Turn-of-the-century New York City midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Molloy are thrust into a twisted case of murder—when a seductress falls victim to her own charades.

The ordered calm of Gloucester Abbey is shattered by the murder of one of its monks. The Abbot, ill-equipped to deal with such a heinous crime, is stunned by the Sheriff's belief that one of the monks is guilty. This is the confusion that that greets the two Domesday Comminisioners, Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, as they are welcomed into the town. Eager to resolve the mystery, they begin their own investigations but find the killing is merely a sign of a sinister presence which threatens the whole community and which must be stopped.

"As always, Todd's intense feelings for the traumatized survivors of war make one mother's son the broken hero of an entire generation of lost souls." - The New York Times Book Review In the aftermath of World War I, English nurse Bess Crawford attempts to save a troubled officer from a mysterious killer in this eleventh book in the acclaimed Bess Crawford mystery series. The Armistice of November 1918 ended the fighting, but the Great War will not be over until a Peace Treaty is drawn up and signed by all parties involved. Representatives from the Allies are gathering in Paris, and already ominous signs of disagreement have appeared. Sister Bess Crawford, who has been working with the severely wounded in England in the war's wake, is asked to carry out a personal mission in Paris for a Matron at the London headquarters of The Queen Alexandra's. Bess is facing decisions about her own future, even as she searches for Lawrence Minton. When she finally locates him, instead of the intelligent, ambitious officer she expects, she finds a bitter and disturbed man who has abdicated his duties at the Peace Conference and is well on his way toward an addiction to opiates. Indeed, he tells her that he doesn't care if he lives or dies, he only wants oblivion. But what has changed him? What is it that haunts him? It seems the truth is buried so deep in his mind that he can only relive it in wild nightmares. When Minton goes missing, bent on suicide, Bess must race to unlock his past before he succeeds. Reluctant to trust an officer in Minton's regiment, a man with secrets of his own, and uncertain of the loyalties of Matron's friends in Paris, Bess must rely on her own instincts and experience-and sometimes in desperation on a stranger who claims he never met Minton. Could whatever happened to Minton in Paris somehow be connected to his war? And why did he not kill Bess when he had the chance-then later, viciously attack her without warning? What is destroying Lieutenant Minton? Or is it who? And what horror will she have to confront, if she is to save him? In this, the eleventh novel in the award-winning Bess Crawford series, New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd delivers a rich and atmospheric portrait that illuminates the cost of war on human lives-the lingering pain and horror that no peace, no matter how earned, can assuage.

Hide and Seek (1854) is a novel by Wilkie Collins. Written in the aftermath of Antonina (1850), his successful debut, Hide and Seek finds the author honing the trademark sense of mystery and psychological unease that would make him a household name around the world. Recognized as an important Victorian novelist and pioneer of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins was a writer with a gift for thoughtful entertainment, stories written for a popular audience that continue to resonate with scholars and readers today. Mary Grice, a young woman of wealth and social standing, becomes pregnant after a brief affair with a man calling himself Arthur Carr. Banished from her home, she dies during childbirth in the care of a group of circus performers, who adopt the baby as their own. Raised by Martha Peckover, the wife of a clown, young Mary is exploited by the circus owner following an accident with a horse, which leaves her deaf and mute. In order to save her, Martha brings Mary to a minister, who ensures she is adopted into a good home. Taken in by the Blyth family, Mary becomes known as Madonna for her beauty and grace, and soon catches the eye of Zack Thorpe. As the story unfolds, a mystery involving Mary's father begins to take shape, with implications for her blossoming romance with Zack. Beyond its sensational plot, Hide and Seek is a masterpiece of Gothic suspense and mystery for seasoned readers of Victorian fiction and newcomers alike. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Wilkie Collins' Hide and Seek is a classic work of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

The Dead Secret (1856) is a novel by Wilkie Collins. Written in the aftermath of Antonina (1850), his successful debut, The Dead Secret finds the author honing the trademark sense of mystery and psychological unease that would make him a household name around the world. Recognized as an important Victorian novelist and pioneer of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins was a writer with a gift for thoughtful entertainment, stories written for a popular audience that continue to resonate with scholars and readers today. Born in Porthgenna Tower, Rosamond Treverton is a child of secrecy. Her birthmother, Sarah Leeson, became pregnant after an affair with a local miner. Unable to raise her daughter, she allowed her to be adopted by Mrs. Treverton, the lady of the Tower, herself unable to bear children. Sworn to silence, Sarah leaves a hidden note in a room at Porthgenna before disappearing into the night. Years later, the Tower has been inherited by Rosamond, who continues to live there with her husband Leonard Frankland. When she becomes pregnant, a strange nurse arrives to take care of her and soon reveals the secret of her birth, threatening Rosamond's control of Porthgenna Tower and the Treverton family fortune. Beyond its sensational plot, The Dead Secret is a masterpiece of Gothic suspense and mystery for seasoned readers of Victorian fiction and newcomers alike. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Wilkie Collins' The Dead Secret is a classic work of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

A visionary new horror novel in the style of Wells' creepiest and most enduring fictions - a future history following the descendants of the Island of Dr Moreau In H G Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau a shipwrecked traveller finds himself alone on an island ruled by a mad doctor and inhabited by creatures who are at once both beast and human. He escapes...but that is only the beginning of the story. The City of Dr Moreau is a sprawling history of the islanders, and an alternative vision of our own times. Spanning more than a century, criss-crossing across numerous places and many lives, we witness the growth of Moreau's legacy, from gothic experiments to an event which changes the world. From the wharves of Victorian London to a boarding house with an inhuman resident to an assassin on a twentieth-century train ordered to kill the one man who knows the truth, we follow secret skirmishes and hidden plots which emerge, eventually and violently, into the open.

As a midwife in the turn-of-the-century tenements of New York City, Sarah Brandt has seen her share of suffering and joy, birth and death. Now, she learns that crime doesn’t discriminate, when the highest echelons of society are rocked by murder…

A Gaslight Mystery

At a summons from Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, Sarah arrives at the elegant home of famed magnetic healer Edmund Blackwell to find his wife in labor—and the good doctor dead from an apparent suicide. Only Malloy sees what no one else wants to: that Blackwell was murdered in his own home…

After a successful delivery, the Blackwell baby falls mysteriously ill. Relying on her nurse’s training and woman’s intuition, Sarah discovers the source of the baby’s sickness—and discovers a scandal that leads Malloy’s investigation down a gilded path paved with greed, deception, and desire…

Introducing spirited female sleuth Elizabeth Fairchild in the first of the brilliant new Oak Park village mystery series, set in 1920s Illinois. June, 1925. Having been widowed in the Great War, Elizabeth Fairchild lives a quiet life at the home of her wealthy parents in genteel Oak Park village, Illinois. Although she does her best to avoid emotional entanglements, determined never to be hurt again, Elizabeth forms a close friendship with gentle Mr Anthony, who owns the local antiques store. But tragedy strikes when Mr Anthony is found stabbed to death in the alley behind his shop. Why would anyone murder a mild-mannered antiques dealer who simply loved beautiful things? A robbery gone wrong? A gangland execution? Or could it have something to do with the mysterious customer who bought a gold pocket watch from Mr Anthony on the day he died? When one of her father's oldest friends is accused of the crime, Elizabeth determines to expose the real killer. But her investigations soon attract unwelcome attention. With gangsters moving into the neighbourhood from nearby Chicago, Oak Park is no longer the safe haven it once was. Could Elizabeth be seriously out of her depth?

River Surveyor Tom Pascoe of the Marine Police finds the bodies of two men entombed in the crew cabin of a sunken lugger. Suspicion falls on a third member of the crew seen fleeing the scene. He had a known motive for murder. Against the background of a nation at war with Napoleon, Tom Pascoe finds his own life under threat as he digs deeper into the case. He uncovers the existence of French agents whose task is to undermine England's ability to continue the war. Tom's job is further complicated by the presence of a new member of the police crew with a shocking secret of his own...

Anne Beddingfeld observes a deadly accident and believes she has witnessed a murder. Impulsively following a chain of clues, Anne uncovers a sinister collection of plotters with a potentially lethal intolerance for the amateur sleuth. When a man dies in an apparent accident in a London tube station, Anne Beddingfeld notices the suspicious actions of a mysterious man in a brown suit. A second death that is seen as connected to the first by no one other than herself, puts Anne on the trail of the buried truth. Clues will drive her, alone, on a quest for justice that will result in her passage on a cruise ship bound for South Africa, and a chain of confrontations with a merciless band of professional thieves. This stand-alone novel, first published in 1924, shows Agatha Christie experimenting a little by both stepping away from her already established detective hero, Hercule Poirot, and blending stronger elements of the international thriller into her story. Replete with stolen diamonds, undercover agents, an exotic island hideaway and a steadfast heroine desperately trying to survive and make sense of it all, The Man in the Brown Suit remains one of the author's most spellbinding tales. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Man in the Brown Suit is both modern and readable.

In the summer of 1932, the career of psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment from the British Secret Service. Sent to pose as a junior lecturer at a private college in Cambridge, she will monitor any activities "not in the interests of His Majesty's government."

When the college's controversial pacifist founder, Greville Liddicote, is murdered, however, Maisie is directed to stand back as her colleagues in Scotland Yard spearhead the investigation. But she soon discovers that the circumstances of Liddicote's death appear inextricably linked to the suspicious comings and goings of faculty members and students under her surveillance. To unravel this web, the investigator must overcome a reluctant Secret Service, discover shameful hidden truths about Britain's conduct during the Great War, and face off against the rising power of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei--the Nazi Party--as the storm clouds of World War II gather on the horizon.

As Nicolas Picard rides home from Exeter he is attacked by a snarling wildcat. Yet, when his body is discovered, there are lacerations on his neck that could only have come from human hands. When royal commissioners of William the Conqueror, Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, arrive in the city to preside over local land disputes, their proceedings are immediately hampered by the death of a key participant: Picard. With Picard's wife and mistress, as well as the wife of the former owner of the estate, staking their claim to the land, Delchard and Bret wonder whose greed has driven them to kill. But the root of the mystery lies far deeper than mere avarice.

October, 1736. Lured out of retirement to serve as Constable once again, Richard Nottingham finds Leeds very different from the place he remembers. Many newcomers have been attracted by the town's growing wealth - but although the faces have changed, the crimes remain the same, as Nottingham discovers when a body is found floating in the River Aire, its throat cut. What has changed is the fear that pervades the town. With more bodies emerging and witnesses too frightened to talk, Nottingham realizes he's dealing with a new kind of criminal, someone with no respect for anything or anyone. Someone who believes he's beyond the law; someone willing brutally to destroy anyone who opposes him. To stop him, Nottingham will need to call in old favours, rely on trusted friendships, and seek help from some very unlikely sources.

An ancient and mysterious book leads Crispin Guest into a deadly maze in this latest medieval noir mystery. 1394, London. Crispin Guest, Tracker of London, is enjoying his ale in the Boar's Tusk tavern - until a stranger leaves a mysterious wrapped bundle on his table, telling him, "You'll know what to do." Inside is an ancient leather-bound book written in an unrecognizable language. Accompanied by his apprentice, Jack Tucker, Crispin takes the unknown codex to a hidden rabbi, where they make a shocking discovery: it is the Gospel of Judas from the Holy Land, and its contents challenge the very doctrine of Christianity itself. Crispin is soon drawn into a deadly maze involving murder, living saints, and lethal henchmen. Why was he given the blasphemous book, and what should he do with it? A series of horrific events confirm his fears that there are powerful men who want it - and who will stop at nothing to see it destroyed.

'a tour de force work of art' - The Wall Street Journal, Best Books of the Year Longlisted for the 2022 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award It's Saturday evening, 9 March 1566, and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant. She's hosting a supper party, secure in her private chambers. She doesn't know that her Palace is surrounded - that, right now, an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They're coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary, the handsome Italian man who is smiling across the table at her. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done ... Denise Mina brilliantly portrays the sexual dynamics and politics of power - between men and women, monarch and subjects, master and servants. The period is masterfully researched yet lightly drawn, the characterisation quick, subtle and utterly convincing. This breathtakingly tense work is a tale of sex, secrets and lies, one that explores the lengths that men - and women - will go to in the search for love and power.

The arrival of an unexpected guest means trouble ahead for the residents of Thorncroft House in this deftly-plotted Victorian mystery. On a freezing winter's night, with the household in mourning following the death of the dowager Lady Croft, the residents of Thorncroft House are roused from their beds by the arrival of an unexpected visitor. Although Lady Stanton seems reluctant to explain the reasons for her visit, housekeeper Harriet Rowsley would never turn a stranger from the door; she offers Lady Stanton and her servants all the hospitality at her disposal, however secretive and arrogant the new guest might be. But tensions arise over the following days, with both visitors and servants trapped indoors by the snow, and Lady Stanton proving a difficult and demanding guest. The situation worsens on the discovery of the body of a young housemaid lying crumpled at the foot of the stairs. A tragic accident . or something more sinister? Who exactly is Lady Stanton, and why has she come to Thorncroft? Has her arrival anything to do with the housemaid's death? As the household remains trapped and tensions escalate, Harriet and her husband Matthew are forced to face the fact that they may be harbouring a murderer in their midst .

'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?

First published as Direct Hit Saturday 7th September, 1940. The sun is shining, and in the midst of the good weather Londoners could be mistaken for forgetting their country was at war - until the familiar wail of the air-raid sirens heralds an enemy attack. The Blitz has started, and normal life has abruptly ended - but crime has not. That night a man's body is discovered in an unmarked van in the back streets of West Ham. When Detective Inspector John Jago is called to the scene, he recognises the victim: local Justice of the Peace, Charles Villiers. The death looks suspicious, but then a German bomb obliterates all evidence. War or no war, murder is still murder, and it's Jago's job to find the truth.

Move over Shelock Holmes... the latest from detective and former courtesan Heloise Chancey... Stoke Newington, 1863: Little Margaret Lovejoy is found brutally murdered in the outhouse at her family's estate. A few days later, a man is cut down in a similar manner on the doorstep of courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey's prestigious address. At the same time, Heloise's maid, Amah Li Leen, must confront events from her past that appear to have erupted into the present day. Once again Heloise is caught up in a maelstrom of murder and deceit that threatens to reach into the very heart of her existence. In this second instalment of the Heloise Chancey Mysteries, M.J Tjia brings us another enthralling historical crime where the twists and turns are as numerous and dark as the London streets which serve as their setting. What Reviewers and Readers are saying: `Full of lush historical detail and brimming with breathless suspense, A Necessary Murder is a perfectly splendid read. Heloise Chancey is a sleuth for the ages,' Tasha Alexander `A Necessary Murder is dark and terrifying with a compelling heroine. I couldn't wait to return to the world of Heloise Chancey,' Sarah Ward `Another clever and compelling read by M.J. Tjia. This expertly written historical crime novelweaved an evocative story that put my life on hold until I finished the very last page,' Caroline Mitchell `As with the first in this series, Tjia captures the contrasting atmosphere of mid-Victorian London to great effect - the opulence of Mayfair as before, but this time exploring Limehouse and the East India Dock Road. As a reader we are there with all our senses stimulated by the writing,' David Evans

The enthralling Sunday Times bestselling story of a young female journalist exposing murder and lies in her search for the truth, from the international bestseller Lesley Pearse THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 5 BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE WOMAN & HOME BOOK CHOICE AWARD 2020 'A compelling page-turner' DAILY MAIL ______ Find the liar. Find the killer . . . Amelia White didn't expect her career as a reporter to start like this: by finding a young woman's body, just around the corner from her Shepherd's Bush bedsit. With rumours already spreading about this poor murder victim, she seizes her chance to write the true story. But when more bodies are found, the police are baffled. Reporting on the story, Amelia meets witnesses as well as suspects. If she can only work out who the liar among them is, she may be able to stop the murders. Or might she turn herself into the next victim? . . . Gripping, suspenseful and completely unputdownable, Liar will have you on the very edge of your seat. ______ 'Gripping and suspenseful, a fast-paced murder mystery, love story and a young woman's journey of self-discovery' Daily Express 'This latest book from master storyteller Lesley Pearse is gripping and full of twists. With an addictive and pacy plot, this will keep you guessing until the end' My Weekly 'A page turner full of suspense, compelling and heartwarming, Liar is a brilliant read. I couldn't put it down' Woman's Way 'Gripping and suspenseful - a murder mystery, love story and journey of self discovery' S Magazine Praise for Lesley Pearse 'Storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail 'Evocative, compelling, told from the heart' Sunday Express 'Intriguing, heart-tugging, beautifully written' Closer

Crispin Guest is summoned to a London priory to unmask a merciless killer. Can he discover who is committing the deadliest of sins? 1399, London. A drink at the Boar's Tusk takes an unexpected turn for Crispin Guest, Tracker of London, and his apprentice, Jack Tucker, when a messenger claims the prioress at St. Frideswide wants to hire him to investigate murders at the priory. Two of Prioress Drueta's nuns have been killed in a way that signifies two of the Seven Deadly Sins, and she's at her wits end. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing outside of London when the exiled Henry Bolingbroke, the new Duke of Lancaster, returns to England's shores with an army to take back his inheritance. Crispin is caught between solving the crimes at St. Frideswide's Priory, and making a choice once more whether to stand with King Richard or commit treason again.