Richard Kurti writes about the inspiration behind his Basilica Diaries thriller series, set in Renaissance Rome at the time of the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica. He finds contemporary echoes, some unexpected… It was extraordinary to witness. Even in the tech-driven 21st century, with 10,000 satellites circling the Earth and information flowing between eight billion […]
Death of an Officer by Mark Ellis
London in the Spring of 1943. While Europe continues to suffer under the iron fist of Nazi occupation, Britain remains battered but unbowed. DCI Frank Merlin, already contending with a booming wartime crime wave in the capital, is confronted with a baffling case: the brutal murder of a respected doctor. Following a puzzling trail that […]
When fiction is fatal – Byron and vampires
Vampires in Venice? In her new Gothic thriller, Dangerous, Essie Fox imagines what could happen if fiction appears to become fatal fact when Lord Byron is living in the water-bound city. Here she writes about the two incidents from Byron’s life that inspired her novel. Most of us know of Bram Stoker‘s Dracula, published in […]
The Wicked Of The Earth by AD Bergin
October, 1650, and the traumatised Parliamentarian spy James Archer returns north seeking his sister Meg, missing in the aftermath of Newcastle’s recent witch trials. Aloof, enigmatic Elizabeth Thompson draws him to investigate the ongoing killing of women who had worked to free the accused. But when Elizabeth herself becomes hunted, the only chance of escape […]
A Plague of Serpents by KJ Maitland
London, 1608, and three years after the Gunpowder Treason, the King’s enemies prepare to strike again. Daniel Pursglove is tasked by royal command with one final mission: he must infiltrate the Serpents — a secret group of Catholics plotting to kill the King — or risk his own execution. But other conspirators are circling, men […]
Sharp Scratch by Martine Bailey
Salford, 1983. Lorraine Quick is a single mother, a member of a band going nowhere fast, and personnel officer at the grim Memorial Hospital. A new general manager position is being introduced, and Lorraine’s recent training in the cutting-edge science of psychometric testing will be pivotal. As the profiles start to emerge, a chilling light […]
Every Spy A Traitor by Alex Gerlis
It’s 1937. Fear and suspicion stalk the Continent. A million have died in Stalin’s Great Purge and the Nazi terror grips Germany. But British intelligence is still trying to work out who the enemy is. As Europe heads towards war, treason is in the air. British spymasters know there is one Soviet agent in their […]
Munich Wolf by Rory Clements
In 1935 Munich is a magnet for young, aristocratic Britons who come to learn German, swim in the lakes and drink beer in the cellars. What they don’t see — or choose to ignore — is the brutal underbelly of the Nazi movement which considers Munich its spiritual home. When a high-born English girl is […]