Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
For the hundredth time since they'd made their promise, she wondered if she and Agnes were really going to go through with it, if she was brave and terrible enough. A THRILLING DEBUT NOVEL OF CORRUPTION AND MURDER, SET IN THE NIGHTCLUBS, TENEMENTS AND SKYSCRAPERS OF 1930s NEW YORK - FROM THE WINNER OF THE VIRAGO/THE POOL NEW CRIME WRITER AWARD. At the top of the Empire State Building on a freezing December night, two women hold their breath. Frances and Agnes are waiting for the man who has wronged them. They plan to seek the ultimate revenge. Set over the course of a single night, One Night, New York is a detective story, a romance and a coming-of-age tale. It is also a story of old New York, of bohemian Greenwich Village between the wars, of floozies and artists and addicts, of a city that sucked in creatives and immigrants alike, lighting up the world, while all around America burned amid the heat of the Great Depression.
An unputdownable story of murder, revenge and betrayal from international number one bestseller Jeffrey Archer. In London, the Metropolitan Police set up a new Unsolved Murders Unit – a cold case squad – to catch the criminals nobody else can. In Geneva, millionaire art collector Miles Faulkner – convicted of forgery and theft – was pronounced dead two months ago. So why is his unscrupulous lawyer still representing a dead client? On a luxury liner en route to New York, the battle for power at the heart of a wealthy dynasty is about to turn to murder. And at the heart of all three investigations are Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick, rising star of the Met, and ex-undercover operative Ross Hogan, brought in from the cold. But can they catch the killers before it’s too late?
From the bestselling author of The Clockmaker's Daughter, comes a breathtaking mystery of love, lies and a cold case come back to life, told with her trademark intricacy and beauty. Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and the small town of Tumbilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital. At a loose end in Nora's house, Jess does some digging into her past. In Nora's bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime – a crime that has never been truly solved. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find . . . An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth.
What happens when the person closest to you has led a life of deception? After the funeral of her mother, Sally, Alice Kent is approached by a man named Angus Tweedy. He claims to be her father and tells her that he served time in prison for marrying Sally bigamously. What does he hope to gain telling her this now, thirty years on? How can her adored dad Ralph not be her true father? And why did her mother betray her so badly? She had accepted Sally's many faults, and her reluctance to never speak of the past. But faced with this staggering deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother. Whatever the cost. Alice's journey into her mother's past is one of incredulity as she discovers a woman shaped by a truly traumatic childhood.
From celebrated New York Times bestselling author, Steve Berry, comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, in which the discovery of a lost historical document challenges the global might of the United States. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria. A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished. But a question remains: did he succeed? Enter Cotton Malone. After many months, Malone’s protégé, Luke Daniels, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany. Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Bavaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittelsbach monarchy, only now with him as king. Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig’s long-rumored search bore fruit--legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons. In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig’s three fairytale castles--Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee--Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.
Charlie Chan is a Chinese Hero, solving mysteries with wit and courage. Biggers created the character because he disliked the negative stereotypes around Asian people at the time. S. T. Karnick writes in the National Review that Chan is "a brilliant detective with understandably limited facility in the English language whose] powers of observation, logic, and personal rectitude and humility made him an exemplary, entirely honourable character. The books have been adapted to television and film, creating characters and stories that adults and children alike love. This Omnibus Edition of the six Charlie Chan Novels is a must-read for every Charlie Chan fan: The House Without a Key (1925), The Chinese Parrot (1926), Behind that Curtain (1928), The Black Camel (1929), Charlie Chan Carries On (1930), Keeper of the Keys (1932)
This volume collects more than forty detective tales published in the same years that Sherlock Holmes earned his formidable reputation as the Great Detective. It includes stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others that broke ground for the detective story, as well as featuring lady sleuths in stories by Wilkie Collins, Richard Marsh, Anna Katherine Green, and others. Also included are Sherlockian Satires and Homages, in the form of respectful and comic riffs on Sherlock Holmes and his methods by Henry, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and others.
Killer twists. Heroes to believe in. Trust Baldacci. Private Investigator and WWII veteran, Aloysius Archer, returns to solve a new case in Hollywood in Dream Town, a riveting thriller from international number 1 bestselling author, David Baldacci. All that glitters . . . 1952, Los Angeles. It is New Year's Eve and PI Aloysius Archer is dining with his friend and rising Hollywood actress Liberty Callahan when they're approached by Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter who would like to hire him, as she suspects someone is trying to kill her. Murder and mystery A visit to Lamb's Malibu residence leaves Archer knocked unconscious after he stumbles over a dead body in the hallway; and Lamb seems to have vanished. With the police now involved in the case, a close friend and colleague of Lamb's employs Archer to find out what's happened to the screenwriter. The City of Angels - or somewhere much, much darker? Archer's investigation takes him from the rich, glamorous and glitzy LA to the seedy, dark side of the city, and onward to the gambling mecca of Las Vegas, just now hitting its stride as a hot spot for celebrities and a money-making machine for the mob. In a place where cops and crooks work hand in hand, Archer will cross paths with Hollywood stars, politicians and notorious criminals. He'll almost die several times, and he'll discover bodies and secrets from the canyons and beaches of Malibu and the luxurious mansions of Bel Air and Beverly Hills to the narcotics clubs of Chinatown. With the help of Liberty and his PI partner Willie Dash, Archer will risk everything and leave no stone unturned in finding the missing Eleanor Lamb, and in bringing to justice killers who would love nothing better than to plant Archer six feet under.
Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom. A short story featuring Giordano Bruno: heretic, philosopher and spy, from Parris's Sunday Times bestselling series. Even the dead have a story to tell... Naples, 1566. During a sweltering summer, eighteen-year-old Giordano Bruno takes his final vows at San Domenico Maggiore and is admitted to the Dominican Order - despite doubts over his tendency to ask difficult questions. Assisting in the infirmary, Bruno witnesses an illicit autopsy performed on the body of a young woman. Her corpse reveals a dark secret, and Bruno suspects that hers may not have been an accidental death. His investigation leads him to a powerful figure who wants to keep the truth buried - and Bruno is forced to make a choice between his future in the Order, and justice for an innocent victim and her grieving family... Please note that this story, along with two other Giordano Bruno novellas, will be published as a 3-in-1 collection called The Dead of Winter, coming out in Hardback, ebook and audio in November 2020. Praise for S. J. Parris: 'It has everything - intrigue, mystery and excellent history' Kate Mosse 'Impossible to resist' Daily Telegraph Fascinating ... The period is incredibly vivid and the story utterly gripping' Conn Iggulden 'A brilliantly unusual glimpse at the intrigues surrounding Queen Elizabeth I' Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The Ashes of London 'Parris writes with confident ease of Tudor London' The Times 'Full of surprises' TLS
Evoking the golden age of crime, and for fans of Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie, comes the second book in the Aloysius Archer series, A Gambling Man from one of the world's bestselling thriller writers, David Baldacci. California, 1949. Aloysius Archer is on his way to start a new job with a renowned Private Investigator in Bay Town. Feeling lucky, he stops off at a casino in Reno, where he meets an aspiring actress, Liberty Callahan. Together, they head west on a journey filled with danger and surprises - because Archer isn't the only one with a secretive past. Arriving in a town rife with corruption, Archer is tasked with finding out who is doing everything they can to disrupt the appointment of a top official. Then two seemingly unconnected people are murdered at a burlesque club. In a tight-lipped community, Archer must dig deep to reveal the connection between the victims. As the final perilous showdown unfurls, Archer will need all of his skills to decipher the truth from the lies and finally, to prove she's a star in the making, will Liberty have her moment in the spotlight?
International bestseller Jeffrey Archer returns THE UNPUTDOWNABLE NEW THRILLER FROM THE MASTER STORYTELLER 'Only someone like Jeffrey Archer . . . could have written a compelling story like this. Every page bristles with suspense and the ending comes at you with the force of a tank round' DAVID BALDACCI London, 1988. Royal fever sweeps the nation as Britain falls in love with the 'people's princess'. Which means for Scotland Yard, the focus is on the elite Royalty Protection Command, and its commanding officer. Entrusted with protecting the most famous family on earth, they quite simply have to be the best. A weak link could spell disaster. Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick and his Scotland Yard squad are sent in to investigate the team. Maverick ex-undercover operative Ross Hogan is charged with a very sensitive - and unique - responsibility. But it soon becomes clear the problems in Royalty Protection are just the beginning. A renegade organization has the security of the country - and the Crown - in its sights. The only question is which target is next in line... Over My Dead Body hit #4 in the Sunday Times bestselling charts on 4th June 2022.
From the bestselling author of The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton brings us her trademark mix of secrets, lies, and intricately layered mysteries in The Clockmaker's Daughter. My real name, no one remembers. The truth about that summer, no one else knows. In the depths of a nineteenth-century winter, a little girl is abandoned in the narrow streets of London. Adopted by a mysterious stranger, she becomes in turn a thief, a friend, a muse, and a lover. Then, in the summer of 1862, shortly after her eighteenth birthday, she retreats with a group of artists to a beautiful house on a quiet bend of the Upper Thames . . . Tensions simmer and one hot afternoon a gunshot rings out. A woman is killed, another disappears, and the truth of what happened slips through the cracks of time. Over the next century and beyond, Birchwood Manor welcomes many newcomers but guards its secret closely - until another young woman is drawn to visit the house because of a family secret of her own . . . As the mystery begins to unravel, we discover the stories of those who have passed through Birchwood Manor since that fateful day in 1862. Intricately layered and richly atmospheric, it shows that, sometimes, the only way forward is through the past.
The Affair of Rennes is a nest of enigmas that has baffled and enthralled readers in equal measure for more than fifty years. From a minor riddle of local history about a tiny village in the south of France, it has become a global phenomenon, inspiring countless articles, books, documentaries and even movies. Yet the core questions at the heart of the story have remained unsolved. Until now. In The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes, author Simon M. Miles retraces his steps on a twenty-year investigation into the Affair and describes a series of breakthroughs which have broken the seals on this intriguing puzzle. For the first time, knowledge that has been carefully hidden from view for decades, and even longer, is revealed. The anonymous author of a strange surrealist poem is unmasked, and his identity proves to be the key to unlocking the riddles which have remained resolutely sealed. From the mysterious parchments, to the enigmatic book written by a local priest in the nineteenth century, to the persistent claims of alignments between significant sites in the landscape, the Affair of Rennes gives up its secrets in this book. Richly illustrated with 140 maps, charts, photographs and diagrams, The Map and the Manuscript marks a new era in understanding one of the great unsolved, mysteries of the twentieth century.
|
You may like...
|