New Releases by Tom Mead

An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from twenty-five years ago, prompting Scotland Yard''s George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery. Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil''s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil''s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier. Flint''s and Spector''s investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil''s Neck that the truth is finally revealed. Tom Mead once again creates a brilliant homage to John Dickson Carr and the Golden Age of mysteries with this intricately plotted puzzle.

With a career spanning over 50 years, Aerosmith has been a trend-setter in the world of rock and roll. From early hits such as “Dream On” and “Sweet Emotion” to their legendary collaboration with Run DMC for a cover of “Walk This Way” to their contribution of “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” on the soundtrack for Armageddon, Aerosmith has proved time and again to be a band capable of reinvention and constant influence on the music scene. With their 2024 announcement that the band will no longer tour, 16 crime fiction authors have come together to produce an anthology paying tribute to some of Aerosmith’s greatest hits and their studio albums. This literary trip across the rock and roll landscape is courtesy of multi-award winning editor Michael Bracken with stories by Ed Ridgley, Bill Baber, Eve Fisher. Avram Lavinsky, John C. Bruening, Jeffrey Marks, Mary Dutta, Tom Mead, Steve Liskow, Joseph S. Walker, Adam Meyer, John M. Floyd, Leone Ciporin, M.E. Proctor, Tom Milani and Jim Winter.

18 festive stories of murder and mystery in the grand tradition of Christmas crime fiction, from the masters of the genre. Including the New York Times bestselling JT Ellison, USA Today bestseller Sam Carrington, Sunday Times bestseller C.L. Taylor, and many more... The award-winning Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane invite you to a festive gathering of bestselling, critically acclaimed and award-winning writers in tribute to classic crime stories. From locked room mysteries on Christmas Eve to devilish whodunits and tales of simmering rivalries unfolding at the dinner table, these eighteen seasonal tales will delight and shock at every twist and turn. So, unwrap the presents, pour a mug of mulled wine and follow the bloodstained footprints through the freshly fallen snow as winter descends and darkness lurks in the shadows. Featuring stories by: Fiona Cummins Angela Clarke A. K. Benedict Susi Holliday J. T. Ellison David Bell Sarah Hilary Claire McGowan Tina Baker Sam Carrington Liz Mistry C. L. Taylor Helen Fields Russ Thomas Tom Mead Vaseem Khan Samantha Hayes Belinda Bauer

In London, 1938, young and idealistic lawyer Edmund Ibbs is trying to find any shred of evidence that his client Carla Dean wasn''t the one who shot her husband dead at the top of a Ferris Wheel. But the deeper he digs, the more complex the case becomes, and Edmund soon finds himself drawn into a nightmarish web of conspiracy and murder. Before long he himself is implicated in not one but two seemingly impossible crimes. First, a corpse appears out of thin air during a performance by famed illusionist "Professor Paolini" in front of a packed auditorium at the Pomegranate Theatre. Then a second victim is shot dead in a locked dressing room along one of the theatre''s winding backstage corridors. Edmund is in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, and attracts the suspicion of Scotland Yard inspector George Flint. Luckily, conjuror-turned-detective Joseph Spector is on the scene. Only Spector''s uniquely logical perspective can pierce the veil of deceit in a world of illusion and misdirection, where seeing is not always believing. Tom Mead continues to pay homage to the locked room mysteries of the Golden Age in this second Joseph Spector novel.

In this "sharply-drawn period piece" (New York Times), a magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one who traffics in illusions? Spector has a knack for explaining the inexplicable, but even he finds that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. As he and the Inspector interview the colorful cast of suspects among the psychiatrist’s patients and household, they uncover no shortage of dark secrets—or motives for murder. When the investigation dovetails into that of an apparently-impossible theft, the detectives consider the possibility that the two transgressions are related. And when a second murder occurs, this time in an impenetrable elevator, they realize that the crime wave will become even more deadly unless they can catch the culprit soon. A tribute to the classic golden-age whodunnit, when crime fiction was a battle of wits between writer and reader, Death and the Conjuror joins its macabre atmosphere, period detail, and vividly-drawn characters with a meticulously-constructed fair play puzzle. Its baffling plot will enthrall readers of mystery icons such as Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, modern masters like Anthony Horowitz and Elly Griffiths, or anyone who appreciates a good mystery.

This is the story of Ben Boyd, who founded the Royal Bank of Australia in the 1840''s and used its funds to finance his own huge pastoral, shipping and whaling empire and send it into bankruptcy unknown to shareholders in England and Scotland.