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Lounge & Simon & Schuster

Coffee & Crime Book Club

Lounge is teaming up with Simon & Schuster to bring you the Coffee & Crime Book Club, in collaboration with The Likely Suspects, their crime and thriller novel-loving community.

Each month, we’ll be choosing a Book of the Month to spotlight, with exciting giveaways on our socials to get your own physical or audiobook copy of the novel, as well as interviews with the author and the chance to discover your next favourite read.

And if you want to purchase the book through the links on this page, the money will go to a local bookstore based on your delivery address, so you’ll be giving back to your local community!

The first book for May will be A Plot to Die For by Irish comedian, actor, and author Ardal O’Hanlon. Click the link below to purchase, or scroll down to find out a bit more about the book.

A Plot To Die For
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A woman lounges in sunglasses, sipping from a yellow mug and reading "Deception" by Jack Jordan at a café, seated at a table with a yellow patterned tablecloth.
Five Jack Jordan novels are arranged on a white surface: "Night by Night," "Conviction," "Do No Harm," "Redemption," and "Deception," which is centered and features dice on the cover.
A hand holds the book "Deception" by Jack Jordan in a cozy lounge café. The cover features white dice with medical symbols and blood spatters, and the tagline "A deadly game. The ultimate price.
By Jack Jordan

Deception

A deadly game. The ultimate price. The Chain meets Squid Game meets Emily the Criminal in this pulse-pounding new thriller from the master of the moral dilemma, Jack Jordan.

Emma and Miles are out of options. Their son needs life-saving transplant surgery, but in a world of privatised healthcare and impossible costs, they can’t afford it. Then comes the offer: a shadowy syndicate known only as The Levels promises them the exact amount of money they need. All they must do is complete a series of tasks.

The catch? Each task is a crime. With every level, the stakes rise, the payout grows and the line between right and wrong blurs. But Emma and Miles aren’t the only ones playing this deadly game. As the competition intensifies and they struggle under the weight of their choices, they’re faced with the ultimate question:

How far would you go to save the one you love?

Jordan is a global bestselling author of various thrillers, including Redemption, Conviction, and Do No Harm, with Conviction being adapted into a Disney+ series starring Elisabeth Moss in 2027.

Deception
A person with short, light hair wearing a dark blazer and light shirt poses against a plain, dark background, looking confidently at the camera in a black and white portrait.

Jack Jordan

Q & A With The Author

Every great mystery has a beginning. What was the very first seed of an idea for Deception?
When creating my moral dilemmas, the first thing I do is consider which life element is at stake: is it a person’s professional duty being called into question, or is it about justice and the law? With Deception, I wanted to explore healthcare, and how in so many parts of the world, healthcare isn’t considered a right, but a product you can either afford or you can’t. I wanted to explore the lives of those who can’t afford it, and how playing with right and wrong in this arena asks the reader to consider what they would do in the characters’ shoes: how far would they go to save someone they love, when let down by the system, which is supposed to save them?

Sum up Deception in three words…
High-octane, heart-wrenching, propulsive!

What food and drink fuels your writing sessions?
I start the day with a pain au chocolat and extra hot soya latte (iced soya lattes if it’s warm outside!), and then run on Coke Zeros and a midday KitKat! If I have lunch, it’s often a mid-afternoon chicken Caesar salad or a smoked salmon bagel. Essentially: caffeine, sugar and carbs!

What crime novel would you always pick up if you saw it in a Lounge Library?
Although historical, I consider this a landmark crime fiction title, too: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I’ve read it three times, and it has the best twist I’ve read in fiction (yes, it even beats Gone Girl in my book!).

Deception

What others are saying

“The most tense book I’ve ever read.” – Andrea Mara, author of All Her Fault

“Another jaw-dropping masterpiece… Read this and then read them all.” – Matthew Blake, author of the Anna O

“A blistering, nerve-shredding thriller that packs a punch in every chapter. Electrifying.” – John Marrs, author of The Dark Future books

 

A book titled "A Plot to Die For" by Ardal O'Hanlon is on a dark, rustic surface surrounded by gardening tools, soil, and small plants. The cover illustration shows a shovel over a town skyline with a blue sky and clouds.
A book titled "A Plot to Die For" by Ardal O'Hanlon stands on a checkered table beside a yellow cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, and pink marshmallows.
A book titled "A Plot to Die For" by Ardal O'Hanlon stands upright on two stacked books, set against a bright yellow background with a "Coffee & Crime Book Club" logo above. The cover features seagulls and colorful houses.
Previous Books - May 2026

A Plot To Die For

One of Ireland’s best-loved actors and comedians has written a new book! Known for his roles in Father Ted, Taskmaster, Derry Girls, Death in Paradise and many more, Ardal O’Hanlon has turned his pen to a brand new mystery, A Plot to Die For.

Set in a small Irish town, celebrity gardener Finn O’Leary returns to his hometown to care for his ageing mother and is roped into the Tidy Towns competition… and a murder investigation.

When an alto-baritone at his mother’s choir practice drops dead, Finn sets out to discover who has brought murder to Abbeyford alongside his mother, her carer Happiness and his best friend’s sister Aoife.

A Plot to Die For is the perfect book for readers who enjoy the warmth of Graham Norton and the mystery of Death in Paradise, all wrapped up in one small Irish town.

Small town Ireland, big time murder..

A Plot to Die For

Previous Author Q&As

Our lovely authors have been providing Q&As with us about their novels, which you can read below.

A man with short brown hair wearing a dark blue button-up shirt stands against a light blue background, resting his chin on his fist and looking at the camera with a thoughtful expression.

Ardal O'Hanlon

Every great mystery has a beginning. What was the very first seed of an idea for A Plot to Die For?

I had a strong image in my mind of somebody dying horribly at choir practice during a rendition of What The World Needs Now. At the time, I was helping to care for my mother, who’d had a bad accident. It occurred to me that such a mother/son combination might be the basis for a good detective partnership. The son soon became a celebrity gardener, returning to his small town in Ireland after a successful career in the UK, who uses his horticultural skills to help solve murders.

Sum up A Plot to Die For in three words…

Funny, warm, twisty.

What fuels your writing sessions?

I am pretty abstemious once I get into a writing frenzy. I can go for hours without even a sip of water. But with perfect timing, my wife will often revive me with a cup of coffee and a Wagon Wheel.

What crime novel would you always pick up if you saw it in a Lounge Library?

The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr. It’s one of the original locked room mysteries. Apart from being quite characterful and amusing in its own right, it is a primer in the history of the locked room genre.

What would Finn from A Plot to Die For order at a Lounge and why?

As a keen gardener, I think he’d enjoy a Big Veggie Breakfast to fuel a day of amateur sleuthing.

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