Other books that might interest you

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  The Lazarus Bell – Illaun Bowe...

  Patrick Dunne

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  A gruesome summer crimewave in the Boyne Valley complete with ritual murders and a mysterious plague-bringing Madonna – intrepid archaeologist Illaun Bowe is back in Irish king of crime Patrick Dunne's spine-tingling The Lazarus Bell!
  
  'It's not what you think,' he rasped, his tongue dry and clicking inside his mouth. A look of fear had invaded his eyes. I came as close as I dared. His voice dropped to a barely detectable whisper. 'It's worse … far worse.'
  
  A beautiful carved wooden Madonna, sealed tightly into a lead coffin, is discovered in a plague graveyard in the sleepy village of Castleboyne in Ireland – a fascinating but routine call-out for archaeologist Illaun Bowe.
  
  That is, until they take the coffin out of the ground and a black liquid oozes out from the casing, accidentally spilling over one of the workers. Within 24 hours, his skin breaks out in pus-filled lesions, and his organs fail, one by one …
  
  Soon hysteria breaks out in Castleboyne, with a quarantine imposed on the town by the Department of Health and nasty tabloid speculation that the disease has been brought to the area by the new immigrant population. Illaun has to get to the bottom of what was in the coffin to reassure herself that a deadly disease hasn't been unleashed upon the community because of her carelessness. Then a young boy is brought into the hospital, with the same symptoms as Terry …
  
  As the summer temperatures soar, the hysteria is fuelled by the finding of a torso floating in the River Boyne, an African woman killed for ritual purposes. Meanwhile, someone is making it dangerously clear to Illaun that they want that statue …
  
  Dive into The Lazarus Bell, another heart-stopping macabre thriller from internationally bestselling author Patrick Dunne. Full of twists, turns and uncovered conspiracies, join archaeologist Illaun Bowe in this unpredictable, atmospheric novel guaranteed to give you goosebumps.
  
  Who knew archaeology could be so interesting – and dangerous?
  
  
  Praise for Patrick Dunne
  
  Dunne may be the next big thing in the thriller field out of Ireland.
  Irish Independent
  
  [Patrick Dunne], in his multi-layered novels, explores the darker recesses of the human psyche where his plots are powered by the mysterious and the macabre and include strange happenings in such places as 'plague pits' and cemeteries.
  The Meath Chronicle
  
  A gripping thriller
  Books Ireland
  
  … attractively-drawn heroine Illaun Bowe neatly combines archaeology, medieval history and current sociological tensions in Ireland in an absorbing read.
  Irish Independent

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  The Witch of Exmoor

  Drabble Margaret

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  A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year: “Part social satire, part thriller, and entirely clever” (Elle).   It is a midsummer’s evening in the English countryside, and the three grown Palmer children are coming to the end of an enjoyable meal in the company of their partners and offspring. From this pleasant vantage point they play a dinner-party game: What kind of society would you be willing to accept if you didn’t know your place in it? But the abstract question of justice, like all their family conversations, is eventually brought back to the more pressing problem of their eccentric mother, Frieda, the famous writer, who has abandoned them and her old life, and gone to live alone in Exmoor.   Frieda has always been a powerful and puzzling figure, a monster mother with a mysterious past. What is she plotting against them now? Has some inconvenient form of political correctness led her to favor her enchanting half-Guyanese grandson? What will she do with her money? Is she really writing her memoirs? And why has she disappeared? Has the dark spirit of Exmoor finally driven her mad?  The Witch of Exmoor brilliantly interweaves high comedy and personal tragedy, unraveling the story of a family whose comfortable, rational lives, both public and private, are about to be violently disrupted by a succession of sinister, messy events. “Leisurely and mischievous,” it is a dazzling, wickedly gothic tale of a British matriarch, her three grasping children, and the perils of self-absorption (The New Yorker).   “As meticulous as Jane Austen, as deadly as Evelyn Waugh.” —Los Angeles Times

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  Bloodborn

  Kathryn Fox

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  “Kathryn Fox has created a forensic physician who readers of Patricia Cornwell will adore.” —James PattersonDr. Anya Crichton, the protagonist of Kathryn Fox’s critically acclaimed thrillers Without Consent and Malicious Intent returns in Bloodborn, a spellbinding new masterwork of crime fiction that fans of C.S.I. and Bones will adore. New York Times bestseller Kathy Reichs raves, “Like Fox, her creator, Anya Crichton is a force of nature. Bloodborn is a medical thriller that grips from first page to last.” Gritty and powerful, Bloodborn plunges Anya into her most explosive and dangerous investigation of all, as she confronts a seemingly untouchable family of criminals responsible for a series of savage and shocking murders.

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  A Hard Death - A Novel

  Jonathan Hayes

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  Forensic pathologist Edward Jenner survived the horrific ordeal of the Inquisitor serial slayings in New York, but not the political fallout. With his state medical license suspended, he hopes to repair his shattered life while working as a medical examiner in Douglas County, Florida. But evil is not confined to big cities alone.Two corpses pulled from a sunken car—followed by the grisly discovery of four more bodies hanging in the Everglades—are evidence of an insidious rot infecting this quiet coastal resort community. Suddenly Jenner's investigation is turning up grim traces of a nightmarish conspiracy—and with no one to trust and nowhere to turn, his only hope of survival is to walk away . . . something Jenner could never do.

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  Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a...

  Hisaya Amagishi

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  After dying of overwork in Japan, Dahlia is reborn into a world filled with magic. Raised by a master of magical toolmaking, she develops a passion for the craft and becomes engaged to her father’s apprentice. Before her father can see her wed, however, he suddenly passes away. As if this weren’t enough, on the day before their wedding, her fiancé announces that he’s in love—but not with her!
   
  Dahlia finally realizes she needs to live for herself. She vows to be her own woman from now on and devote herself to her craft, even if it’s not quite the quiet life she was hoping for! From a chance encounter with a knight to starting her own company, there are challenges aplenty on the horizon. But this young craftswoman is no longer a shrinking violet—she’s Dahlia, and she’s ready to bloom.

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  Examining The Maid

  Anna Austin

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  "I assume you intend to assist me? The results of the examination will be much more robust if I can call upon a second pair of hands.”
   
  Emma has already willingly submitted to the firm hand of Lord Fanshawe, the handsome aristocrat who employs her as a maid, but now it seems that he requires even more of her. With the assistance of his friend Dr Hardy, he intends to put Emma through her paces and make sure that she is suitable for his depraved schemes.Will their examination prove just as enjoyable as Emma's last disciplining at the hands of his Lordship? And just what will the Doctor produce from his medical bag...?
   
  ~~~
   
  “Well, Doctor Hardy” he replied. “I was considering taking her to the club and making her perform for the other gentlemen. But as I’m sure you're aware, we have quite stringent standards when it comes to selecting a suitable filly. I was hoping that you would help me to discover whether Emma might be a suitable candidate?”
   
  “Yes, I’m sure that I can,” asked Doctor Hardy. “But remind me, what characteristics should a suitable candidate exhibit?”
   
  His Lordship stroked his moustache before replying. “Well, first of all she must be a virgin. The girl has assured me she is, and I thought that I could feel her maidenhead to be intact, but I don’t have the medical expertise to be entirely sure.”
   
  Doctor Hardy nodded. “Certainly. I can certainly check that for you and give you a definite answer. You’re right to want to be sure. These low-born types are constantly rutting with each other. Even if she was unsullied a week ago, she might well have allowed some stable-boy or manservant to mount her in the meantime. Anything else that I’m looking for?”
   
  “Yes, if you would. You see, it’s no fun at all if the girls we exhibit at the club don’t actually enjoy their performance. If they scream and cry and whatnot it does rather spoil the mood. But some of what we require from them is rather, well – extreme. So I was hoping you could help me put her through her paces and make sure she’s not going to blub and cry at the crucial moment?”
   
  The Doctor rubbed his hands together, seemingly delighted at this request. “Oh, absolutely, it would be my pleasure. I assume you intend to assist me? The results of the examination will be much more robust if I can call upon a second pair of hands.”

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