting the shooter, trying desperately to find what connects him to Hanneke Sloet.Both Benny and Mbali are about to endure seven days of hell.

Nick Papadimitriou has spent a lifetime living on the margins, walking and documenting the landscapes surrounding his home in Child's Hill, North London, in a study he calls Deep Topography. Part meditation on nature and walking, part memoir and part social history, his arresting debut is first and foremost a personal inquiry into the spirit of a place: a 14-mile broken ridge of land on the fringes of Northern London known as Scarp. Conspicuous but largely forgotten, a vast yet largely invisible presence hovering just beyond the metropolis, Scarp is a vast storehouse of regional memory. We join the author as he explores and reimagines this brooding, pregnant landscape, meticulously observing his surroundings, finding surprising connections and revealing lost slices of the past. SCARP captures the satisfying experience of a long, reflective walk. Whether talking about the beauty of a bird or a telegraph pole, deaths at a roundabout or his own troubled past, Papadimitriou celebrates the poetry in the everyday. His captivating prose reveals that the world around us is alive and intrinsically valuable in ways that the trappings of day-to-day life lead us to forget, and allows us to re-connect with something more authentic, more immediate, more profound.

Shortlisted for the Political Book Awards 2013 Political Book of the YearThe first woman President of Ireland, who became UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson has spent her life in pursuit of a fairer world.Now, for the first time, she reveals what lies behind the vision, strength and determination that has helped her to achieve so much for human rights around the globe.She describes the upbringing which gave her her strong sense of values and how she came into painful conflict with her parents - marrying against their wishes and, later, helping to legalise contraception in a deeply Catholic Ireland.As a barrister she won landmark cases advancing the causes of women and the marginalised against the prejudices of the day. When - to the surprise of many - she became the first woman President of Ireland in 1990, she put Ireland firmly on the international stage.Accepting the position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1997 was her biggest challenge and here she describes the huge political difficulties she encountered among the many triumphs. Subsequently, based in New York, she led Realizing Rights for eight years, pioneering how to implement in practice economic and social rights: working in African countries on health, decent work, corporate responsibility and women's empowerment in peace and security. Now heading her own Climate Justice foundation she has succeeded in finding the independence she needs to work effectively on behalf of the millions of poor around the world most affected by climate change. Told with the same calm conviction and modest pride that has guided her life, Everybody Matters will inspire everyone who reads it with the belief that each of us can, in our own way, help to change the world for the better.

'On the third night after the day her father died, Liesl saw the ghost.' Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice - until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone. That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable. Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

'The new Hunger Games... ' CosmopolitanHe never loved me. It was all a lie.'The old Lena is dead,' I say, and then push past him. Each step is more difficult that the last; the heaviness fills me and turns my limbs to stone.You must hurt, or be hurt.An all-out uprising has been ignited and Lena Haloway is right at its centre. But things have changed. The Wilds are no longer a safe haven for the rebels and pockets of resistance have opened throughout the country.And when a face from her past reappears, Lena is faced with a devastating choice that could tear her and the revolution apart.'Un-put-downable, a truly fantastic finale.' Guardian

To survive you need people watching you, following your every move. That's the only currency now: being interesting, being liked ... And, of course, you have to update every fifteen minutes. It means everyone knows where you are, what you're doing; it means that there are no secrets...Everybody watches everyone else; nothing is hidden. And for those who fail to 'update' every fifteen minutes, the consequences are deadly. Evie and Raffy may have escaped the City but they still fear for their lives. Now the only person who can help them is Frankie, a total stranger, the most popular girl in the world, watched every second by millions of people. But Frankie has other ideas... And all the time, Lucas is waiting desperately for word from Evie, word that she is coming back to him. The conclusion to Gemma Malley's terrifyingly dark vision of our near future will leave you gasping for air.

Riveting, brilliantly imagined and passionate, THE DISAPPEARANCES, the compelling sequel to THE KILLABLES, will appeal to everyone who loved the powerful and gripping storytelling of THE HUNGER GAMES. They walked in silence onto the raised path that led to the East Gate. The closer they got, the louder the buzzing was. As they approached the gate it was almost unbearable. There was a stench in the air that made it hard to breathe, a stench that made the hair on the back of Lucas' neck stand up on end. Whatever had brought the flies here wasn't good. It's been a year since Evie and Raffy escaped the controlling regime of the City, leaving Lucas behind to rebuild the ruins of the place they once called home. And Lucas knew that once he said goodbye, Evie would be lost to him forever... But the City soon finds itself plagued by another terrifying threat: the Disappearances: teenagers who have gone missing from within the City walls, apparently vanishing into thin air. With the City at stake, Lucas has no choice but to call on his old friends - even if seeing them together is more than he can bear.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K . . . But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again . . .

You may think you know what you want in life, but having the idea, the goal, the means, the business plan or the enthusiasm will only get you halfway there. Whatever it is that you want to make happen whether a new business, community project or innovative idea the one crucial factor by which it will stand or fall is how well you can communicate it to others. This invaluable book explains just why good communication is so critical and reveals the secrets of honing your skills to ensure your goal is realised. From planning your initiative tois realised. From planning your initiative to making an effective pitch when the stakes are high, international communication coach Juliet Erickson presents the best insights and techniques of persuasive communication that are essential to really make your great ideas happen.

'The dream was football . . .'John Giles had a gift. At the age of three, he could kick a ball the way it was supposed to be kicked. And he knew that every hour that passed without kicking a ball was an hour wasted.'It was the same dream that most of the kids had at that time . . .'In A Football Man, Giles tells the story of a dream pursued and realised beyond his wildest imaginings, from his humble beginnings in Ormond Square in 1940s' Dublin,counting down the minutes to his next game of football, to that unforgettable moment when the original football man - his dad, 'Dickie' - announced that his young son, at just fourteen, was on his way to Manchester United.'What I didn't realise was that my dream would come true.'Full of anecdote, insight and wry humour, Giles recounts his rise through the ranks at Manchester United, before and after the Munich Disaster; the great players he knew, the good and the bad times under Matt Busby; his sensational debut for Ireland which he served as player and manager; his starring role in the brilliant, controversial Leeds United of the '60s and '70s; and his challenge to the portrayal of himself and Brian Clough in The Damned United. He also describes his enduring friendship with the 'kid from across Dublin's Tolka Park', Eamon Dunphy, and his career on RT 2's football panel, where Giles' intelligent and insightful analysis have made him an even more well-loved and respected national figure.

The Ultimate Secret. The Ultimate Agent. Nathaniel Cade returns.For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn by a blood oath to protect the President and America from their supernatural enemies. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens can only dream of.When a new outbreak of an ancient evil - one that Cade has seen before - comes to light, he and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To 'protect and serve' often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a century-old predator can.

In a race down the Thames, Detective Chief Inspector John Kerr is caught in a fight to the death with two gold smugglers. The American wife of the British Defence Secretary is brutally murdered while walking her dog. A senior judge is executed in Middle Temple Lane.Blocked by 'affirmative inaction' at New Scotland Yard and threats from MI6, Kerr deploys a talented female operative undercover to force the truth. A dirty bomb attack proves the motive is hatred of the United States and the special relationship. But is this domestic extremism or the work of foreign spies?As attacks escalate, Kerr confronts treachery and corruption from his own side and resorts to action as extreme as the dark forces turned against him.

A suspected terrorist is frisked for explosives on the Embankment. Operators do this so skilfully he remains completely unaware... In New Scotland Yard a new brand of manager fails to deal with escalating threats - 'aggressive indecision' is what Detective Chief Inspector John Kerr calls it... He discovers that cocaine-fuelled sex parties in Knightsbridge are pulling in businessmen, Russian diplomats and senior members of the British government... When Kerr's investigations are blocked by his bosses in Scotland Yard, he decides to go it alone and begins to expose a cover-up that extends to all levels of the British Establishment. Agent of the State is the first novel by Roger Pearce, a former Special Branch officer at New Scotland Yard who rose to become its Commander and a key player in Whitehall's intelligence network. It is an authentic account of the way the British intelligence services work at all levels and of the hypocrisy of the British establishment.

The Swedish town of Link ping is bathed in Spring sunshine. The trees are blossoming and families are having breakfast at outdoor tables in the main square.Then a deafening explosion rips through the air.Broken glass and tulip petals cover the cobblestones, and two little girls, twin sisters, are killed while their mother is left fighting for her life.Detective Inspector Malin Fors has just attended her own mother's funeral when she is summoned to the devastating scene. But, although Malin is plagued with questions about her past and the secrets her mother never revealed, she must once again bury her own pain if she is to find Tuva and Mira Viger 's killer before he strikes again.

As the temperature in Sweden reaches a record-breaking 45 degrees, forest fires break out. All those who have failed to escape Linkoping for the summer take shelter indoors, shocked and paralysed by the heat.However, when a teenage girl is discovered naked and bleeding in the local park, it is clear that the raging heat is not the only plague affecting the town.Then a second girl is found dead.Alarmed by the fact that the victims are the same age as her daughter, Tove, detective Malin Fors will work round-the-clock to capture the perpetrator. But as every lead comes to nothing, it is as though the oppressive heat is clogging up the wheels of her investigation. And time is not on Malin's side . . .

'An investigation consists of a mass of voices, the sort you can hear, and the sort you can't. You have to listen to the soundless voices, Malin. That's where the truth is hidden.'Early one morning in the coldest winter in Swedish memory, police detective Malin Fors is called away from the warm flat she shares with her teenage daughter. The naked body of a man has been found hanging from a tree on the deserted, frozen plain outside the town of Link ping.From the outset Malin is confronted with a host of unanswered questions: Who is the dead man? How did he end up in a tree? And where did the strange wounds on his body come from?Malin and her team must search for the truth in a community that seems determined to keep its secrets, and follow in the frigid wake of a killer to the darkest corners of the human heart.

Cri de coeur . . .When Stephanie brains an intruder with a stale baguette, she doesn't realise she has assaulted the new owner of the village grocery. Fabian's welcome goes from bad to worse as his attempts to drag the shop into the modern age are met with a resounding non! by the residents of the small commune of Fogas in the French Pyrenees. He is on the verge of admitting defeat when he's hit by a coup de foudre and falls in love. Stephanie herself is too busy for l'amour. Working at l'Auberge and getting her garden centre off the ground is taking all her energy. She doesn't even notice that her daughter Chlo has something on her mind. Troubled by a sinister stranger she has seen loitering in the village, Chlo has no one to turn to. Her only hope is that someone hears her cries for help before it's all too late. In a chanson d'amour with more twists than a mountain road, the unexpected is just around the corner.

Low Town: the worst ghetto in the worst city in the Thirteen Lands. Good only for depravity and death. And Warden, long ago a respected agent in the formidable Black House, is now the most depraved Low Town denizen of them all.As a younger man, Warden carried out more than his fair share of terrible deeds, and never as many as when he worked for the Black House. But Warden's growing older, and the vultures are circling. Low Town is changing, faster than even he can control, and Warden knows that if he doesn't get out soon, he may never get out at all.But Warden must finally reckon with his terrible past if he can ever hope to escape it. A hospital full of lunatics, a conspiracy against the corrupt new king and a ghetto full of thieves and murderers stand between him and his slim hope for the future. And behind them all waits the one person whose betrayal Warden never expected. The one person who left him, broken and bitter, to become the man he is today. The one woman he ever loved. She who waits behind all things.

Dark, violent, and shot through with corruption, TOMORROW, THE KILLING is a fantastic successor to THE STRAIGHT RAZOR CURE, one of the most heralded fantasy debuts of recent times.Once he was a hero of the Great War, and then a member of the dreaded Black House. Now he is the criminal linchpin of Low Town. His name is Warden. He thought he had left the war behind him, but a summons from up above brings the past sharply, uncomfortably, back into focus. General Montgomery's daughter is missing somewhere in Low Town, searching for clues about her brother's murder. The general wants her found, before the stinking streets can lay claim to her, too.TOMORROW, THE KILLING was chosen as one of the best novels of 2012 by Forbidden Planet, Fantasy Faction, The Founding Fields and A Fantastical Librarian.