Books

When Sophie Carell was eight-years-old, her eccentric, clairvoyant great aunt, Daphne, predicted Sophie would be one of the greatest clairvoyants of her time. Sophie wanted to be a movie star. Her mother said not to worry about it-Aunt Daphne was daffy.

When Sophie is called to the reading of Daphne's Will, she is given a pair of glasses that will change her life. But that's not all she acquires. Along with the glasses, Sophie 'inherits' a protector-the handsome and powerful Lukas Lens; plus brooding Detective Murdoch Ashcroft who is keen for Sophie to fill her aunt's shoes and put her talents to work for him.

Sophie has to decide if she will focus on her acting career or explore her new-found clairvoyant skills. But danger lurks around the corner...

Eighty-nine-year-old Carrie Howell, dressed in her Sunday-best, asks her grand-daughter, Rachael, to stop a while in front of the rambling old mansion-Autumn Manor. Who are these people her grandmother is remembering and what is her connection to the ‘haunted house’ that Rachael avoided as a child?

‘AMAZING! Reading about a female PI kicking some ass was just the icing on the cake I needed!' Christine – Goodreads

The dead are walking and it is not even Halloween!

Sassy private investigator Jesse Clarke knew it wasn’t going to be a normal week when two dead people are spotted alive but their death certificates say otherwise, Spiderman steals a collection of costumes made for the next Comic Con, and Batman drops in to warn her that all is not as it seems.

Supported by her own man of steel—the tall, dark and handsome Dominic; business partner Ed; police contact Officer Jason who has more than a professional interest in Jesse; and, best friend Melanie, Jesse finds herself talking to witches, superheroes and morticians to solve her two cases and looking behind the disguises for answers!

Jesse Clarke is back!

‘If you are a fan of Kathryn Ledson or Janet Evanovich (though Jesse Clarke is a lot more reliable, sensible and doesn’t over share her personal life as does Stephanie Plumb) you will love unravelling the mysteries in the Jesse Clarke series.’ Carol,  Reading, Writing and Riesling.

Jesse thought sugar was such a friendly substance, until it appears in two of her cases for all the wrong reasons. Traces of sugar were connected to a bomb that blew up her client’s Mercedes. Was the bomb meant to kill or was it just a warning of what is to come? And could sugar have duped the immune system of a client’s mother over thirty years ago, resulting in death?

Juggling the two cases—one in the present and one in the past—Jesse finds herself talking to the living and the dead to get results.

The stilted footage of Holocaust survivors marching through the gates of Auschwitz projects behind Benjamin Hoefer at the book launch of his father, Eli’s biography. As it comes to the end and closes in on Eli Hoefer’s gaunt face, four red words are scratched across the last frame— Nazi, Jew hater, fake!

FBI Special Agent Mitchell Parker is frustrated to be called in on what he believes is a police matter, but digging soon reveals a threat that has far-reaching implications.

Parker and his team, Nick Everett, Ellen Beetson and Adam Forster find themselves in the middle of a neo-Nazi plot that spans two continents and threatens to bring one of the worst atrocities of history back to life.

Below the surface of the ocean, off the shores of Cape Hatteras, lie the bodies of many ships that never made it to shore and something more … silent and sinister.

Two sets of fresh fingerprints on a pair of binoculars left on the beach are cause for concern for FBI special agent Mitchell Parker and his team, Nick Everett, Ellen Beetson and Samantha Moore. The prints belong to a criminal that is currently not listed as in the country and a foreign diplomat who disappeared a year ago.

And are the six Beijing police officers that are guests of the USA to study, the same six officers that left Beijing?

It’s a rough and violent ride for Mitchell Parker and his team against the ocean and the clock.

Take a journey along the Bruce Highway and enjoy these stories of trailblazers, heroes, victims and everyday people caught up in extraordinary events.

From the Sunshine Coast to Cooktown,  read about how two nurses in Maryborough in 1905 gave their lives to save a town from an outbreak of pneumonic plague; the unsolved mystery of how Mollie Thompson’s body ended up in an impossibly hard to reach water reservoir; the migrant who created his dream and shared it with generations; the mother and her five children who lost their lives in the Mackay cyclone; how gold fever saved the state from going broke; why the first person to be hanged in Rockhampton goal was a bent cop; the inscription on a tree on the Sunshine Coast that reflects a tumultuous sea journey; and the 13 RAAF members who came to rest permanently in Townsville, to name a few.

‘Grave Tales’ features people who willingly or unwilling were participants in events that made headlines. These people may have lived in the same suburbs, streets, and even the same houses as exist now.

What made them do it? What were they thinking? Was it nature or nurture, that is, were they born evil or were they the products of their environment? And why are we so fascinated with crime?

We are delighted to present the first volume in the Grave Tales: True Crime series.

As our nation developed, the bush prospered and the cities grew, there were the terrible crimes that took away our innocence, crimes destined never to be solved that live on in our history… crimes that confound us with their cruelty, stagger us with their brilliance and amaze us with their sheer audacity.

Irish-girl Orla Murphy is a romantic – books, films, real-life – she believes in love; she’s just got to find it. Accepting a one-year contract to work in Washington DC as a translator, Orla leaves her Dublin hometown for a new start.

Nick Hughes is 100 per cent work-focused especially after his last relationship exploded along with his heart. He’s made it clear he’s not interested in romance, no matter who might catch his eye.

When Orla finds several old notes written by a child in her library copy of 'Anna Karenina', she decides to track down the owner and give them back. She soon discovers that the owner has been missing for decades and is filed as a cold case. Suddenly Orla finds herself with a mystery, the notes open up a whole new angle to the case, and Nick is assigned to work on it. Now they’ll have to see each other every, single day!

“I want to stay forever... I want to have you for as long as I can have you Lucas, even if that is a week or a year or a decade.”

Mia Carter never thought getting suspended from her part-time job for having attitude could be the best thing to ever happen ... maybe.

When Lucas Ainswright—one of the world’s biggest sporting stars—needs a minder, it just so happens that attitude is just what is needed to keep Lucas in line.

Now Mia’s job is to manage the sporting world’s bad boy and keep him at the top of his game for the season. Game on!

“I’ll remember, until my dying breath.”

Tomás Carrera didn’t expect Alice Peterson to rock his world.

Growing up with a single mom and as the eldest of five siblings, Tomás has had to be responsible all his life. Now his super star soccer status has provided for his family and allowed him to let his hair down… and that’s just what he’s doing.

Signed to the Santa Ana Saints, Tomás is catching up for lost time with fast women, a fast Ducati motorcycle and a bevy of adoring fans. That is, until he loses his heart to Alice and is torn with wanting her and his independence.

"I don't want to accidentally break you."

In his hometown of Berlin, Germany, Niklas Wagner is a super star and when the Saints’ pay the big bucks to sign him up and bring him to Santa Ana, California, Nik takes a shine to his new life. When he meets the Saints’ media officer, Sasha Saxon, sparks fly literally.

But Sasha is not your average girl—by day she is a journalist who looks after the media for the national champion soccer team and at night she designs for her personal fashion label. She had big dreams and they don’t include a boyfriend. Nik has never had to chase the girls but now he has met his match—Sasha is about to lead him on the biggest chase of his life.

"We are cut from the same cloth; made for each other."

He’s tall, dark, handsome and athletic and just that little bit mysterious. He’s also over women, big time. A star of the Saint’s team, Alex Renwick 'The Russian' has had a high profile relationship with a Hollywood director’s daughter for years and now that it is over, he just wants to focus on his sporting career.

Carla Brooker’s professional sporting career as a basketballer with the Suns is about to end due to injury. To mask the pain, she throws herself into developing her role as a sports reporter. There’s just one problem, she needs a date for the Suns’ Ball where she will announce her retirement.

When these two sporting hotshots meet, they are more than a good fit, they are made for each other … if they can just file away the doubts they carry and find a way to be together.

When everything around you is collapsing, what do you do? One woman did what any self-respecting marketing executive would do, she threw it all in and ran away!

In a battle to reignite her passion for life, regain her self-esteem and find herself again, the author tried her hand at a number of life-changing jobs. At 39, she became a police cadet; at 40 she packed the car, and with her beloved Boxer dog, 'ran away' to become an editor of a newspaper in a seaside community. At 41, she came to her senses, came home, settled down, and began again.

From High Heels to Handcuffs is for anybody who has ever lost their footing in this world and wondered, 'can I start again?'

“Last night you were in my dreams. I hate that. I woke up exhausted, as though I had lived through it all again -the police, the press and the vilification.”

Catherine Jameson—thirty, a widow in hiding—doesn’t know what happened that night. Two bodies found: her husband and his ex-lover. Was it a murder-suicide or accidental death and suicide?

Or, as some believe, did Catherine have a hand in it? Living a new life with a cottage to renovate and her dog, Buddy, for company, Catherine picks through the ruins of her old life to find answers.

Ten-year-old best friends, Nathan and Adam, really liked Joe. He was their friend, an artist, the man they spoke to through the wire fence of the lunatic asylum.

But something happened behind those walls, in those rooms, on the grounds, at the river. The inmate sketched it all – fine lines, truth in the negative space, truth in the pencil strokes. Then one day Joe was gone. Twenty years later Nathan and Adam receive a letter.

“Jack Adams skillfully unravels this unnerving tale of suspense with a keen sense of place and character. Asylum is well worth the price of admission.” B. Michael Radburn.

In the seventh book in the exciting Grave Tales series, journalists Helen Goltz and Chris Adams visit Melbourne cemeteries to unearth some great tales. Stories include:

• Whelan the Wrecker – the man and name synonymous with the wrecking ball and recycling a lot of Melbourne’s history;
• Leo Rosner – as featured in the movie ‘Schindler’s List’ – the Jewish Holocaust survivor who made a life post-war in Melbourne;
• The Mornington Football Club disaster – the weekend a football team was tragically wiped out;
• Cyril Callister – Mr Vegemite!
• Beautiful Erica McMillan and the Moomba Queens – beauty and tragedy in a time before political correctness;
• Alice Anderson – the untimely end of one of our first female mechanics;
• Walter Lindrum – the Don Bradman of billiards;
• The murder of Alma Tirtschke and how the wrong man hanged;

… And 10 more stories in this volume.

In the sixth book in the exciting Grave Tales series, journalists Helen Goltz and Chris Adams head southwest to unearth some great tales from Ipswich to Augathella. Stories include:

• The Toowoomba Terror: the first Queensland-made car built by the Trevethan brothers;
• Gatton: Queensland’s oldest cold case, the murder of the Murphy siblings;
• Ipswich: The Babies of Walloon: young sisters, Bridget Kate and Mary Jane Broderick, immortalised by Henry Lawson in his 1891 poem;
• Nobby: the story of Victor Denton and the March of the Dungarees;
• Goondiwindi: The day that the town helped Albert Einstein;
• St George: Len Waters – Australia’s only WWII Aboriginal fighter pilot who nearly didn’t survive to tell the story;
• Roma: The Utopian Experiment and the families who took part;
• Charleville: The drowning of the Misses Switzer; and the best in the          the West – Harry Corones;
• Augathella: The strange poisoning case of Mrs Margaret Roche;

… And 9 more in this exciting volume.

You are playing a game online; masterminding the perfect crime. Or at least you think it’s a game.

A seemingly normal web site inviting game players to mastermind the perfect crime is the façade for billionaire Lawrence Hackett’s real-life game of Mastermind—an invitation-only competition for a select few to see who can perform the perfect heist and win an enormous bounty.

Special Agent Mitchell Parker and his team learn the magnitude of the international crime ring just in time. Washington, London, Paris … the clock is on. If you love it when a plan comes together, hold on tight, because nothing is about to go to plan!