Fan favourites Nora Kelly and Corrie Swanson return in the new thriller from international bestsellers Preston and Child.

Forced to leave her post at the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute, Nora Kelly is left without a job and without any prospects. So when billionaire Lucas Tappan invites her to lead his excavation of the infamous Roswell landing site, she has no choice but to make a decision that could destroy her reputation.

Armed with a healthy dose of scepticism, Nora reluctantly agrees to visit the site. When the preliminary scans of the area reveal a suspected Native American burial site, Nora takes a closer look.

But this is no indigenous burial site. It's a crime scene, and a recent one at that. Nora uncovers two dead bodies, one with a bullet hole in its skull, acid used to conceal the identities. Dead bodies mean this has become a case for the FBI, and Nora knows just the person to investigate – Special Agent Corrie Swanson.

As Corrie and Nora dig deeper into the mystery, they will uncover more questions than answers. And the truth they seek will be even stranger than the conspiracy it hides behind.

'Down-to-earth action tackles an otherworldly mystery in this devilishly plausible yarn' KIRKUS starred review

The latest pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestsellers Preston & Child.

Nora Kelly, a young curator at the Santa Fe Institute of Archaeology, is approached by historian Clive Benton with a once-in-a-lifetime proposal: to lead a team in search of the so-called 'Lost Camp' of the tragic Donner Party. This was a group of pioneers who earned a terrible place in American history when they became snow-bound in the California mountains in 1847, their fate unknown until the first skeletonized survivors stumbled out of the wilderness, raving about starvation, murder-and cannibalism.

Benton tells Kelly he has stumbled upon an amazing find: the long-sought diary of one of the victims, which has an enigmatic description of the Lost Camp. Nora agrees to lead an expedition to locate and excavate it – to reveal its long-buried secrets.

Once in the mountains, however, they learn that discovering the camp is only the first step in a mounting journey of fear. For as they uncover old bones, they expose the real truth of what happened, one that is far more shocking and bizarre than mere cannibalism. And when those ancient horrors lead to present-day violence on a grand scale, rookie FBI agent Corrie Swanson is assigned the case... only to find that her first investigation might very well be her last.

Gideon Crew – brilliant scientist, master thief – is living on borrowed time. When he’s handed an eyebrow-raising mission by his mysterious employer, Gideon has no reason to refuse. His task? To steal a page from the priceless Book of Kells, now on display in New York City, protected by unbreakable security.

Accomplishing the impossible, Gideon steals the parchment – only to learn that hidden beneath the gorgeously illuminated image is a treasure map dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks, treasure that could, perhaps, save Gideon’s life.

Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene have been called to Exmouth, a small town on the wild Atlantic coast of Massachusetts, to investigate a seemingly innocuous theft. But what they discover at the crime scene changes the course of their investigation: a sealed burial chamber, complete with rusted leg irons, fragments of bone and claw marks on the inside-face of its bricks.

Then a historian is found murdered in the desolate salt marshes that surround the town, his face mutilated, his body carved with arcane symbols.

Exmouth has a grim history dating back to the aftermath of the Salem witch trials. And now a dark secret, centuries old, is rising to the surface.

#1 bestselling authors Preston & Child return with the next book in a series featuring archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson.

'A collision between past and present that will leave you breathless' – LEE CHILD

A MUMMY, AN ANCIENT TREASURE, A DANGEROUS MYSTERY.

After a shoot-out leaves a senior agent gravely wounded, FBI rookie Corrie Swanson finds herself under investigation. Her supervisor assures her she's not to blame and the black mark on her record will be cleared in short order. But Corrie finds she cannot shake off an overwhelming feeling of guilt.

As a distraction, she takes on a new case involving a fifty-year-old mummified corpse discovered in a hidden enclave at High Lonesome, a long-abandoned New Mexico ghost town. Quickly out of her depth, she realizes she needs the help of her old enemy, archaeologist Nora Kelly. The two women soon uncover a startling truth: the deceased was poisoned, and died clutching a priceless artifact.

Can Corrie and Nora solve the mystery of the scorpion's tail? Or will they – like others before them – die in the attempt?

Medicine Creek, Kansas, has been slowly dying for the last century. A small, quiet place, the primary occupation is still farming, Main Street is a stretch of old and dusty businesses, and the nearest mall is 200 miles away. In a town where nothing changes, the community is terrified after a series of grisly murders takes place. Even more alarming, the bodies are displayed in bizarre tableaus. With the entire town in shock, FBI Agent Pendergast arrives from New Orleans to investigate.

From the fields to the local caves, Pendergast discovers the remnants of a Prohibition-era moonshine operation and the truth behind one of the town's greatest mysteries: who was behind the Medicine Creek Massacre of 1865. Now, Pendergast must discover the twisted secret hiding within a four-generation Kansas family – before someone else is murdered.

After an overhaul of leadership at the FBI's New York field office, Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast is forced to accept an unthinkable condition of continued employment: the unorthodox lone wolf must now work with a partner.

Pendergast and his new cohort, Special Agent Coldmoon, are dispatched to Florida to investigate a rash of ritualistic murders. A killer is carving out the hearts of his victims, and depositing the stolen organs alongside the headstones of existing graves. Accompanying each heart is a cryptic letter, signed by a 'Mr Brokenhearts'. There is one more intriguing aspect to Mr Brokenhearts' macabre modus operandi: the chosen graves all belong to women who have committed suicide.

As he searches for the connection between the old suicides and the new murders, Pendergast realizes the brutal new crimes may be just the tip of the iceberg: that he faces a conspiracy of death reaching back decades.

'Fast-moving, sophisticated and bursting with surprises... There's nothing else like them' WASHINGTON POST.

'One of thrillerdom's most exciting and intriguing series leads, and it remains among the most reliable in the genre' BOOKLIST.

Behind the gates of a fabulous Hamptons estate, FBI Special Agent Pendergast comes upon the carnage of a gruesome – and seemingly supernatural – crime. The smouldering remains of infamous art critic Jeremy Grove, a melted cross branding his chest, are found in a locked, barricaded attic. The hoofprint singed into the floorboards and the smell of brimstone recall the legendary horrors that befall those who make a pact with the Devil.

Pendergast combs New York, hoping for a simple explanation: a villain who is merely human. But his search takes him beyond the exclusive clubs and luxury penthouses of Manhattan to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where – 30 years before – four men may have conjured something unspeakable.

The New York Museum of Natural History is built over a subterranean labyrinth of neglected specimen vaults, unmapped drainage tunnels and long-forgotten catacombs.

And there's something down there.

When the mutilated bodies of two young boys are discovered deep within the museum's bowels, Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta of the NYPD fears a homicidal maniac may be at large. FBI agent Aloysius X.L. Pendergast believes they may be facing something much worse.

As the death toll mounts, and with the opening of the museum's new 'Superstition' exhibition just days away, the two men must work together to prevent a massacre.

'Sit back, crack open the book and get ready for the ride of your life' DAVID BALDACCI.

'White-hot bestselling suspense. Simply brilliant!' LISA GARDNER.

A sea of unanswered questions.

Dozens of identical shoes have washed up on the beach in the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida. They appear completely ordinary but for one thing – each contains a crudely severed human foot.

Faced with an incomprehensible puzzle and ever more confusing pathology reports, the local police call on FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast for his expertise. But with no answers and endless possibilities they are left with only questions: What has happened, and why? Where have the feet come from? And are the victims still alive?

Soon Pendergast will find himself entrenched in one of the most complex and inexplicable challenges of his career.

Praise for Preston and Child:

'Get ready for the ride of your life' DAVID BALDACCI

'Will leave you breathless' LEE CHILD

'Fast-moving, sophisticated and bursting with surprises... There's nothing else like them' WASHINGTON POST

'White-hot bestselling suspense. Simply brilliant!' LISA GARDNER