Updates - Week Ending 26th April

Alec de Payns, espionage operative of the Y Division of the DGSE, France's famed foreign intelligence service, is tasked with tracking down an agent of influence sending highly classified material against the Kremlin to embassies all over Europe.

A deadly conspiracy is aligning the West against Russia. But who is behind it? And to what end?

The clues lead to a secret meeting of businessmen, terrorists and mercenaries on a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean, which de Payns must infiltrate. What he discovers sets off a Europe-wide manhunt in a desperate scramble to prevent an international catastrophe.

Former DGSE spy Jack Beaumont's Dark Arena is another chillingly plausible thriller delivering all the taut plotting, superb action and authentic spycraft that made The Frenchman a critically acclaimed bestseller.

The chin tattoo confirms the victim is Maori. The whorls of ink from her lower lip to her chin—the moko, is worn only by Maori women. So, her ethnicity is a given. Finding who murdered Huia Coburn, and dumped her body in the volcanic rock pool at the base of Mason’s Rock waterfall has now fallen to DI Nyree Bradshaw.

From the strangely unsympathetic parents, to the belligerent boyfriend on home detention for drugs, it seems everyone has something to hide and no one is telling the truth.

Then Nyree discovers six-year-old diabetic, Lily Holmes is missing, last seen in the victim's care. Now, Nyree must now find the killer to save Lily.

She has already failed her own son. She cannot fail this child.

A woman wants her errant husband tracked, an undocumented Cambodian girl is found dead, the city’s two biggest criminal societies vie for power, a loan shark wants his money back, and a corrupt cop is pulling strings from the shadows. It’s just another day in Hong Kong.

Former cop Galahad Jones’ struggling business as a private investigator was on life-support. With no friends to speak of and a gambling debt that, if called in, could see him floating face down in Hong Kong harbour, things weren’t good.

Reluctantly taking a job to investigate a cheating husband, Galahad is suddenly catapulted into the deadly world of Hong Kong’s criminal underbelly. Conspiracy and betrayal reign as he finds himself in a life and death chase through the mean streets of Kowloon and The Island to bring down a human trafficking ring and, hopefully, keep his head on his shoulders in the process.

With the help of his apprentice, Joey Loh, and mysterious girlfriend Angel Yeung, Galahad must confront his past, Hong Kong triads and official corruption to free the girls and clear his murdered father’s name. Dark forces are arrayed against him and Galahad is never quite sure who is friend and who is foe.

One thing is for certain... Galahad Jones will do whatever it takes, no matter the personal cost.

Two spies and a private eye are asked to protect a social media influencer. What could possibly go wrong? Crockett, Ben, and Ronnie reluctantly accept an off-book mission from the Australians. They’re tasked with protecting a young social media influencer with an exceptional memory and to escort her safely to court to testify. Crockett has an extra job on his list; he’s supposed to recruit the woman for his intelligence agency but he’s not sure that is wise, or that the woman will be able to transition from ‘social media influencer’ to a career within the intelligence community. The more time they spend with ‘Alex the influencer’ the less she seems suited to anything except taking selfies and tantrums. The more time they spend with ‘Alex the influencer’ the more they suspect something is off about Alex. If that isn’t enough, Ronnie’s cousin Donald suspects something dreadful has happened to their neighbours and manages to drag Nana and the Cronies of Doom into his conspiracy theory, despite Ronnie’s many misgivings. Meanwhile, the team navigates through dangerous situations arising from an unknown number of assailants, raising the stakes with each passing moment. Will they be able to protect Alex and uncover the truth before it's too late?

Populist political parties are increasing their influence across the world. It couldn’t happen in New Zealand, could it?

Journalist Grace Marks is investigating two unrelated stories – New Zealand’s alt-right, and the emergence of a new organisation, ProtectNZ. When she finds ‘dead man’s hand’ stuck to her front door with a knife, it’s obvious she’s ruffling some feathers.

Hiding in New Zealand after a mission went sour, former US agent Marla Simmons learns Grace is in danger and wants to help, but finding out who’s orchestrating the threats won’t be easy.

The two stories collide as Grace and Marla’s investigations deepen. When a body is found, the question is not only who killed them and why, but who
was the victim?

As the ProtectNZ juggernaut steamrolls towards the election, Grace and Marla race to expose those pulling the strings. The voting public need to know the truth. 

'There is no doubt the truth would have been concealed and our concerns buried without Nick McKenzie's relentless pursuit of justice.' SAS Afghanistan veteran

War is brutal. But there are lines that should never be crossed. In mid-2017, whispers of executions, and cover-ups within Australia's most secretive and elite military unit, the SAS, reached Walkley Award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie. He and Chris Masters began an investigation that would not only reveal shocking truths about Ben Roberts-Smith VC but plunge the reporters into the defamation trial of the century.

For five years, McKenzie led the investigation, waging an epic battle for the truth to be acknowledged. His fight to reveal the real face of Australia's most famous and revered SAS soldier and examine evidence of bullying, intimidation, war crimes and murder would take him across Australia and to Afghanistan.

As he unearthed the secrets Ben Roberts-Smith had thought he'd long ago buried, McKenzie had to deal with death threats, powerful forces intent on destroying his career and attempts to silence brave SAS soldiers, who had witnessed their famous comrade commit unspeakable acts. McKenzie would break the stories that proved the man idolised by the public, politicians, the media and leading business leaders was a myth.

His efforts would help deliver justice to Roberts-Smith's victims and their families.

After the perils of a case that landed much too close to home, Hana Westerman turned in her badge and abandoned her career as a detective in the Auckland CIB. Hoping that civilian life will offer her the opportunity to rest and recalibrate, she returns to her hometown of Tātā Bay, where she moves back in with her beloved father, Eru. Yet the memories of the past are everywhere, and as she goes for her daily run on the beach, Hana passes a local monument to Grace, a high school classmate who was murdered more than twenty years ago and hidden in the dunes overlooking the sea. A Māori man with a previous record was convicted of the crime, although Eru never believed he was guilty.

When her daughter finds another young woman’s skeleton in the sands, Hana soon finds herself awkwardly involved. Investigators suspect that this is Kiri Thomas, a young Māori woman who disappeared four years earlier, after battling years of drug addiction. Hana and her daughter Addison are increasingly captivated by the story behind this unsolved crime, but without the official police force behind her, Hana must risk compromising her own peace and relationships if justice is to be served.

Expanding the range of vivid characters who made Michael Bennett’s first book, Better the Blood, so appealing, and offering a shocking twist at the end, Return to Blood takes readers further into Māori culture and traditions as it engages us more deeply into the story of Hana Westerman

Be careful who you love …

It’s the year 2000 and while Bunny McGarry is theoretically on sabbatical from the police, he just can’t help sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong.

Rosie Flint is an old acquaintance of Bunny’s whose boyfriend mysteriously disappears off the face of the Earth. What starts out as a simple missing person’s case soon gets a whole lot more complicated when it emerges that the boyfriend is not who he claimed to be and there are some rather sinister people showing an unhealthy interest in Rosie.

Bunny is only trying to help a friend but it’s just a matter of time before he finds himself at loggerheads with his colleagues on the force, having to reassess some events from his past and unwittingly involved in a major political coup.

He won’t be able to do this alone, so it is a good job he can call upon a certain band of kick-ass nuns to do what they do best. And he might even find a use for a twelve-year-old boy who is desperate to escape from an Irish language summer school.

Firewater Blues is the sixth book in McDonnell’s critically acclaimed bestselling and increasing inaccurately titled Dublin Trilogy. It mixes high-octane thrills with distinct Irish wit.