A NECESSARY MURDER

M. J. Tjia

Stoke Newington, 1863: Little Margaret Lovejoy is found brutally murdered in the outhouse at her family’s estate.

A few days later, a man is cut down in a similar manner on the doorstep of courtesan and professional detective at Heloise Chancey’s prestigious address. At the same time, Heloise’s maid, Amah Li Leen, must confront events from her past that appear to have erupted into the present day.

Once again Heloise is caught up in a maelstrom of murder and deceit that threatens to reach into the very heart of her existence.

M. J. Tjia has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT). Her novella The Fish Girl won Seizure’s Viva la Novella, 2017. She has been shortlisted for the Josephine Ulrick Short Story Prize, Overland’s Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, Fish Short Story Prize, and the Luke Bitmead Bursary and longlisted for CWA dagger awards. Her work has appeared in Review of Australian Fiction, Rex, Peril and Shibboleth and Other Stories. She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her family.

THE ETON AFFAIR

William Coles

Seventeen-year-old schoolboy Kim is an idle drifter at one of Britain’s most extraordinary institutions, Eton College – crammed with over a thousand boys and not a girl in sight. His head is full of the Falklands War and a possible army career, until the day he hears his new piano teacher, the beautiful but pained India, playing Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Kim’s life is destined never to be the same again. An intensely passionate affair develops and he wallows in the wild and unaccustomed thrill of first love.

Twenty-five years on, Kim recalls that heady summer and how their fledgling relationship was so brutally snuffed out – finished off by his enemies, by the constraints of Eton, and by his own withering jealousy. The Eton Affair is the bittersweet story of a life-changing love.

William Coles has been a journalist for 30 years and has worked for a number of papers including The Sun, The Express, The Mail and The Wall Street Journal.

BABIES & TODDLERS

Kaz Cooke

The must-have manual on the care of babies and toddlers, from Australia’s most loved and trusted voice on health and life stages.

Now you have a baby, what are you going to do with it?! 
Kaz Cooke, the author of the bestselling pregnancy book Up the Duff, has you covered from your very first day with a baby. 
With reassuring info, helpful suggestions, answers to your worries and quotes from Australian parents, Babies & Toddlers is backed by the professional advice of more than thirty medical and other experts. 
*crying * sleeping * breastfeeding * bottle-feeding * health & body image for new mums * coping * developmental milestones * eating * common illnesses * fun stuff * safety * toilet training * tantrums (theirs and yours) * extra stuff for dads * and much, much more. 
Fun, practical and updated every year, Babies & Toddlers has everything you need to know about looking after babies and toddlers. 

Kaz Cooke is a bestselling author and cartoonist whose books have informed and tickled Australians and New Zealanders for more than twenty years. 
Her books include Up the Duff: The Real Guide to Pregnancy, Babies & Toddlers: The Sequel to Up the Duff, Girl Stuff 8-12, Girl Stuff: Your Full-on Guide to the Teen Years - all updated each year; Women’s Stuff, the children’s picture books Wanda Linda Goes Beserk and The Terrible Underpants, and the novel Ada. With a background in journalism, she’s a mum who enjoys reseach, toast and having a good lie down. 

CRASHED. Junior Bender-Series

Timothy Hallinan

Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. In his exemplary 22-year career, he’s never once been caught. But now he finds himself blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of LA’s most powerful mob bosses, into acting as private investigator Trey’s porn film set, which someone keeps sabotaging. Trey has lined up Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, to do the unwholesome on camera. Thistle lives in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and only half-aware of what’s going on. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. 
Junior knows what he should do—get Thistle out and find her help—but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of a terrifying criminal. With the help of his preco-cious 12-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.

Timothy Hallinan's novels have been nominated for the Edgar, Nero, Sha-mus, and Macavity awards. He is the author of seventeen widely praised books, including The Fear Artist, For the Dead, The Hot Countries, Crashed, Little Elvises, The Fame Thief, and Herbie’s Game, winner of the Lefty Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel. After years of working in the tele-vision and music industries, he now writes full-time. He divides his time between California and Thailand.

Praises for CRASHED:
“If you're looking for a mystery with a fresh new hero then you'll want to run right out and get this book. It's just fabulous. If you have a plane to take, then this is the book to grab.”
—NPR's Morning Edition

“Loved loved loved Crashed, Tim Hallinan's first Junior Bender mystery. Great narrative voice, com-plex plot, 3-D characters. Hallinan’s deft comic tone and colorful characters have earned him compari-sons to Donald Westlake and Carl Hiaasen. Check it out now.” —Nancy Pearl

“Timothy Hallinan’s affable antihero, an accomplished thief but inept sleuth named Junior Bender, makes a terrific first impression in Crashed . . . Bender’s quick wit and smart mouth make him a boon companion on this oddball adventure.”—The New York Times

“A fresh turn on Raymond Chandler... In Crashed, Hallinan's fabulously convoluted, wise-guy detec-tive potboiler featuring Bender, the California author's voice — intelligent, sarcastic, profane but never coarse, unfailingly honest — is like a fast ride over a potholed road in a vintage Cadillac.”
—San Antonio Express-News

“Uproarious.”
—Library Journal

“The story is well designed and well told, and the dialogue sparkles. In a genre perhaps slightly over-stuffed with crook-heroes, the book is like a breath of fresh air.”—Booklist

“A terrific start. The book is entertaining and humorous with a touch of the hard-boiled thrown into the mix. Bender is one smart cookie, always having a plan in mind when things go bad, which they always do . . . I hope [Hallinan] will continue well beyond three books.”
—Deadly Pleasures

“If you enjoy shows like Burn Notice and White Collar then you will love this book. Junior is funny, smart and doesn’t have a filter between his brain and his mouth.”
—Tulsa Book Examiner

“This detective potboiler with its oddball characters will keep you chuckling.”
—The Martha's Vineyard Times

SOWEIT DU STEHEN KANNST UND WEITER

Steen T. Kittl

Ben und Imke, beide Mitte Dreißig, sind seit Jahren ein Paar. Eigentlich könnte alles ganz einfach sein, aber hinter der glanzvollen Fassade ihres frisch bezogenen Penthauses am Prenzlauer Berg kriselt es. Nicht nur, weil Ben eine Sinnkrise hat und Imke wesentlich erfolgreicher ist als er. Kurz vor ihrer Dienstreise zieht Imke die Notbremse und verordnet sich und Ben eine Beziehungspause – zum Nachdenken. Doch statt nachzudenken, kommt Ben auf Abwege. Als er die alleinerziehende Karo und ihren Sohn Mika aus einer Ostberliner Platte kennenlernt, nimmt das Leben der vier eine schicksalshafte Wendung. 

Steen T. Kittl studierte Bildende Kunst in Kiel sowie Kulturwissenschaften und Kunstgeschichte in Berlin. Er arbeitet als freier Kreativdirektor und Texter und lebt in Berlin.

VERDAMMT VERWANDT: FAMILIE IST, WENN MAN TROTZDEM LIEBT

Mara Winter

Sophie hat die Nase voll! Ihr Mann ist nie da, oder am Meckern; die Kinder tanzen ihr auf der Nase rum und überhaupt hat sie sich das mit der Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Karriere – ach, Karriere, mit allem anderen – ganz anders vorgestellt!
Als ihre polnischen Schwiegereltern dann auch noch plötzlich unangekündigt vor ihrer Tür stehen und ihr Mann mal wieder gar nichts kapiert, hat Sophie genug. Sie packt ihre zwei Kinder und die Koffer, und flüchtet zurück in ihr Heimatdorf.

Einmal angekommen zweifelt sie allerdings schnell daran, ob das so eine gute Idee war, denn ihre Mutter und ihre verrückten Brüder sind so furchtbar, wie eh und je. Hier können sie unmöglich bleiben, denkt Sophie, und so tourt die junge Mutter  mit Lotte und Till von Mutter zu Tante, Bruder, Onkel und Cousine und fällt dabei stets vom Regen in die Traufe.  

Nach einer turbulent-skurrilen Woche erkennt Sophie, dass sie überraschend gut alleine klar kommt, aber auch, dass sie ihre Verwandten eigentlich ganz gerne hat und ihren Mann eventuell auch – Familie ist eben, wenn man trotzdem liebt.

Für Leser von Jan Weiler, Ellen Berg und Susanne Fröhlich.

Margrita Hägele, die unter dem Pseudonym Mara Winter schreibt, ist 1979 in Nürnberg geboren und arbeitet dort seit ihrem Germanistikstudium als Redakteurin. Sie liest oder schreibt in jeder Minute, die sie sich von ihrem Mann und den gemeinsamen zwei Kindern stehlen kann.