It’s getting to that time of year when the bookworm’s equivalent of digging out the red pen and snaffling a copy of the Christmas Radio Times starts. That’s right, it’s 2019 publisher catalogue time. So I’ve undergone the arduous task of sitting down and seeing what bookish offerings we can expect in the first half of next year. This time I’ve been looking at the offerings of Cornerstone who’s imprints include Century, Arrow, Windmill, William Heinemann, Tor and Hutchinson.

Starting as we always do with January which sees the publication of My Name is Anna by Lizzy Barber. Anna has always abided by Mamma’s rules until her 18th birthday when she visits Florida’s biggest theme park. She has never been allowed to go but when she arrives everything seems familiar. Is there a connection to the mysterious letter she receives on the same day? Rosie has lived in the shadow of her missing sister. On the fifteenth anniversary of her  disappearance,  Rosie vows to uncover the truth. But she has to find out the truth before it tears her family apart. (Century) I have a copy of this so keep a look out for my review.

Also out is Darkest Truth by Catherine Kirwan. When solicitor Finn Fitzpatrick is approached by a man to investigate the death of his daughter, her first instinct is to refuse. Why did a bright, confident, beautiful young girl suddenly drop out of school, isolating herself from everyone who cared about her? Could it be that the father’s suspicion is right and that his daughter was groomed and abused by the most famous film director in Ireland? If the story is true there are bound to be other victims. The more she investigates, the darker and more twisted the picture becomes. Soon Finn herself is in danger. Because these are powerful people she is trying to expose. And they are willing to do anything to protect their secrets. (Century)

In Golden State by Ben H. Winters the worst crime you can commit is to lie. Laz Ratesic is a veteran of the State’s special police. As one of the few individuals allowed to ‘speculate’ on what might have happened when a crime is committed, it’s his job to find the full and final truth. But when a man falls from a roof in suspicious circumstances, it sets in motion a terrifying series of events which will shatter Laz’s world for ever. Because when those in control of the truth decide to twist it, only those with the power to ask questions can fight back. (Century)

Still in January and Crimson Lake by Candice Fox is published.  On the fifth floor of a hotel, four young friends are left alone while their parents dine downstairs. But when Sara Farrow checks on the children at midnight, her son is missing. The boys swear they stayed in their room, and CCTV confirms Richie has not left the building. Despite a thorough search, no trace of the child is found. Sara turns to Crimson Lake’s unlikeliest private investigators: disgraced cop Ted Conkaffey and convicted killer Amanda Pharrell. This case is just the sort of twisted puzzle that gets Amanda’s blood pumping. For Ted, the case couldn’t have come at a worse time. Two years ago a false accusation robbed him of his career, his reputation and most importantly his family. But now Lillian, the daughter he barely knows, is coming to stay in his ramshackle cottage by the lake. Ted must dredge up the area’s worst characters to find a missing child. And the kind of danger he uncovers could well put his own in deadly peril . . .
(Century)

Also out is Watching You by Lisa Jewell. You’re back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. You meet the man next door. He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive. You find yourself watching him . All the time. But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession. Or that someone is watching you. (Arrow)

Finally this month The Burning Island by Hester Young is published. When her work on a high-profile missing child case exposes her fragile secret to the world, Charlie Cates is forced to flee. On Hawai’i’s Big Island, Charlie can escape the past. But in spite of its beauty the island is harbouring a dark secret of its own, and people who will do anything to protect it. The more enchanted Charlie becomes by the island’s mysteries, the bigger the theat she poses to its tranquillity. And the closer Charlie gets to uncovering the truth, the less likely it seems that she will ever leave the island alive…  (Arrow)

Also out this month is The House Next Door by James Patterson, Susan DiLallo, Max DiLallo and Brendan DuBois (Century), A Mother’s Love by Katie Flynn, (Century), The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy (Hutchinson), The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil (Windmill), Texas Ranger by James Patterson and Andrew Bourelle (Arrow), A Thimbleful of Hope by Evie Grace (Arrow), On a Turning Tide by Ellie Dean (Arrow) and Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer (Arrow).

February sees the return of one of my must read authors. In The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman during the middle of a ‘Saints and Sinners’ themed wedding, a bridesmaid finds a young woman’s corpse collapsed in the bathroom. None of the wedding guests claim to know the well-dressed victim but psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis aren’t so convinced. (Century)

Also out is Never Tell by Lisa Gardner. It seems an ordinary house in an upscale part Inside a man lies dead and on the stairs, a young woman waits. Covered in blood, she is holding a gun. An open-and shut-case Detective DD Warren thinks when she arrives at the house, particularly as when she last saw the suspect Evie she had just shot her own father. That time the killing had been an accident. This time it seems horribly intentional. But is it? Killer or victim? Detective DD Warren must race to find out what has really been going on behind closed doors (Century)

Another must read for me this month is A Rose Petal Summer by Katie Fforde. Caro Swanson has taken a job in a remote part of Scotland after answering an ad in The Lady being a companion to an elderly gentleman who lives in a country estate. The fact that she may also see Alec, the young man who she met some years previously and who she has always thought of as her ‘one who got away’, is of course purely incidental. Soon Caro is falling in love – not only with Alec but with the stunning house and grounds she is now living in. But the estate is in financial difficulties. and it quickly becomes apparent that there is only one way to rescue it. Soon Caro is in search of a classic lost perfume that might just restore all their fortunes. (Century)

In The Murderer of Warren Street by Marc Mulholland it is  December 1854 and Emmanuel Barthélemy visited 73 Warren Street in the heart of radical London for the very last time. Within half an hour, two men were dead… This is the true story of one of nineteenth-century London’s most notorious murderers and revolutionaries. The newspapers of Victorian England were soon in a frenzy. Who was this foreigner come to British shores to slay two upstanding subjects? As Oxford historian, Marc Mulholland, has uncovered, Barthélemy was no ordinary criminal. Rather, here was a dedicated activist fighting for the cause of the oppressed worker, a fugitive shaped by the storms of revolution, counterrevolution and a society in the midst of huge transformation. (Windmill)

February also sees the publication of Fall by Candice Fox. If Detective Frank Bennett tries hard enough, he can sometimes forget that Eden Archer, his partner in the Homicide Department, is also a moonlighting serial killer . . .Thankfully their latest case is proving a good distraction. On the rain-soaked running tracks of Sydney’s parks, a predator is lurking, and it’s not long before night-time jogs become a race to stay alive. While Frank and Eden chase shadows, a different kind of danger grows closer to home. Frank’s new girlfriend Imogen Stone is fascinated by cold cases, and her latest project – the disappearance of the two Tanner children more than twenty years ago – is leading her straight to Eden’s door. (Arrow)

Out in paperback is A Country Escape by Katie Fforde. Fran has always wanted to be a farmer, so how she ended up a chef in London is anyone’s guess. However, she has just moved in to a beautiful but very run-down farm in the Cotswolds, currently owned by an old aunt who has told Fran that if she manages to turn the place around in a year, the farm will be hers. The thing is  Fran knows nothing about farming. She might even be afraid of cows. She’s going to need a lot of help from her best friend Issi, and also from her wealthy and very eligible neighbour – who might just have his own reasons for being so supportive. Is it the farm he is interested in? Or Fran herself (Arrow) You can read my review here.

Also out this month is Threads by William Henry Searle (Century), Stranger Things: Suspicous Minds by Gwenda Bond, (Century), Also Human: The Inner Lives of Doctors by Caroline Elton (Windmill), Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy (Arrow), Liar Liar by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Arrow), The Constant Heart by Dilly Court (Arrow), The Secret Keeper by Susan Lewis (Arrow) and Courage of the Shipyard Girls by Nancy Revell (Arrow).

March sees the publication of Run Away by Harlan Coben in which a runaway daughter is suddenly seen in New York’s Central Park. But she’s not the girl you remember. This woman is wasted, frightened and clearly in trouble. You don’t stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home. She runs. And you follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed. Where criminal gangs rule, where drugs are the main currency, and murder is commonplace. (Century)

Girl, Balancing by Helen Dunmore is a collection of short stories. A girl alone, stretching her meagre budget to feed herself, becomes aware that the young man who has come to see her may not be as friendly as he seems. Two women from very different backgrounds enjoy an unusual night out, finding solace in laughter and an unexpected friendship. A young man picks up his infant son and goes outside into a starlit night as he makes a decision that will inform the rest of his life. A woman imprisoned for her religion examines her faith in a seemingly literal and quietly original way. (Windmill)

Another book out in March is Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Everyone knew Daisy Jones & The Six. The band sold out arenas and their music defined a generation. And then they broke up and nobody ever knew why. Until now. (Hutchinson)

Also published this month is 18th Abduction by James Patterson (Century), The Godfather by Mario Puzo (50th Annivesary edition) (William Heinemann), Juror No. 3 by James Patterson and Nancy Allen (Arrow) and A Mother’s Love by Katie Flynn (Arrow)

Onto April and One More Lie by Amy Lloyd in which Charlotte wants to start fresh. She wants to forget her past, forget prison, and, most of all, forget Sean. But old habits die hard. She soon finds herself sliding back towards the type of behaviour that sent her to prison in the first place. The further down that path she goes, however, the closer she gets to the crime that put her in prison all those years ago. Then Sean tracks her down. And she is forced to face the one devastating memory she’d much much rather forget … (Century)

Also out this month is All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin. Everyone’s seen the compromising photo of Lyla, a scholarship kid in a prestigious private school. Everyone knows that Nina’s son, expensively prepared for success since childhood, took the photo. And everyone thinks they know who to blame. As events spiral out of control, Nina and Lyla – both outsiders in the elite social circle they inhabit – are drawn together in an unlikely bond of friendship. Because this photograph is forcing them to question who they really are – and who they are becoming. (Arrow)

Finally April sees the paperback publication of The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson. In 1993  teenagers Nell and Jude found the body of an unidentified young woman on Brighton beach. She became known as The Brighton Mermaid but while the police investigated her murder, Jude disappeared. On the night Jude vanished  Macy, Nell’s younger sister, saw something that changed her forever. 25 years later Nell is forced to quit her job to find out who the Brighton Mermaid was and what happened to Jude that summer. But as Nell edges closer to the truth, Macy starts to fall apart, terrified of the secret her sister will discover. When dangerous things start to happen, Nell realises that she doesn’t know who in her life she can trust. (Arrow) I have a copy of the book so keep a look out for my review.

Also published this month is Out of Sight by James Patterson (Century), Miracle at St Andrews by James Patterson (Century), #taken by Tony Parsons (Century), Master and Apprentice (Star Wars by Claudia Gray, (Century), House of Gold by Natasha Solomons (Windmill), The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson (Windmill) Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott (Windmill) and Ambush by James Patterson and James O. Born. (Arrow)

May sees the paperback release of Now You See Her by Heidi Perks. Charlotte is looking after her best friend’s daughter the day she disappears. Devastated, Harriet can no longer bear to see Charlotte. No one could expect her to trust her friend again. Only now she needs to. Because two weeks later Harriet and Charlotte are both being questioned separately by the police. And secrets are about to surface (Arrow)

Also out this month is the paperback edition of The Possible World by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz. Ben can’t remember what happened to his mother. As the sole survivor of the crime that claimed her life, along with countless others, he’s now left orphaned and alone. Can Lucy help him to unlock his past? As she tends to Ben, a profound connection grows between doctor and patient. Will recovering his memory do more harm than good? Almost a century old, Clare sits on a lifetime of secrets… until an unexpected encounter prompts her to tell her story. (Arrow)

In We Can See You by Simon Kernick a daughter is kidnapped though it’s no ordinary abduction. Nothing will stop her parent from getting her back. Not even murder. (Arrow)

Finally May sees Jeeves and Wooster return in Jeeves and the King of Clubs by Ben Schott. Storm clouds loom over Europe. Treason is afoot in the highest social circles. The very security of the nation is in peril. Jeeves, it transpires, has long been an agent of British Intelligence, but now His Majesty’s Government must turn to the one man who can help . . . Bertie Wooster. (Arrow)

Also published this month is Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story by Leah Hazard (Hutchinson), How to Raise Successful People: The Woj Way by Esther Wojcicki (Hutchinson), the as yet untitled new novel from Thomas Harris (William Heinemann), On the Red Hill by Mike Parker (William Heinemann), The Storm by James Ellory (William Heinemann), I You We Them: Journeys into the Mind of a Desk Killer by Dan Gretton (William Heinemann), Florida by Lauren Groff (Windmill), Thrawn: Alliances (Star Wars by Timothy Zahn (Arrow), Minecraft: The Crash by Tracey Baptiste (Arrow), Girls on the Home Front by Annie Clarke (Arrow), The Astronaut Selection Test Book by Tim Peake and the European Space Agency (Arrow), The Liberty Girls by Fiona Ford (Arrow), Hippie by Paulo Coelho (Arrow), The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Arrow), Solo: A Star Wars Story by Mur Lafferty (Arrow), Rival Queens by Kate Williams (Arrow) and Erebus: The Story of a Ship by Michael Palin (Arrow)

Finally onto June and The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horrowitz. Richard Pryce is an elegant, smooth-tongued lawyer who has made a fortune out of celebrity divorces – and a lot of enemies in the process. Unmarried himself, he lives in a handsome bachelor pad on the edge of Hampstead Heath. Or rather he used to … When he is found murdered, the police confront the most baffling of mysteries: who was the visitor who came to Pryce’s house moments before he died? Why does his killer paint a three-digit number on the wall before leaving the crime scene? And why exactly was he bludgeoned to death with a bottle of wine – a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000 – when he didn’t drink alcohol? (Arrow) I have a copy of this book so keep a look out for my review.