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Some Service to the State
The year is 1925. In the borderlands of a newly partitioned Ireland, a doctor new to Northern Ireland begins a search for a missing patient, a young girl who has fallen pregnant.
Meeting a wall of silence, she enlists the help of a local, a former IRA volunteer recently released from jail. Their enquiry brings them into contact with a community still suffering from the wounds of civil war. More worrying for them, they find they are beginning to rattle skeletons that some powerful people would prefer went undisturbed.
As they slowly begin to unravel the truth of the girl’s fate, they find that the traces they are following lead to some crimes more monstrous that they ever previously considered.
“Some Service to the State is a superb book with dialogue that would not be out of place on the stage of the Abbey Theatre. Mick McAlinden is a former IRA man caught on the wrong side of the border and the wrong side of history: a law student who ends up working in an abattoir. Aidan McQuade has created a character whose travails highlight the thwarted dreams and the tragedy of partition for so many people in post-revolutionary Ireland.”
- Ronan McGreevy, journalist and author of Great Hatred: the Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson.
“Like Graham Greene, Dennis Lehane, and Louise Penny before him, McQuade takes the humble crime story and uses it like a scalpel to probe and expose the darkness in human souls and human society.”
- Martin W. Sandler, National Book Award-winning author and historian.
“The sparring sparky dialogue is a delight and never fails to vivify the darkness. McQuade shows prodigious skill in shining a spotlight on the scandal of mother-and-baby homes and in brilliantly imbuing the past with his own potent blend of heart, soul and wit.”
- Rosemary Jenkinson, multi-award winning playwright and author of Marching Season.
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The Chairman
India’s finest cricketer is found murdered in a Kolkata dressing room. Theories abound about who is responsible: match fixers, Pakistani fans or disaffected team mates? All eyes are on India until Australia’s best player also meets his demise in the cricket nets at the SCG.
It is Mike Dunn’s job to find out who is dismissing the world’s best cricketers. The mission takes him across the globe searching for a murderer or a group of assassins who are tearing the game asunder.
In a thrilling race around the world, Dunn finds himself a step behind at every turn until a chilling theory reveals itself…
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The Fens
The Fens is a gripping modern crime novel which opens with the discovery of a body lying dead on top of a grave in a local churchyard. Mysteriously, it has been laid out in decorous and reverential fashion, completely at odds with the fact that the victim has been murdered!
Detective Inspector John Naylor is put in charge of the murder of local councillor and MP Malcolm Fenton. He chooses newly qualified Police Constable Cassandra Money to help him untangle the MP’s complex private life and business interests. It seems that everyone they meet had a good reason to want to get rid of Malcolm Fenton.
The investigation takes a turn when one of Fenton’s colleagues complains about Inspector Naylor’s attitude and a commissioner from Scotland Yard arrives at the rural police station to take over. Is Inspector Naylor simply annoyed because he has lost control over the investigation, or is he more involved in the case than he is letting on?
Constable Cassandra Money is torn between her loyalty to the inspector and her growing suspicion that he is keeping secrets. Can she solve the murder and save the inspector’s reputation?
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The Green Spiral Continues
In this fast-moving sequel to The Green Spiral, confronting the runaway destruction of Planet Earth by some dangerous humans shows that there is a very fine line between fantasy and reality.
The central characters provide a glimmer of hope for those who are fighting to save Nature, or is it too late?
Nature herself begins to show her true colours, as she decides it is time to teach those who aim to destroy, a lesson.
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The Signature Killer
The crosshairs of the rifle scope were focused on a spot just behind the left ear. Before taking the shot, the assassin picked up a pair of binoculars to scan the area to be sure the shot wasn’t going to be interrupted. He was looking at two men sitting at a small table outside a pub in Dublin, Ireland, each having a pint. Re-focusing the rifle scope, he took the shot. A small hole appeared just behind the left ear of the man known to be a high-ranking member of the Irish Republican Army. One eye popped out of his head and bounced off the table to the ground and rolled away. The other eye hung on his cheek by the optic nerve. A gray soup-like material that had been his brains, started to flow from his eye sockets, ears, and nose. As his body slumped over on the table, the other man, a secret member of an IRA opposition group from Belfast smiled and walked away from the table. 320 yards away, Stephen Finn was dismantling his rifle, removing his coveralls and gloves, and placing everything in his custom made briefcase. Stephen left the sparsely occupied building, and got into the stolen car he had waiting. He calmly drove to a small airstrip just outside of Dublin where he left the car, put on his flight suit and climbed into his very technologically advanced, custom designed jet and headed to the United States. After landing just south-west of Boston, Stephen Finn no longer existed. The man that emerged from that jet was now Antonio De Luca with all of the papers to prove he had been born and raised in the United States.
Follow Tony in the next Antonio De Luca Adventure Series Story titled, “Stephany’s Life”.£8.99 -
Things That Go Bump in the Night
ONE CITY. TWO KILLERS
A serial killer and a supernatural killer terrorise a city. One kills willingly preying on adulterers and the other unknowingly with no memory of being a monster. The city knows about the serial murders committed by the Sin Killer, but unaware of the shape-shifter whose murders are blamed on the Sin Killer. The captain of police is related to one of the killers.£11.99 -
Four Decades of Lies, Deceit, Corruption and Murder
Susan Aitken returns home looking forward to the Easter weekend to find her husband, Sir Gerald Aitken, with a bullet in his head. What appears to be a suicide is much more sinister. Four teenage friends, all now mature women, become reunited at his funeral. Thirty years have passed and none of them realise that their lives have been intertwined.The months following the funeral open up a catalogue of lies and as Susan struggles to cope with the consequences, police investigate further and find links to blackmail, homosexuality and child abuse amongst all of them. The family and trusted friends are in total disbelief, but one of them is Gerald's killer. How do these happenings, spanning over four decades, lead to a massive police cover-up and who is behind it all?
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The Bag
Shaun, 54, leads a perfectly normal life, thank you very much. Sure, it is a life that has been boring recently, and mired in depression after the collapse of his second marriage, but he is coping with getting through life on a day-to-day basis.But one day, while walking his dog, Shaun comes across a mysterious bag, filled with money and diamonds, and most worryingly - a dead body nearby. In the spur of the moment, Shaun makes the decision to take the bag home.Suddenly, Shaun has a new lease on life, as he works to avoid both the police and the criminals looking for the bag so that he can hold on to this fortune that could change his life for the better.When he meets a lovely woman, while spending some of his ill-gotten gains, he feels that everything is finally coming together for him.But the Bag is not finished with him yet...
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The Big Bank Job
Matt Wild is an ordinary south London driving instructor with an extraordinary plan to win back his estranged wife and child. During a routine driving lesson with a talkative bank clerk, a brilliant idea strikes him like lightning: to orchestrate a daring bank heist, aiming for a haul of over a million pounds. With a mix of charm, persuasion, and a touch of deception, Matt enlists the help of three friends to join him on this audacious adventure, ready to take on the high street bank in broad daylight. But will their hair-brained scheme actually work? Set against the scorching backdrop of the summer of 1976, this heart-pounding tale is a rollercoaster ride of spills and thrills, guaranteed to keep you perched on the edge of your seat, eagerly turning the pages to discover if Matt’s desperate gamble will pay off or lead them all into a dangerous abyss.
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Mea Culpa
JUSTICE: The administration and conformity of the law according to prescribed and accepted principles.
In a gripping new mystery, Chief Inspector Augustus T. Rose faces his most challenging case yet. When two priests are found brutally murdered and mutilated, Rose must navigate a complex web of pressure from the upper echelons of the Police, the Catholic Church, and the relentless media to swiftly bring the killer to justice.
As the investigation unfolds, Rose finds himself grappling with an unexpected moral dilemma. The killer’s motive becomes increasingly clear, forcing the seasoned inspector to confront the blurred lines between duty and empathy. With each step forward, Rose is drawn deeper into a psychological game of cat and mouse, where his own beliefs and principles are put to the ultimate test.
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The Baker & the Blacksmith’s Daughter
Fearing she would be left on the shelf, Joanna is swept off her feet by a handsome Italian supporting the Air Force in her country town, leading to a whirlwind marriage. After following him overseas, they eventually settle in inner Melbourne.
A chance encounter with a local French baker, who delivers to her house, stirs her inner emotions. She begins to question her commitment to her husband, as something about the baker continues to haunt her, even after moving with her family to the outskirts of Melbourne.
Suspicions about her husband’s fidelity arise as Joanna grapples with snippets of evidence suggesting a relationship with a work colleague. A chance sighting of the baker by her sons in the neighbourhood reignites her feelings once again.
Joanna moves her expanding home sewing business to local premises, unaware that the baker has also established operations nearby. When her husband eventually disappears from her life, the baker appears in her shop, rekindling her longing to be with him. Will fate allow Joanna and the baker to be together permanently?
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Killing Hurts
Christian Gardener, a teenager with the soul of a forty-year-old, has always been a self-confessed loner and an outsider in his own time. Despite his love for his adoptive parents, he struggles with his mother’s attitude towards his father, sparking a determination to change his family dynamics.
His drastic actions set him on an unexpected path, further complicated by a life-altering lottery win. Christian believes he’s found true love in Caroline, but his hopes are shattered after a fight at a party leads to their breakup. Feeling lost in a world of his own making, Christian’s life takes a dark turn as he succumbs to a murderous impulse, driven by a newfound and dangerous passion.
When a chance encounter with his past reopens old wounds, Christian’s life spirals into chaos. Now caught between what was and what could be, he faces a critical decision that will determine his ultimate fate.
£10.99