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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
Leeds, England, Christmas Eve, 1890. DI Tom Harper is looking
forward to a well-earned rest. But it's not to be. A young man has
been found stabbed to death in the city's poverty-stricken Jewish
district, his body carefully arranged in the shape of a cross, two
bronze pennies covering his eyes. Could someone be pursuing a
personal vendetta against the Jews? Harper's investigations are
hampered by the arrival of Capitaine Bertrand Muyrere of the French
police, who has come to Leeds to look into the disappearance of the
famous French inventor Louis Le Prince, vanished without trace
after boarding a train to Paris. With no one in the close-knit
Jewish community talking to the police and with tensions rising, DI
Harper realizes he'll have to resort to more unorthodox methods in
order to unmask the killer.
Apprentice healer Lassair encounters a mysterious veiled noblewoman
who brings unexpected peril When Lassair encounters a veiled
noblewoman on the quay at Cambridge one morning, set on by an angry
mob, she assumes involvement with her will be brief. She has no
idea that the woman, alone but for her infant child, brings both
mystery and peril. Then a devastating flood hits the fens, and
among the wreckage and debris washed up at Aelf Fen is a body;
Lassair, in the company of a sheriff's officer, wonders if she is
dealing with murder . . . Meanwhile, in the south, Lassair's
partner Rollo is moving with relief towards the conclusion of his
mission for King William in the Holy Land. But then disaster
strikes, and, with the mighty forces of an emperor on his heels,
abruptly he turns from hunter to hunted. In order to escape alive,
he risks help from a stranger, and embarks on a voyage that turns
out to be far more dangerous than he could ever have imagined.
At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening
is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from
a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light.
Someone has removed the dead man's heart. Augustus Landor--who
acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police
detective--is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling
case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do
irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help
from an unexpected ally--a moody, young cadet with a penchant for
drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that
changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern
poet for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar
Allan Poe.
A request from the Danish Ambassador leads Albert Campion into a
baffling murder case in this finely crafted historical mystery. The
Danish Ambassador has requested Albert Campion's help on 'a
delicate family matter'. He's very concerned about his
eighteen-year-old daughter, who has formed an attachment to a most
unsuitable young man. Recruiting his unemployed actor son, Rupert,
to keep an eye on Frank Tate, the young man in question, Mr Campion
notes some decidedly odd behaviour on the part of the up-and-coming
photographer. Before he can act on the matter, however, both the
Ambassador's daughter and her beau disappear without trace. Then a
body is discovered in a lagoon. With appearances from all of
Margery Allingham's regular characters, from Campion's former
manservant Lugg, to his wife Lady Amanda Fitton and others, this
witty and elegant mystery is sure to delight Allingham's many fans.
The dialogue is sharp and witty, the observation keen, and the
climax is thrilling and eerily atmospheric.
A Victorian mystery featuring private investigator Liberty Lane
September, 1840. Novelist and patron of the arts Lady Blessington
has hired Liberty Lane to escort a French gentleman to The Hague.
For he has in his possession important papers that will assist in
the forthcoming trial of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the late
emperor's nephew who has failed in an attempt to seize power in
France. Plans for the undercover expedition are disrupted however
when a body is found hanging in the attic at Gore House, Lady
Blessington's Kensington mansion. Uncovering evidence that the
murder was meticulously prepared for and planned well in advance,
Liberty determines to track down the killer. But she is about to
find herself plunged into a highly dangerous game involving
blackmail, treachery, espionage - and cold-blooded murder.
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