Helen Fitzgerald Standalone Novels

What happens when your best friend gets what you've always wanted? Krissie and Sarah - best friends for years - have always wanted different things from life. Krissie has no desire to settle down, whereas Sarah married a doctor in her early twenties and is dying to start a family. So when Krissie becomes pregnant after a fling and Sarah can't seem to conceive, things get a little tense. Krissie and Sarah decide to go on holiday along with Sarah's husband in the hope of getting their friendship back on track. But what starts as a much-needed break soon becomes a nightmare of sexual tension, murder and mayhem...

Krissie is happy and in love, but her naivety and blind compassion plunge her into a shocking murder case that could jeopardise everything - her job, her relationship, and her life. The case is that of Jeremy, a Londoner on remand for the brutal murder of his mother-in-law.

Bronny, a young Australian, finds herself down and out in London. She's a sweet girl who has spent her teenage years in a fearful, cautious bubble. She's never taken drugs, had sex or killed anyone. Within six weeks she's done all three. A group of backpackers break into an abandoned London townhouse seeking a rent-free life of debauchery. They don't realise someone's already there: a terrified woman bound and gagged in the basement. "The Devil's Staircase" combines a chick-lit voice and a dark crime noir environment. Not for the faint-hearted, "The Devil's Staircase" is funny, sexy and disturbing - it will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Before settling down to a new life in Italy with her fiancé, Catriona decides to lay her past to rest by meeting up with her previous partners. But on the morning of her wedding, Cat is arrested for murder. Not just one murder, but three. All of the victims were her ex-boyfriends, and all of them were viciously mutilated. So now she’s in jail, and the woman who is writing her biography has interviewed many people in Cat’s life. But no one is telling the truth. This is an ingenious and compelling page-turner, full of twists and dark humour from an intriguing and stylish writer with a growing fanbase.

I Never Tell Other People's Secrets... Amelia O'Donohue was stunning. We all knew we were in the presence of tremendous beauty, humbled by her eyes and by her expensive designer clothes. We all deferred to her, waiting for her to initiate conversation, and hanging on every word she said. So when Amelia asked for my help, What was I to do? Did I have a choice? It's not like I could tell everyone that she sneaks off in the middle of the night in her pink silk nightie to sleep with her boyfriend. Right? But this one favor leads to a secret so big it just might change everything-for Amelia and for me...

Menopausal probation officer Eileen McDonald has lived an ordinary life, without taking any risks, unlike Jim Bain, a car-thieving probationer she's responsible for. When she finally cracks during a hot flush in a changing room, it's him she turns to for help, and he accompanies her on a journey she will never forget.

Will Marion has two perfect kidneys. His daughters aren't so lucky. Question is: which one should he save? Will's 47. His wife bailed out when the twins were in nappies and hasn't been seen since. He coped OK by himself at first, giving Georgie and Kay all the love he could, working in a boring admin job to support them. Just after the twins turn sixteen, Georgie suffers kidney failure and is placed on dialysis. Her type is rare, and Will immediately offers to donate an organ. Without a transplant, she would probably never see adulthood. So far so good. But then Kay gets sick. She's also sixteen. Just as precious. Her kidney type just as rare. Time is critical, and he has to make a decision. Should he buy a kidney - be an organ tourist? Should he save one child? If so, which one? Should he sacrifice himself? Or is there a fourth solution - one so terrible it has never even crossed his mind?

When sixteen-year-old Abigail's mother dies in Scotland—leaving a faded photo, a weirdly cryptic letter, and a one-way ticket to America—she feels nothing. Why should she? Her mother abandoned her as a baby to grow up on an anti-nuclear commune and then in ugly foster homes. But the letter is a surprise in more ways than one: Her father is living in California. What's more, she has an eighteen-year-old sister, Becky. And the two are expecting Abigail to move in with them. While struggling to overcome her natural suspicions of a note from beyond the grave (not to mention anything positive) Abigail tries to fit in with her strange, new American family: a distant father with a closed past, a too-perfect stepmother, and most puzzling of all, her long-lost sister. Becky sweeps Abigail into a shadowy underground movement involving clandestine street art, jailbreaks, and a bizarre double life. Soon, Abigail uncovers something unimaginable: a plot with vast implications, one that is aimed not only at controlling her sister, but the behavior of rebellious teens across the globe.

FOUR PART SUNDANCE NOW SERIES STARTING NOVEMBER 8th "My hat is totally off to this writer."―Laura Lippman "Brilliant ... 300 pages of taut, sharp, chilling...genius."―Lisa Jewell Helen FitzGerald's acclaimed psychological thriller brings a parent's worst nightmare to vivid life. Taut, dark, and emotional, The Cry follows the story of a missing baby and the investigation that thrusts his mother and father into the spotlight-and threatens to reveal the unthinkable. On a grueling flight from Glasgow to Australia, Joanna copes with what most mothers dread: a newborn that will not stop crying. Ill herself, Joanna tries to soothe baby Noah to no avail, and to the consternation of her fellow passengers. Alistair is finally able to settle his son, but not too long before they have to disembark and begin a long drive to Melbourne. When Noah mysteriously disappears after the couple stops along a lonely roadside, the criminal inquiry becomes a white-hot, global media sensation. As the focus on them intensifies, lies, rumor, and innuendo spread, and Joanna and Alistair slowly begin to turn on each other. Someone is hiding the truth. But will knowing the truth bring Noah back? Filled with stunning twists and all-too-realistic scenes from a relationship in crisis, The Cry offers gripping suspense and emotional drama that will keep you guessing all the way to its shocking finish.

Some people love goodbyes... 23-year-old Catherine is mainly interested in Facebook and flirting, but she reluctantly takes a job at a local care home after her mother puts her foot down - and soon discovers that her new workplace contains many secrets. One of the residents at the home, 82-year-old Rose, is convinced that something sinister is going on in Room 7 and that her own life is under threat. But Rose has dementia - so what does she actually know, and who would believe her anyway? As Catherine starts investigating Rose's allegations, terrible revelations surface about everyone involved. Can Catherine find out what's really going on before it's too late?

So far, twenty-three thousand and ninety-six people have seen me online. Su has always been the successful sister. It's Leah who is wild and often angry. But when they go to Magaluf to celebrate their exam results, Su disappears. Su is on the run, humiliated and afraid. There's an online video of her performing multiple sex acts in a nightclub. And everyone has seen it. Their mother Ruth, a prominent court judge, is furious. Can she bring justice to the men who took advantage of her daughter, and what will it take to bring Su home?

A deliciously dark, unapologetically funny, and nail-bitingly tense psychological thriller by the international bestselling author of The Cry *** Guardian, Telegraph, Herald Scotland AND The Week BOOK OF THE YEAR*** *** Sunday Times TOP 40 Crime Novels in the Last 5 Years*** ***Longlisted for Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award*** ‘Shocking, gripping and laugh-out-loud hilarious from the first line to the last. Brilliant’ Erin Kelly ‘This frenetic novel’s strongest assets are its sheer verbal energy and the acerbic views of its heroine, who resembles a female Frankie Boyle’ Sunday Times ‘The main character is one of the most extraordinary you’ll meet between the pages of a book’ Ian Rankin ‘A scandalously rude comic masterpiece’ Daily Telegraph ‘Sublime’ Guardian _________________ Mary Shields is a moody, acerbic probation offer, dealing with some of Glasgow’s worst cases, and her job is on the line. Liam Macdowall was imprisoned for murdering his wife, and he’s published a series of letters to the dead woman, in a book that makes him an unlikely hero – and a poster boy for Men’s Rights activists. Liam is released on license into Mary’s care, but things are far from simple. Mary develops a poisonous obsession with Liam and his world, and when her son and Liam’s daughter form a relationship, Mary will stop at nothing to impose her own brand of justice … with devastating consequences. A heart-pounding, relentless and chilling psychological thriller, rich with deliciously dark and unapologetic humour, Worst Case Scenario is also a perceptive, tragic and hugely relevant book by one of the most exciting names in crime fiction. _________________ ‘Laced with pitch-dark acerbic humour, the classic thriller gets a hell of a twist’ Heat ‘This darkly, funny, shocking and surprisingly emotional thriller is unlike anything you’ve ever read before’ Fabulous Magazine ‘This novel is a funny, agonising account of one good woman’s battle with rage, guilt, fear, duty and disaster’ Literary Review ‘Absolutely compelling company from start to finish in this wonderful, energetic, hard-hitting and deeply funny novel’ Big Issue ‘Simply stunning. Dark, uncompromising, funny, and almost impossible to put down’ Luca Veste ‘Outrageous, extremely funny and ultimately devastating’ Ambrose Parry ‘Dark humour and darker truths permeate a thrilling crime novel that is fabulously transgressive and completely unique … nobody writes like Helen Fitzgerald’ Mark Billingham ‘Helen Fitzgerald is one of a kind, and a welcome breath of fresh air in the world of off-beat but achingly relatable crime fiction’ SJI Holliday ‘A dark, comic masterpiece which manages to be both excruciatingly tense and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time. Great stuff!’ Mark Edwards

Single-mother Fran returns to her sleepy hometown to care for her dying father when a devastating bush fire breaks out. A heartbreaking, nail-biting disaster-noir thriller from the bestselling author of The Cry and Worst Case Scenario . ‘Urgent, angry, absolutely terrifying, yet suffused with the humanity and humour you expect from a Helen Fitzgerald novel’ Erin Kelly, author of Watch Her Fall ‘Tantalisingly powerful’ The Times ‘ Ash Mountain is the author at her masterly best … I loved it!’ Louise Candlish, author of The Heights ________________ Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she’d escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway. She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer. As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran’s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants… Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget… ________________ ‘A new novel from Helen Fitzgerald is always a major event, and Ash Mountain is magnificent’ Mark Billingham, author of Rabbit Hole ‘There is plenty of human depravity in the plot but none of that is as terrifyingly overmastering as the fire’ Literary Review ‘Domestic life is rarely served up quite so dark as this – but that only makes you hungry for more’ The Sun ‘Dark, atmospheric and terrifying’ Ambrose Parry, author of A Corruption of Blood ‘Compelling’ Independent Praise for Helen FitzGerald ***Worst Case Scenario was Shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020*** ‘The plotting is intricate and beautifully handled, and the narrative pace is absolutely breakneck … a wonderful, energetic, hard-hitting and deeply funny novel’ The Big Issue ‘The main character is one of the most extraordinary you’ll meet between the pages of a book’ Ian Rankin, author of A Song for the Dark times ‘A dark, comic masterpiece which manages to be both excruciatingly tense and laugh out loud funny at the same time’ Mark Edwards, author of The House Guest ‘The classic thriller gets a hell of a twist’ Heat ‘FitzGerald writes like a more focused Irvine Welsh or a less misogynist Philip Roth’ Daily Telegraph ‘Domestic life is rarely served up quite so dark as this – but that only makes you hungry for more’ The Sun

When a middle-aged couple downsizes to the countryside for an easier life, their two daughters become isolated, argumentative and violent … A chilling, vicious and darkly funny psychological thriller Desperate to enjoy their empty nest, Penny and Andeep downsize to the countryside, to forage, upcycle and fall in love again, only to be joined by their two twenty-something daughters, Asha and Camille. Living on top of each other in a tiny house, with no way to make money, tensions simmer, and as Penny and Andeep focus increasingly on themselves, the girls become isolated, argumentative and violent. When Asha injures Camille, a family therapist is called in, but she shrugs off the escalating violence between the sisters as a classic case of sibling rivalry … and the stress of the family move. But this is not sibling rivalry. The sisters are in far too deep for that. This is a murder, just waiting to happen… Keep Her Sweet is not just a tense, sinister psychological thriller, but a startling look at sister relationships and they bonds they share … or shatter.

On her first shift at an Edinburgh halfway house for violent offenders, a young woman is taken hostage … and that’s just the beginning… The twisty, shocking, darkly funny thriller by award-winning author Helen FitzGerald. `A new novel from Helen Fitzgerald is always a major event … magnificent´ Mark Billingham `Outrageous, hilarious and dark as hell – this is Helen FitzGerald on absolute top form´ Doug Johnstone `[Lou] is irresistible and very funny … The set-up is fascinating, the narrative is both fast-moving and convincing´ Literary Review _______ They`re the housemates from Hell… When her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou O´Dowd heads to Edinburgh for a fresh start, moving in with her cousin, and preparing for the only job she can find … working at a halfway house for very high-risk offenders. Two killers, a celebrity paedophile and a paranoid coke dealer – all out on parole and all sharing their outwardly elegant Edinburgh townhouse with rookie night-worker Lou… And instead of finding some meaning and purpose to her life, she finds herself trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse where she stands to lose everything – including her life. Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense, Halfway House is both a breathtaking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman… __________________________ `Tense, claustrophobic and laugh-out-loud funny … an amazingly talented writer´ Michael Wood `A genius combination of horror, humour and humanity´ B M Carroll Praise for Helen FitzGerald **Shortlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year** `Sharp, shocking and savagely funny´ Chris Whitaker `Dark, dark, deliciously dark´ Amanda Jennings `Wickedly funny, breath-stealingly tense and utterly chilling´ Miranda Dickinson `The main character is one of the most extraordinary you`ll meet between the pages of a book´ Ian Rankin `Sublime´ Guardian `A dark, comic masterpiece´ Mark Edwards `Urgent, angry, absolutely terrifying´ Erin Kelly `Tantalisingly powerful´ The Times `The classic thriller gets a hell of a twist´ Heat `FitzGerald writes like a more focused Irvine Welsh or a less misogynist Philip Roth´ Daily Telegraph `Domestic life is rarely served up quite so dark as this´ Sun