Worcestershire, September 1145, and a Templar knight is found dead in the Forest of Wyre, clutching a bloodstained document naming a traitor. Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, Serjeant Catchpoll, and Underserjeant Walkelin must uncover whether the killing was personal, political, or the work of outlaws. They are surprised to find that the locals believe the killer to […]
Death in the Aviary by Victoria Dowd
New Year’s Eve, 1928. In the grand residence of Ravenswick Abbey, isolated in the wilds of Dartmoor, nine members of the household step into an ornate lift. The power fails. The lift stops. In the darkness, a single shot is fired. When the light returns, Charles Ravenswick — the heir to the Ravenswick fortune — […]
The Mischief Makers by Elisabeth Gifford
In a beautiful house in the wilds of Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Tangled in a self-destructive love affair that threatens to unravel her marriage, she is also distracted by worry for the family friend whose shadow looms over her childhood: JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Daphne […]
The Face Stealer by Sarah Rayne
In London, in 1909, the Fitzglens combine running London’s finest theatre with a very profitable side-line in stealing. But while they might be thieves, they still have principles. They never pinch anything their victim couldn’t afford to lose. When a stranger approaches Jack Fitzglen after a performance, claiming that a Fitzglen has committed a grave […]
Love and Other Poisons by Lesley McDowell
1857, Glasgow. A young socialite named Madeleine Smith stands accused of murdering her lover. Thousands wait outside the court to hear the result. The scandalous nature of the affair, detailed explicitly in letters published in newspapers across the world, has made her case a worldwide sensation. But when the jury find themselves unable to decide […]
Sinners by Elizabeth Fremantle
In 16th-century Rome, Beatrice Cenci – youngest daughter of a powerful nobleman – is destined for a life of gilded insignificance. Wealth talks within the city’s grand palazzos, and women must remain silent. Then her brother is found murdered by a rival family, and Beatrice’s domineering, tyrannical father insists they flee to La Rocca. But […]
A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor
In May, 1945, Monkshill Park School for Girls seems a world away from the violence that engulfed Europe during World War II. Yet its lonely, decaying grounds have witnessed a murder. Annabel Warnock, a teacher with a secretive past, left for the holidays and never came back. Both teachers and girls assume she simply walked […]
Encore For Murder by TA Belshaw
Amateur sleuth Amy Rowlings is pulled into one of her most puzzling cases yet. How can a man be murdered twice? When gang member Lonnie Firth turns up dead, again, Amy joins forces with Inspector Bodkin to untangle a web of deception, rival gangs, and dangerous alliances. From the seductive and deadly Bessie Dagger to […]