20th January 1936, and King George V is dying. On the same day, Bob Kelty accompanies a friend to the house of a local recluse. There they find Hugh Smithson brutally murdered. Horror turns to nightmare as Bob’s friend, Richard Hamill, comes under suspicion of the murder and Bob reluctantly becomes embroiled, once more, in […]
A Ration Book Victory by Jean Fullerton
Queenie Brogan wasn’t always an East End matriarch. Many years ago, before she married Fergus, she was Philomena Dooley, a daughter of Irish Travellers, planning to wed her childhood sweetheart, Patrick Mahone. But when tragedy struck and Patrick’s narrow-minded sister, Nora, intervened, the lovers were torn apart. Fate can be cruel, and when Queenie arrives […]
Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
Lena Aldridge is wondering if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho and her married lover has just left her. She has nothing to look forward to until a stranger offers her the chance of a […]
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra
When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry doctor Ramu, she’s resigned herself to a quiet life. But that all changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she escapes to the garden for some peace – and instead spots an uninvited guest in the shadows. Half an hour later, the […]
The French House by Jacquie Bloese
In Nazi-occupied Guernsey, the wrong decision can destroy a life. Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Émile is no stranger to isolation – or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever. Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn’t know what has become of Émile and […]
Hogarth: Life in Progress by Jacqueline Riding
On a late spring night in 1732, a boisterous group of friends set out from their local pub. They are beginning a journey, a ‘peregrination’ that will take them through the gritty streets of Georgian London and along the River Thames as far as the Isle of Sheppey. And among them is an up-and-coming engraver […]
Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History by Alex von Tunzelmann
In the past few years, there has been a rush to topple statues. Across the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Belgium and elsewhere, Black Lives Matter protesters defaced and in some cases hauled down statues of slaveholders, Confederate icons, and imperialists. In Bristol, Edward Colston was knocked off his plinth and hurled into […]
A Silent Way to Die by NR Daws
December, 1940. With the Blitz devastating Britain’s cities, Lizzie Hayes and the women pilots of the Air Transport Authority are more crucial to the war effort than ever before. But when the relative peace of the village of Scotney is shattered by the disappearance of the Chief Inspector’s niece, it’s Lizzie’s training as a psychologist […]