Orenda Books

16/01/2025

Living forever can be lethal…

Publishing THIS April is Eve Smith Author's new chilling, prescient, high-stakes speculative thriller, 💉

The chance discovery of an injection that wards off age-related disease is hijacked by ruthless men who hunger for immortality, with catastrophic consequences. Two women race against time to stop them, before it's too late …

Pre-order today: https://geni.us/vbAKj

Ruth is a law-abiding elder, working out her national service, but she has secrets.

Her tireless research into the disease that killed her young daughter had an unexpected outcome: the discovery of a vaccine against old age. Just one jab a year wards off age-related diseases, guaranteeing long, healthy life.

But Ruth's cure was hijacked by her colleague, Erik Grundleger, and his elderly billionaire backer, who hunger for immortality, and SuperJuve – a premium upgrade – was created, driving human lifespan to a new high. The wealthy elite who take it are the Supers, and the population begins to rocket.

Then, a perilous side-effect of SuperJuve emerges, with catastrophic consequences, and as the planet is threatened, the population rebels, and laws are passed to restore order: life ends at 120. Supers are tracked down by Omnicide investigators like Mara, and executed.

Mara has her own reasons for hunting Supers, and she forms an unlikely alliance with Ruth to find Grundleger.

16/01/2025

❄️NEW BOOK ALERT❄️

Ørjan Karlsson's chilling, THRILLING mystery, Into thin Air, translated by Ian Giles is out TODAY!

Into Thin Air is an atmospheric and ADDICTIVE first instalment in your next favourite Nordic Noir series, The Arctic Mystery series, which will have you HOOKED from page one!

Chief Investigator of Nordland Police, Jakob Weber is drawn into a complex case when a teenaged girl goes missing in Northern Norway, and a second woman disappears from a remote island in similar circumstances …

Order your copy today:
🔖https://bit.ly/4frZN35
📲 https://bit.ly/4ghvDjH

`Provides a boilerplate for anyone wishing to write a Scandi crime novel … Weber, “a dagger in a velvet sheath”, is an engaging character; discerning readers will wish to meet him again´ Mark Sanderson, The Times

`Atmospheric´ Crime Monthly

`Jakob Weber is a great protagonist, and the sense of place is phenomenal. The perfect start to a series destined for greatness´ Thomas Enger

`This is first-class Nordic Noir from the real North, where danger lurks around every corner´ Gunnar Staalesen

15/01/2025

The word of mouth HIT, The Betrayal of Thomas True, is now available in the USA and Canada!

Set in the buried streets of Georgian London and the outrageous underworld of the molly houses, a carpenter hiding a double life searches for a traitor who is betraying the secrets of the mollies.

Grab your copy of this visceral, raucous, tender and utterly enchanting historical thriller today: https://bit.ly/4gMby5e 🦚

The only sin is betrayal…

It is the year 1715, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London’s hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.

Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.

Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?

Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…

**THE TOP 10 Sunday Times BESTSELLER**

**SHORTLISTED for Booksellers Association Author of the Year**

***rFiction

14/01/2025

USA & Canada PUBLICATION DAY!

Meet Thomas, Gabriel and the mollies of Olde London…

AJ West's Sunday Times Bestseller, The Betrayal of Thomas True has hit USA and Canada shores TODAY!

🦚https://bit.ly/4gMby5e

Set in the buried streets of Georgian London and the outrageous underworld of the molly houses, a carpenter hiding a double life searches for a traitor who is betraying the secrets of the mollies. The visceral, raucous, tender and utterly enchanting historical thriller by the award-winning author of The Spirit Engineer.

‘Heartbreaking, beautiful, lyrical. I was captivated … you won't want to put it down’ Catriona Ward

‘Utterly thrilling’ Elizabeth MacNeal

‘A vivid exploration of a largely forgotten aspect of London’s past … as compelling as West’s debut’ The Times

‘Stunning and powerful … You’ll never forget Thomas True’ Janice Hallett

‘A clever mystery, a powerful love story … affected me more than anything I’ve read in a long time’ Gareth Brown

***rFiction Books USA

14/01/2025

David F. Ross returns this February with an extraordinary, dark mystery, AND the first in a brand new series 🎉

😱 The Weekenders by David F. Ross (27.02)

The deaths of a series of young Eastern European women in Glasgow leads to a stately home in the Scottish countryside, and back to the Second World War, where a group of young soldiers made their own, shocking rules…

Glasgow, 1966: Stevie ‘Minto’ Milloy, former star footballer-turned-rookie reporter, finds himself trailing the story of a young Eastern European student whose body has been found on remote moorland outside the city. How did she get there from her hostel at the Sovereign Grace Mission, and why does Stevie find obstacles at every turn?

Italy, 1943: As the Allies fight Mussolini’s troops, a group of young soldiers are separated from their platoon, and Glaswegian Jamesie Campbell, his newfound friend Michael McTavish at his side, finds himself free to make his own rules…

Glasgow, 1969: Courtroom sketch artist Donald ‘Doodle’ Malpas is shocked to discover that his new case involves the murder of a teenage Lithuanian girl he knows from the Sovereign Grace Mission. Why hasn’t the girl’s death been reported? And why is a young police constable suddenly so keen to join the mission?

No one seems willing to join the dots between the two cases, and how they link to Raskine House, the stately home in the Scottish countryside with a dark history and even darker present – the venue for the debauched parties held there by the rich and powerful of the city who call themselves ‘The Weekenders’.

Painting a picture of a 1960s Glasgow in the throes of a permissive society, pulled apart by religion, corruption, and a murderous Bible John stalking the streets, The Weekenders is a snapshot of an era of turmoil – and a terrifying insight into the mind of a ruthless criminal…

13/01/2025

The settings behind the book ❄️📖

Ørjan Karlsson's first English translation novel, Into Thin Air, lands in paperback, eBook, and audiobook THIS THURSDAY and we're celebrating by sharing snaps from Örjan himself of the stunning landscape where he set his new novel, Bodø and Røst ❄️

📖 Translated by Ian Giles

Chief Investigator of Nordland Police, Jakob Weber is drawn into a complex case when a teenaged girl goes missing in Northern Norway, and a second woman disappears from a remote island in similar circumstances …

When nineteen-year-old Iselin Hanssen disappears during a run in a popular hiking area in Bodø, Northern Norway, suspicion quickly falls on her boyfriend. For investigator Jakob Weber, the case seems clear-cut, almost unexceptional, even though there is some suggestion that Iselin lived parts of her life beneath the radar of both family and friends.

But events take a dramatic turn when another woman disappears in similar circumstances – this time on the island of Røst, hundreds of miles off the coast, in the wild ocean.

Rumours that a killer is on the loose begin to spread, terrifying the local population and leading to wild conspiracies. But then Jakob discovers that this isn’t the first time that young women have vanished without a trace in the region, and it becomes clear that someone is hiding something … and another murderous spree may have just begun…

11/01/2025

🦚 USA & Canada Pre-Order 🦚

The SUNDAY TIMES Top 10 BESTSELLER and TikTok SENSATION is publishing in the USA & Canada on Tuesday 14th January and we are BEYOND excited to share A.J. West's beautiful, brutal, EPIC historical mystery The Betrayal of Thomas True with our friends across the pond!

You can pre-order this word of mouth hit today: https://bit.ly/4gMby5e

The only sin is betrayal…

It is the year 1715, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London's hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses.

Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly's stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices.

Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love?

Set amidst the buried streets of Georgian London, The Betrayal of Thomas True is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…
***rFiction

11/01/2025

ICY COLD Deal ALERT❄️

Lilja Sigurdardottir's chilling, twisty, tense Red As Blood, translated y Quentin Bates is on SALE!

Book 2 in the ADDICTIVE An Áróra Investigation series is a 99p UK Kindle Monthly Deal this month!

🩸https://bit.ly/3skV2oH

When entrepreneur Flosi arrives home for dinner one night, he discovers that his house has been ransacked, and his wife Gudrun missing. A letter on the kitchen table confirms that she has been kidnapped. If Flosi doesn't agree to pay an enormous ransom, Gudrun will be killed.

Forbidden from contacting the police, he gets in touch with Áróra, who specialises in finding hidden assets, and she, alongside her detective friend Daniel, try to get to the bottom of the case without anyone catching on.

Meanwhile, Áróra and Daniel continue the puzzling, devastating search for Áróra's sister Ísafold, who disappeared without trace. As fog descends, in a cold and rainy Icelandic autumn, the investigation becomes increasingly dangerous, and confusing.

Chilling, twisty and unbearably tense, Red as Blood is the second instalment in the riveting, addictive An Áróra Investigation series, and everything is at stake…

10/01/2025

A young mother resorts to smuggling co***ne into Iceland, as she struggles to keep custody of her son, with devastating results…

Lilja Sigurdardottir's Snare, the first book in the addictive Reykjavik Noir series, translated by Quentin Bates, is ONLY 99p for the WHOLE of January!

https://amzn.to/3DQxTjo

After a messy divorce, young mother Sonia is struggling to provide for herself and keep custody of her son. With her back to the wall, she resorts to smuggling co***ne into Iceland, and finds herself caught up in a ruthless criminal world.

As she desperately looks for a way out of trouble, she must pit her wits against her nemesis, Bragi, a customs officer, whose years of experience frustrate her new and evermore daring strategies. Things become even more complicated when Sonia embarks on a relationship with a woman, Agla. Once a high-level bank executive, Agla is currently being prosecuted in the aftermath of the Icelandic financial crash.

Set in a Reykjavík still covered in the dust of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, and with a dark, fast-paced and chilling plot and intriguing characters, Snare is an outstandingly original and sexy Nordic crime thriller, from one of the most exciting new names in crime fiction.

10/01/2025

🔥Book Deal🔥

The BLOCKBUSTER Nordic Noir from two of Norway's finest writers Blix & Ramm return in Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger's No 1 BESTSELLING thriller Stigma, translated by Megan Turney, as Blix turns inside man!

📲https://amzn.to/4h9kG3t

Alexander Blix is a broken man. Convicted for avenging his daughter's death, he is now being held in one of Norway's high-security prisons. Inside, the other prisoners take every opportunity to challenge and humiliate the former police investigator.

On the outside, Blix's former colleagues have begun the hunt for a terrifying killer. Walter Kroos has escaped from prison in Germany and is making his way north. The only lead established by the police is that Kroos has a friend in Blix's prison ward. And now they need Blix's help.

Journalist Emma Ramm is one of Blix's few visitors, and she becomes his ally as he struggles to connect the link between past and present, between the world inside and outside the prison walls.

And as he begins to piece things together, he identifies a woodland community in Norway where deeply scarred inhabitants foster deadly secrets... secrets that maybe the unravelling of everyone involved…

Two of Nordic Noir's finest writers return with the emotive, breath-holdingly intense and searingly tense fourth book in the number-one bestselling Blix & Ramm series.

10/01/2025

✨ UK Deal Alert🪦

A body lost at sea, arson, murder, astronauts, wind phones, communal funerals, stalking and conspiracy theories … You'll find it all in Doug Johnstone's The Opposite of Lonely is ONLY £1.19 for the WHOLE of January!

NOT to be missed!

⚰️https://bit.ly/3FxNxO8

Even death needs company…

The Skelf women are recovering from the cataclysmic events that nearly claimed their lives. Their funeral-director and private-investigation businesses are back on track, and their cases are as perplexing as ever.

Matriarch Dorothy looks into a suspicious fire at an illegal campsite and takes a grieving, homeless man under her wing. Daughter Jenny is searching for her missing sister-in-law, who disappeared in tragic circumstances, while grand-daughter Hannah is asked to investigate increasingly dangerous conspiracy theorists, who are targeting a retired female astronaut … putting her own life at risk.

With a body lost at sea, funerals for those with no one to mourn them, reports of strange happenings in outer space, a funeral crasher with a painful secret, and a violent attack on one of the family, The Skelfs face their most personal – and perilous – cases yet. Doing things their way may cost them everything…

Tense, unnerving and warmly funny, The Opposite of Lonely is the hugely anticipated fifth instalment in the unforgettable Skelfs series, and this time, danger comes from everywhere…

10/01/2025

🔥UK DEAL ALERT!🔥

The THRILLING Smoke Screen... another addictive read from the fantastic crime writing duo, Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger, translated by Megan Turney, is ONLY 99p this month!

The mother of a missing two-year-old girl is seriously injured in a suspected terrorist attack in Oslo...

https://bit.ly/3X2UMYm

When the mother of a missing two-year-old girl is seriously injured in a suspected terrorist attack in Oslo, crime-fighting duo Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the case, and things aren't adding up … The second instalment in an addictive, atmospheric, award-winning series.

10/01/2025

❄️ UK DEAL Alert! ❄️

Ragnar Jonasson's claustrophobic Dark Iceland thriller, Whiteout, translated by Quentin Bates is ONLY 99p this month!

❄️ https://bit.ly/3TRD4Vt

Two days before Christmas, a young woman is found dead beneath the cliffs of the deserted village of Kálfshamarvík.

Did she jump, or did something more sinister take place beneath the lighthouse and the abandoned old house on the remote rocky outcrop?
With winter closing in and the snow falling relentlessly, Ari Thór Arason discovers that the victim's mother and young sister also lost their lives in this same spot, twenty-five years earlier.

As the dark history and its secrets of the village are unveiled, and the death toll begins to rise, the Siglufjordur detectives must race against the clock to find the killer, before another tragedy takes place.

Dark, chilling and complex, Whiteout is a haunting, atmospheric and stunningly plotted thriller from one of Iceland's bestselling crime writers.

10/01/2025

LOVE this feature in Crime Reads, written by our fabulous A.J.West, about *The Hidden History of Q***r 18th Century London* and the shocking true stories behind his bestselling historical mystery, The Betrayal of Thomas True 🦚

Read the article here:

Researching my historical mystery novel The Betrayal of Thomas True required me to go to some very murky places, and there are few places in Georgian London so very dark as a stretch of scrubland t…

09/01/2025

After being off the socials for a while doing edits and then Xmas I am now back on the horse with some very exciting news...
One week today I will be sharing the cover and blurb for my latest thriller, THE CURE, which is out in April.

You know how I love delving into possible near future crises, and THE CURE is no exception. The inspiration for my new book is the increasingly rampant and highly profitable anti-ageing industry.

We are the only species that knows it has an expiration date, and has worked out how to delay it.
What if we discovered the secret to ageing and were able to turn back the clock, radically extending our lifespan?
If we all live well beyond a century, what might the consequences be, when resources and space on our planet are already running out?
Think THE SUBSTANCE (which is a hoot by the way) but with more science and chaos...

After I finished writing THE CURE, I realised that it has elements of each of my previous three novels. There are plenty of medical misdemeanours and ethical challenges, similar to THE WAITING ROOMS, a good smattering of genetic skullduggery with unintended consequences à la OFF TARGET and the plot is set against the backdrop of a resource-constrained, climate-ravaged world, as depicted in ONE.
But this book isn't about births, it's about what happens when the death rate plummets because people are no longer dying from degenerative old age...
And as the global population swells, and immortalist obsessives push their experiments even further, chaos ensues.

I will be posting about the book and author events over the coming weeks, so do keep a look out.
Thank you again for your support, and I cannot wait to hear what you think!

Orenda Books