When Frank Peter's wife Maureen dies, he feels that his once-idyllic life on the Yorkshire Moors is over. And with a daughter emigrating to Australia and a son who has his own marital problems, Frank feels resigned to a life of loneliness. Then one night he finds a frightened young woman hiding at the back of his farmhouse. She explains that her name is Irena and was brought to this country by a man who promised her the world and then forced her into prostitution. Frank offers her a bed for the night but it's the middle of winter, and when heavy snowfall prevents her from leaving the next day, he's forced to extend the invitation. But the longer Irena stays, the easier it gets for the men she's trying to escape from to find her.People-trafficking could just be the tip of the iceberg, and Frank has no idea what these people are really capable of.Brutal is a gritty thriller by the bestselling author Mandasue Heller.

Dark and gritty, Witness is a heart-pounding thriller set in Manchester by bestselling author Mandasue Heller.Holly Evans and her over-protective mother, Josie, are living a hand-to-mouth existence, moving constantly from one squalid dump to the next. When they move into an illegally sub-let council flat in Manchester, Holly feels settled for the first time in her life – even if she is forbidden to go out, or even open the front door to callers when her mum's at work. What exactly are they hiding from?Then Holly has a falling out with her best friend, and suddenly finds herself becoming increasingly isolated and alone in the world. But she is about to make a new friend in Suzie – the glamorous woman who lives directly across the road, who Holly witnesses being beaten up by her violent boyfriend. When it happens a second time it's Holly who Suzie turns to for help, and a bond is quickly formed between the pair. But whoever Holly and Josie have been...

A gritty tale of hard time, hard men and hard drugs for fans of Martina Cole. When Mary’s mother throws her out, the sassy teenager soon learns how tough life can be. Her new friend Lynne is older, more sophisticated. She has a taste for cocaine and isn’t above walking the streets for extra cash to pay for it. Mary sticks to a straighter path, until the night Lynne brings Ali and Raiz back to their flat. The women don’t know that their sexy new friends are small-time criminals, desperate for alibis for a drug-dealer’s murder. All too soon, Mary is in more trouble than she can handle. Can her old friend Jane’s risky scheme save Mary? Or has her fate been sealed by falling for the wrong man?

Set in urban Manchester, Running Scared is a nerve-shredding thriller by bestselling author Mandasue Heller.When Alexis 'Lexi' James falls out with her best mate Nicole over 'bad boy' Ryan King, it's just the beginning of a chain of events that go from bad to worse to deadly.Returning home one night to her high-rise flat, she is faced by a terrifying scene that changes her life forever, and matters are made worse when she is put into care in another town.Years later, Lexi has left school and is back in Manchester. A chance meeting with Nicole and her so-called 'other half' Ryan ends in disaster, and she vows never to see them again. Then one night she is saved from a vicious attack by a charming stranger. He takes her home and their acquaintance blossoms into something much deeper.When her new man receives a call in the middle of the night and leaves in a hurry, she is horrified when he returns with someone she never thought she would see again. It...

The brand-new gripping page-turner from the million-copy bestselling Queen of Manchester crime.

She's hit rock bottom - but she's going to fight back . . . Amy's marriage to Mark isn't the best - he can't resist the girls, he can't hold down a job. But she doesn't want to know just how bad things are until his gambling habit brings the debt collector to her door. He makes it brutally clear how she can pay off Mark's debts . . . And Amy's troubles are only beginning. Someone else wants Mark for herself, and she is ready to steal Amy's man, her self-respect and even her children. As the stakes rise, Amy will either lose everything, or she'll have to learn how to be as hard and ruthless as her enemies . . .ReviewLost Angel is a shining example of the rule that the best crime fiction isn't just about crime; it's also about family, relationships, love ... and hate. From The Godfather to The Sopranos, these are the stories that grip us most intensely. And Heller is at the top of her game with this one--it's captivating from first page to last. -- Jeffery Deaver on LOST ANGEL A hectic pace ... will please fans of Martina Cole. -- Bella on LOST ANGEL Mandasue has played a real blinder with this fantastic novel. -- Martina Cole on FORGET ME NOT Cracking page-turner ... a gritty compassionate account of life on the margins. -- Manchester Evening News on FORGET ME NOT 'A cracking read that will chill you to the bone.' -- Sun on TWO-FACED 'One of the bad girls of gritty crime, Heller has written a blinder.' -- Daily Mirror on TWO-FACED 'A glamorous nightclub hides a seedy underworld that Heller knows only too well.' -- Daily Express on THE CLUB Gripping ... powerful writing. -- Scotland on Sunday on FORGET ME NOT About the AuthorMandasue Heller was born in Cheshire and moved to Manchester in 1982. She spent 10 years living in the notorious Hulme Crescents, which have since become the background to her novels. Not only is she a talented writer, but she has also sung in cabaret and rock groups, 70s soul cover bands, and blues jam bands.

THE FRONT is a gritty story of small-time crime leading to big-time punishment, set in the Manchester badlands.When four old school friends decide to make some easy money, they pick the wrong target. Very wrong. Robbing a small supermarket on a Manchester estate looks easy – but with one of them wounded and a dead body on their hands, could things get worse? They could. The supermarket is merely the front for something bigger. The friends are small fish who have unwittingly plunged into a very big pond and now they are swimming with the great white sharks of the criminal underworld.

Sarah Mullen is a beautiful child who at seven years old is put into care by her drug-addicted mother. Trying to live with the rejection is bad enough, but no one could have prepared her for the pain that was yet to come. Harry Shaw is the boy that everyone bullies, the kid whose own mother locked him in a cupboard so she wouldn’t have to look at his face, and then left him there. When he meets Sarah for the first time, a friendship is instantly forged. And out of a desire to be loved an alliance is born. Then into their lives comes Vinnie Walker, a good-looking and calculating thirteen-year-old who will change both their lives forever.

Jenna Lorde knows she’s taking on a challenge when she inherits her dad’s nightclub. But Zenith comes with a top class reputation and a location other clubs would kill for, so she reckons she’s more than up for it. Until she starts to realise that the dangers aren’t just from other clubs. Beneath the glamour of the VIP lounge and the pumping music, sleaze and corruption are starting to creep in, and it’ll take all Jenna’s cunning to stop the rot. The club’s survival – and her own – depend on it . . .

Manchester’s criminal underworld is brought shockingly to life by the bestselling author of THE CLUB. Maria Price is a survivor of the care system who thought she would never have a family or security again. She’s just inherited a house and a bank account. Joel Parry – good-looking, charming and a wonderful lover – seems to know everyone who is anyone in Manchester. Joel just happens to need a place to stay. Before long he’s moved into Maria’s house and is helping her to spend her money. But Joel isn’t what he seems to be. He’s deep in the drug scene, and his terrifying past is about to catch up with him – and the naïve girl who trusts him . . .

When you play with fire, everyone gets burned.... Joe Weeks is new to the Grange Estate. Tolerant, doesn’t mind a bit of weed, doesn’t try to pull other men’s women. Live and let live is his motto.... Eddie Quinn is the hardest man on the estate. Everyone knows that it’s a bad idea to cross him, or his pit bull. But everyone also knows he's honest, as drug dealers go. Joe’s pleased when Eddie offers him a job. But then he meets Katya. A prostitute. A slave. And desperate to escape from Eddie.

Mia and Michelle couldn't look more alike - or act more differently. Mia's always been the glamorous one, the one everyone wants to get close to. And now she's a model, on the edge of fame.But Mia can't resist the illegal thrills that come with fame. When disaster strikes, her mousy look-alike sister has to pretend to be Mia. Michelle saves her career, and turns out to have star quality too. She's even got someone to fall in love with her - a man Mia wants almost as much as she wants to be a supermodel.That's something Mia will never, ever forgive...

Chantelle has everything going against her. She's a good student who only wants to pass her exams and find a way out of the sink estate in Manchester where she grew up. But now her feckless mother has taken off for Spain with her latest boyfriend and she's single-handedly raising her tearaway nine-year-old brother Leon.She thinks her worst problem is the debt collectors at the door. But Leon has made some new friends: teenage gang members who have given him a mobile phone a knife - and some drugs to hide in her flat. A part-time job seems to be the answer to Chantelle's prayers. But the violence is about to come home to her -with a vengeance. And the only person who's offering any help seems to be just as bad as the people she's trying to escape from.          

Run by Mandasue Heller is a gritty story of Manchester's criminal underworld.After being cheated on by her ex, Leanne Riley is trying her hardest to get her life back on track, which isn't easy without a job and living in a bedsit surrounded by a junkie and a mad woman.On a night out with her best friend she meets Jake, a face from her past who has changed beyond all recognition. Jake is charming, handsome and loaded, a far cry from the gawky teenager he used to be. Weary of men, Leanne isn't easy to please, but Jake tries his best to break through the wall she's built around herself.But good looks and money can hide a multitude of sins. Is that good-looking face just a mask? And what's more, what will it take to make it slip, and who will die in the process . . . ?