It is 1946 and in the village of Oakbourne the men are home from the war. Their bodies are healing but their psychological wounds run deep. Everyone is scarred — those who fought and those left behind. Alice Rayne is married to Stephen, heir to crumbling Oakbourne Hall. Once a sweet, gentle man, he has […]
Hitler’s Aristocrats by Susan Ronald
This book exposes the shadowy world of the aristocrats and business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic who secretly aided Hitler and Nazi Germany. Hitler said: “I am convinced that propaganda is an essential means to achieve one’s aims.” Enlisting Europe’s aristocracy, international industrialists, and the political elite in Britain and America, Hitler spun […]
Extreme research: how far should a writer go?
What lengths will writers go to in order to research their books? For some, it’s quite far. Like drinking buffalo blood, or going to the Amazon jungle or the South Pole. For Louise Morrish, author of Operation Moonlight, it was grabbing her horror of heights in both hands and jumping out of a plane. She […]
Paris Requiem by Chris Lloyd
Paris, September 1940, and after three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the […]
A Perfect Time to Murder by NR Daws
In January 1941 the Luftwaffe continues its assault on Britain from the sky, but ATA pilot Lizzie Hayes is grounded after a crash. Itching to be of use, she hears that DI Kember is investigating the death of a coal miner in Kent and sees her chance to help. They discover the miner died from […]
The bureaux d’achats: how the Nazis bled France dry
After the fall of France, the occupying Nazi regime began to bleed the country dry through blatant financial exploitation. Parisians found even the most basic foodstuffs hard to get, largely because of the activities of the notorious bureaux d’achats. Chris Lloyd, author of Paris Requiem, explains what happened. “Ils nous prennent tout.” As Parisians queued […]
Agent in the Shadows by Alex Gerlis
It’s June, 1943. In Lyon, the capital of the French resistance, a secret meeting is held under orders from General de Gaulle. The objective is to unite all resistance factions. The future of France is on the line. But when the meeting is raided by the Gestapo under Klaus Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyon’, the […]
Historia extract: Paris Requiem by Chris Lloyd
In an exclusive extract for Historia readers, we bring you the beginning of award-winning historical crime author Chris Lloyd’s new book, Paris Requiem, the second in his Eddie Giral series of noir novels following a troubled Parisian policeman in the early days of Nazi occupation. The Unwanted Dead, which won the HWA Gold Crown Award […]