The Less Dead'Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions and never fails to deliver.' IAN RANKIN When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt, Nikki, instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found. Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and

pregnant and haunted by what she calls 'her Cuba'

the Empire's rulers are determined to squash Chaonia once and for all by any means necessary

including Stride's detective hero Roy

tells the heartbreaking story of the tangled lives of two women whose intense

while serving up slices of pecan pie at the local diner

she is Cassie's double

Princess of Wales

who is visiting from Ireland

Marcus realises that his father's death was no accident and that his own life is in danger

' William Boyd

The first novel in the Reverend Richard Coles' Canon Clement Mystery series

it examines some of the enduring myths of American history and throws light on to the extraordinary part played by former slaves in a bitter war that would change the world