Summer, 1626, and Europe is ablaze as the supporters of the exiled Elector Palatine, who was also briefly King of Bohemia, challenge Emperor Ferdinand. The Emperor’s new general, Wallenstein, has achieved a crushing victory over the feared mercenary commander Mansfeld at Dessau, but Danish King Christian IV is on the march in Lower Saxony. Amid […]
A Poisoner’s Tale by Cathryn Kemp
Rome, 1656, and in the shadowy backstreets lies an apothecary’s shop – a place for women to take their heartbreaks and troubles. Herbs for childbirth. Tarot readings to tell their fortunes. An undetectable poison that can kill in four drops. Alongside her circle of female poisoners, Giulia Tofana dispenses her deadly potion to free the […]
The Red Hollow by Natalie Marlow
Warwickshire, 1934, and deep in a hamlet in the Warwickshire countryside, Red Hollow Hall is a male-only sanatorium run by the charismatic psychiatrist Dr Moon. However, all is not well, and Dr Moon’s patients are leaving Red Hollow in droves. Recent disturbances, which originally appeared to be pranks, have descended into something more sinister, and […]
Litany of Lies by Sarah Hawkswood
Midsummer, 1145. Walter, the steward of Evesham Abbey, is found dead at the bottom of a well pit. The Abbot, whose relationship with the lord Sheriff of Worcestershire is strained at best, dislikes needing to call in help. However, as the death appears to have not been an accident, he grudgingly receives Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, […]
City of Destruction by Vaseem Khan
Bombay, 1951, and a political rally ends in tragedy when India’s first female police detective, Persis Wadia, kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate the divisive new defence minister, a man calling for war with India’s new post-Independence neighbours. With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down the assassin’s co-conspirators — aided […]
Historia interview: AD Bergin
AD Bergin’s debut novel The Wicked of the Earth is set against the background of Newcastle’s 1650 witch trials. He talks to novelist and fellow North-Easterner Carolyn Kirby about the reasons behind witch hunts, the impact of the Interregnum on industry and society, and being a Northern author. CK: Congratulations, Andrew! The Wicked of the […]
A Thief’s Blood by Douglas Skelton
A family is found butchered in a dismal room in the Rookery, London’s poorest district. Not even their small children are left alive. Most of the authorities pay scant attention, except for Thiefmaster General Jonathan Wild. Intrigued by this development, Colonel Nathaniel Charters tasks his most trusted operative, Jonas Flynt, with discovering why. When another […]
Death Of A Princess by RN Morris
Summer 1880 in Lipetsk, a spa town in Russia. The elderly and cantankerous Princess Belskaya suffers a violent reaction while taking a mud bath at the famous Lipetsk Sanatorium. Soon after, she dies. Dr Roldugin, the medical director of the sanatorium, is at a loss to explain the sudden and shocking death. He points the […]