Books at Bookhabit.com http://www.bookhabit.com 2008-08-28 07:37:04 An unusual crime story with an unlikely hero; Simon Warne is an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). He has a warrant and the power to enter any workplace, day or night, but he is vulnerable, having recently broken up with his partner and still suffering from the death of his elder brother in an industrial accident - the reason for his new career. He is about to meet two women and both will have a massive impact on his life - but in different ways. Simon is sent to investigate the mysterious death of a female scientist at a pharmaceutical company and discovers that the health and safety manager (Sian) is an old acquaintance. Although the death seems accidental, he senses something is wrong. But Sian is a welcome distraction, and when he is attacked and his case-files stolen, their relationship intensifies. Jenny Sands has recently joined an animal rights group to campaign against what she sees as unnecessary animal suffering. She is told to find work at the company to gather evidence but her plans are changed when the group find evidence that the company are working on bubonic plague; they are studying ways of increasing the infectivity of bubonic plague - they are producing super bugs. She meets Simon and quickly realises they have a lot in common but he remains obsessed with Sian. And despite his misgivings about the mysterious death, he is under pressure to finalise the case when the police withdraw from it. Suddenly, a highly-placed spy within the company begins to supply the animal rights group with confidential information about the plague research. Jenny is given a key and codes, and is persuaded to steal the genetically modified bacteria - supposedly as a publicity coup. But she begins to doubt the motives of the group's leader and his associates. The sinister TT is a qualified microbiologist who has links to shadowy contacts, and he's short of money. Although Jenny breaks into the freezer where the deadly bacteria are kept, her fears resurface and she delays. She decides to question the group further before she proceeds. But the spy suddenly withdraws his co-operation and the plan becomes much more dangerous. Jenny anguishes but finally contacts Simon to tell him of the plot and swear him to secrecy. He reluctantly agrees to the condition, but the sudden emergence of the spy has suggested that the mystery death wasn't the accident it seemed. The spy is now the main suspect; he knows about health and safety investigations, he knows how to throw the police off the scent, and he knows all about the drug that killed the scientist. Very few people fit this profile - he may not be a "he" after all. And Sian has disappeared so he can't question her. He then discovers that she was the ex-lover of the murdered woman - a fact she kept from him. He realises he needs Jenny's help to uncover the mystery spy and she agrees to his plan. He wants to protect her and when she is approached by TT, Simon follows the man and confronts him. In the scuffle, TT is accidentally killed. Now Simon's options have narrowed even more. But Sian reappears with an apparent explanation for all his doubts, and he wants to believe her. Together, they discover the dead woman's diary and an apparent explanation for the murder emerges. Sian goes to question a colleague of the dead woman and Simon has a visit from Jenny. She's discovered the identity of spy and Sian is in danger. They race to intercept her but she's not there. Instead they meet the killer, and only Sian's timely arrival saves Simon's life. At last, everything seems resolved. But Jenny's final bombshell changes his mind again. Sex, violence, animal rights and genetic science colour the mixture but in the end, it comes down to emotion and guesswork. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=569 Hostile takeover or terrorist plot? David Thorn struggles to understand his mentor's brutal assassination. And is Kim Hollister just another demanding client or something far more sinister? Try as he might, his past refuses to let go. Join the international action as Thorn tries to uncover the deal behind the deal! http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=1 Detective Billie McCoy is competent, determined and intent on seeing justice done. By her side are her three newfound friends - Jane, Casey and Sarah, three ex-criminals. When Casey's cousin, Jill, turns up out of the blue emerging from a dodgy past, the happy reunion soon turns to disaster after she is identified in a robbery. Unfortunately Billie is forced to chase it up; she is not prepared with what will unfold. Through Jill's deceitfulness, the four friends' lives are plunged into treacherous predicaments. Ruthless thugs, blackmail, blood money, a large strategic jewellery hoist and murder entwine throughout the fast paced storyline. Not only will Billie need all her skill and experience to survive dangerous dilemmas, she will strive to keep her friends alive and find a way out of the mess Jill has laid upon them. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=632 Heinz Noonan is a detective who specializes in impossible crimes - like diamonds that disappear from locked safes, two-ton alabaster coffins that disappear from basements with no elevators and obscene phone calls made by corpses. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=279 Although this is primarily a tale of crime and punishment, weird, dark, and unexpected laughs abound in this deadly serious novel. Insanity involving cats weaves a spell of symbolism in a lateral story. Can nothing stop the beast? What's it all about and who wins the mini war between cat and man? The narrator/protagonist/killer is Nicholas, the straight man of the bunch. He is preoccupied with orderliness to the point of killing; then too, he's responsible for the murders of other women. Murphy is his friend, an ex-con who is perpetually in the wrong place at the wrong time. When a crime is committed in their own neighborhood, Murphy is the logical choice to take the rap. The novel deals with Nicholas' feelings over inadvertently getting his friend in trouble and also spells out his attempts to not only cover his own crime, but to get Murphy safely off the hook. But safety is not to be for the poor, hard-luck bastard Murphy, who's on the superhighway to death row. There is another major player in this drama, old man Nailor, a gossip who is at the top of his game and who disseminates information to deadly effect, often making the news. It's an amazing truth that a single bit of information, totally unfounded, can indeed become fact. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=53 Passion-killer is a murder mystery. It is about how love, jealousy and obsession turn passion to murder. It begins when Sylvia arrives home one evening to find her boyfriend lying in a pool of blood. As the murder investigation gets underway past loves and jealousy combine to ensure friends and acquaintances becoime suspects. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=308 The Courier In their quest to solve what originally appears to be a mundane case of misplaced baggage involving an innocent student, two detectives are drawn into a complex web of deceit. The contents of a lost briefcase in London's Waterloo station escalates the investigation to a high level of intensity. As the mystery unravels they realise that some highly professional criminal activity is taking place. Their enquiries lead them to northern France, resulting in the discovery of a school which uses English students to smuggle contraband goods into the United Kingdom. When two suspects are assassinated in St. John's Wood and Primrose Hill, a murder hunt ensues in tandem with their ongoing investigation.Further revelations indicate the awesome possibility of a potential bio-terrorism threat, resulting in personal problems for both the inspector and his sergeant. In opposition to accepted procedures they enlist the support of the criminal fraternity to prevent the infiltration of bio-chemical components into mainland Britain. To their horror, they learn that their actions have been thwarted. Decisions, putting lives at risk, have to be made to stop the destructive forces of evil. Will the power of the state over-ride the future lives and careers of its servants or will loyalty and dedication to duty prevail? James R. Vance March 2008 http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=354 The Lighthouse Murders is written with a particular Scottish blackness. Even the sparrows are dying. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=3 “Yes, pirates,” agreed Federi with a dark grin. Trouble - yes, Hungarian sea devil Radomir Lascek, Captain of the Pirate Ship Solar Wind, is trouble. But not half as much trouble as he has loaded on himself by hiring Shawn, Paean and Ronan Donegal, three musicians fleeing Dublin... Books in the series of the Solar Wind: 1. The Mystery of the Solar Wind 2. The Assassin Coming soon: 3. Freedom Fighter http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=585 What is an appropriate punishment for committing one of the worse crimes known to man? Jail? Eye for an eye? Well a crew of grifters think everything has a cash value, even heinous crimes. Their sense of fiscal justice might not match Batman's vigilante ideals but it does make them very wealthy very quickly. They only stumble across the perfect con after numerous trials and tribulations but once they discover how to garner more money than they can spend their troubles don't end. The victims of their scam aren't the only ones on their case, Interpol wants to catch them too. As they continue to snare all kinds of marks in their ingenious scam they catch two big fish. These two Americans are both celebrities who after having had a dip in their celebrity status are once again in the ascendancy, they are not about to be undone by a group of English con artists and begin to scheme a way to solve their problem. By the end of the novel there are several arrests, a few deaths and a large stack of money waiting to be claimed in an off shore bank. Can you handle the roller coaster of The Peepspage Con? http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=367 Orphaned at a young age, Sam Nelson had strived his whole life to attain that which he wanted most; a family. And now husband to a loving wife and father to four young children, Sam was happy and content. It was the perfect life of a good man. Then one night Sam had a dream that exposed him to some of the great mysteries of heaven and though he couldn't remember the dream after waking the next day, his rich full life would soon be over. While on vacation with his family in San Antonio a few weeks later, the city is attacked by middle-eastern terrorists during the height of the annual week-long fiesta celebration. The terrorists explode four powerful bombs that kill tens of thousands attending the parades. As a result of the attack, Sam's family is killed; he himself is gravely injured after selflessly trying to fight four heavily-armed men. Succumbing to his wounds, Sam lay in a coma for three long years. Upon awakening, the harsh reality of his loss pushes him to the brink of insanity and suicide. With the help of a kindly old man, Sam begins to heal only to find himself a pawn to the forces of good and evil. Learning that one of his children may have survived the attack, Sam with his new friend Ben, begin a search that reveals the wrathful nature of mankind as well as the humble penance that can also be ours. In an epic struggle between heaven and hell, the Creator calls upon Sam to fulfill a destiny he could never have imagined while Lucifer sees Sam as a tool that can finally provide him with the single victory over Heavenly Father he has always sought, and in the end, Sam may have no choice but to give Lucifer his prize. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=493