Paul Finch’s gripping thriller STRANGERS published today by Avon

Paul Finch’s five book HECK series has sold over 500,000 copies, with SACRIFICE the most pre-ordered book in HarperCollins history. STRANGERS is the gripping, gruesome first novel in Finch’s new Lucy Clayburn series, a heart-stopping thriller with a standout new heroine, published 22 September with Avon, and available in paperback, ebook and audiobook.

Unknown, alone, and fearing for your life. As PC Lucy Clayburn is about to find out, going undercover is the most dangerous work there is. But, on the trail of a prolific female serial killer, there's no other option – and these murders are as brutal as they come.

Lucy must step into the line of fire – a stranger in a criminal underworld that butchers anyone who crosses the line. And, unknown to Lucy, she's already treading it…

STRANGERS has been sold in the UK and Germany.

Praise for Paul Finch and STRANGERS

‘Wonderfully dark and peppered with grim humour. Finch is a born storyteller and writes with the authentic voice of the ex-copper he is.’ – Peter James

‘Lucy Clayburn is a brilliant new character and one that I know readers are going to love. STRANGERS delves into the darker side of some of the small towns surrounding Manchester and takes the reader on a fast-paced, terrifying journey. The story is wonderfully original and brilliantly written… a terrific book.’ – Rachel Abbott, author of ONLY THE INNOCENT

‘Consistently inventive. Consistently excellent. Paul Finch writes distinctive dialogue-driven horror that truly grips. Satisfying stories, tautly written with a real sense of authority.’ – Simon Clark, author of THE FALL and VAMPYRRHIC

‘Paul Finch is unique. He creates modern thriller and crime stories with supernatural overtones one minute, and sparkling traditional horror stories the next. One of the most exciting story writers in the business today.’ – Masters of Terror

About Paul Finch

A former cop and journalist, Paul was a writer for British TV crime drama, The Bill.  However, he is probably best known for his work in horror and thrillers. He has also written four Doctor Who audio dramas and his Doctor Who novel, HUNTER'S MOON, was published by Woodland Books in 2011.

Winner of British Fantasy Award 2002 & 2007, and the International Horror Guild Award 2007.

Visit Paul's blog here, or read more about Paul on the Blake Friedmann website. 

Follow Paul on Twitter and Facebook.

Sally Andrew winner of Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award

The South African Booksellers Association honoured Sally Andrew as their 2016 winner of the Booksellers’ Choice Award for her delicious mystery novel RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, published by Umuzi.

The Association noted that it was an extraordinary year for the award, with around 150 nominations received and a high all-round quality. Two other Blake Friedmann authors were among the six shortlisted, 2012 winner of the award Deon Meyer and two-time nominee Zakes Mda. Sally was announced as this year’s winner on 30 August at a gala dinner in Cape Town.

Sally’s debut, which was published in the UK with Canongate in 2015, follows the heroine Tannie Maria, a loveable cookery columnist who suddenly finds a change of lifestyle on the menu. In an irresistible blend of recipes and page-turning intrigue, Tannie Maria, armed with her culinary wisdom, takes on her first investigation.

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER has been published around the world, in the UK, South Africa, the US, Canada, China, Australia, Estonia, France, Israel, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Catalan, and Holland. It is the first of Sally’s TANNIE MARIA MYSTERY series, and was followed this year by the equally delectable THE SATANIC MECHANIC, another charming novel with a killer combination of mystery, romance and sumptuous recipes.

Praise for RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER

‘A bright new talent, her fiction debut is a flavourful blend of the #1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY and the GOLDIE SCHULZseries, full of humour, romance and featuring a charming cast of characters.’ – Edinburgh Evening News

‘From South Africa, the debut novel that conquered the world. A book that perfectly mixes suspense and thriller with romance and fun.’ – Vero

‘Well written and evocative… an ideal gentle read with a frisson of excitement’ – Jennifer Crocker, Cape Times

‘RECIPES FOR LOVE & MURDER’ an intriguing mystery in an exotic locale is a work of enormous charm.’ - Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

Other accolades for Sally Andrew’s RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER

A Kirkus Best Book of 2015

A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book 2015

The Bookseller Fiction Editor’s Choice 2015

A Good Housekeeping Book of the Month

Longlisted for Barry Ronge Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2016

Oprah’s Book Club ‘16 Books for 2016’

Follow Sally on Twitter

Read more about Sally

AN EMPTY COAST by Tony Park published today

Bestselling author Tony Park’s new action-packed thriller AN EMPTY COAST is published today in paperback by Pan Macmillan UK (Australia and South Africa published in November 2015). Park once again proves himself a master of the African thriller with a page-turning read that keys into some of the contemporary issues facing the country, including the illegal poaching and sale of rhino horns.

AN EMPTY COAST sees the return of Sonja Kurtz – former soldier, supposedly retired mercenary, and heroine of THE DELTA – in Vietnam carrying out a personal revenge mission when her daughter sends a call for help. Emma, a student archaeologist on a dig at the edge of Namibia's Etosha National Park, has discovered a body in a flight suit dating back to the country's liberation war of the 1980s. The remains of the airman, identified as Hudson Brand, are a key piece of a puzzle that will reveal the location of a modern day buried treasure – a find people will kill for.

Sonja thought that assassinating gangster and rhino horn importer Tran Van Ngo would give her closure after the tragic death of her partner, Sam. But it’s left her in deeper despair. Illegally crossing the border into Namibia, she’s intent on finding her daughter, Emma at the dig-site. When news of the discovery of a body at Etosha breaks, the father of missing pilot, Gareth Allchurch, assumes the worst.

Joining forces with safari guide and private investigator Hudson Brand (who stars in THE HUNTER, and the man whose dog-tags are on the corpse), Allchurch uncovers far more than he could have anticipated. The body certainly isn’t Hudson’s, but it also isn’t Gareth’s, and so the two men make it their mission to find out what happened to the plane, its illegal cargo, and Allchurch’s son.

Tony’s novels, which include twelve bestsellers, have been sold in translation in seven countries. The latest, RED EARTH, will be published first in Australia and South Africa later this year.

Listen to Tony Park talk about AN EMPTY COAST here.

Praise for AN EMPTY COAST

‘His novels have a life-like quality to them that comes from deep research and understanding of the places he writes about…he takes the readerright to the source of the story, and fleshes it out for them…I have great respect for Park’s style and ability to tell a good story and colour both inside and out the lines. A very worthwhile read.’—Jennifer Crocker, The Cape Times

‘Tony Park is one of the bestselling novelists in Australia… Tony weaves the everyday struggles, challenges and triumphs of this into a crime thriller that I for one couldn’t put down.’ – Janine Avery, Africa Geographic

Praise for Tony Park

‘Tony Park is one of Australia's best thriller writers and can always be relied upon to deliver an entertaining story.’ – Sunday Canberra Times

'He just gets better and better. His descriptions of the southern African bush and mountain jungles are so vivid you can just about feel the sun on your skin and smell the dust and animals.' – Frank Walker, Sun Herald

‘An author who is starting to challenge the veteran Wilbur Smith for the title of ‘master of the African thriller’...Break-neck in pace, with narrow escapes from death on every page.’ – Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

About Tony Park

Tony Park grew up in Australia and fell in love with South Africa on a short trip in 1995: he and his wife now divide their time between two homes, one in Sydney and another in South Africa on the border of the Kruger National Park. Author of twelve bestselling thrillers, he has worked as a newspaper reporter in Australia and England, a government press secretary, a public relations consultant, and a freelance writer. He is also a major in the Australian Army Reserve and served six months in Afghanistan in 2002.

Read more about Tony on the Blake Friedmann website or Tony’s own website.

Follow Tony on Twitter and Facebook.

GATE OF THE DEAD by David Gilman published in paperback tomorrow

GATE OF THE DEAD is the third heart-pounding instalment of David Gilman’s thrilling MASTER OF WAR series, historical fiction centred on the Hundred Years’ War. Published in paperback 8 September by Head of Zeus, GATE OF THE DEAD follows MASTER OF WAR and DEFIANT UNTIL DEATH in the gripping series the Daily Mail called ‘page-turning and gritty’.

GATE OF THE DEAD is sold in the UK, Germany and Brazil, and the MASTER OF WAR series across a total of six countries. The next in the series will be VIPER’S BLOOD, available in the UK in January 2017, and David is currently completing the fifth book. Alongside the MASTER OF WAR series, David’s superb standalone novel THE LAST HORSEMAN was released this August and has already received rave reviews, The Times writing: 'THE LAST HORSEMAN is gripping and full of action, but is also smart and subtle about questions of loyalty and guilt in a war with few good guys.'

Tuscany, 1358: Thomas Blackstone has built a formidable reputation in exile, fighting as a mercenary amid the ceaseless internecine warring of Italy's City States. But success has bred many enemies, and when a dying man delivers a message recalling him to England, it seems almost certain to be a trap. Yet Blackstone cannot disobey – the summons is at the Queen's demand.

On his journey, Blackstone will brave the terrors of the High Alps in winter, face the Black Prince in tournament, confront the bloody anarchy of a popular revolt and submit to trial by combat.

And every step of the way, he will be shadowed by a notorious assassin with orders to inflict the maximum pain on his target before he despatches him to hell.

Praise for David Gilman’s MASTER OF WAR series

‘A thrilling, fast-moving, engaging tale, with unexpected twists, beautiful prose, excellent characterisation and dialogue, human sentiment and motivation, and graphic descriptions of war… Historical fiction at its best’. – Historical Novel Society

‘If you only read one historical debut this year, make it this one.  The prose is sharper than a bodkin arrow, the pace faster than thought and to be honest it was a book that I just couldn’t put down without being left to wonder what was next for the lead hero… A title that not only launched over a thousand arrows but I’m sure will launch David Gilman to a ravenous reading public to sate their historical fiction action needs.  Great stuff.’ – Gareth Wilson, Falcata Times

‘Gilman's MASTER OF WAR stands up well against its heavyweight predecessors… The writing is taut and the story fast-paced… All lovers of this type of historical fiction will enjoy MASTER OF WAR and look forward to the next instalment’. – Greg Waite, Ontago Daily Times

About David Gilman

David Gilman has had many careers, including firefighter, soldier and photographer, before turning to writing full time. He is an award-winning author and screenwriter.

Find out more about David Gilman on Blake Friedmann’s website or David’s own website.

Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Elizabeth Chadwick’s THE AUTUMN THRONE published today

THE AUTUMN THRONE is published in hardback today by Sphere, concluding the glorious retelling of the life of one the most powerful women in medieval Europe, Eleanor of Aquitaine, by one of the most-loved historical writers today, New York Times bestseller Elizabeth Chadwick.

Chadwick’s ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE trilogy opened with THE SUMMER QUEEN and was followed by THE WINTER CROWN, and was described by Choice Magazine as ‘engrossingly written and well researched.’ The beloved trilogy is being published in the UK, the USA, Germany, Portugal, Poland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Russia, with more languages expected.

England, 1176. Imprisoned by her husband, King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England, refuses to let her powerful husband bully her into submission, even as he forces her away from her children and her birthright.

Freed only by Henry's death, Eleanor becomes dowager Queen of England. But the competition for land and power that Henry stirred up among his sons has intensified to a dangerous rivalry.

Eleanor needs every ounce of courage and fortitude as she crosses the Alps on horseback in winter to bring Richard his bride, and travels medieval Europe to ransom her beloved son. But even her indomitable spirit will be tested to its limits as she attempts to keep the peace between her warring sons, and find places in the centres of power for her daughters.

Praise for THE AUTUMN THRONE

‘Fluid and entertaining… a novel packed with incident, interest and emotional depth. The medieval world she has created is rounded and convincing, the fruit of years of research… Highly recommended.’ – Historical Novel Society

‘THE AUTUMN THRONE completes Elizabeth Chadwick’s superb and, I would argue, definitive trilogy on the life of one of the most (if not THE most) astonishing female figures in medieval history. I’ve always said that reading an Elizabeth Chadwick novel is not like reading history at all, it’s experiencing it… I feel that I’ve been allowed into Eleanor’s thoughts and given a chance to see and know her as I imagine she may well have been. Eleanor was a truly remarkable woman, her story is the stuff of legend, and Elizabeth Chadwick has done her justice.’ – For Winter Nights

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick and the ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE series

‘An author who makes history come gloriously alive.’ – The Times

‘Picking up an Elizabeth Chadwick novel, you know you are in for a sumptuous ride. Beautifully strong characters and a real feel for time and place.’ – The Daily Telegraph

‘A magnificent woman’s story told by a brilliant historical novelist; realistic, emotional, vibrant, exciting and unputdownable.’ – RT Book Reviews, July Top Pick

Read more about Elizabeth Chadwick on the Blake Friedmann website or her website.

Follow Elizabeth on Twitter and Facebook.