Brock & Kolla

This first book in the Brock and Kolla Mystery series was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association's John Creasey Award for best first mystery and met with wide acclaim. It introduced the team of Detective Chief Inspector David Brock and Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla, with Kathy a neophyte to Scotland Yard. And her first case was one for the books. Meredith Winterbottom, a great-granddaughter of Karl Marx and a longtime resident of Jerusalem Lane-a Dickensian section of London inhabited by Eastern European immigrants-is found dead in her apartment. Along with her two sisters and other Lane residents, she had been seeing red over a real estate developer's plan to gentrify their neighborhood. Six months after Meredith's death, a second sister is murdered. Are they victims of money-hungry developers or were they killed for the politics of another age? And why would David Brock, a notorious curmudgeon, assign himself to help Kathy on a relatively small case? As Kathy and Brock delve into the Lane's eccentric melting pot, they find unknown letters from Marx to Engels, a possible fourth volume of Das Kapital, a long list of suspects ranging from Meredith's shady son to a Princeton professor and a Polish veteran of World War II-and a plot to make Kathy's first case her last. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction-novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

When the Daily Mirror called The Chalon Heads "one of the best-crafted, best-plotted, and most convincing British thrillers for decades," you knew it had to be good. David Brock and Kathy Kolla are summoned to Cabot's, a venerable dealer in rare stamps on the Strand, and at first they expect a simple case of theft and a pleasant digression from the usual sort of murderous wrongdoing they encounter in the Serious Crime Branch of Scotland Yard. But the case they confront is twistier and far more unsettling than they could have imagined. An unsavory figure from Brock's past, slippery East-Ender Sammy Starling, aka Sammy China, is in deep trouble and asking for Brock's help. It seems Sammy's young wife has been kidnapped; but the strange part is that the ransom notes are decorated with rare and valuable Chalon Head stamps of the young Queen Victoria-to whom Sammy's wife bears an uncanny resemblance. Sammy is convinced a corrupt cop he once helped put in jail is behind the kidnapping. But Sammy has made a living from fraud and deceit: why should Brock and Kolla trust anything he says? Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction-novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Two Cases. One location. The first case, a girl gone missing, seems a decidedly local affair. The second, the return of a violent criminal who had fled the country, instantly attracts the interest of Scotland Yard and Detective Inspector David Brock. When he learns that his longtime nemesis, the amphetamine-juiced killer and thief known as "Upper" North, may have surfaced, Brock assembles his team and summons Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla. Their manhunt centers on Silvermeadow, the supermall on the outskirts of London where North was spotted. Brock and Kolla camouflage their search for North by taking on the case of the missing girl-a mall employee. They lie in wait, hoping to catch North before he can strike with a new crime. Yet what should they make of rumors of other young girls disappearing from Silvermeadow? Is there a predator on the loose within the apparent safety of a carefully orchestrated aura of order and control? Very quickly, the mall itself-and its colorful cast of characters-becomes key to the dual investigations. This is Maitland at his cunning best.

Two Cases. One location. The first case, a girl gone missing, seems a decidedly local affair. The second, the return of a violent criminal who had fled the country, instantly attracts the interest of Scotland Yard and Detective Inspector David Brock. When he learns that his longtime nemesis, the amphetamine-juiced killer and thief known as "Upper" North, may have surfaced, Brock assembles his team and summons Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla. Their manhunt centers on Silvermeadow, the supermall on the outskirts of London where North was spotted. Brock and Kolla camouflage their search for North by taking on the case of the missing girl-a mall employee. They lie in wait, hoping to catch North before he can strike with a new crime. Yet what should they make of rumors of other young girls disappearing from Silvermeadow? Is there a predator on the loose within the apparent safety of a carefully orchestrated aura of order and control? Very quickly, the mall itself-and its colorful cast of characters-becomes key to the dual investigations. This is Maitland at his cunning best.

In Babel, Kathy Kolla and David Brock, Scotland Yard's brilliant and unconventional crime-solving team, take on an unsettling new mystery that touches many sensitive issues: Arab fundamentalism, genetic engineering, and murder. Following her ordeal in the stakeout at the Silvermeadow supermall, Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla is on leave, so haunted by past events that she is tempted to quit the force for good. Hearing about this puzzling new case makes her realize that nothing can keep her out of the game for too long. Professor Max Springer, a distinguished if controversial academic, has been brutally murdered on the steps of a London university. Springer was known for his stand against Islamic extremism, but was that motive enough to kill him? While Kolla and Brock start looking for answers in London's Arab community, rivalries within the university point in another direction, and Springer's colleague, a professor of medical genetics, becomes involved. Is he as troubling a figure as he seems? Meanwhile, why would somebody leak information about this critical investigation to the media, risking an explosion in the streets? In this taut and satisfying mystery, Barry Maitland proves once again that he is one of the masters of police procedural writing today.

In The Verge Practice, Kathy Kolla and David Brock, Scotland Yard's superlative detective duo, take on a puzzling case in the posh world of big-name international architecture, and it has them chasing red herrings and hopping fences from London to Barcelona. Charles Verge, a powerful, cutting-edge architect, has disappeared into the blue, leaving behind his firm; his beloved-and pregnant-daughter; and his young and very dead wife. The case is stalled, and, after months of fruitless searching leaves the authorities desperate to save face, Detective Chief Inspector Brock and Detective Sergeant Kolla are called in. All of London is abuzz with questions about the high-profile case, which will send Kolla and Brock to some less-than-scenic locales in Barcelona, and back to their own stomping ground-where suspicion of internal corruption comes much closer to home than they would like. As the investigation uncovers a dizzying web of possible suspects-including an ex-con gardener, a sinister doctor, and the missing Verge himself-it will reveal more than one crack in the shiny windows of the Verge practice's sleek façade.

When human bones are discovered in Cockpit Lane, a poor area of inner south London, D.C.I. David Brock and D.S. Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard are called in to investigate. The first twist in the case comes when Brock and Kolla learn that the victims died over twenty years ago, during the Brixton riots, information that leads the two of them on a dangerous journey into the heart of the West Indian community in London. Making matters worse, a formidable old antagonist, Spider Roach, returns, weaving together past and present in an intricate web of deception and intrigue. Now the two have to uncover the truth of those long ago deaths, and be able to prove it with a crucial piece of evidence, in order to prevent the violence of the past from revisiting itself on them.

The annual Chelsea Flower Show is one of the tourist highlights of London. But, this year, the event is tainted by the murder of an American tourist in a random act of violence. But, when DCI David Brock's Serious Crime division of Scotland Yard investigates, they quickly discover that the killer somehow avoided having both his face and his escape captured on any of the many closed circuit cameras in the area. The conclusion is inescapable- what seemed a senseless, but random, event was in fact a carefully planned murder. But, how could the victim- a retired widow traveling with a longtime family friend- be worth the trouble and expense of such an elaborate killing? When a very wealthy Russian oligarch is killed in the garden of his palatial estate not far from the hotel where the murdered tourist was staying, Brock and Kolla suspect that something more complicated is going on and that the two killings are somehow related. In a case, that takes Brock and his team all the way to the States and back, secrets from a long forgotten past are the key to a string of bloody murders that are just beginning...

Newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Kathy Kolla investigates a series of brutal murders on Hampstead Heath. Under intense pressure to find answers, she arrests the unlikely figure of Charles Pettigrew, a failing London publisher who lives alone on the edge of the Heath. Pettigrew's lawyer calls on recently retired David Brock for advice, and soon, unable to resist the pull of investigation, the old colleagues, Brock and Kolla, are at loggerheads. At the heart of the gripping mystery of the Hampstead murders lies a manuscript of an unknown novel by one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. Brock believes that its story will unlock the puzzle, but how?

Fraud, forgery and murder, set in the high-stakes world of fine art. When the Russian wife of the owner of one of the most valuable private collections of modern art in the UK is found dead, Detective Chief Inspector David Brock is drawn into a high-stakes world very different to his own. From the dealers and galleries in London's West End, his investigations take him to Hanover, Miami and New York on the trail of international forgery and fraud. At the same time, his old colleague Detective Chief Inspector Kathy Kolla, who now leads one of the Metropolitan Police Murder Investigation teams, finds herself at the wrong end of a corruption charge. With her whole career in the balance, she will do almost anything to clear her name. 'Barry Maitland is one of Australia's finest crime writers.' - Sunday Tasmanian 'Maitland stacks his characters in interesting piles, and lets his mystery burn busily and bright.' - Courier-Mail 'No one drops so many wonderful threads to a story or ties them so satisfyingly together at the end.' - The Australian 'Maitland is right up there with Ruth Rendell in my book.' - Australian Book Review

Inspiring stories about people around Australia who are taking action on climate change, helping create a better future for our children and for the planet, while at the same time deepening connections with each other. Millions of Australians are quietly freaking out about the state of the planet, and Claire O'Rourke is one of them. We know the science is bad-we're signing petitions, recycling our garbage and switching our light bulbs-and we know so much more needs to be done. Australia is on the front lines. It's going to take a massive, all-hands-on-deck effort to turn this around, and it can be overwhelming thinking about where to start. “Together We Can” is an invitation to anyone worried about what climate change means for our future and a challenge to reconnect with our communities. You can start small and simple and, before you know it, climate action is transformative, empowering and hopeful. Claire tells the stories of everyday people all around Australia who are already making a difference, and they come from every walk of life: food producers, sportspeople, financiers, psychologists, First Nations people, entrepreneurs, public servants, scientists, teachers, actors, farmers, students and retirees. Our fragmented modern lives have pulled us away from the relationships that nurture and inspire. These stories show how contributing to healing our world enriches our connections with each other, which is what we need to face uncertain times.