The Mafia and the Ten Commandments meet in these interlinked short stories about the undebelly of Naples. Ten uncovers the raw heart of a city, telling the stories of ordinary people forced to make extraordinary compromises in a place permeated by crime.We encounter a son who finds that he is capable of a terrible act when faced with his mother’s suffering 'because someone had to do it'; a girl whose only outlet for the horrors of an adult’s abuse is to confide in a stuffe...

Detective Sigurdur Oli is in trouble.After a school reunion exposes the chasm between his life and those of his much more successful contemporaries, leaving him bitter and resentful, one of his old friends asks him to pay an unofficial visit to a couple of blackmailers. He readily agrees, only to arrive to find one of the pair lying in a pool of blood. When the victim dies in hospital, Sigurdur Oli is faced with investigating a murder without revealing his own reasons for being pre...

When a body is found floating in a canal, strangely disfigured and with multiple stab wounds, Commissario Brunetti is called to investigate and is convinced he recognises the man from somewhere. However, with no identification except for the distinctive shoes the man was wearing, and no reports of people missing from the Venice area, the case cannot progress.Brunetti soon realises why he remembers the dead man, and asks Signorina Elettra if she can help him find footage of a farmer...

Four friends, a sun-drenched escape, and a holiday that will change everything...THE VILLA GIRLS is the story of four young women who decide that wherever they are in the world and whatever they're doing they'll meet every few years for a holiday together somewhere sunny. Despite life taking them in very different directions, their snatched days in the sun in little hidden villas are crucial to them all. Escape, celebration, recovery - over the years the holidays c...

'Brunetti . . . long ago joined the ranks of the classic fictional detectives' Evening StandardWhen the body of a young man is pulled out of a fetid Venetia canal, all clues point to a violent mugging. But for Guido Brunetti, Commissario of the Venice Police, robbery seems altogether too convenient a motive. Then something very incriminating is discovered in the dead man's flat - something which points to the existence of a high-level conspiracy. But who c...

'Leon tells the story as if she loves Venice as much as her detective does, warts and all. The plot and subplots unfold elegantly; beauty and the beast march hand in hand, and the result is rich entertainment' Sunday TimesWinner of the Crime Writers Association Macallan Silver Dagger Award for FictionCommissario Guido Brunetti gets into trouble when Franco Rossi, a young bureaucrat, pays him a visit. Rossi is there to determine whe...

Stone Cold is a Carnegie Medal-winning thriller by Robert Swindells. It is one of The Originals from Penguin - iconic, outspoken, first.A tense thriller plot is combined with a perceptive and harrowing portrait of life on the streets as a serial killer preys on the young and vulnerable homeless. Link, aged 17, is distrustful of people until he pairs up with Deb, another homeless youngster. But what Deb doesn't tell him is that she's an ambitious young journalist on a self-...

Reykjavik, Saturday nightHe offered her another margarita, and, as he returned from the bar, he carefully slid the pill into her glass. They were getting along fine, and he was sure she would give him no trouble...48 hours laterA young man is found dead in a pool of blood. There is no sign of a break-in at his flat. The victim is found wearing a woman's t-shirt, while a bottle of Rohypnol lies on the table nearby.De...

Two feuding families, two love stories - and a lot of delicious Italian food.Pieta Martinelli's sister is getting married. Since she is a bridal designer it falls to her to make the wedding gown. But Pieta is distracted by a series of unanswered questions. Why is her father feuding with another Italian in the neighbourhood? Why is her mother so faded and sad? And could the man she's always held a torch for really be getting married to someone else?As Pieta ...

Land of the Living is a riveting psychological thriller from the acclaimed Top Ten bestselling author, Nicci FrenchYou wake in the dark, gagged and bound. A man visits you, feeds you. And tells you that he will kill you - just like all the rest.Abbie Devereaux doesn't know where she is or how she got there. She's so terrified she can barely remember her own name - and she's sure of just one thing: that she will survive this nightm...

Paddington – the beloved, classic bear from Darkest Peru – is back in this fantastically funny, brand new, illustrated novel from master storyteller Michael Bond!“My legs are a bit short for the pole vault!” repeated Paddington hotly. “But they’ve always been that way.”Somehow Paddington Bear always manages to find himself in unusual situations. So it is no surprise when he gets into a spot of bother with some shaving cream, causes a London bus to be evacuated, and is mista...

Still Got It, Never Lost It! tells the story of Louie Spence, star of Pineapple Dance Studios and ruthless judge on Dancing on Ice.‘I did everything my sisters did, that’s how my dancing days started – they went dancing, I went dancing and I just kept on dancing.’ – Louie SpenceFrom a very early age Louie was a little boy who loved to dance and had high ambitions. He attended every disco dance class he could and excelled each time, with the constant support of his Mum and D...