Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the Renaissance city’s northern quarter, he enters a community divided by bitter rivalries and harbouring dark secrets. When a man’s body is found deep inside the convent, stabbed more than two dozen times, the case becomes even more complicated. Unthinkable […]
A New Home in the Dales by Betty Firth
October 1940. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Bancroft is working as a typist for a city newspaper, but she longs to be breaking the news herself. When she successfully applies for a junior reporter role at The Tyke, a magazine serving the Yorkshire Dales, she’s thrilled to be entering the world of journalism – even if she only […]
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 Families of Eleanor of Aquitaine by JF Andrews
The lives of the sons of Eleanor of Aquitaine are the stuff of legend. Her daughters, however, are less well known, and the fascinating personalities of her daughters-in-law have been almost entirely overlooked, as have those of the daughters she bore Louis VII of France. The Families of Eleanor of Aquitaine showcases the lives, travels […]
Storm of War by Anthony Riches
Marcus Aquila and his allies spearhead a daring attack into enemy territory, as three generals claim to be the true Roman Emperor. A new civil war has begun: with the emperor Pertinax’s murder Marcus and his protector Scaurus have escaped Rome, seeking sanctuary for their familia in the East. But they are soon pressed back […]
The Empress and the English Doctor by Lucy Ward
Within living memory, smallpox was a dreaded disease. Over human history it has killed untold millions. Back in the 18th century, as epidemics swept Europe, the first rumours emerged of an effective treatment: a mysterious method called inoculation. But a key problem remained: convincing people to accept the preventative remedy, the forerunner of vaccination. Arguments […]
Hannibal of Carthage edited by Lindsay Powell
With a new introduction, this is the story of Hannibal, often regarded as a successor to the mantle of Alexander the Great, at a time when Carthage, in North Africa, and Rome were rivals for land and power across the Mediterranean sea. A masterful tactician, a resourceful planner and courageous general, Hannibal famously crossed the […]