THE WORD-OF-MOUTH INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Born of No Woman proves that fiction can still amaze' Le Monde 'A vivid, mesmerizing tale' L'Express 'A choral novel radiating with black light' Elle Nineteenth-century rural France. Before he is called to bless the body of a woman at the nearby asylum, Father Gabriel receives a strange, troubling confession: hidden under the woman's dress he will find the notebooks in which she confided the abuses she suffered and the twisted motivations behind them. And so Rose's terrible story comes to light: sold as a teenage girl to a rich man, hidden away in a old manor house deep in the woods and caught in a perverse web, manipulated by those society considers her betters. A girl whose only escape is to capture her life - in all its devastation and hope - in the pages of her diary... THE HIT NOVEL RECOMMENDED BY FRENCH BOOKSELLERS: 'The most beautiful French novel of the year' 'Love at first sight for a book is rare. But this novel left me speechless' 'Dive in: you'll come out feeling utterly alive' 'One of the most beautiful books I've ever read' 'The best book I have read for a long time' 'This story has something powerful, animal, carnal and terrible too. A punch in the gut'

Baghdad, the capital of the world, is a city crowded with stories, and founded on secrets. But some secrets, and some stories, can be deadly...Ismail al-Rawiya is a thief who dreams of being a poet. He is drawn to Baghdad, and to the court of the Khalifah Harun al-Rashid, where fabulous wealth can be attained by those who survive the rivalries, the politics and the whims of the capricious monarch. In the turbulent city, Ismail falls into the company of the poet Abu Nuwas, known as the Father of Locks. Abu Nuwas is a brilliant artist, but also a decadent drunkard with a taste for trouble. The Father of Locks has his own secret: he is an irregular and reluctant agent of the scheming Wazir, Ja'far al-Barmaki, who now assigns him to investigate reports that the Devil is stalking the streets of Baghdad. Together the poet and the thief uncover a hidden world, of forbidden cults, foreign spies, and a mysterious Brass Bottle. When children start to disappear, it seems that there must be substance to the dark rumours of evil spirits and human sacrifice that haunt the city. But the truth that Ismail and the Father of Locks uncover is more shocking still.

When the truth lies out of sight...West Wales, 1850. When an old tree root is dug up, the remains of a young woman are found. Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has been dreading this discovery. He knows exactly whose bones they are. Working with his clerk, John Davies, Harry is determined to expose the guilty. But the investigation turns up more questions than answers and raises long-buried secrets. The search for the truth will prove costly. But will Harry and John pay the highest price? An exceptional Victorian Welsh crime thriller, perfect for fans of Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Andrew Taylor and S. W. Perry. Praise for Alis Hawkins'Beautifully written, cunningly plotted, with one of the most interesting central characters' E.S. Thomson 'The most interesting historical crime creation of the year' Phil Rickman

As King Philip of Spain prepares to invade England, Ursula heads to Brussels on a desperate mission in this compelling Tudor mystery. March, 1588. With England in a state of high alert as King Philip of Spain amasses a vast fleet of warships ready to invade, Queen Elizabeth and her advisors seek a possible alliance with the Duke of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands. But their plans suffer a major setback when one of their most reliable spies is found murdered in the Hertfordshire countryside, shot dead by a crossbow bolt as he was transporting secret correspondence between the queen and the duke. The queen's half-sister and occasional secret agent, Ursula Stannard, is happy not to be involved for once. But when Ursula's ward Mildred elopes with the handsome yet mysterious Berend Gomez, Ursula is forced to follow the pair to Brussels, where she finds herself plunged into a hotbed of intrigue and rumour at the Duke of Parma's court, a place where no one is to be trusted. Can Ursula rescue Mildred, effect an alliance with the duke, and stay alive in the process? The future of England depends on it.

One killer with everything to lose. One man with nothing to fear. The 6th historical thriller featuring Matthew Hawkwood, Bow Street Runner and Spy, now hunting a killer on the loose in Regency London. London, 1813: Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood is summoned to a burial ground and finds the corpse of a young woman, murdered and cast into an open grave. At first the death is deemed to be of little consequence. But when Chief Magistrate James Read receives a direct order from the Home Office to abandon the case, Hawkwood's interest is piqued. His hunt for the killer will lead him from London's backstreets into the heart of a government determined to protect its secrets at all costs. Only Hawkwood's contacts within the criminal underworld can now help. As the truth behind the girl's murder emerges, setting in motion a deadly chain of events, Hawkwood learns the true meaning of loyalty - and that the enemy is much closer to home than he ever imagined...

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a Paris Review Staff Pick

A January Pick by Salon, Town and Country, Southern Living, and LA Magazine

New Orleans, 1918. The birth of jazz, the Spanish flu, an ax murderer on the loose. The lives of a traumatized cop, a conflicted Mafia matriarch, and a brilliant trumpeter converge--and the Crescent City gets the rich, dark, sweeping novel it so deserves.

From one of the most inventive writers of his generation, King Zeno is a historical crime novel and a searching inquiry into man's dreams of immortality.

New Orleans, a century ago: a city determined to reshape its destiny and, with it, the nation's. Downtown, a new American music is born. In Storyville, prostitution is outlawed and the police retake the streets with maximum violence. In the Ninth Ward, laborers break ground on a gigantic canal that will split the city, a work of staggering human ingenuity intended to restore New Orleans's faded mercantile glory. The war is ending and a prosperous new age dawns. But everything is thrown into chaos by a series of murders committed by an ax-wielding maniac with a peculiar taste in music.

The ax murders scramble the fates of three people from different corners of town. Detective William Bastrop is an army veteran haunted by an act of wartime cowardice, recklessly bent on redemption. Isadore Zeno is a jazz cornetist with a dangerous side hustle. Beatrice Vizzini is the widow of a crime boss who yearns to take the family business straight. Each nurtures private dreams of worldly glory and eternal life, their ambitions carrying them into dark territories of obsession, paranoia, and madness.

In New Orleans, a city built on swamp, nothing stays buried long.

Winner of The Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2021 Shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2021 and longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown 2021 'Astounding. Tense, absorbing and dripping with gallus Glasgow humour, this book is absolutely wonderful' Abir Mukherjee, bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series 'Peaky Blinders meets William McIlvanney in this rollocking riveting read' Adrian McKinty, bestselling author of The Chain Glasgow, 1932. When the son-in-law of one of the city's wealthiest shipbuilders is found floating in the River Clyde with his throat cut, it falls to Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn to lead the murder case - despite sharing a troubled history with the victim's widow, Isla Lockhart. From the flying fists and flashing blades of Glasgow's gangland underworld, to the backstabbing upper echelons of government and big business, Dreghorn and his partner 'Bonnie' Archie McDaid will have to dig deep into Glasgow society to find out who wanted the man dead and why. All the while, a sadistic murderer stalks the post-war city leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake. As the case deepens, will Dreghorn find the killer - or lose his own life in the process? Edge of the Grave by Robbie Morrison is a dark historical crime novel set in Glasgow, 1932. A city still recovering from the Great War; split by religious division and swarming with razor gangs. For fans of William McIlvanney's Laidlaw, Denise Mina and Philip Kerr. 'A magnificent and enthralling portrait of a dark and dangerous city . . . Chilling and brutal, but also deeply moving and, most importantly, beautifully written' - Mark Billingham

He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary apprehension praeternatural.

'Deep-diving and elegant' Margaret Atwood 'Takes the gothic genre by the scruff of the neck' Bernadine Evaristo ----- 'They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done?' 1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder. The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth. For the first time Frannie must tell her story. It begins with a girl learning to read on a plantation in Jamaica, and it ends in a grand house in London, where a beautiful woman waits to be freed. But through her fevered confessions, one burning question haunts Frannie Langton: could she have murdered the only person she ever loved? A haunting tale about one woman's fight to tell her story, The Confessions of Frannie Langton leads you through laudanum-laced dressing rooms and dark-as-night alleys, into the heart of Georgian London. WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK AWARDS FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 2019 SHORLISTED FOR HWA DEBUT CROWN 2020 WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE MONTH ----- 'A dazzling page-turner' Emma Donoghue 'A star in the making' Sunday Times 'Gothic fiction made brand new' Stef Penney 'Dazzlingly original' The Times 'A heroine for our times' Elizabeth Day

When a traveling peddler discovers the murder of a farm family in colonial North Carolina whose bodies have been left in bizarre positions, circumstances point to an Indian attack. But Harry Woodyard, a young planter who is the volunteer constable of Craven County during a period in America's past when there was no professional police force, finds clues that seem to indicate otherwise. The county establishment wants to blame the crime on a former inhabitant, an elderly Indian who has suddenly reappeared in the vicinity like an old ghost. But he is a person to whom Harry owes much. Defying the authorities, Harry goes off on his own to find the real killer. His investigation takes him up the Atlantic seacoast and turns into a perilous hunt for even bigger quarry that could affect the future of Britain in the American continent.

Christopher Urswicke must unmask the traitor lurking amongst Margaret Beaufort's supposedly loyal followers in this gripping medieval mystery. October, 1471. Edward IV sits on the English throne; the House of York reigns supreme. With her young son, Henry Tudor, in exile in France, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, shelters deep in the shadows, secretly plotting for the day when Henry can be crowned the rightful king. But as her supporters are picked off one by one, it becomes clear that a traitor lurks within Margaret's household. When one of her most loyal henchmen, Jacob Cromart, is murdered in St Michael's Church, where he had claimed sanctuary, Margaret orders her sharp-witted clerk, Christopher Urswicke, to find out who has betrayed her. How could a man be killed inside a church where the doors are all locked, with no sign of an intruder or weapon? If he is to protect Margaret's remaining supporters from suffering a similar fate, Urswicke must solve a baffling mystery where nothing is as it first appears.

Elizabeth II's coronation is looming, but DI Edgar Stephens is busy investigating the death of a local fortune-teller. Meanwhile, his old pal, the magician Max Mephisto, is rehearsing for his television debut, a coronation day variety show. But upon hearing that their wartime commander, Colonel Cartwright, has been found dead in his flat, the two men join forces to find out what happened. While Max is stuck in rehearsals, Edgar finds himself heading to New York, hot on the trail of a mesmerist he's sure has valuable information for them--and his trusty sergeant, Emma, investigates some important leads at home. As the clock ticks down to coronation day, the team must scramble to keep Max's small-screen debut from ending in a dangerously explosive finale.

If these walls could talk . . . 'Intricate murder mystery... gripping.' WOMAN 'A compelling who, how and why dunnit.' THE SUN 'A gripping murder mystery.' WOMAN'S WEEKLY 'A novel that has the deliciously febrile atmosphere of a silent film.' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Spookily atmospheric, a page-turner murder mystery.' CHOICE MAGAZINE 'The Thirty-One Doors is a novel for those who miss the Golden Age crossword-puzzle-type crime fiction.' LITERARY REVIEW Scarpside House is famed for its beauty, its isolation, and its legendary parties. Tonight, it hosts the Penny Club soiree. An annual gathering of lucky men and women from all walks of life, coming together to celebrate their survival against the odds. But this year their luck is running thin. Accidents do happen, after all . . . And some are long overdue . . .

USA Today bestseller! Would you sell your secrets? Catherine Carlisle is trapped in a loveless marriage and the threat of World War Two is looming. She sees no way out... that is until a trusted friend asks her to switch her husband's papers in a desperate bid to confuse the Germans. Soon Catherine finds herself caught up in a deadly mixture of espionage and murder. Someone is selling secrets to the other side, and the evidence seems to point right at her. Can she clear her name before it's too late? Readers LOVE The Silent Woman! 'Brilliant! I loved this book. It had me gripped from page one.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I couldn't stop reading this book!... Will keep you turning pages long into the night.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I really loved this... Absolutely raced through it. More, please...!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Wonderful... Very difficult to put down.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'An excellent start to a series... Enjoyed it tremendously!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Gripping... I could barely put it down... Kept me reading until the wee hours of the morning... I enjoyed every page.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'More twists, turns and surprises than I could have imagined!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Riveting... I read the entire book in one setting.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Wow. I did not want to put it down... I absolutely loved this book.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'What a wonderful book... This is the first book I have read by this author and it most certainly will not be the last... Ridiculously addictive.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'A gripping and engaging mystery which I can highly recommend.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I thoroughly enjoyed this... I cannot wait to read the second book of this series!!!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

When a mysterious killer haunts Arkham, three struggling investigators must confront the eldritch horrors of their past in this action-packed pulp adventure from the world of Arkham Horror In the swirling sewers beneath Arkham, excavators uncover a crystalline formation that hints at dark events from the city's past. As the discovery makes headlines, so too does a series of bizarre murders. With no leads, the Arkham police are always one step behind. Acting on a hunch, down-on-his luck former journalist Andy Van Nortwick reunites with adventurer Jake Williams and struggling filmmaker Maude Brion to unearth the truth. The trio know of the supernatural horrors that lurk beyond this world, and the reality haunts them. But time is running out and between them they must face their nightmares before the city of Arkham is lost to blood and chaos.

The strangest detective story in the history of music - inspired by a true incident. A world spiralling towards war. A composer descending into madness. And a devoted woman struggling to keep her faith in art and love against all the odds. 1933. Dabbling in the fashionable "Glass Game" - a Ouija board - the famous Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Aranyi, one-time muse to composers such as Bartok, Ravel and Elgar, encounters a startling dilemma. A message arrives ostensibly from the spirit of the composer Robert Schumann, begging her to find and perform his long-suppressed violin concerto. She tries to ignore it, wanting to concentrate instead on charity concerts. But against the background of the 1930s depression in London and the rise of the Nazis in Germany, a struggle ensues as the "spirit messengers" do not want her to forget. The concerto turns out to be real, embargoed by Schumann's family for fear that it betrayed his mental disintegration: it was his last full-scale work, written just before he suffered a nervous breakdown after which he spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital. It shares a theme with his Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations) for piano, a melody he believed had been dictated to him by the spirits of composers beyond the grave. As rumours of its existence spread from London to Berlin, where the manuscript is held, Jelly embarks on an increasingly complex quest to find the concerto. When the Third Reich's administration decides to unearth the work for reasons of its own, a race to perform it begins. Though aided and abetted by a team of larger-than-life personalities - including her sister Adila Fachiri, the pianist Myra Hess, and a young music publisher who falls in love with her - Jelly finds herself confronting forces that threaten her own state of mind. Saving the concerto comes to mean saving herself. In the ensuing psychodrama, the heroine, the concerto and the pre-war world stand on the brink, reaching together for one more chance of glory.

A dazzling literary thriller set in Japan-occupied China from the most translated Chinese novelist of our time. China, 1941. At the height of the Second World War, Japan rules over China. In Hangzhou, a puppet government propped up by the Japanese wages an underground war against the Communist resistance. Late one night, five intelligence officers, employed as codebreakers by the regime, are escorted to an isolated mansion outside the city. The secret police are certain that one of them is a communist spy. None of them is leaving until the traitor is unmasked. It should be a straightforward case of sifting truth from lies. But as each codebreaker spins a story that proves their innocence, what really happened is called into question again and again. Praise for Mai Jia: 'A spy novel on a grand scale in which nothing is as it seems' The Times on The Message 'Jia's playful mix of tradecraft, puzzle-solving and human folly brings an original twist to the spy fiction canon' Sunday Times on The Message 'A page-turner with a gripping plot, otherworldy aura, and flamboyant detail' New York Times on Decoded 'A mix of spy thriller, historical saga and mathematical puzzle that coheres into a powerful whole' Financial Times on Decoded 'A literary superstar' Telegraph

A timeless whodunnit with the fascinating Mitford sisters at its heart, The Mitford Trial is inspired by a real-life murder in a story full of intrigue, affairs and betrayal. It's former lady's maid Louisa Cannon's wedding day, but the fantasy is shattered shortly after when she is approached by a secretive man asking her to spy on Diana Mitford - who is having an affair with the infamous Oswald Mosley - and her similarly fascist sister Unity. Thus as summer 1933 dawns, Louisa finds herself accompanying the Mitfords on a glitzy cruise, full of the starriest members of Society. But the waters run red when a man is found attacked, with suspects everywhere. Back in London, the case is taken by lawyer Tom Mitford, and Louisa finds herself caught between worlds: of a love lost to blood, a family divided, and a country caught in conflict. PRAISE FOR THE MITFORD MURDERS SERIES 'A glittering, entertaining, perfectly formed whodunnit' Adele Parks 'Oh how delicious! Exactly what we all need in these gloomy times. Give it to absolutely everyone for Christmas, then pre-order the next one' Susan Hill 'A lively, well-written, entertaining whodunnit' The Times 'Exactly the sort of book you might enjoy with the fire blazing, the snow falling etc. The solution is neat and the writing always enjoyable' Anthony Horowitz 'An extraordinary meld of fact and fiction' Graham Norton 'True and glorious indulgence. A dazzling example of a Golden Age mystery' Daisy Goodwin 'Crime and scandal await!' Hello 'Absolute blissikins. This is a delightful mashup of real and fictional characters' Guardian 'A delightful escapist period piece to brighten the darkest days of winter' Woman & Home 'All the blissful escapism of a Sunday-night period drama in a book' The Pool 'An audacious and glorious foray into the Golden Age of mystery fiction. Breathtaking' Alex Gray 'Keeps the reader guessing to the very end. An accomplished crime debut and huge fun to read' Evening Standard 'This story is drenched in detail and feels both authentic and fun. Curl up in your favourite reading spot and enjoy' Heat

*LAURA PURCELL'S THRILLING NEW NOVEL THE WHISPERING MUSE IS AVAILABLE TO PREORDER NOW* Winner of the Historical Crime Book of the Year 2021 Award at the 2022 Fingerprint Crime Awards 'Dripping with atmosphere with a corkscrew plot, Laura Purcell just gets better and better' STACEY HALLS 'It truly kept me guessing to the very last page' SONIA VELTON Wicked deeds require the cover of darkness... A struggling silhouette artist in Victorian Bath seeks out a renowned child spirit medium in order to speak to the dead - and to try and identify their killers - in this beguiling new tale from Laura Purcell. Silhouette artist Agnes is struggling to keep her business afloat. Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another... Desperately seeking an answer, Agnes approaches Pearl, a child spirit medium lodging in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father, hoping that if Pearl can make contact with those who died, they might reveal who killed them. But Agnes and Pearl quickly discover that instead they may have opened the door to something that they can never put back... What secrets lie hidden in the darkness?

THE GRIPPING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER What happens when the person closest to you has led a life of deception? 'Full of suspense and intriguing characters' MY WEEKLY 'A gritty, gripping drama' WOMAN'S WEEKLY _______ 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 by 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 ever speak of the past. But faced with this staggering deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother. Whatever the cost. As Alice journeys into the past she discovers her mother may never have been the woman she claimed to be . . . _______ 'Brilliantly builds intrigue' WOMAN & HOME 'A raw, truthful and moving account, building intrigue as Alice gradually uncovers her mother's life of deception, lies - and love' WOMAN'S WEEKLY 'Written with Pearse's typically engaging and effortless style of storytelling, Deception is an intriguing book of highs, lows, struggles and perseverance' CULTUREFLY Praise for Lesley Pearse 'Storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail 'Gripping and suspenseful' Daily Express 'A twisting and intense read' Woman's Own