It’s September 1940, and British intelligence is on high alert: the Nazi invasion of Britain is imminent. The German navy is assembling a vast fleet in Rotterdam to ferry men and materiel across the Channel. Meanwhile, a sinister organisation called The Group, a collection of British and Irish Nazi collaborators, is at work within the […]
Blood Vengeance by Douglas Jackson
Christmas Day, 1943. In Arisaig, in western Scotland, the body of beautiful, well-connected Polish SOE agent Krystina Kowolska is found in the gardens of the country house where she’s been preparing for a vital mission to France. The question is, was she already dead when she was hanged? Two days later, resistance double agent, Investigator […]
Headhunters of the Naga Hills
Vaseem Khan’s latest murder mystery is set in Nagaland, in the north-eastern region of India. He writes about the history of the area once known as the Naga Hills and the tribes who lived there – people who were, until fairly recently, headhunters. In the far north-eastern corner of India is the state of Nagaland, […]
The fall and rise of fascism
Catherine Hokin, author of The Girl Who Told the Truth, reflects on the rise and fall of Oswald Mosley’s fascist movement in England, how fascism continued after the end of the Second World War, and the lessons history can teach us. “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” That quote from […]
The Girl Who Told The Truth by Catherine Hokin
It’s London in 1941, and the war has already taken everything from Annie. Her sweetheart, Harry, returned from the front with broken limbs and grief-stricken eyes, and her father betrayed his family by joining the Nazis. But with each new day at her desk in the War Office, a flame burns inside her to right […]
Historical books to look out for in 2026
Welcome to Historia’s most popular regular feature, our round-up of historical books published by members of the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) to look out for this year. In 2026, there are more than 130 books so far — historical fiction, history, and biography. They range from Ancient Greece and Rome to the mid-20th century via the Viking […]
The Rapids and the Alley by Patrick Larsimont
It’s Autumn, 1943, and fighter pilot Jox McNabb is back in command of No. 333 Squadron, the Black Pigs. On the ground, the Salerno landings are bogged down and the enemy’s ‘miracle weapons’ are taking a terrible toll. Allied over-confidence is exposed, as one disaster follows the next in a land which appears perfectly designed […]
How Ian Fleming’s secret war work inspired James Bond
Ian Fleming’s work for Naval Intelligence during the Second World War still remains largely secret. Alan Bardos investigates what we do know about it and how it inspired the James Bond books — and Alan’s own latest spy thriller, Hunter Class. It was often quipped in the gentlemen’s clubs of Piccadilly that Ian Fleming did […]