Past Mortem

A British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead. An English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder. Douglas Kingsley, previously a detective with the London police, is released and sent to France in order to secure a conviction. He quickly learns that the first casualty when war comes is truth.

It's 2.15a.m. and the phone rings. The protagonist of this tale is lying awake, listening to the sound of his own voice on the answer machine informing the caller that there is no one there and thinking that only someone with bad news would ring at this time of night. He is right, it is a blast from the past.

Michael Adams shares a flat with three other men in their late twenties. Days are spent lying in bed, playing computer games and occasionally doing a bit of work. And then, when he feels like it, he crosses the river and goes back to his unsuspecting wife and children.

Unlike most people, Matt Beckford is actually looking forward to turning thirty. After struggling through most of his twenties, he thinks his career, finances and love life are finally sorted. But when he splits up with his girlfriend, he realises that life has different plans for him. Unable to cope, Matt temporarily moves back to his parents.

A novel from the author of My Sister's Keeper and Vanishing Acts .

The occasion: high school reunion. The place: an oil rig converted into a tourist resort. The outcome: carnage.

Just as bogus doctors are occasionally discovered in hospitals, Jimmy Conway has become a bogus celebrity ; winning an award for something he never did, being photographed in Hello! in someone else's house, and ultimately making a fool of the entire mad, shallow celebrity merry-go-round.

The UK of the summer of 1977 - in the midst of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, a generation are trying to grow up and discovering the limits of freedom. It is 16th August 1977 - the night Elvis died - and for the heroes of Stories we could tell, this night is where their adult lives begin.

Stark is a secret consortium with more money than God, and the social conscience of a dog on a lawn. What's more, it knows the Earth is dying. Deep in Western Australia where the Aboriginals used to milk the trees, a planet-sized plot is taking shape. Aboriginals who have lost their land, not much against a conspiracy that controls society.

Julian Mann - drunkard, womanizer, and television star - wants to surf on life, but his agent's dumped him, he has a huge tax bill, he's uncertain about his wife's fidelity, and he's also trying to avoid the manic attentions of a female fan. It seems yet more problems are about to burden him.