The One You Really Want
by Jill Mansell
(Click on cover for book detail)
The mass-market paperback of THE OE YOU REALLY WANT by Jill Mansell has gone from #7 (after only half a week’s sales) to #4 on the Sunday Times’ bestseller list, a terrific achievement considering it is competing with the Richard & Judy Summer Reads.
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BLOOD FROM STONE by Frances Fyfield
(click on cover for book detail) Winner of the 2008 Duncan Lawrie Dagger (previously CWA Golden Dagger Award) The announcement was made on Thursday, 10th July, and Frances received a dagger and a cheque for £20,000, which makes it one of the largest awards for crime fiction in the world. |
Synopsis
| Marianne Shearer is at the height of her career, a dauntingly successful barrister, respected by her peers and revered by her clients. So why has she killed herself? Her latest case had again resulted in an acquittal, though the outcome was principally due to the death of the prime witness after Marianne’s forceful cross-examination. Had this wholly professional and unemotional lawyer been struck by guilt or uncertainty, or is there some secret to be discovered in her blandly comfortable private life? Her death reveals a paucity of friends, a grasping brother and a tenacious colleague, Peter Friel, who is determined to find out if that last trial held the reason for her taking her own life. The transcript holds intriguing clues, but it is another witness at the trial who holds the key to the truth and she is far from sure that she can reveal her secrets without releasing even more deceit and destruction. |
Praise for Frances Fyfield:
“Her knowledge of the workings of the human mind, or more correctly the soul, is second to none.”Ian Rankin
“a deeply satisfying read… powerfully drawn characters and compelling tension” Independent Praise for BLOOD FROM STONE
“a genuinely original and imaginative writer, [Fyfield] offers a fascinating read… An admirable crime novel” Literary Review
“Fyfield is routinely and rightly praised for her elegant prose… What doesn’t get mentioned so often is that when it comes to the dissection of the human spirit, she is the most brutal scalpel-wielder we have… [Fyfield is] one of Highsmith’s true heirs” The Guardian
“Blood From Stone has all the complexity you’d expect from this award-winning grande dame of crime fiction (she’s up there with Rendell, James, McDermid and Walter)… Simply terrific” Observer
“As always, Fyfield leaves her readers with shivers that take a long time to go away” The Times
“Among her myriad literary skills, Frances Fyfield is adept at creating blood-chilling psychopaths. Like her American predecessor Patricia Highsmith, she takes us deep into their twisted psychology” The Independent
“A well-crafted and ingenious crime novel” Scotland on Sunday
“Ingenious plotting” Daily Mirror
“the kind of compelling, hypnotic read that can only come from the pen of a writer at the top of her game” Daily Record
“Frances Fyfield’s experience as a prosecuting solicitor must have acquainted her with the nastiest possible human behaviour. She specialises in unhappiness and has a knack of picking a troubling episode from the news and transforming it to fit into her imaginative world. Some years ago it was a woman police officer more or less destroyed by participating in a honey trap that failed to prove a suspected murderer’s guilt. This time it’s a successful professional woman who throws herself from the window of an expensive London hotel. She is Marianne Shearer, a barrister, who has just achieved a not-guilty verdict for a sadist, whose greatest pleasure came from the humiliation of his victim. The explanation of exactly what he did and why Shearer jumped is a perfect example of Fyfield’s work: beautifully written, cold, and emotionally brutal.” - Natasha Cooper, The Times