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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
Introducing Detective Inspector Herbert Reardon in a new mystery
series, set in the Downton Abbey period. November, 1928. Family and
friends have gathered at the Shropshire country home of Penrose
Llewellyn to celebrate the retired wealthy businessman's 60th
birthday. But the morning after what should have been a convivial
supper party, their host is found dead in his bed - and the
circumstances look decidedly suspicious. As he questions the
victim's nearest and dearest, DI Reardon discovers there are
several longstanding secrets lurking amongst the Llewellyn clan -
and he is convinced that not everyone is telling him the truth, or
at least not the whole truth. Those who stand to inherit most from
Pen Llewellyn's will - if it can be found - are under the strongest
suspicion, and among them hides a ruthless killer.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (Now a major Amazon
Prime TV show) 'Dazzling' Guardian 'Gloriously entertaining'
Evening Standard 'A rich, wild book' New York Times 'Ray Carney was
only slightly bent when it came to being crooked...' To his
customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding
salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself
and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their
second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of
him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's
still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods
and crooks, and that his facade of normalcy has more than a few
cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the
time. See, cash is tight, especially with all those instalment plan
sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring
or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask
where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who also
doesn't ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan
to rob the Hotel Theresa - the 'Waldorf of Harlem' - and volunteers
Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they
rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one
made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local
crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the
internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray
navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who
actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed,
save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while
maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality
home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle is driven by an ingeniously
intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of
the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel,
a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and
ultimately a love letter to Harlem.
1947. Elinor White, known locally as 'the White lady', is living a
solitary, quiet life in a grace-and-favour cottage in the Kent
countryside. Unbeknownst to her neighbours, she is the veteran of
two world wars, a trained killer and former intelligence agent. Yet
Elinor's private and seemingly tranquil existence conceals a past
trauma that comes to the fore when she is 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.
'A riotous delve into the dark medical world of Restoration London'
- S.G. MACLEAN 'An infectious read, packed with atmosphere and
colourful characters' - OSCAR DE MURIEL 'A gripping whodunnit with
a sinister twist' - JENNIFER RYAN
________________________________________ WHO WOULD MURDER THE
DYING... London, 1665. Hidden within the growing pile of corpses in
his churchyard, Rector Symon Patrick discovers a victim of the
pestilence unlike any he has seen before: a young woman with a
shorn head, covered in burns, and with pieces of twine delicately
tied around each wrist and ankle. Desperate to discover the
culprit, Symon joins a society of eccentric medical men who have
gathered to find a cure for the plague. Someone is performing
terrible experiments upon the dying, hiding their bodies amongst
the hundreds that fill the death carts. Only Penelope - a new and
mysterious addition to Symon's household - may have the skill to
find the killer. Far more than what she appears, she is already on
the hunt. But the dark presence that enters the houses of the sick
will not stop, and has no mercy... This hugely atmospheric and
entertaining historical thriller will transport readers to the
palaces and alleyways of seventeenth-century London. Perfect for
fans of Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Andrew Taylor and C.J. Sansom.
________________________________________ 'A sickening, desperate
London, wonderfully evoked. A terrific read!' - ALIX NATHAN 'A
rollicking, roistering tale with humour horror and human decency at
its dark heart' - KATE GRIFFIN 'Brilliantly convincing and
thrillingly infectious' - S.W. PERRY 'A gorgeous, darkly witty
novel that transports readers to the London of Charles II' - MARIAH
FREDERICKS 'Dark, haunting and unexpectedly witty' - SUSAN ELIA
MACNEAL
Donato del Nero arrives in London for a concert which he hopes will
establish himself as the greatest virtuoso of the age, he discovers
that his priceless instrument - the Medici Stradivarius - has been
stolen. Only on the Medici, once the secret treasure of Paganini
and rumoured to possess near-magical properties as Stradivarius'
masterpiece, has del Nero been able to realise his enormous
potential as a peerless genius of the violin. Without it he fears
the collapse of his talent. Fortunately Mr Sherlock Holmes, whose
own talents have been languishing since the death of archrival
Professor Moriarty and who has been contemplating retirement from
criminal detection, is pressed into action. His investigation of
the theft becomes simultaneously a fascinating inquiry into the
secrets of violin-making and the art of musical interpretation and
virtuosity. Erudite and witty, The Case of the Missing Stradivarius
is sure to delight players and lovers of music, as well as fans of
Conan Doyle's immortal detective.
'Here ends one of the finest achievements of recent crime fiction'
- Sunday Telegraph 'Outstanding' - The Times *Winner of the 2022
CWA Historical Dagger and Gold Dagger* Los Angeles. Christmas,
1967. A devil is loose in the City of Angels . . . A young nurse,
Kerry Gaudet, travels to the City of Angels desperate to find her
missing brother, fearing that something terrible has happened to
him: a serial killer is terrorising the city, picking victims at
random, and Kerry has precious few leads. Ida Young, recently
retired Private Investigator, is dragged into helping the police
when a young woman is discovered murdered in her motel room. Ida
has never met the victim but her name has been found at the crime
scene and the LAPD wants to know why . . . Meanwhile mob fixer
Dante Sanfelippo has put his life savings into purchasing a winery
in Napa Valley but first he must do one final favour for the Mob
before leaving town: find a bail jumper before the bond money falls
due, and time is fast running out. Ida's friend, Louis Armstrong,
flies into the city just as her investigations uncover mysterious
clues to the killer's identity. And Dante must tread a dangerous
path to pay his dues, a path which will throw him headlong into a
terrifying conspiracy and a secret that the conspirators will do
anything to protect . . . Completing his American crime quartet,
Ray Celestin's Sunset Swing is a stunning novel of conspiracy,
murder and madness, an unforgettable portrait of a city on the
edge.
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 .
. .?
June, 1890. Leeds is close to breaking point. The gas workers are
on strike. Supplies are dangerously low. Factories and businesses
are closing; the lamps are going unlit at night. Detective
Inspector Tom Harper has more urgent matters on his mind. The beat
constable claims eight-year-old Martha Parkinson has disappeared.
Her father insists she's visiting an aunt in Halifax - but Harper
doesn't believe him. When Col Parkinson is found dead the following
morning, the case takes on an increasing desperation. But then
Harper's search for Martha is interrupted by the murder of a
replacement gas worker, stabbed to death outside the Town Hall
while surrounded by a hostile mob. Pushed to find a quick solution,
Harper discovers that there's more to this killing than meets the
eye - and that there may be a connection to Martha's disappearance.
You can pay a terrible price for keeping a promise...
Evelyn Taylor-Clarke sits in her chair at Forest Lawns Care Home in the heart of the English countryside, surrounded by residents with minds not as sharp as hers. It would be easy to dismiss Evelyn as a muddled old woman, but her lipstick is applied perfectly, and her buttons done up correctly. Because Evelyn is a woman with secrets and Evelyn remembers everything. She can never forget the promise she made to the love of her life, to discover the truth about the mission that led to his death, no matter what it cost her...
When Evelyn's niece Pat opens an old biscuit tin to find a photo of a small girl with a red ball entitled 'Liese, 1951' and a passport in another name, she has some questions for her aunt. And Evelyn is transported back to a place in Germany known as 'The Forbidden Village', where a woman who called herself Eva went where no one else dared, amongst shivering prisoners, to find the man who gambled with her husband's life...
A gripping, haunting and compelling read about love, courage and betrayal set in the war-battered landscape of Germany. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey and The Child of Auschwitz will be hooked.
Set in France in the 1930s, "L'Art de vivre" evokes the contrasting
worlds of a wealthy, socially prominent Parisian couple, and an
impoverished struggling American sculptor living in Paris. The
aristocratic couple occupy an elegant penthouse apartment and
frequent the highest levels of society and government. The artist
shares a very humble apartment with his girlfriend and scrapes by,
earning a living from the few students he can still attract and the
occasional sculpture he can sell.
These worlds, which are physically only a mile apart, come
together as a result of an improbable set of circumstances
involving thefts, a suspected murder, and a high profile police
investigation. Newspapers all over France report excitedly on the
mystery surrounding the artist, as his friends try to understand
what has become of him. Friends of the aristocratic couple never
suspect the obsessive secret that drives them to risk their
position and fortune through a daring crime spree.
'I was seduced from John Grey's first scene' Ann Cleeves Duke's
Company actress Kitty Burgess has a stunning future before her -
until she vanishes after the opening performance of Aminta Grey's
new play, The Summer Birdcage. One of her fellow actors swears he
saw her being bundled into a black coach driven by six black horses
outside the theatre. Then no more is heard of her - until the body
of a young woman is found dead beside the road in Hertfordshire. It
appears to be Kitty, so Aminta and her husband Sir John Grey,
travel to Bishop's Stortford to identify her. The girl has been so
badly beaten it is impossible to tell who she is, but there are
three clues - the dress she is wearing, a ring and a copy of the
script of Aminta's play, left (perhaps a little too conveniently)
in the victim's hands. Back in London Aminta catches sight of a
young woman who looks exactly like Kitty but before she can do
anything, the woman runs off and is lost in the crowd. Meanwhile,
rumours abound at court that Kitty was about to become the king's
new mistress and all fingers are being pointed at Lady Castlemaine
for having arranged for her rival to be spirited away and killed.
And now John Grey finds that is no longer just his wife who is
determined to prove Kitty Burgess is alive. It would seem her
disappearance - and possible reappearance - is part of some much
wider conspiracy, and that Kitty may be about to play the most
dangerous, and possibly deadly, role of her life. A role from which
there may be no escape ... Praise for L.C. Tyler 'Len Tyler writes
with great charm and wit . . . made me laugh out loud' Susanna
Gregory 'Tyler juggles his characters, story, wit and clever one
liners with perfect balance' The Times 'A dizzying whirl of plot
and counterplot' Guardian 'Unusually accomplished' Helen Dunmore 'A
cracking pace, lively dialogue, wickedly witty one-liners salted
with sophistication . . . Why would we not want more of John Grey?'
The Bookbag
The death of an unpopular nobleman brings trouble to Sir Josse's
family, in the latest Hawkenlye mystery All Saint's Eve, 1211. An
overweight but wealthy nobleman, desperate for an heir, dies at the
celebration feast he's thrown in his own hall. A natural death . .
. or at the hands of his reluctant new wife? Sabin de Gifford, an
apothecary and healer of note, is called to examine the body, and
concludes that he died of a spasm to the heart. But she is
troubled, all the same, and beset by suspicions. Did the man really
die of a heart attack? Or was something more sinister to blame?
There is only one person Sabin can turn to for help: fellow healer
Meggie, daughter of Sir Josse d'Acquin. But what she requires of
her is dangerous indeed . . .
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