Adam Sims

After a long war American Adam Miller made his way to Venice where his mother is trying to re-create her pre-war life. There he meets Claudia, a Jewess whose father died in a concentration camp. When they discover the man responsible for this there is a confrontation, after which Adam and Claudia need to construct an unbreakable alibi.

On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather for a family dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. But the evening ends in horror when Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Armand is convinced is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on an elderly man's life.

When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand on a desperate search for the truth that will take him from the top of the Tour Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives.

And as Armand begins to uncover the secrets his godfather has kept hidden for decades, he finds himself ensnared in a web of lies and deceit that threatens to destroy everything - and everyone - he holds dear.

For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide...

Self-made American millionaire Christopher Newman arrives in Paris brimming with hope and optimism, excited to experience the culture and, hopefully, find the perfect woman to become his wife.

A cold and ruthless literary biographer travels to Venice on the trail of personal letters belonging to the deceased American poet Jeffrey Aspern. Just how far will he go to get what he wants? Will morality confront his personal ambition and literary curiosity?

Hidden deep in the wilderness are the cloisters of two dozen monks - men of prayer and music, famous the world over for their glorious voices. But a brutal death throws the monastery doors open to the world. And through them walks the only man who can shine light upon the dark deeds within: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.

The air is unbearably tense as Armand Gamache returns to work since being demoted from its command to head of homicide. Amid blistering personal social media attacks, Gamache sets out on his first assignment. He has been tasked with finding a missing woman, but while he leads the search for Vivienne Godin, his home of Three Pines itself is threatened when the river breaks its banks, and an emergency is declared.

As the waters rise, a body is discovered - and the victim's distraught father contemplates revenge. Gamache is a father himself, and is haunted by a question... what would he do, if his child's killer might walk free?

New York in the 1990s - impoverished writer Jonathan Dainty takes his wife Maddie out to the beach for her birthday. Hours later he finds himself at the local police precinct trying to explain how on earth he let his wife get into a stranger's car, and allowed it to drive her away.

More than twenty years later, Maddie is presumed dead and Jonathan has channelled his grief into a best-selling series of crime novels. As far as he can, he is living the perfect life.

Then one day he catches a glimpse of his dead wife, moving through a throng of people. Is Maddie alive? As Jonathan attempts to uncover the truth, it soon becomes clear that the people closest to him are hiding something, something that could change everything...

Chief Inspector Gamache arrives in picturesque Three Pines, where a man has been found bludgeoned to death, and there is no sign of a weapon, a motive or even the dead man's name. As Gamache starts to investigate, he uncovers a trail of mysterious codes that begin to shed light on the victim's identity - and points to a terrifying killer...

Since prehistory, bunkers have been built as protection from cataclysmic social and environmental forces, and as places of power and transformation. Today, the bunker has become the extreme expression of our greatest fears: from pandemics to climate change and nuclear war. And once you look, it doesn't take long to start seeing bunkers everywhere. In Bunker, acclaimed urban explorer and cultural geographer Bradley Garrett explores the global and rapidly growing movement of 'prepping' for social and environmental collapse, or 'Doomsday'.

As Quebec shivers in the grip of winter, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache plunges into the strangest case of his celebrated career. A man has been brutally murdered in one of the city's oldest buildings - a library where the English citizens of Quebec safeguard their history. And the death opens a door into the past, exposing a mystery that has lain dormant for centuries...a mystery Gamache must solve if he's to catch a present-day killer.

It's Easter, and on a glorious Spring day in peaceful Three Pines, someone waits for night to fall. They plan to raise the dead...

When Chief Inspector Gamache arrives the next morning, he faces an unusual crime scene. A séance in an old abandoned house has gone horrifically wrong and someone has been seemingly frightened to death.

In idyllic Three Pines, terrible secrets lie buried, and even Gamache has something to hide. One of his own team is about to betray him. But how far will they go to ensure Gamache's downfall?

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different. But when Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, kidnaps Eddie's ten-year-old daughter, Eddie has only 48 hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial - and win - if he wants to save his daughter.

Ambitious District Attorney Randal Korn lives to watch prisoners executed. Even if they are not guilty.

An innocent man, Andy Dubois, faces the death penalty for the murder of young girl. Korn has already fixed things to make sure he wins a fast conviction.

The one thing Korn didn't count on was Eddie Flynn.

Slick, street smart and cunning, the former con artist turned New York lawyer has only seven days to save an innocent man against a corrupt system and find the real killer. In a week the Judge will read the verdict, but will Eddie be alive to hear it?

Learn to let go of stress,
Change how you worry,
And improve your life for good.

Shunmyo Masuno, Zen Buddhist Monk and million copy bestselling author of Zen: The Art of Simple Living, shows you how in 48 vital, easy-to-achieve lessons that will empower and equip you to relieve the anxieties of everyday life.

Use this book as your tool to focus on the 'now', to improve your most important relationships, to let go of rose-tinted views that hold you back, and to learn ways to accept yourself as you are so that you enjoy a calmer, more relaxed, positive version of yourself.

We all need more hours in the day, as we spend more time than ever working, studying and caring. So what if we could reclaim an entire hour, every day, to spend on the things we love? With proven advice from over 300 busy contributors, The Extra Hour condenses the best strategies and secrets into just 190 pages, to instantly supercharge your productivity. Whether you're a time-poor student, a frazzled entrepreneur or burned-out at work, waste no time in discovering how to: cut time spent on emails in half, banish distracting thoughts for good, power-surf the web, and much, much more. This is the last productivity book you'll ever need. So, what will you do with your Extra Hour?

Winter in Three Pines, and the sleepy village is carpeted in snow. It's a time of peace and goodwill - until a scream pierces the biting air. A spectator at the annual Boxing Day curling match has been fatally electrocuted. Despite the large crowd, there are no witnesses and - apparently - no clues.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache discovers a history of secrets and enemies in the dead woman's past. But he has enemies of his own, and as he is frozen out of decision-making in the police force, he has to decide who he can trust...

'911 what's your emergency?'

'My dad's dead. My sister Sofia killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'

'My dad's dead. My sister Alexandra killed him. She's still in the house. Please send help.'

One of them is a liar and a killer. But which one?

One cold November day, a mysterious figure appears on the village green in Three Pines, causing unease, alarm and confusion among everyone who sees it. Chief Superintendent Armand Gamache knows something is seriously wrong, but all he can do is watch and wait, hoping his worst fears are not realised. But when the figure disappears and a dead body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to investigate. In the early days of the murder inquiry, and months later, as the trial for the accused begins, Gamache must face the consequences of his decisions, and his actions, from which there is no going back...

When a professor of the Surete Academy is found murdered, with a mysterious map of Three Pines in his possession, Chief Inspector Gamache has a tough task ahead of him. But when suspicion turns to Gamache himself, and his possible involvement in the crime, the frantic search for answers takes the investigation to the village of Three Pines, where a series of shattering secrets are poised to be revealed...

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in the small village of Three Pines in Quebec. Someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. When he finally answers the call, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf. At first they seem small - a missing coat, a note for Gamache reading "this might interest you", a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list - but then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching. A threat unlike anything they've seen before.

Flapping Eagle is a young Axona Indian gifted with immortal life after drinking an elixir from his wayward sister. But after 777 years of sailing the world's seas, he becomes weary of life, and sets out to find the mystical Calf Island, a place where his fellow immortals have gathered and created their own version of the human race. But Calf Island is a strange place - like its inhabitants, it is both blessed and cursed. Sensing a terrible darkness at the heart of the island, Flapping Eagle sets out to scale the island's peak and confront its mysterious and potent creator, Grimus himself.

When the engine of a 737 tears itself apart at Los Angeles Airport, Tom Patrick sets out on a global paperchase, racing against time and ruthless killers – before planes and people start falling out of the sky like bloody confetti…

‘To inherit a great fortune. To inherit a great misfortune.’

These words, from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s notebook, neatly encapsulate the theme of The House of the Seven Gables – that of a family whose fortunes are poisoned by its past misdeeds. The sins of the Pyncheon father are visited upon his children over a period of several generations, until such time as one of his descendants unites with a member of the family he has wronged. Love conquers hate, and new blood washes away the original crime. This intriguing and insightful novel truly deserves its significant place in the canon of American literature.

As winter grips Quebec, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache receives a message about a mysterious case in Three Pines. A woman who was once one of the most famous people in the world has vanished. As he begins to shed light on the investigation, he is drawn into a web of murder, lies and corruption at the heart of the city. Facing his most challenging, and personal, case to date, can Gamache save the reputation of the Sûreté, those he holds dear and himself?

When Armand Gamache receives a letter inviting him to an abandoned farmhouse outside of Three Pines, the former head of police discovers that a complete stranger has named him as an executor of her will. The bequests are so wildly unlikely that he suspects the woman must have been delusional - until a body is found.

But it isn't the only menace Gamache is facing. The investigation into the events that led to his suspension delves deeper, and he takes increasingly desperate measures to rectify previous actions. As he does, Gamache begins to see his own blind spots - and the terrible things hiding there...

When wealthy businessman Leonard Howell's daughter is kidnapped, he calls on the only man he trusts to get her back. Eddie Flynn knows what it's like to lose a daughter and vows to bring Caroline home safe. Once a con artist, now a criminal attorney, Flynn is no stranger to the New York underworld. However, as he steps back into his old life, Flynn realizes that he is being played. But who is pulling the strings? And is anyone in this twisted case telling the truth...?

Former Chief Inspector of Homicide, Armand Gamache, has found a peace he'd never imagined possible, away from the front line of the police and in the tranquil village of Three Pines. But when his friend Clara Morrow asks for help, he can't bring himself to refuse her, despite the old wounds it threatens to re-open. Clara's husband, Peter, is missing, having failed to come home on the first anniversary of their separation, as promised. As Gamache journeys further into Quebec, he is drawn deeper into the tortured mind of Peter Morrow, a man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist that he would sell his soul. As Gamache gets closer to the truth, he uncovers a deadly trail of jealousy and deceit. Can Gamache bring Peter, and himself, home safely? Or in searching for answers, has he placed himself, and those closest to him, in terrible danger . . .

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is asked to provide crowd control at a statistics lecture given at the Université de l'Estrie in Quebec, he is dubious. Why ask the head of homicide to provide security for what sounds like a minor, even mundane lecture?

But dangerous ideas about who deserves to live in order for society to thrive are rapidly gaining popularity, fuelled by the research of the eminent Professor Abigail Robinson. Yet for every person seduced by her theories there is another who is horrified by them. When a murder is committed days after the lecture, it's clear that within crowds can lie madness.

To uncover the truth, Gamache must put his own feelings about the divisive Professor to one side. But with her ideas gaining ground, the line separating good and evil, right and wrong, is quickly blurring - especially when the case leads unexpectedly close to home...

It's the height of summer, and the Finney family have gathered at the Manoir Bellechasse to pay tribute to their late father. As the temperature rises, old secrets and bitter rivalries boil over into a mighty storm, with a dead body left in its wake. Chief Inspector Gamache finds himself with a building full of suspects...

A riveting story, told in the first person. It tells of a disastrous sea voyage involving storms, mutiny, starvation, thirst - and a mysterious conclusion.

Hardly a day goes by when nine-year-old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. His boundless sense of adventure and vivid imagination mean he has a tendency to concoct stories so extraordinary and so far-fetched that no one can possibly believe him.

But when Laurent disappears, former Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.

So begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. And what Gamache uncovers deep in the forest leads back to crimes of the past, betrayal and murder, with more sinister consequences than anyone could have possibly imagined...

Stanton Carlisle is smart, good-looking and ambitious. Among the outcasts, freaks and geeks of the Ten-in-One sideshow, he learns that the public is there to be gulled, and he learns how to do it. Amoral and brilliant, he aims for the brighter lights of vaudeville before a much bigger coup faking spiritualism for the rich. But his own dark fears haunt him, and he is not the only one taking advantage of terror and desire. Published in 1946, Nightmare Alley is a noir classic – at once a vivid insight into the sub-culture of the carny, and a bleak and gripping fable.

When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

When David Child, a major client of a corrupt New York law firm, is arrested for murder, the FBI ask con artist-turned-lawyer Eddie Flynn to persuade him to testify against the firm. But Eddie is convinced the man is innocent, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. With the FBI putting pressure on him to secure the deal, Eddie must find a way to prove his client's innocence. But the stakes are high - his wife is in danger. And not just from the FBI . . .

Jack lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures 11 feet by 11 feet. He loves watching TV, and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real - only him, Ma and the things in Room. Until the day Ma admits that there's a world outside. Richard & Judy Bookclub

It's the height of summer, and the wealthy Finney family have gathered at the Manoir Bellechasse to pay tribute to their late father. But as the temperature rises, old secrets and bitter rivalries begin to surface. When the heat wave boils over into a mighty storm, a dead body is left in its wake.

Chief Inspector Gamache, a guest at the Bellechasse, finds himself with a building full of suspects. With the hotel locked down, the murderer is trapped. But a cornered predator is always the most dangerous of all...