Past Imperfect

Amazon Review

How does a new thriller writer carve out a name for himself in an overcrowded field? With Past Imperfect, Matthews shows that he is already a novelist of real accomplishment. Spanning three decades and moving between France, America and England with a slew of forensic, medical and psychiatric evidence to keep the reader irresistibly gripped, Matthews sets his narrative in motion with a car accident in California that has deadly consequences for two boys left fighting for their lives. French detective Dominic Fornier (a character owing not a little to Simenon) finds himself pulled out of the sluggish rural backwaters he is used to in order to unearth the clues that lie in a young boy's psyche. And the blackmail and political intrigue that Fornier encounters are no less intimidating than the ruthless killer determined to ensure that his identity is not disclosed. The exhilarating, picaresque sweep of Matthews' plot needs to be held together with a strong protagonist and with the laconic Fornier, Matthews has created just such a hero. If at times, one may feel the changing of gears between the legal and forensic aspects of the piece, this hardly matters. The delineation of each country is accomplished with dash and verve, and if (at 500 pages) this is a lengthy read, few will find their attention straying at any point. --Barry Forshaw

Review

'A classy, well-written and unusual thriller.' -- Yorkshire Post

'Impressive... strong characterization and a relentless race against time to avert the worst carry the reader along the thick pages of this psychological and legal thriller with a difference.' -- Time Out

'Intriguing thriller (with a) ...dogged and sexy French detective. Treat yourself.' -- Prima

'Matthews delivers one of the best debut thrillers in years, brave, ambitious and remorselessly entertaining. Past Imperfect is a stormer.' -- Dublin Evening Herald

'Matthews maintains the suspense... an engrossing odyssey into the seamy side of a world that is so near, yet sometimes seems so far. Compulsive reading.' -- The Times

'One of the most compelling novels I've read... an ambitious and big novel which will keep you enthralled to its last page.' -- Cork Examiner

Product Description

Product Description

Two boys.

One Murder.

Sometimes justice takes more than a lifetime.

A car accident in California, a deadly assault in Provence, and two boys 30 years apart are left battling for their lives.

Dominic Fornier is the detective who finds himself at the heart of the investigation. A simple provincial case that becomes one of the largest and most important in French criminal history.

Fornier's only hope is to prove the link between the two boys thirty years apart. A compulsive journey through forensic, medical and psychiatric evidence between France, the USA and London; a breathless paper chase of clues from a young boy's psyche... and a desperate race against time with a killer who will stop at nothing.


Reviews:

The Times
'Matthews maintains the suspense... an engrossing odyssey into the seamy side of a world that is so near, yet sometimes seems so far. Compulsive reading.'

Time Out
'Impressive... strong characterization and a relentless race against time to avert the worst carry the reader along the thick pages of this psychological and legal thriller with a difference.'

Prima
'Intriguing thriller (with a) ...dogged and sexy French detective. Treat yourself.'

Cork Examiner
'One of the most compelling novels I've read... an ambitious and big novel which will keep you enthralled to its last page.'

Yorkshire Post
'A classy, well-written and unusual thriller.'

Dublin Evening Herald
'Matthews delivers one of the best debut thrillers in years, brave, ambitious and remorselessly entertaining. Past Imperfect is a stormer.'

Bad Company

Product Description

Josh Steele has a lot to get over. Two years ago, his alcoholic wife died in a tragic fire accident. He almost lost his business at the same time. On vacation, fishing with old friends in the Bahamas, he is finally starting to get his life back on track.

But suddenly it is all going wrong again.

And Josh is about to get mixed up with some very bad company.

An epic adventure story, which switches effortlessly between the centuries, 'Bad Company' tells the story of a modern-day businessman struggling to keep his company together against impossible odds, alongside a tale of 18th-century pirates buccaneering through the high seas.

The two stories intertwine - in a way that will both chill and fascinate the reader.

'Bad Company' is a brilliant high-concept thriller that will appeal to fans of writers such as Wilbur Smith, Lee Child, and Robert Ludlum.

“This will grip you from the first page, and won't let go until the last” - Matt Lynn, author of the best-selling Death Force thrillers.

“The best thriller of the year.” - Tom Kasey, author of the best-selling Trade-Off.

John R. Childress is the best-selling author of 'Game Changer' and 'Almost Perect'. He is a leading business consultant, who was educated at Harvard University and the American University of Beirut. His fiction is based on an intimate first-hand knowledge of big business, government and global politics.

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher.

Making Waves

Product Description

Making Waves is about the adventures of Paul Barrington, a handsome stylist from London, who lands a coveted position on a new luxurious cruise ship in the mid-fifties bound on a world cruise to many exotic ports-of-call. This magnificent ship catered to stars of stage and screen, maharajas, the rich and world leaders. It is based of the experiences of the author as a ship's stylist aboard a series of luxury liners and even a very exotic modified banana boat visiting several islands in the West Indies.
As the novel begins our hero has just completed a stint in the Royal Air Force and with his appetite for travel and adventures whetted he determined that his unique skills as a stylist could allow him to sail the seven seas and and meet

Pinpoint

Product Description

A lawyer, a murderer and a policeman – caught in a tangled web of love, loss, terror and intrigue in this driving psychological thriller.

When criminal lawyer Julia Grant interviews Sam Smith who has been charged with a vicious murder, she feels a strange connection to him.

Has she met him before? Does he hold a key to her lost childhood memories?

He feels a connection too. “Julia, you are the only one who can help me,” he pleads.

Is it the same connection? Does he know something she cannot recall?

When he is duly convicted despite her best efforts, he suddenly turns on her in the courtroom and threatens that one day he will make sure to wreak his revenge on her.

But why?

What has she ever done to him?

About the Author

Sheila Mary Taylor was born in Cape Town beneath the towering slopes of Table Mountain. She was trained as a ballet dancer but stopped dancing in her early twenties when she started moving around the world with her husband and living in exotic places. Her plethora of unusual activities - jockey in Amateur Ladies’ races, a spell of acting and directing, editor of a dramatic society magazine, secretary to a diplomat, dancing in the Royal Albert Hall, roller skating in night-clubs, just to name a few - have all enriched and inspired her writing. Pinpoint is her first crime thriller. During her research Sheila was smuggled into an interview room at Strangeways Prison to witness a consultation with a murderer. She roamed the seedy streets of Manchester’s notorious downtown Moss Side district, masquerading as a social worker. She ventured into derelict buildings, walked along the tow-paths of deserted canals, wandered over the moors, took a ride in an ambulance and attended a course in self-protection given by a Black-belt karate expert. She even broke her leg, but not in the same way as her danger-defying main character Julia did.

Border Crossings

Product Description

Kirkus Reviews

A tightly scripted thriller with an unusually well-developed main character.

When a college student vacationing in Cancun is abducted, her parents turn to a friend to help find her.  After spurning the sleazy advances of an older man in a nightclub in Cancun, spring-breaking college student Taylor Woodall is abducted at gunpoint outside her hotel, and her friend is shot. Her father immediately contacts his old friend Catherine James, a smart, resourceful attorney who has long dealt with sketchy characters south of the border. After running into a dead end with the local cops, James stumbles across a street kid who may have some pertinent information, but after the two are attacked in a crowded market, she realizes she's in over her head. She has no choice but to contact Matt, an old boyfriend who is currently working as a gun for hire, training anti-cartel soldiers deep in the jungle. Once Matt is on the scene, the pace of the investigation picks up, but, given his extreme methods, James is forced to confront some prickly moral issues if she's going to find out exactly what happened to Taylor. Although the novel follows thriller plot conventions fairly closely, when it comes to character development, Weems makes interesting choices. James' discomfort with Matt's methods is well-portrayed, as she tries her best to accept using extreme violence to achieve moral ends. The action scenes are well-wrought, and the prose flows clearly for the most part, occasionally hampered by the insertion of unnecessary detail. Overall, the book's strengths outweigh this minor weakness, and a parallel plot concerning a young Mexican girl lured into prostitution in the U.S. works well to underscore the themes of the primary plot, even if it doesn't seem to relate to it directly.

Crime in the Community

Product Description

Christopher thinks he has his life under control until the mysterious Amaryllis arrives in the little town, spreading chaos and confusion in her wake.
Suddenly he isn't sure about anything any more. Will he learn to relax and go with the flow or will he try desperately to remain in charge even in the face of domestic upsets and strange things happening all around him?

Look for me

Product Description

Bestselling Suspense Author, Traci Hohenstein, brings readers an exciting prequel to the popular Rachel Scott series.

Three-year-old Mallory Scott has disappeared from her front yard in the exclusive Bal Harbour neighborhood of North Miami. With no eye witnesses and very few clues, Rick and Rachel Scott have experienced every parent’s worst nightmare.

After weeks of looking for Mallory, Rachel’s hopelessness and desperation has grown out of control at the lack of leads in her daughter's case. When another toddler vanishes without a trace in a nearby city, Rachel leaves her high profile real estate career to help find him.

In her search for the missing boy, Rachel finds a sense of purpose - and hope that she may find her own daughter one day. This leads her to a life-changing event that may destroy her marriage and transform her life forever.

Look for Me is a must read for any fan of the Rachel Scott series, or an ideal starting point for new readers.

Regenesis

Product Description

In the wake of his mother’s death, seventeen year old Nick Jacobs struggles to live a normal life with the support of his closest friends and elder brother. That is until the murder of someone close to him drives Nick to hunt down the one responsible. His endeavor proves ineffective until an enigmatic stranger, called Mizuno, offers his assistance so long as Nick agrees to aid him in a mysterious project. Nick quickly realizes the true purpose of the said-project: to save the world from itself.

While Nick emerges with new purpose from the remains of his old life, a serial killer known only as Cladis terrorizes the city of Baltimore. Detective Ryan Sage leads the investigation and soon realizes that Cladis targets people who gain superhuman abilities. Detective Sage is hesitant to indulge the theory but soon comes face-to-face with the reality of super powers. To make matters worse, Sage believes his target has powers of his own.

Regenesis is a novel about individuals who face uncertainty in all of its various forms. In London, a young married couple struggle for survival after a terrorist attack leaves their home in rubble and one comatose. And a troubled high school girl wrestles with her feelings toward a handsome Romanian exchange student, who has his own clandestine motives for crossing the globe. Regenesis is about change, be it good or bad, and how we react or fail to adapt in an ever-changing world. It is about pain and loss. It is about melancholy and isolation. It is about anger and vindication. And finally, although it is ever present, Regenesis is absolutely not about super heroes.

Hidden

Product Description

Why has a beautiful young woman been committed to an insane asylum? What is the truth behind a shadowy past containing drug use, promiscuity and murder? What secrets does she hold that others will kill to keep HIDDEN? These are questions that psychologist Kate Bennett must answer if she is to save her patient's sanity...and both their lives. But Kate has secrets of her own, and a dark past of her own that will come back to haunt her.
HIDDEN is a thriller, set in Dublin, but it is also a voyage of self-discovery for Kate, as she uncovers not just the truth about her patient but some truths about herself.

The Expats

Product Description

Kate Moore is an expat mum, newly transplanted from Washington D.C. In the cobblestoned streets of Luxembourg, her days are filled with play dates and coffee mornings, her weekends spent in Paris or skiing in the Alps. Kate is also guarding a secret - one so momentous it could destroy her neat little expat life - and she suspects that another American couple are not who they claim to be; plus her husband is acting suspiciously. As she travels around Europe, she finds herself looking over her shoulder, terrified her past is catching up with her. As Kate begins to dig, to uncover the secrets of those around her, she finds herself buried in layers of deceit so thick they threaten her family, her marriage and her life. A thrilling debut-to-remember, Chris Pavone's The Expats will keep you guessing until the very end.

The New Recruit

Product Description

The first instalment of THE NEW RECRUIT serialization: a thrilling action-adventure produced with assistance from real recruits. 

The Army Foundation College in Harrogate is a long way from home for seventeen-year-old Liam Scott. The training is intense; has he got what it takes to stay in the game when he's faced with CS gas and the firing range?

Deadly Stillwater

Product Description

Award winning author, Roger Stelljes, delivers a mystery that is the second book in the McRyan Mystery Series (FIRST CASE - prequel novella, THE ST. PAUL CONSPIRACY - #1 McRyan Series). Stelljes' vivid characters, his gift for GRITTY and REAL DIALOGUE (slang/jargon/behind the scenes dialog), as well as his uncanny sense of place and time, will put you in the middle of the action allowing you to feel the desperation of Mac McRyan and his fellow detectives.

Vince Flynn has described Roger Stelljes as "A powerful new thriller voice."
Fans of John Sandford, David Baldacci and James Patterson will enjoy this fast-moving story of murder, greed, and treason, the cast of colorful characters, and its setting in and around historic St. Paul, Minnesota.

An abduction is just the beginning in a case of betrayal and revenge that will ultimately strike at the soul of the St. Paul Police Department.The ruggedly handsome Mac McRyan, a fourth-generation cop, is faced with a complicated brazen daytime kidnapping, a media storm surrounding the case, and political scrutiny. It is a case of betrayal and revenge that will ultimately strike at the soul of the St. Paul Police Department. From the searing streets of St. Paul to the murky waters of the St. Croix River, DEADLY STILLWATER is a book you won't be able to put down until its last gripping minute. 

The Ghost in my Bedroom

Product Description

Lucy Warner has managed to fall in love with her roommate – who has been dead for about 25 years. Since he’s been haunting her bedroom from the time when she was a baby, they have grown to be very good friends; a secret that no one else knows about, not even her best friend Ling. But Lucy wonders if it is possible to be more than just friends, as she realizes Ryan is the perfect guy for her.

It is the summer after high school graduation. Lucy finds herself newly single, and slightly bitter after a bad breakup. When Ling sets her up on a date with Jon, she plays along to try and forget about her ghost and get on in life with a real living guy. But when she finds out Jon can see ghosts too, keeping her secret gets a little complicated.

Is It Just Me

Product Description

IS IT JUST ME? Free first chapter download. Yes for FREE and gratis. Don't say we don't treat you well.

Well hello to you dear browser. Now I have your attention it would be rude if I didn't tell you a little about my literary feast. So, here is the thing: is it just me or does anyone else find that adulthood offers no refuge from the unexpected horrors, peculiar lack of physical coordination and sometimes unexplained nudity, that accompanied childhood and adolescence?

Does everybody struggle with the hazards that accompany, say, sitting elegantly on a bar stool; using chopsticks; pretending to understand the bank crisis; pedicures - surely it's plain wrong for a stranger to fondle your feet? Or is it just me?

I am proud to say I have a wealth of awkward experiences - from school days to life as an office temp - and here I offer my 18-year-old self (and I hope you too dear reader) some much needed caution and guidance on how to navigate life's rocky path.

Because frankly where is the manual? The much needed manual to life. Well, fret not, for this is my attempt at one and let's call it, because it's fun, a Miran-ual. I thank you.

The Italian Inheritance

Product Description

After discovering a letter written by her mother shortly before her death, Anna Crawford, a London-based nurse, decides to travel to the Italian island of Capri in search of her father. What she doesn’t expect to find is that she’s heir to a vast family fortune. She’s even more surprised when the suspicious trust attorney questions her very identity.

Rafael Vialli has a suspicious nature – it’s the reason he became a lawyer. He blames his rough childhood. It may also have something to do with the fact that in the months since Giovanni Albertosi’s death, he’s been inundated with opportunistic women claiming to be his client’s missing heir.

Can Anna prove to Rafael that she really is the legitimate heir? And can Rafael trust enough to award her the inheritance… as well as his heart?

Innocence Lost

Product Description

Kim Pettigrew is a twenty six year old workaholic whose best years are passing her by. She desperately needs a man in her life and her new neighbour, ruggedly handsome Leon Pritchard, appears to fit the bill. He seems intent on sweeping Kim off her feet, but is he the catch that she believes him to be?

When a shocking childhood secret is revealed, the consequences are devastating. Kim's life descends into chaos and she begins to doubt her own sanity. In her darkest hour she finds salvation in tenacious young detective Tasha Lines who pursues the truth with single-minded determination. As the investigation twists out of control and lives are scarred forever, no one is prepared for the final startling revelation of innocence lost.


Craig L Vaughan has written extensively for numerous national computer magazines for the past decade, but Innocence Lost is his first novel.

"It's a story that's been with me for years, though I’ve been slow committing it to paper. My aim was to create a punchy page turner that was part romance, part thriller and part police procedural. There’s a hint of mystery and a nod to the Internet age that we live in too. The story introduces DC Tasha Lines, a character readers will hear more from in future. It's not really her story that's told, though. It's Kim who is in jeopardy and the novel centres on her struggle to deal with her life falling apart when things go wrong for her. If there's a truth here it's that love is complicated and things are rarely black and white when emotions are involved. Every time I re-read the book I feel guilty about what I put Kim through, but at the same time I marvel at her strength of character and how she deals with the trials that she faces. I tried to make Innocence Lost the type of story that I would enjoy reading. It’s not high brow and it won’t win the Booker prize, but if readers are looking for a novel that will grip them and won’t let go, Innocence Lost fits the bill. The format is a change from what readers may be used to. Essentially, the initial chapters alternate between stories set in 1999 and present day. Before long the two seemingly unrelated tales collide with tragic results. I do hope people get as much enjoyment from reading Kim's story as I did from writing it - it's a real rollercoaster with more than one twist". Craig L Vaughan

Innocence Lost is a full length crime fiction novel set in England during 1999 and 2010. Despite the author being an animal loving pacifist, the story explores adult themes and contains swearing, violence, sexual assault and animal cruelty. The occasional dark tone of the book reflects the author's operational experience as a frontline police officer for over two decades.

If you read the book and enjoy it or feel it falls short for any reason, please leave a review.

In too Deep

Product Description

Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America’s Bravest. Read the novellas that resulted from her intense relationship with firefighters!

“Shay’s powerful characters and emotional topics strike a chord with her readers and have earned her a well-deserved place among the top romance authors.” Waldenbooks Romantic Reader

IN TOO DEEP is the first novella in Shay’s powerful, new anthology, AMERICA’S BRAVEST. (All six novellas are available in a boxed set.)
In the Hidden Cove Fire Department, Gabe Malvaso is a favorite among firefighters. He’s tough, fair, has a good sense of humor and loves his work. But for eighteen months, he’s avoided a member of his crew, Firefighter Rachel Wellington, despite his knife-sharp attraction to her. She is also drawn to him but is equally determined to keep things professional between them--until they’re trapped in a basement for a day, thinking they’ll never be rescued. Then, their feelings for each other explode like the building around them.
Praise for Kathryn Shay’s Firefighter Books

“Readers will appreciate the powerfully written, tense emergency situations. The Malvaso clan and the other key characters seem genuine in and out of emergency scenarios. Kathryn Shay pays homage to rescue workers with this exhilarating tale.” Amazon Reader

“Powerhouse author Shay follows up After the Fire with another dramatic and dynamic thriller. Her complex and unforgettable characters breathe life into this truly intense novel.” Romantic Times Book Club

“Superb contemporary romance that grabs you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final page. Bravo, Ms. Shay!” The Romance Readers Connection

“One of the best running collections on the market today.” Amazon Reader

Noir City Shrouded by Darkness

Product Description

Noir was a mega-city plagued by a sun blocking mass called Dry Clouds that had mysteriously appeared three decades earlier. The Dry Clouds covered half the planet and forced those living under them to exist in endless night. On this world, corporations were in charge and breaking your contract with them could mean the termination of your life.

Kimberly Griffin, a Life Closer (legal assassin) existed in a world of death. She Closed people for a living. It was a lonely demeaning existence, though she wouldn't admit it. There was nothing to drive her in the bleak reality until one day she ran into Kat.

Kat, also known as the Pandora Project, was hunted by bio-mechas called Un-Men. She was an experiment of the Sphinx Corporation, and they were testing her to see if she could be the ultimate weapon. Kat refused to be a killer and tried to discover the truth behind her existence. Could she be a new form of bio-mecha?

Kim discovered someone close to her had been murdered. Is Kat the key to finding out who did it? Or will her association with Kat only cause her more grief?
Pandora of ancient times opened a box and let all good escape. Would Pandora be the hope the planet needed? Or would she destroy the world?

Love,Lies and High Heels

Product Description

LUKE GALLOWAY doesn’t lie. Well, not normally. And never about anything as serious as death. But, somehow Luke’s friend and business partner, Sam Paris, convinces Luke that he needs to do just that. Sam believes the only way his daughter will come back to see him is if he were dying. And so the lies begin . . .
RUSTY PARIS has been alone most of her life. Her parents were divorced when she was very young. Rusty was pushed off to boarding schools, while her mother made a hobby of marrying rich men. She doesn’t remember much about her father, only that he never made an attempt to be a part of her life for the past twenty-one years. But all that is about to change. When she gets word he is dying, she runs home to be by his side, which puts in right in the path of that scoundrel Luke Galloway.
Luke has no room in his life for rich heiresses. Been there. Done that. From the first time Luke and Rusty meet, they clash. She considers him nothing more than a lowly ranch hand who enjoys riling her temper. He considers her arrogant and prissy. But that doesn’t mean he can fight his attraction to her, nor hers to him. And when they find out they’ve both been duped by Rusty’s father the sparks really start to fly. 

Culture Vulture

Product Description

‘Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other’. New York Times The ultimate guide to the best cultural things to do throughout England, Scotland and Wales, from where to find out more about the elusive Banksy to the low-down on the Edinburgh Festival and Wales’ National Eisteddfod; includes author-recommended reviews and practical information covering a wide-range of options from festivals, galleries, museums, historic buildings and cultural centres. This guide has been created by Lonely Planet’s dedicated authors and local experts who immersed themselves in England, Scotland and Wales, finding the best cultural experiences and sharing practical and honest advice. Inside Culture Vulture Britain: best cultural experiences • Hundreds of recommended cultural things to do, divided up by region for ease of use • Includes a calendar of events for the year, plus information on the best festivals, galleries, museums and historic buildings throughout the country • Includes boxed texts on areas of cultural interest as diverse such as Banksy, Dedham Vale, the Brontës and how the Olympics started • Includes London, Cambridge, Oxford, Bath, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Glyndebourne, Haworth, Hay-on-Wye and much much more! Special eBook enhancements: • Comprehensive interlinking – to enable you to seamlessly flip between pages, jump between maps and reviews, or visit the websites of places we recommend • Plus pinch and zoom images and maps – enabling you to zoom in for greater detail • Search – go straight to what you are looking for with the inbuilt search capability • Add notes, bookmark or use the inbuilt dictionary. Written and researched by David Else, David Atkinson, Peter Dragicevich, Belinda Dixon, Joe Bindloss, Neil Wilson, Marc Di Duca, Oliver Berry, Etain O'Carroll, Fionn Davenport, Andy Symington and Catherine le Nevez. Check out Lonely Planet’s iPhone apps including London City Guide and our new series of London Audio Walking Tours.