Despite an illness induced reading slump, my capacity to acquire and receive books remains undiminished. I was therefore delighted when this brilliant and varied parcel of books hit my postbox this week. With something for everyone, they’re guaranteed to while away the impending winter night’s. So grab a cuppa and let’s see what we’ve got.

The Future Can’t Wait by Angelena Boden

Kendra Blackmore is trying to be a good mother and a good wife, as well as pursuing her pressurised teaching career. Then Kendra’s half-Iranian daughter Ariana (Rani) undergoes an identity crisis which results in her running away from home and cutting off all contact with her family.

Sick with worry and desperate to understand why her home-loving daughter would do this, Kendra becomes increasingly desperate for answers – and to find any way possible to discover the truth and bring her estranged daughter home…

The Future Can’t Wait is a gripping story of a mother’s love, and the lengths we would all go to in order to know our children are safe. Can Kendra discover the truth of her daughter’s disappearance?

Javelin by Roger Pearce

Two explosions in Victoria mark the beginning of a bombing campaign against banking institutions in London. The attacks bear the hallmarks of Irish republican dissidents but are disowned by IRA volunteers and politicians in Belfast.

Kerr believes the bombs are the work of the extremist group Anti-Capitalist Insurrection, with attacks in London the first stage of a devastatingly deadly campaign across Europe…can Kerr stop them in time?

The perfect read for fans of Stella Rimington, Adam Brookes and Andy McNab.

Our Food Our Future by Alan Watkins & Matt Simister

The third book in the critically acclaimed Wicked & Wise series offers a compelling analysis of the issue of food on an international scale. From nutrition to world hunger to GM farming, what are the impacts of food and food issues on regional, political, cultural, business and social priorities?

With 2 billion obese and 2 billion hungry, food is a key issue in the future development of the world’s population and its health. As with every wicked and wise issue, it throws up significant moral, political and economic concerns when tackling how we will keep the world’s population nourished in decades to come.

A Death in the Night by Guy Fraser-Sampson

When a woman identified as the wife of a prominent lawyer dies at an exclusive women’s club, the team from Hampstead police station find themselves thrown into a baffling investigation with very little evidence to offer any guidance.

By coincidence, Metcalfe, Collins and Willis were all attending a vintage dinner dance at the club at the estimated time of death. Can they remember anything between them which might indicate a solution?

Set against a background of professors, barristers, and serial adultery, the fourth in the Hampstead Murders series continues the pattern set by its predecessors: strong, character-driven contemporary narrative written in the spirit of the Golden Age of detective writing. Praised by leading crime-writers, and garnering rave reviews from book bloggers, the books have been described as elegant, intelligent, quirky and ‘a love letter to the detective novel’. All agree they are very ‘different’ from the standard fare of modern crime fiction.

Blood Rites by David Stuart Davies

1980s Yorkshire. DI Paul Snow has a personal demon. He is a homosexual but is desperate to keep it secret, knowing it would finish his career in the intolerant police force. As this personal drama unfolds, he is involved in investigating a series of violent murders in the town. All the victims appear to be chosen at random and appear to have no connection with each other. After the fourth murder, he is removed from the case for not finding the killer but continues investigating the matter privately.

Gradually, Paul manages to determine a link between the murder victims, but this places his own life in great danger. Can Paul unmask the killer as he wrestles with his own demons?

Dead Lands by Lloyd Otis

 

When a woman’s body is found a special team is called in to investigate and prime suspect Alex Troy is arrested for the murder. Desperate to remain a free man, Troy protests his innocence, but refuses to use his alibi. Trying to protect the woman he loves becomes a dangerous game – questions are asked and suspicions deepen.

 

All the Colours in Between by Eva Jordan

Lizzie is fast approaching 50. Her once angst ridden teenage daughters, now grown and in their twenties, have flown the nest, Cassie to London and Maisy to Australia. And, although Connor, Lizzie’s sulky, surly teenage son, is now on his own tormented passage to adulthood, his quest to get there, for the most part, is a far quieter journey than that of his sisters. The hard years, Lizzie believes, are behind her. Only, things are never quite as black and white as they seem… A visit to her daughter in London leaves Lizzie troubled. And that is just the start. Add to that an unexpected visitor, a disturbing phone call, a son acting suspiciously, a run in with her ex husband plus a new man in her life who quite simply takes her breath away; Lizzie quickly realises life is something that happens while plans are being made. Gritty but tender, thought provoking but light-hearted, dark but brilliantly funny, this is a story of contemporary family life in all its 21st century glory. A story of mothers and sons, of fathers and daughters, of brothers and sisters, and friends. A tale of love and loss, of friendships and betrayals, and coming of age. Nobody said it would be easy and as Lizzie knows only too well, life is never straightforward when you see all the colours in between.

With a face value of £64.93 for these books alone why would you not want to consider joining for a year?

URBANE BOOK CLUB – JOIN NOW!