Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is summoned to Cornwall and finds herself embroiled in an investigation involving smugglers, piracy - and rumours of treason. June, 1584. On hearing news of the sudden death of her stepfather, Sir Walter Pendennis, Rosamond Jaffrey must leave London for Cornwall to look after the interests of her young half-brother and try to mend her strained relationship with their mother. However, on arriving in Cornwall, Rosamond makes the shocking discovery that Sir Walter was in fact murdered - and reluctantly she agrees to work with an agent of the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, in order to unmask the killer. Rosamond's investigations will lead her into a dangerous maelstrom of smuggling, piracy - and rumours of treason.

Private investigator Liberty Lane's latest case takes her to rural Gloucestershire to uncover the truth of a brutal murder July, 1840. Did young Jack Picton, a known rebel and political agitator, kill governess Mary Marsh? Liberty Lane has left London for Cheltenham to find out, sharing the magistrate's doubts. He is, however, hiding something . . . but what? As Liberty is about to discover, behind Cheltenham's genteel facade lies a hotbed of vice. It is a place where the poor are driven to desperate lengths to escape the horror of the workhouse. A place which is harbouring a ruthless killer. Can Liberty uncover the truth in time?

November, 1381. London has been rocked by a series of bizarre and brutal murders. The corpses of a number of prostitutes have been discovered, their throats slit, their bodies stripped; in each case, a blood-red wig has been placed on their heads. At the same time, a mysterious explosion rips through a royal war cog bound for Calais, killing all on board. Could there be a connection? Summoned to assist in the investigations by Sir John Cranston, Brother Athelstan uncovers rumours that the mysterious Oriflamme is responsible. But who - or what - exactly is he . and why has he suddenly reappeared after almost twenty years?

'[This] romance-cum-murder mystery moves at a brisk pace.' The Sunday Times 'A perfect blend of gothic mystery, drama and romance.' Cressida McLaughlin ************************************************************* A town gripped by fear. A woman accused of murder. Who can save Pale Harbour from itself? 1846. Desperate to escape the ghosts of his past, Gabriel Stone takes a position as a minister in the remote Pale Harbour, but not all is as it seems in the sleepy town. As soon as Gabriel steps foot in town, he can't escape the rumours about the mysterious Sophy Carver, a young widow who lives in the eerie Castle Carver: whispers that she killed her husband, mutterings that she might even be a witch. But as strange, unsettling events escalate into murder, Gabriel finds himself falling under Sophy's spell. As clues start to point to Sophy as the next victim, Gabriel realises he must find answers before anyone else turns up dead. ************************************************************* Everyone is spellbound by Hester Fox! 'This debut recalls Georgette Heyer, with extra spookiness' The Times 'a story that tingles with danger, dark mystery, hints of the supernatural, and a sultry, simmering romance. Ideal reading for fans of thrills and chills...' Lancashire Evening Post 'Beautifully written... The Witch of Willow Hall will cast a spell over every reader' Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me 'Steeped in Gothic eeriness it's spine-tingling and very atmospheric.' Nicola Cornick, author of The Woman in the Lake 'With its sense of creeping menace... this compelling story had me gripped from the first page... ' Linda Finlay, author of The Flower Seller 'Creepy, tense, heartbreaking and beautifully, achingly romantic.' Cressida McLaughlin 'I could NOT put this thing down!' 'The ULTIMATE page turner!' 'What a story! It absolutely captivated me' 'Historical fiction with a side of romance and major helping of creepiness, this debut novel hits the mark!' 'The book pulls you in from the beginning with many twists and turns. I didn't want to put it down, and could not wait to see what was going to happen next.'

From The Times bestselling author of The Other Mrs Walker - Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2017 - comes Mary Paulson-Ellis's second stunning historical mystery, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing. Solomon knew that he had one advantage. A pawn ticket belonging to a dead man tucked into his top pocket - the only clue to the truth . . . An old soldier dies alone in his Edinburgh nursing home. No known relatives, and no Will to enact. Just a pawn ticket found amongst his belongings, and fifty thousand pounds in used notes sewn into the lining of his burial suit . . . Heir Hunter, Solomon Farthing - down on his luck, until, perhaps, now - is tipped off on this unexplained fortune. Armed with only the deceased's name and the crumpled pawn ticket, he must find the dead man's closest living relative if he is to get a cut of this much-needed cash. But in trawling through the deceased's family tree, Solomon uncovers a mystery that goes back to 1918 and a group of eleven soldiers abandoned in a farmhouse billet in France in the weeks leading up to the armistice. Set between contemporary Edinburgh and the final brutal days of the First World War as the soldiers await their orders, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing shows us how the debts of the present can never be settled unless those of the past have been paid first . . .

Autumn,1646. The First Civil War is over, but the killing is not yet done. William Falkland, former favourite of King Charles turned reluctant investigator for Cromwell, seeks his missing family. As his hopes are once again dashed, a figure from his past reappears - Cromwell is not finished with him. Ordered to London, Falkland must help an irascible man of letters named John Milton, whose cherished sister was apparently abducted by the king's supporters. Falkland's task will lead him towards a brutal act buried in the maelstrom of the War, and a secret that threatens not just his own life, but also the fragile peace England so desperately needs... Praise for The Royalist, the first powerful mystery featuring William Falkland: 'A page-turning novel, unpredictable and suspenseful, haunted by intriguing twists and turns... The characters are vividly portrayed, three-dimensional and convincing' Historical Novels Review 'I take my hat off to the author for his ability and desire to portray all of this horror and dirt... Highly recommended' Parmenion Books 'Deas writes at a furious pace... It is his wonderful descriptions and his creation of a powerfully charged atmosphere that really capture the reader' We Love This Book

A dazzling literary mystery from prizewinning author Marcus Sedgwick, for fans of Scarlett Thomas, Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Patrick Suskind. In Paris, in the year 1899, Marcel Despres is arrested for the murder of his wife and transferred to Salpetriere asylum. And so the story might have stopped. But this is no ordinary patient: Marcel Despres, Mister Memory, is a man who cannot forget. And it is no ordinary case: the hurried cover-up hints at dark secrets in the shadows. A policeman and a doctor decide to unravel the mystery...but the answers lie inside Marcel's head. And how can he tell what is significant when he remembers every detail of every moment of his entire life?

A young girl's disappearance hints at a disturbing truth...When novice Emma Thorgold goes missing from Godstow Abbey in the summer of 1353, the hunt is on throughout the Oxfordshire countryside for any sign of where she could have gone. Bookseller Nicholas Elyot and scholar Jordain Brinkylsworth are anxious to help the girl, but her stepfather has other, more sinister intentions. Why is he so determined to shut her away for life? Or worse? And will she be found unharmed? A truly gripping historical mystery with twists and turns aplenty, perfect for fans of S. W. Perry, Graham Brack and Ellis Peters.

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 A TELEGRAPH BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 A WATERSTONES BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 AN EVENING STADARD MUST-READ NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022 AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 OPEN BOOK 'Accomplished, immersive and profoundly satisfying' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'Effortlessly resonant ... breathes rich imaginative colour in her characters' Daily Telegraph From the million-copy bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves comes an epic novel about the infamous, ill-fated Booth family. SIX BROTHERS AND SISTERS. ONE INJUSTICE THAT WILL SHATTER THEIR BOND FOREVER. Junius is the patriarch, a celebrated Shakespearean actor who fled bigamy charges in England, both a mesmerising talent and a man of terrifying instability. As his children grow up in a remote farmstead in 1830s rural Baltimore, the country draws ever closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war. Of the six Booth siblings who survive to adulthood, each has their own dreams they must fight to realise - but it is Johnny who makes the terrible decision that will change the course of history - the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Booth is a riveting novel focused on the very things that bind, and break, a family. 'In its stretch and imaginative depth, Booth has an utterly seductive authority' Guardian 'Karen Joy Fowler's novels are wildly inventive and deservedly popular' Daily Mail 'Booth is a triumph!' Ruth Ozeki 'Captures with enthralling vividness a country caught in the grip of fanatical populism, ripped apart by irreconcilable political differences and boiling with fury and rage ... An unalloyed triumph' Literary Review 'Brilliantly recounts the story of the American theatrical dynasty that produced Lincoln's assassin' Sunday Times Book of the Month 'Her finest, most beautiful novel to date' Neel Mukherjee

1888. When young Scottish scientist James Murray receives a letter from Sofia Esposito, a woman he once loved and lost, he cannot refuse her cry for help. Sofia's fifteen-year-old cousin has vanished but, because of her lower-class status, the police are unwilling to investigate. Accompanied by his younger sister Lucy, Murray returns to the city of Turin where he was once apprenticed to the world-famous criminologist, Cesare Lombroso. As he embarks on his search for the missing girl, Murray uncovers a series of mysterious disappearances of young women and rumours of a haunted abbey on the outskirts of the city. When the body of one of the girls turns up bearing evidence of a satanic ritual, Murray begins to slot together the pieces of the puzzle. But as two more bodies are discovered, fear grips the city and a desperate hunt begins to find a truly terrifying killer before he claims his next victim. THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTERS is the gripping new novel from Diana Bretherick, author of CITY OF DEVILS. A must-read tale of murder and intrigue, perfect for fans of CJ Sansom, Antonia Hodgson and Elizabeth Fremantle.

Following the death of the senior English master in a tragic road accident, Mr Campion's son Rupert and daughter-in-law Perdita are helping out at Ash Grange School for Boys, where Perdita's godfather is headmaster. While Perdita is directing the end-of-term play, a musical version of Dr Faustus, Rupert is tackling the school's rugby football team - and both of them are finding their allotted tasks more of a challenge than they had anticipated. When the headmaster telephones Albert Campion to inform him that Rupert has been arrested, Mr Campion heads to Yorkshire to get to the bottom of the matter. There are no secrets in the traditional mining village of Denby Ash, he's told - but on uncovering reports of a disruptive poltergeist, a firebrand trade unionist, a missing conman and a local witch, he finds that's far from being the case. And was the English master, Mr Browne's, death really an accident . . .?

A thrilling tale of murder and intrigue in Victorian London, featuring Detective Harry Pilgrim. Perfect for fans of S. J. PARIS and C. J. SANSOM. Previously published as A KILLING KINDNESS. London 1850. A city of contrasts. Of scientific marvels, poverty, disease and death. When Detective Sergeant Harry Pilgrim (one of London's first police detectives) discovers the corpse of a woman in a Hackney cab, the case seems straightforward - until the only suspect is found murdered in his cell. Pilgrim is hindered in his investigation by his own dark past - a dead son and a missing wife - and also by the well-meaning interference of Charles Dickens, who is serialising Pilgrim's adventures in his journal 'Household Words'. The case turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse. But who is the cat and who the mouse?

Sentenced to death for a simple confidence trick, Mary Jebb escapes the gallows ... but her reprieve is harsh: seven years in the unforgiving penal colony of Botany Bay. Yet Mary is determined not to be forgotten, sending two pennies, engraved with a promise, to the two men who sealed her fate. Timid artist Grace Moore jumps at the opportunity to marry handsome gentleman Michael Croxon - happy if only to get away from her drunken father. But when Grace takes on a new cook, the two penny heart love tokens reveal she is tied to a world she didn't know existed ... A world of deceit, double-crossing, revenge and murder.

"Intellectually stimulating and viscerally exciting, The Darwin Affair is breathtaking from start to stop." --The Wall Street Journal A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick * A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book of the Year * A Reader's Digest Best Summer Book * A Forbes.com Best Historical Novel of the Summer Get ready for one of the most inventive and entertaining novels of 2019--an edge-of-your-seat Victorian-era thriller, where the controversial publication On the Origin of Species sets off a string of unspeakable crimes. London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later--and only a block away--Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that the crimes are connected. Was Victoria really the assassin's target? Or were both crimes part of an even more sinister plot? Field's investigation soon exposes a shocking conspiracy: the publication of Charles Darwin's controversial On the Origin of Species has set off a string of terrible crimes--murder, arson, kidnapping. Witnesses describe a shadowy figure with lifeless, coal-black eyes. As the investigation takes Field from the dangerous alleyways of London to the hallowed halls of Oxford, the list of possible conspirators grows, and the body count escalates. And as he edges closer to the dastardly madman called the Chorister, he uncovers dark secrets that were meant to remain forever hidden.

SOME STORIES CANNOT BE TOLD IN JUST ONE LIFETIME.
Harry August is on his deathbed. Again.
No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.
Until now.
As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message."
This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

'Frances Brody has made it to the top rank of crime writers' Daily Mail 'Brody's writing is like her central character Kate Shackleton: witty, acerbic and very, very perceptive' Ann Cleeves A lady with a secret Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter, born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now, Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case. A mysterious killing in the library's basement But as Kate delves deeper into Lady Coulton's past, she soon finds herself thrust into a scandal much closer to home. When the body of the respected Horatio Potter is found in the Leeds Library basement, the quiet literary community is suddenly turned upside down with suspicions, accusations and - much to Kate's surprise - the appearance of a particularly intelligent Capuchin monkey! The most puzzling case in Kate's sleuthing history yet Convinced an innocent man has been blamed, Kate sets out to discover the truth. Who would want Dr Potter dead? Does Lady Coulton's missing daughter hold a vital clue? As the stories start to emerge in the seemingly quiet Leeds Library, Kate is learning fast that in this case, she can't judge a book by its cover . . . What readers are saying about the Kate Shackleton mysteries: 'Kate Shackleton is a splendid heroine' Ann Granger 'Delightful' People's Friend 'Frances Brody matches a heroine of free and independent spirit with a vivid evocation of time and place . . . a novel to cherish' Barry Turner, Daily Mail 'Brody's excellent mystery splendidly captures the conflicts and attitudes of the time with well-developed characters' RT Book Reviews 'Kate Shackleton joins Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs in a subgroup of young, female amateur detectives who survived and were matured by their wartime experiences' Literary Review

Scotland Yard's Ian Rutledge finds himself caught in a twisted web of vengeance, old grievances, and secrets that lead back to World War I in the nineteenth installment of the acclaimed bestselling series. On the eve of the bloody Battle of the Somme, a group of English officers having a last drink before returning to the Front make a promise to each other: if they survive the battle ahead--and make it through the war--they will meet in Paris a year after the fighting ends. They will celebrate their good fortune by racing motorcars they beg, borrow, or own from Paris to Nice. In November 1919, the officers all meet as planned, and though their motorcars are not designed for racing, they set out for Nice. But a serious mishap mars the reunion. In the mountains just north of their destination, two vehicles are nearly run off the road, and one man is badly injured. No one knows--or will admit to knowing--which driver was at the wheel of the rogue motorcar. Back in England one year later, during a heavy rainstorm, a driver loses control on a twisting road and is killed in the crash. Was it an accident due to the hazardous conditions? Or premeditated murder? Is the crash connected in some way to the unfortunate events in the mountains above Nice the year before? The dead driver wasn't in France--although the motorcar he drove was. If it was foul play, was it a case of mistaken identity? Or was the dead man the intended victim after all? Investigating this perplexing case, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge discovers that the truth is elusive--and that the villages on the South Downs, where the accident happened, are adept at keeping secrets, frustrating his search. Determined to remain in the shadows this faceless killer is willing to strike again to stop Rutledge from finding him. This time, the victim he chooses is a child, and it will take all of Rutledge's skill to stop him before an innocent young life is sacrificed.

A DARK PAST It is 1894, and Sherlock Holmes is called to a Covent Garden art gallery where dozens of patrons lie dead before a painting of the Undying Man. Holmes and Watson are soon on the trail of a mysterious figure in black, whose astounding speed and agility make capture impossible. The same suspect is then implicated in another murder, when the servant of a visiting Russian grand duke is found terribly mutilated in a notorious slum. But what links the two crimes, and do they have anything to do with the suicide of an unpopular schoolteacher at a remote boarding school? So begins a case that will reveal the dark shadows that past misdeeds can cast, and test the companions to their limits...

September 1799. William Pitt is attempting to force through anti-slavery legislation, but many have a vested interest in preventing this change and would go to dangerous lengths to stop it. Meanwhile, Tom Pascoe of the river police is grieving for the woman he loved and looking for solace at the bottom of a bottle. Tom's drinking has made him increasingly belligerent and unpredictable, so when he is called to investigate a body found in the Thames - that of an MP and a close associate of William Pitt - there's doubt whether he's up to the task. But Tom must pull himself together, or be dragged under; Pitt's life is in his hands.

When your boss is the Queen of England, you never know what the day will bring. For Gentleman Investigator for the Crown, Sir Maurice Newbury, it is likely to involve rooftop chases, sword fights, races through the Underground, and the most terrifying case of murders to ever plague London.When an Egyptian mummy is unveiled, a string of mysterious murders follows in its wake, drawing Newbury into a web of occult intrigue. Meanwhile, Miss Veronica Hobbes becomes increasingly perplexed by a growing pool of young women who have disappeared after being used as props in a magician's stage act. But what appears to be a straightforward investigation pulls Miss Hobbes into mortal danger.So begins another thrilling Newbury & Hobbes investigation - a weird and wonderful adventure quite unlike any other.

A compelling historical murder mystery set amongst the artists in seventeenth-century Paris. For fans of C.J. Sansom and S.J. Parris. 'A rich and achingly beautiful novel' - Carol McGrath (author of the Daughters of Hastings trilogy) on An Artist in Her Own Right. Paris, 1676. When a body washes up on the banks of the Bievre river, a young woman finds herself embroiled in an intricate murder case. At first it seems mere coincidence that the dead man was discovered outside the Royal Manufactory of the Gobelins, home to a community of artists and craftsmen. He was not one of them, after all. But Anne-Marie, a sculptor's wife, soon realises that the victim may well be known within the walls of the Gobelins - and that the killer might be amongst them. With the police apparently disinterested, it is a mystery that is hers alone to solve. Anne-Marie's investigations will take her from the unsavoury slums of the Ile Notre-Dame to the grand ducal residences of the Place Royale. But who can she truly trust on the streets of Paris? Readers LOVED An Artist in Her Own Right: 'A wonderful blend of fact and fiction that I literally read in two sittings' 'Alive with action and colour' 'The ebb and flow of relationships, between family members and artists, are beautifully conceived and nuanced' 'Wonderful imaginative detail'