Before Roxy found herself “Single in Buenos Aires,” she was a single girl in London in search of true love. The third installment of The Polo Diaries series takes us back to that time, and we follow Roxy as she hires a love coach to help her navigate the dating scene. But the love coach comes up with an unexpected assignment: reconnect to a long-forgotten passion. For Roxy this means horses. Within weeks, she finds herself playing polo, thanks to a series of unforeseen events.
Torn between her desire to become the best polo player she can be and the dream of falling in love, Roxy steps fully into the exciting and demanding world of polo, where injury and recovery mix with hard training, and where celebrating the victory of a tournament comes at a high price. Will Roxy eventually become the polo player she dreams to be? And with polo being such a demanding sport, can there be any space left for love?
A Magic Circle wizard has been brutally killed on the English south coast.
Sam Franklin, Pagoda and Meyra are on the case; as a cat, Pagoda would rather get into the case and have a nap.
Sam’s a senior wizard who doesn’t want to follow in the dead man’s footsteps; Meyra’s still struggling to fit into our world.
They walk on and under the mean streets of Brighton, hunting the killer (and the missing body). They find a whole lot more: a murderous dark magic conspiracy preying on the poor and vulnerable in our society, a werewolf with exquisite dentistry, a goblin fatale and a sat-nav with serious personality issues.
This fur-raising adventure will introduce you to the dark corners of our world where magic works and the monsters often wear nicely tailored suits.
Extract
PAGODA CAT [allowing Sam the privilege of sharing her mind to experience her burglary]
The Commune begins.
The alleyway running behind the target. Sweep along it. Take in the oozing bin smells and the acrid spilt beer and ammonia.
A Dog. Careers from behind a rubbish bag, comes to a halt, teeth bared, low growl. Jack Russel? Terrier? More like a Pickandmix. Only one ear. Seriously? Do you want to keep that one? Thought so. Yes, that’s it: run away, little boy. A hiss. Just to make sure.
Back of the target building. No sound.
Switch into the embrace of Cat-time, each moment luxurious and plush.
Risk assessment. Tail setting: Cautious.
Squirm through a tight hole to get in. Take care not to ruffle any fur. The human cage…office…is cramped for humans, cavernous for me, the main shop visible through the connecting door. No humans in this room. No guard dogs. Perfect.
And close by?
The black-haired one with the orange split ends: Derek. In the front of the shop talking to an adult human devoid of fur. Humans all look the same, the only way to tell them apart is usually their fur. And how they smell. Derek now exudes spilled korma, adding to his earlier sandalwood; the other human a mixture of sweat and golden retriever. Nothing sinister about him, apart from the Reek of Dog.
No immediate danger. Ignore both.
Look around. Prioritise.
In the corner: there’s something. Food or potential food? Everything is one or the other. Tuna…skipjack…“Seriously Special” brand…Sniff. No more than six hours and seventeen minutes on the floor. Stored between two brown triangles. Must be a clue. Yum. It’s food. Not a clue. Glad that’s resolved. No need for fingerprint evidence.
Video camera mounted on the ceiling. Slowly whirring from side to side covering the front of the shop. Sit and watch it. Side to side, side to side, side to side, side to side…
Concentrate!
No sign of a burglar alarm.
What’s that?
Something on the desk. A screen. Alert! There’s another smaller Derek. Here! Trapped in the screen! Talking to another furless human! Tail to Medium since they are only small. Why are there two Dereks and two furless humans? Why is one pair smaller? Is there no end to human trickery? The small ones copy the big ones. Better keep watch on all four. Tail back down to Cautious.
What else?
A dull grey tower against the wall with evenly spaced bars for humans to grip and pull so they will slide out. Intriguing, but human thumbs are required. Ignore.
A human litterbox in a small separate room. Marking their territory: a faint trace of something trying to be lemon, but mostly pure human den. Enough layers to keep feline historians busy for a loooong time. Fascinating but distracting: my pedigree etiquette would demand way too much self-grooming afterwards. I don’t have enough tongues…
Oooh! A roll of tape. All shiny and pretty. Potential food? Better chase it around, and – there you go – toss it up and attack it. Hah! Now, leave it alone. Leave it. Leave it. Wait for it. Wait…Re-trace steps up to it From A Completely Different Direction and then: Hah again! Victory!
Hold on, the front door is closing. The big and small shinyhead humans have both gone. Two Dereks left. Where’s that tape gone?
Uh-oh. Big Derek is coming. Getting bigger with every step. And the little one, also getting bigger. Seems to be climbing out of that screen.
Alert!
Be even cuter, in case either notices. Prepare to widen eyes to Very Big Indeed. That usually works. And, as a precaution, set tail to Bushy and Menacing. Maybe leave the tape alone for now.
Time to go. Can’t fight both Dereks. Sidle away in orderly retreat. Out through that gap in the back wall. Into the alleyway. Stop and catch breath. Reset. Time to look unruffled and immaculate…Outstanding.
Has the Pickandmix come back for more? No? Splendid. (And slightly disappointing.)
Hungry now. Sleepy, too. So: all systems normal.
But must wait until back with Him. Us? It’s the deal.
The world’s first earth-orbit passenger plane, the sensational Celeste Three, takes off from its base in Arizona, also the only place where it is designed land. On a routine flight the craft disappears.
On board is Viktor Karenkov, billionaire oil magnate who has used his wealth to evade prosecution for a murder he committed years earlier. Gregory Topozian, the murdered man’s friend, has been waiting for a chance to bring Karenkov to justice. With dogged determination and considerable ingenuity, he conceives an audacious plan.
Getting the craft down in total secrecy is key. And someone has to pay the huge costs involved.
PUBLICATION DATE: 14 MAY 2020 | PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £8.99 | ORENDA BOOKS
Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she’d escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway.
She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer.
As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran’s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants…
A Cumbrian Village… Three suicides… A red-hot summer…
Join super-sleuth Hattie as tempers and temperatures rise in the Cumbrian village of Hollywood. With mischief and shenanigans aplenty, will Hattie discover the truth?
A funny and intriguing mystery – the first in a new series by Caroline James
When recently bereaved Hattie Mulberry inherits her aunt’s dilapidated cottage in the village of Hollywood in Cumbria, she envisages a quiet life. But retired hotelier Hattie is bored and when her neighbour asks her to investigate a suspicious suicide, Hattie’s career takes a new direction and H&H Investigations is born. During the hottest summer for years, Hattie discovers there have been three recent suicides in Hollywood and she determines to find out why. Temperatures rise as she throws herself into village life and, with mischief and shenanigans aplenty, Hattie has her work cut out. But will she establish the truth?
133 Hours Arriving at work to find she’s lost more than five-and-a-half days (133 hours), Briony Chaplin, has no recollection of where she’d been or what had happened to her. She is distraught. Has she been ill, or had a breakdown, or could she have been drugged and abducted? Doubting her own sanity, Briony is fearful of what she’ll find. Yet she’s driven to discover the truth. When she trawls her memories, she’s terrified by visions, believing she may have been abused and raped. Assisted by her friends Alesha and Jenny, and supported by a retired detective, she’s determined to learn where she’s been and why. Purchase Links: http://mybook.to/133 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZT9VRF3 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZT9VRF3Continue reading “Extract Post: 133 Hours, by Zach Abrams”
Tensions
are building on the notorious Holds End estate.
The local
community centre is fighting for survival and the murder of 15-year-old Lewis
Matthews remains unsolved…
Wannabe
teenage singer, Bill Robinson, just got out of hospital after surviving a
vicious attack. He thinks he knows who attacked him…and why. When a violent
feud escalates between him and local thug Charlie McDonnal, Bill vows to find
the killer and help save the community centre by taking part in the local
singing contest.
How can
music bring a shattered community together? And can Bill keep his own demons at
bay long enough to win the singing contest and find out who killed Lewis
Matthews?
Christmas is a time for families to come together.
Guin
Roberts can’t think of anything worse than visiting a Christmas market with her
new family. Guin is perfectly happy with own company and doesn’t want that
disrupted by her wisecracking stepbrother and his earnest mum.
Their
Christmas celebrations are invaded by a sleigh full of murderous elves. And it
doesn’t matter if they’ve been naughty or nice — these elves are out for blood.
Can the family band together to survive the night? Or will Santa’s little helpers make mincemeat of them all?
A dress causes a huge debate across
the world as some see it as black and blue and others see it as white and gold.
The white and gold people suddenly start to get even stranger visions and
develop super human abilities making the black and blue people seem old and
inadequate. The government try to quarantine and control their power but the
white and gold people react setting the stage for a war between the rival
groups.
Brought up believing that sex is the devil’s work, a killer
only finds release once he has saved his victim’s souls. Abiding by his vision,
he marks them as his. A gift to guide his chosen ones on the rightful path to
redemption.
Detective Inspector Paolo Sterling is out to stop him, but
Paolo has problems of his own. Hunting down the killer as the death toll rises,
the lines soon blur between Paolo’s personal and professional lives.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 