He is Dexter Mayhew, tall, dark and (she can't deny it) handsome. She is Emma Morley, bottled red hair, wilfully badly dressed, all principles and no action. Could this be the dawn of the rest of their lives? Or are Dex and Em living proof that-despite an unlikely beginning-men and women really can be just good friends?

A wonderfully fresh novel about love and life from the Sunday Times bestselling author Having married once for love, and been abandoned by her husband, Ellen is determined that her second marriage will be for money. And conveniently Duncan, her divorce lawyer is not unattractive, and enticingly single...But when she meets Matthew, a painter, who cr...

Dan and Sally Oliver and their friend Chloe Hennessey are lucky to be alive. Three years on, after surviving one of the world's biggest natural disasters-the Boxing Day tsunami-their lives have changed dramatically. Dan and Sally are now parents. Dan is enjoying being a stay-at-home father taking care of their young son, and Sally is the bread winn...

Doctor David Beck's wife, Elizabeth, was murdered, each year they met at the same deserted lake to rediscover their love-until the terrible year when Elizabeth was kidnapped and David was knocked unconscious. She was found dead, and horribly mutilated. Eight years later David receives an e-mail telling him to visit a website and use a password that...

This collection of short stories from king of suspense Jeffery Deaver grips with every page. An aging actor attempts to revive his career by entering a celebrity poker game for a reality TV show. A successful crime writer dies under seemingly natural circumstances, but for one cop, doubts are lingering. Lincoln Rhyme is at the end of the line, or i...

The Spanish House is a mixture of designs, Georgian, Gothic and Moorish, as if whoever started it had simply got bored. It has long been known as an architectural folly to locals, and is now nearly derelict to boot. When its reclusive owner dies intestate, the Spanish House is left to his city-dwelling niece. For Isabel, recently widowed, the house...

Sarah's grandfather was a horseman of rare talent-only the exceptional are allowed into France's elite riding academy, Le Cadre Noir. But life took an unexpected turn, and now from a council estate in east London, the Captain hopes to train his granddaughter towards a better life. Natasha is a lawyer whose job is to represent the best interests of...

At the heart of Joseph Heller's bestselling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indicement of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it. It is a tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive.

For Penelope, wife of Odysseus, maintaining a kingdom while her husband was off fighting the Trojan war was not a simple business. Already aggrieved that he had been lured away due to the shocking behaviour of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous rumours and keep over a hundred lustful, greedy and...

Jojo Harvey is a literary agent whose star is on the rise. In love with both her married boss and her burgeoning career, not much distracts her. Until she finds herself representing two women who used to be best friends. Used to be...

From the cruel irony of A Member of the Family to the fateful echoes of The Go-Away Bird and the unexpectedly sinister The Girl I Left Behind Me, in settings that range from South Africa to the Portobello Road, Muriel Spark coolly probes the idiosyncrasies that lurk beneath the veneer of human respectability, displaying the acerbic wit and wisdom t...

1950s Liverpool. In the tight-knit community of the Four Streets, two girls are growing up. One is motherless and hated by the cold woman determined to take her dead mother's place. The other is hiding a dreadful secret which she dare not tell to anyone. The people of Four Streets laugh, grieve and hope together. But what can they do when a betraya...

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They're alike in every way, except one-Willow is afraid on the inside. For a long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time-a moment that meant Willow's life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it's finally time for her to face her fear...

Ellen Trawton is running away from it all-literally. She's getting married to a man she doesn't love, her job is depressing and her mother is getting on her nerves. So she escapes to the one place she knows her mother won't follow her-her aunt's house in rural Ireland. Once there, she uncovers a dark family secret-and a future she never knew she mi...

Bestselling children's book writer Angelica is amused and flattered at the attention of Jack, the owner of a vineyard in South Africa, whom she meets at a dinner party. With his easy charm and reputation as a ladies' man, Jack makes her feel good about herself-surely it can't do any harm to indulge in a mild email flirtation?

Santa Montefiore's involving and dramatic novel The Butterfly Box opens in Vina del Mar, Chile, in the sweltering Summer of 1982. Frederica Campione adores her father. When he gives her a magical box from Peru she believes he will always be there for her. Yet, when her parents' marriage falls apart, she is forced to move to Cornwall with her mother...

For thirty years, Area X has remained behind its border- an environmental disaster zone. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; all with terrible consequences. Annihilation is the story of the twelfth expedition. Their mission: to take samples and expand their understanding of Area X. But an inexplicable moaning calls in the distance,...

Max Flynn, undercover agent, has the unenviable job of spying on his own side. When to kill, who to kill, whether to kill are all questions which have to be answered. But why does an innocuous airline ticket No. 14B matter so much? Who has gone to the trouble of committing suicide? The murky world of counter espionage leaves no room for errors and...

A vicious robbery at a secluded Brighton mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying, and millions of pounds' worth of valuables stolen. But, as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace rapidly learns, there is one priceless item of sentimental value that the old woman's powerful family cherish above all else. And they are fully prepared to take the law in...

Moments of change, chance encounters, twists of fate that create a new way of thinking or being: the stories in Dear Life build to form a radiant, indelible portrait of just how dangerous and strange ordinary life can be. The collection includes four powerful pieces, 'Autobiographical in Feeling', set during the time of Munro's own childhood, in th...

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She sometimes thinks her daughter Helen is a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, Maud will get to the bottom of it. A debut novel...