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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
A city, gripped in the fear of terrifying crimes, will be pushed to
breaking point.London, 1914. A killer is at liberty in the dark
alleys of the city. His victims have one thing in common: all the
blood has been drained from their bodies. Who could do such a thing
- and why would he want his victims' blood? As the killer's reign
of terror continues, Detective Inspector Silas Quinn of Scotland
Yard's Special Crimes department realises that, in order to catch
his prey, he must learn to think like the killer himself. His
search will take him through London's squalid back streets, seedy
Soho haunts and louche aristocratic watering holes, all in pursuit
of a truly twisted individual. First in an absolutely gripping
historical mystery series, perfect for fans of Abir Mukherjee, S.
G. MacLean and Rory Clements. Praise for R. N. Morris'Morris
launches a new series with this superior whodunnit' Publishers
Weekly 'A challenging, utterly fascinating read' Booklist 'Quinn's
passion for justice makes for an engrossing and disquieting
Sherlockian entry' Library Journal
Amazon reviewers love The Scarlet Code! 'A rollicking good tale'
'Thoroughly enjoyable, highly recommend' 'Exciting, swashbuckling
adventure' 'Everything you could want from an adventure thriller:
excitement, a fabulously endearing heroine and pirate to fall in
love with, a cruel killer and... well-written historical detail.
Superb.' 1789. The Bastille has fallen... As Parisians pick
souvenirs from the rubble, a killer stalks the lawless streets. His
victims are female aristocrats. His executions use the most
terrible methods of the ancient regime. English spy Attica Morgan
is laying low in Paris, helping nobles escape. When her next charge
falls victim to the killer's twisted machinations, Attica realises
she alone can unmask him. But now it seems his deadly sights are
set on her. As the city prisons empty, and a mob mobilises to storm
Versailles, finding a dangerous criminal is never going to be easy.
Attica's only hope is to enlist her old ally, reformed pirate Jemmy
Avery, to track the killer though his revolutionary haunts. But
even with a pirate and her fast knife, it seems Attica might not
manage to stay alive. 'A rip-roaring adventure' Tessa Harris on The
Bastille Spy
1895. Former Scotland Yard detective Daniel Wilson, famous for
working the notorious Jack the Ripper case, and his archaeologist
sidekick Abigail Fenton are summoned to investigate the murder of a
young woman at the Manchester Museum. Though staff remember the
woman as a recent and regular visitor, no one appears to know her
and she has no possessions from which to identify her. When the
pair arrive, the case turns more deadly when the body of a second
woman is discovered hidden in the depths of the museum. Seeking
help from a local journalist, Daniel hopes to unravel this mystery,
but the journey to the truth is fraught with obstacles and the
mistakes of the past will not be forgotten ...
The circus is in town for St Kilda's first Flower Festival, which
includes a parade. And who should be Queen of said Flowers but the
Honourable Phryne Fisher? She has dresses to purchase, cinemas to
visit, and agreeable cocktails to drink. However, one of her flower
maidens is unstable and has vanished. So Phryne investigates,
trudging through the underworld with the help of Bert, Cec, her
little beretta, an old flame from Orkney, the owner of the most
exclusive brothel in St Kilda, and several elephants. But when her
own adopted daughter Ruth goes missing, Phryne is determined that
nothing will stand in the way of her retrieving her lost child.
Kerry Greenwood has written more than 40 novels, six nonfiction
books, a number of plays, and is an award-winning children's
writer. Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime
Writers' Association of Australia in 2003, she has written 16 books
in this series with no sign yet of hanging up Miss Fisher's
pearl-handled pistol.
1947. Miss Elinor White, known locally as 'the White lady', is
living a quiet life in a grace and favour cottage, keeping herself
to herself. Unbeknownst to her neighbours, she is the veteran of
two world wars, a trained killer and an ex-spy. But this private
and seemingly tranquil life conceals past trauma and Elinor finds
herself drawn into the predicament of a local man entangled with
one of the most dangerous crime families in London. A treacherous
path lies ahead, but it may be one that ultimately leads Elinor to
a future unshackled from her own painful history.
London, 1896. Madame Tussauds opens to find one of its
nightwatchmen decapitated and his colleague nowhere to be found. To
the police, the case seems simple: one killed the other and fled,
but workers at the museum aren't convinced and Scotland Yard
enlists 'The Museum Detectives' Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton to
aid the investigation. When the body of the missing nightwatchman
is discovered encased within a wax figure, the case suddenly
becomes more complex. With questions over the dead men's pasts and
a series of bank raids plaguing the city, Wilson and Fenton face
their most intricate and dangerous case yet.
New York, 1908. Private detectives George Dillman and Genevieve
Masefield plan to take a break from work upon the Cunard Line's
fleet with the offer of employment upon the Minnesota, a freighter
and passenger vessel, which is bound for the Far East. Although the
pair are investigating the possibility of a smuggling operation on
the route, at first all appears to be smooth sailing, but the
voyage takes a dire turn when a fiery Catholic missionary is
murdered and it proves to be the first in a series of crimes that
plague the crossing. Previously published under the name Conrad
Allen, the Ocean Liner series sets sail for a new generation of
readers.
"A first-rate whodunnit set in the 1960s New York art world, a time
and place Helen Harrison has recreated with a page-turning mix of
history, gossip, and fun!"-Bob Colacello, author of Holy Terror:
Andy Warhol Close Up One artist. One student. One deadly mystery.
When Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton's corpse is discovered
behind the easels of Manhattan's famed art school, whispers in the
art community say he had it coming. As Benton's list of enemies
lengthens to include the school's instructors, Vietnam War
protesters, and members of Andy Warhol's entourage, one art student
is ultimately painted as the murderer. The only problem: the
suspect has vanished. Why would an art student murder Benton? And
if he were innocent, why would he run? When TJ Fitzgerald, son of
Detective Juanita Diaz and Captain Brian Fitzgerald of the NYPD,
discovers his classmate is the prime suspect, he uses his own
investigative skills to try and clear his name. But as TJ and his
girlfriend work to unravel the clues to the art mystery, he begins
to wonder if the police got it wrong and one secret may be the key
to it all... Helen Harrison's An Artful Corpse is a clever mystery
sure to please art enthusiasts and armchair detectives alike.
Sister Fidelma returns in DEATH OF A HERETIC, the thirty-third
Celtic mystery by Peter Tremayne, acclaimed author of THE HOUSE OF
DEATH, THE SHAPESHIFTER'S LAIR and BLOOD IN EDEN. If you love Ellis
Peters, you'll be gripped by DEATH OF A HERETIC and the Sister
Fidelma series. IRELAND AD 672. The abbey of Muman at Imleach
Iubhair is being renovated when its guests' hostel burns to the
ground. There is one fatality: Bishop Brodulf of Luxovium, a
distinguished visitor and cousin to the King of Franks. Sister
Fidelma is asked by Abbot Cuan to investigate the unfortunate
incident and soon finds that the bishop had been stabbed to death
before the fire had even started. Thrown into a world of treachery
and jealousy, where religious beliefs are vehemently disputed,
Fidelma and her companions, Eadulf and Enda, face a barrier of
deceit. The abbey, a leading ecclesiastical teaching institution as
well as a conhospitae, housing both men and women, is divided into
factions. Can Abbot Cuan trust Prioress Suanach, who is in charge
of the sisterhood? Can the professors trust each other as well as
their students? Moreover, can suspicion be levelled at the builders
working on the abbey under their dominant Master Builder, Sitae? As
more deaths follow, Fidelma must use her wit and ingenuity to
unravel the complexities of this intricate mystery.
Who should rule Russia? In an era of oligarchs and growing Russian
wealth, the issue is not irrelevant. Equally, in the late
nineteenth century, funding in university colleges was as essential
as it is now. The novel is set in St George's College, Oxford,
where mismanagement and factional rivalry have led to the urgent
need to raise funds. A Russian Grand Duke, Eugene Saltanovich, has
promised an endowment. Long resident in England, the Anglophile
Prince Rostov, a former student at the college, is invited along
with his wife, Princess Alisa, to a memorial dinner where he is to
interpret the Grand Duke's speech. The occasion turns out to be a
fiasco when the Grand Duke claims his dancing doll will save
Russia. What follows is apparently murder and an attempted coverup
that rouses the prince's suspicions. The Grand Duke's dancing doll
proves to be a fact, but the alleged presence of nuns in the
college leads the prince to realize that they offer a vital clue to
the Grand Duke's, er, great idea. Rostov is witness to a further
death, provokes a duel, finally uncovers the ambitious plan at the
heart of the cover-up and the even more startling likelihood that,
had the Grand Duke's, er, great idea worked, the history of the
twentieth century might have been completely different. Ingenious,
witty and original, The Grand Duke's, er, Great Idea is a quality
crime novel based on historical fact, but strictly of relevance to
the present day.
"An ingenious mystery and an excellent example of manners and caste
systems of the Victorian era."
THE CHATTANOOGA TIMES
While the Ellison girls were out paying calls and drinking tea like
proper Victorian ladies, a maid in their household was strangled to
death. The quiet and young Inspector Pitt investigates the scene
and finds no one above suspicion. As his intense questioning causes
many a composed facade to crumble, Pitt finds himself couriously
drawn to pretty Charlotte Ellison. Yet, a romance between a society
girl and so unsuitable a suitor was impossible in the midst of a
murder....
"From the Paperback edition."
In Robert Goddard's third novel, a bestseller in the United Kingdom
and now back in print, is a masterful exercise in suspense set in
Victorian-era England. On a mild autumn afternoon in 1882,
thirty-four-year-old husband and father William Trenchard sits
smoking his pipe in the garden of his comfortable family home. When
the creak of the garden gate announces the arrival of an unexpected
visitor, he is puzzled but not alarmed. He has no inkling of the
destruction this man will wreak on all he holds most dear. The
stranger offers his name as James Norton, but claims he is in
reality Sir James Davenall, the man to whom Trenchard's wife
Constance had once been engaged, and who had supposedly committed
suicide eleven years ago. Davenall's mother and younger brother,
who has since inherited the family's baronetcy, refuse to recognize
this stranger as one of their own, and they soon force
Trenchard--who fears the loss of his wife's affections and his own
sanity--into an uneasy alliance against him. But Trenchard must
plumb the depths of his own despair before the dark secrets of the
Davenall family can finally, shockingly, be revealed.
It is the autumn of 1910, and for fifteen long years Sherlock
Holmes and Dr John Watson have battled R'lluhloig, the Hidden Mind
that was once Professor James Moriarty. Europe is creeping
inexorably towards war, and a more cosmic conflict is nearing its
zenith, as in a single night all the most eminent members of the
Diogenes Club die horribly, seemingly by their own hands. Holmes
suspects it is the handiwork of a German spy working for
R'lluhloig, but his search for vengeance costs an old friend his
life. The companions retreat to Holmes's farm on the Sussex Downs,
and it is not long before a client comes calling. Three young women
have disappeared from the nearby town of Newford, and the locals
have no doubt who is responsible. For legend has it that strange
amphibious creatures dwell in a city on the seabed, coming ashore
every few centuries to take fresh captives. As Holmes and Watson
seek out the terrifying interlopers, the scene is set for the final
battle that will bring them face to face with the Sussex
Sea-Devils, and perhaps with Cthulhu himself...
It is winter 1139 and the tranquil life in the monastery gardens in
Shrewsbury is again interrupted by violence. Raging civil war has
sent refugees fleeing north from Worcester. Among them are two
orphans from a noble family, a boy of thirteen and an eighteen year
old girl of great beauty, with their companion, a young Benedictine
nun. But the trio have disappeared somewhere in the wild
countryside. Cadfael fears for these three lost lambs, but his
skills are needed to tend to a wounded monk, found naked and
bleeding at the roadside. Why this holy man has been attacked and
what his fevered ravings reveal soon give brother Cadfael a clue to
the fate of the missing travellers and he sets out to find them.
The search will lead him to discover a chilling and terrible
murder, and a tale of passion gone astray.
A Times 'Best New Thriller' for May 2022 'Enthralling ... Sharp
dialogue and flashes of dry wit' Financial Times 'Ben Creed has a
genuine gift for conjuring up Stalin's Leningrad in all its beauty
and misery' The Times 'A cleverly constructed thriller' Sunday
Times 'A fantastically tense atmosphere ... A spine-tingling
page-turner' The Sun ___________Leningrad, winter 1952. An
invisible killer known as Koshchei - a nightmare of Slavic folklore
- stalks the streets, leaving a distinctive and gruesome mark upon
its victims. Three thousand kilometres away in a Gulag labour
colony, threatened by the vicious criminals who rule the camp and
tormented by the Arctic cold, former militia lieutenant Revol
Rossel is close to death. But then a brutal saviour descends from
the skies: the state security interrogator who years ago ruined his
life is back, tasking Rossel with tracking down the murderer. As
the hunt continues, the two men uncover riddle after riddle,
including a clue to finding a weapon of unimaginable power - a
weapon the Kremlin's scheming plotters will kill for...
Sir Josse d'Aquin is summoned to assist the beleaguered King John
in the 17th - and final - Hawkenlye mystery. September, 1216. A
foreign army has invaded England. The country is divided. Some
support the rebel barons and Prince Louis of France; others remain
loyal to the king. His rule under threat, King John summons Sir
Josse d'Acquin to support him. But can Sir Josse save the king from
himself? Meanwhile, Josse's daughter Meggie is summoned to
Hawkenlye Abbey to attend a sick patient in a very distressed
state. The elderly woman is warning of terrible danger unless she
can complete her mission. What she learns from her patient will set
Meggie on a perilous journey to retrieve a cursed treasure. But
will she be in time to prevent a tragedy?
New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry brings us the second
exciting instalment in her new thriller series, set in a time of
increasing fear and violence across Europe in the 1930s and
featuring British photographer and secret agent Elena Standish. It
is the autumn of 1933 and, fresh from her exploits in Berlin, young
British photographer Elena Standish is chosen for a secret
assignment in Trieste to establish contact with an MI6 agent whose
handler has gone missing, presumed dead. Elena's mission is to
bring back the agent along with top secret information that could
save the lives of thousands of people. But the agent is none other
than Aiden Strother, the lover who broke Elena's heart six years
ago when he betrayed his country. With the revelation from MI6 that
Aiden is, in fact, a loyal double agent, Elena knows she must put
her sense of duty before her personal pride. But with political
tension growing across Europe, the unstoppable rise of Hitler, and
an alarming discovery within the very heart of British
Intelligence, Elena and her family fear that her life is, once
again, in grave danger...
'This series shows no sign of running out of steam' Publisher's
Weekly Will Rees is on a very personal mission - to clear his
wife's estranged father of murder - in this claustrophobic
turn-of-the-century mystery novel set in Boston. January, 1801.
When Lydia's estranged father is accused of murder, Will Rees
escorts her to Boston to uncover the truth. Marcus Farrell is
believed to have murdered one of his workers, a boy from Jamaica
where he owns a plantation. Marcus swears he's innocent. However, a
scandal has been aroused by his refusal to answer questions and
accusations he bribed officials. As Will and Lydia investigate,
Marcus's brother, Julian, is shot and killed. This time, all
fingers point towards James Morris, Lydia's brother. Is someone
targeting the family? Were the family quarreling over the family
businesses and someone lashed out? What's Marcus hiding and why
won't he accept help? With the Farrell family falling apart and
their reputation in tatters, Will and Lydia must solve the murders
soon. But will they succeed before the murderer strikes again?
As dawn breaks on a chilly morning in November 1940, a car is found
ablaze in an abandoned builder's yard a stone's throw from the
Regent's Canal in Camden Town, north London. In the burnt-out
vehicle police find the charred remains of a body. The victim is
Les Latham, a commercial traveller for the Barings confectionery
company. He liked to be known as Lucky Les, but it seems his luck
has finally run out. DI John Jago discovers among Latham's
belongings a mysterious photograph and some suspicious-looking
petrol ration books that set Jago off on a murky trail of deceit,
corruption and murder.
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Paperback
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Discovery Miles 2 200
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