Showing results by publisher "Storm Publishing" in All Categories

As the sun sets into the sea over the pretty Cornish town of St Ives, a young woman, Freya Kempston, hasn’t returned home after a day out in the mall at St Austell. Panicking, her husband begs Detective Lauren Pengelly and her team to find her. Has Freya run out on her stable, loving marriage, or has something more sinister taken place? Grainy security footage from the mall provides the first break in the case—capturing Freya talking intently with a well-known local mechanic on the day she disappeared. But when cornered, the mechanic denies even knowing her.

When human bones are unearthed at a Cornish archaeological dig, Detective Lauren Pengelly discovers they belong to a teenage girl who vanished 30 years ago. But before she and her partner, DS Matt Price, can discover more, members of the dig team start dying. Lauren must unravel three decades of lies before the body count rises again....

Detective Lauren Pengelly has only been part of the Penzance police force for less than two years, but that’s enough time to know that the sleepy Cornish town doesn’t see many murders. So, when the bones of a woman with a hole in her skull are discovered behind a derelict cottage, she immediately assumes the worst. Rallying her team, Lauren is flooded with a strange sense of relief when the bones turn out to be almost twenty years old, not a recent victim. But it quickly turns to dread when she receives her second heart-stopping call of the day–a little girl, Isla, has been kidnapped.

When the body of a young woman is found by the coast in Land’s End, Cornwall, Detective Lauren Pengelly and her deputy Matt Price are first on the scene. Sophie Bethany Yates was well-known around the docks – a pretty girl from up the coast, always dreaming of something more. As locals jostle the barricades for a better look, whispers go round that Sophie’s boyfriend Samuel was more than capable of murder.

When a distillery owner's body is discovered on top of a remote Scottish mountain, forensics confirm that he died of natural causes. But the dead man's sister claims he was murdered. As Detective Inspector Corstorphine delves into the victim's family, disturbing questions emerge. Why is the daughter kept sedated and locked in her room? Who is stalking the son as he scatters his father's ashes on lonely mountain peaks? Each clue–from a haunting painting defaced in blood to a deadly botanical poison–points to someone with intimate knowledge of the family.

Dawn Cross sits motionless in her recliner, her eyes staring sightlessly at the television screen. Death is no stranger to Silver Fern House…but when Detective Lauren Pengelly arrives at the scene, it’s clear she’s got a cold-blooded murder on her hands.

Detective James Corstorphine’s blood ran cold. His wife never left her clinic door unlocked. Inside, her receptionist sat bound and gagged, tears streaming down her face. “He’s taken Shamila.” But Shamila’s abduction is just the beginning. When human remains are discovered dressed as a scarecrow in a Highland farmer’s field, Corstorphine realizes the cases are connected. The victim worked at Carstairs State Hospital–the same institution where Shamila once treated the criminally insane.

I've been waiting years for this moment. When Vivienne Campbell needs a housesitter, I make sure I'm the perfect candidate. Warm, friendly, highly recommended. Everything she's looking for. She has no idea who I really am. While she's away for the weekend, I have free rein of her perfect home, her perfect life. The life she doesn't deserve. Not after what she did. When she returns, I watch her confusion grow. Small incidents that make her question her own sanity. I'm there to comfort her, to be the friend she desperately needs.

In a respectable London neighborhood, nurse Gemma Tate and her fiancé, Inspector Sebastian Bell, are planning their future together. But their dreams shatter when they discover a murdered young woman, carefully arranged in a darkened alleyway behind her family home. While Gemma unravels the woman’s final secrets in the postmortem room, Sebastian hunts among the living. And he soon uncovers reports of similar deaths, linked to a traveling carnival. But what connects those friendless victims to the beloved woman they found?

In the Scottish Highlands where secrets settle like mist in the glens, Detective Inspector James Corstorphine is summoned to a macabre scene–a gamekeeper hanging from an ancient oak, ensnared by an intricate trap of wire and bone. Still grieving his wife's death, Corstorphine finds himself hunting a killer who crafts elaborate deathtraps from human remains–clockwork mechanisms that deliver murder with chilling precision.

As the sun rises over a picturesque Cornish beach, Detective Lauren Pengelly makes a grim discovery while walking her border collies. A newly engaged couple lie dead in the sand. At first glance, it appears to be a tragic double suicide. But something doesn’t add up. The victims—popular university students Jasmine and Finley—seemed to have it all. But as Lauren digs deeper, she and her partner Matt Price unravel a complex web of secrets and lies. Finley’s gambling addiction was threatening to ruin everything, and Jasmine had an unwanted admirer.

When Tegan Penrose climbs over the iron railings of the walled rose garden in the empty ruins of Trevarron House on the wild Cornish coast, she's unexpectedly pulled into 1755... and trapped in a world she doesn't belong to. Mistaken for a lady's maid, she enters a household shadowed by whispers and scandal. Lord William De Vere Trevarron is haunted. His beautiful young wife died under mysterious circumstances four years ago, and society still whispers of murder.

Seahaven Bay has always been a place where the sparkling tides bring laughter, love, and a lot of fun. But when Rita Jory's beloved husband Archie dies in a tragic accident, she's left alone on their failing Cornish farm with nothing but her grieving heart, a mountain of debt and some very badly behaved goats. Faced with selling the home she loves or finding a way to make it pay, Rita has a moment of desperate inspiration. She decides to transform her beloved Seahaven Farm into a place where broken souls can heal by the sea.

Bridget is suffocating. Trapped by the monotony of her everyday life and the relentless bills landing on her doormat. So when an old friend invites her for a week on his superyacht, she jumps at the chance to escape. Champagne at sunset. Turquoise waters. A reunion with friends who were once inseparable, before fame, heartbreak, and failure tore them apart.

Detective Lauren Pengelly and her partner Matt Price are called to investigate a grisly murder outside Penzance. They quickly identify the victim as Carmel Driscoll, a former police officer, and find a cryptic note reading “Ten Green Bottles” next to her body–words from an old English nursery rhyme. When a second former officer is found murdered with the note “Nine Green Bottles” nearby, Lauren and Matt realise they could be dealing with a serial killer.

Beth Cunningham's clever book subscription service is the talk of Oban, complete with local treats and hand-picked reads. But when elderly customer Nora Kelly is found dead in her armchair, Beth's book boxes are identified as the murder weapon. It seems a vengeful killer has the Wild Haggis Bookshop in their sights...

Rebecca Angelos has always liked animals more than people. The abandoned pets who pass through Cloverleaf Critters animal shelter understand her better even than her friends at her Friday night cocktail club. Elvis the pug never judges as he helps her swipe through dating profiles on a Saturday night, and Paul Rudd the doberman has the sweetest heart despite all he’s been through.

Suzie has always been the wild one. While her siblings settled happily into village life, she roamed the world–chasing adventures, collecting stories and running from that horrible day, sixteen years ago. But when it's finally time to return to the tiny Dorset village of Starshine Cove, Suzie must face everything–and everyone–she left behind.

Since losing her wife six years ago, Colby has perfected the hermit lifestyle: secluded Minnesota cabin, golden retriever, weekly cupcake run. Zero complications. Until a chaotic, pink-haired vet tech arrives for a house call and—in one reckless moment—Colby lets someone in. It was supposed to be one night. Then the blizzard hit. Josie is a serial hobbyist who's perfected the art of avoiding rejection. Pilates, painting, pickleball—anything but feelings. So being trapped in a cabin with no distractions and a gorgeous woman who clearly regrets last night? Personal nightmare.

Connie Fitzwalter never imagined that her passion for music would lead her into a world of danger and intrigue. When her old family friend, Stephen, who works for the foreign office, tells Connie the true scale of the violence against Jewish people in Germany and Austria, she can stand aside no longer. Together, Stephen and Connie devise a daring mission to help families escape the clutches of Nazi persecution. Under their cover as music enthusiasts traveling to high-society concerts in Europe, Connie and her sister Dottie begin by smuggling money and valuables for families over the border.