Clare Francis Books

In the chill of the Cold War, two Norwegians are shot dead after straying into Soviet wilderness, killings that will bind together three people in a web of treachery and Halvard Starheim, veteran explorer, Ragna Johansenn, widow of one of the dead men and Rolf Berg, a Norwegian journalist.

Ellen's husband is missing - presumed dead - at sea. At his memorial service, financial and political scandals start to emerge. The Harry that Ellen knew and loved turns out to have had several hidden lives. A colleague of Harry's tries to uncover the truth about Harry's death.

Out of the savagery of the Paris barricades there was born the most sinister of all the terrorist groups of the 1960's. Secretly funded by Moscow, trained in subversion and assassination in Italy, the Crystal Faction came to England. To wage war... For Nick Ryder of Special Branch, finding and infiltrating the cell presented a daunting challenge. Hampered by the deviousness of his own superiors and lack of cooperation from MI5, he was drawn slowly but inexorably into a tangled web of sex, drugs, murder, intrigue and lost innocence. And at the centre, the Gabrielle Schroeder, leader of the Crystal Faction. A tough, daring, utterly ruthless woman for whom killing had become a pleasure... `The climax is agonising, and made only too horribly likely by the author's careful groundwork and ability to maintain suspense 'BOOKS & BOOKMEN' A sexy as well as a fast-paced thriller' DAILY EXPRESS

For businessman Hugh Wellesley, the violent waking nightmare begins with the sparse report in the morning newspaper. A woman's body recovered from the River Dart in Devon ... identified as that of Sylvie Mathieson ... the corpse stabbed and bound... Should he admit that she had once been his lover? Or let others discover the truth for themselves? Sylvie had always been exotic, unconventional, alluring. Now with her death comes an unexpected betrayal - as another truth emerges which will take even Hugh by surprise. From one of our top thriller writers comes brilliant psychological suspense with a savage, surprising twist... 'Plenty of suspense and a satisfyingly black denouement' The Times

After five years, lawyer Hugh Gwynne’s most difficult case has finally come to court. His client Tom Deacon is claiming damages for post-traumatic stress after a car accident in which he witnessed the death of his young daughter by fire. The case is going well, it seems certain Tom will win the compensation that will enable him to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. Then Hugh receives an anonymous letter that throws him into an impossible dilemma. To stay on the case is unethical, to withdraw will threaten its success, and Tom Deacon, revealing himself in an entirely new light, makes it clear that such treachery will not be forgiven. For Hugh the dilemma is intensified by the contrast between their lives: Tom tormented by flashbacks, jobless, with a broken marriage and two children he hardly sees; Hugh with what he regards as a blessed existence, a rewarding life as a jobbing solicitor and an intensely happy marriage to Lizzie, with whom he has two adopted children, Lou away on her gap year, and fragile, sensitive Charlie who seems to have overcome his personal demons. Then one night Hugh’s life changes for ever. His happiness is snatched away, and he, like Tom, must face a lifetime of troubling memories. 'Homeland is a thoughtful, deeply atmospheric novel' Daily Mail

Alexandra O'Neill is drawn back to the Norfolk village where she grew up, to help Will Dearden find his missing paragon of a wife. But can any wife be so perfect that she doesn't have secrets? And can a devoted husband have failed to see the truth?

It is 1946, and the eve of the harshest winter for a hundred years. Servicemen are pouring home from the war to a land beset by stringent food and job shortages, and a desperate housing crisis. As anti-Polish refugee propaganda reaches its height, Wladyslaw Malinowski, a young veteran of Monte Cassino, now stranded in a resettlement camp on the Somerset Levels, attempts to start a new life on a withy farm in the middle of the wetlands. His taskmaster is Billy Greer, newly demobbed, and itching to escape to a job in London. Stella, the local schoolteacher, has been waiting for the return of Lyndon Hanley, a hero of the Burma Campaign. But Lyndon is troubled, elusive, and ultimately unresponsive. When he goes away again, she finds herself falling for the beguiling and irrepressible Wladyslaw. As the country is brought to its knees by blizzards and coal shortages, people start to go hungry and attitudes harden. Then a death occurs on the wetlands, and it seems Wladyslaw, the outsider, will be held responsible. Homeland is Clare Francis`s finest achievement. Atmospheric, rich in description, it depicts with dramatic power the turbulence of a country beggared by war, and the uncertainties of the men returning to it.

Joe, struggling to survive his job in a law firm, is faced with the challenge of finding his childhood friend Jenna, who's been missing for four years. But has she disappeared through choice? Or is she under the influence of her husband?

Catherine Galitza has been badly injured by an intruder in her own home. In the months before, there had been a string of nuisance calls. Are the events connected? Has someone been stalking her? As Catherine begins her slow and painful recovery, two men seem intent on uncovering the truth: her husband's business partner, the intense, prickly Simon Jardine, who harbours an almost obsessive devotion to Catherine; and the self-made Irish hotelier Terry Devlin, once a benign figure in Catherine's childhood, now with a reputation for ruthlessness. But which of these men has Catherine's real interests at heart? Then the police arrest and charge a suspect. Yet Catherine's watcher is still with her. And she has no way of knowing who she can trust. 'Clare Francis has serious crime-writing talent' Mail On Sunday 'Crime novels with action to keep you guessing until the very end' Daily Mail