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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
'My father had spelt it out to me. Choice was a luxury I couldn't
afford. This is your story, Red. You must tell it well . . .' A
young girl known as Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller,
travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using
the ancient method: the Square of Sevens. When her father suddenly
dies, Red becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar. Now raised as a
lady amidst the Georgian splendour of Bath, her fortune-telling is
a delight to high society, but she cannot ignore the questions that
gnaw at her soul: who was her mother? How did she die? And who are
the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find
him? The pursuit of these mysteries takes her from Cornwall and
Bath to London and Devon, from the rough ribaldry of the
Bartholemew Fair to the grand houses of two of the most powerful
families in England. And while Red's quest brings her the
possibility of great reward, it also leads into her grave danger .
. . Laura Shepherd-Robinson's The Square of Sevens is an epic and
sweeping novel set in Georgian high society, a dazzling story
offering up mystery, intrigue, heartbreak, and audacious twists.
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Fire in the Thatch
(Paperback)
E.C.R. Lorac; Introduction by Martin Edwards
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R382
R323
Discovery Miles 3 230
Save R59 (15%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Soon to be a new HBO Series from J.J. Abrams, Misha Green and Jordan Peele (Director of Get Out)
Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, twenty-two year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George – publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide – and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite – heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors – they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.
At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn – led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb – which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his – and the whole Turner clan’s – destruction.
A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism – the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.
'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.
In this classic mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, a
powerful politician is murdered in Cairo in the 1900s and the Mamur
Zapt is called in to investigate Cairo, 1910. The end of the boom
and everyone seems to have money troubles. Then one day a civil
servant dies at his desk. Was it pressure of work or something
nastier? The whiff of corruption is in the air, with even Gareth
Owen, the Mamur Zapt, under suspicion... Owen's investigation takes
him to the heart of a sinister organization. But will he be up to
taking them on? And will he be in time to stop the Camel of
Destruction running through the city?
'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.
A chance discovery in the village of Cullybackey Co. Antrim in 2006
reveals the documents relating to a previously unknown investigator
of Ballymena Co. Antrim, one Brock Adair. Born in 1771 he and his
colleague Charles Kinhilt, a solicitor from Cullybackey, conducted
numerous investigations into crime in the Co. Antrim area and in
the whole of Ireland. These were conducted prior to an established
police force in Ireland. Charles Kinhilt had recorded the details
of Brock Adair's investigations. He assisted Brock with these
enquiries. Both Charles and Brock were educated locally in
Ballymena and latterly at Trinity College Dublin. Brock Adair was
called upon by the Local military commander Captain Dickey to
assist with a number of enquiries. He gained a reputation of being
an outstanding observer and investigator. This short story outlines
the enquiries made by Brock Adair and Charles Kinhilt into the
vicious murder of Florence McSorley in Meeting House Lane Ballymena
in 1796. Brock investigates this vicious attack on the mother of
two. It shocks the community. Will he be able to find the killer?
This is one of a number of enquiries lead by Brock Adair.
Set in the 17th century against the backdrop of political and
religious conflict, the second of Watt's John MacKenzie series is
as historically rich and gripping as the last. MacKenzie
investigates the murder of a woman accused of witchcraft and he
must act quickly when the same accusations are made against the
woman's daughter. Superstition clashes with reason as Scotland
moves towards the Enlightenment. The 1600s are expertly recreated
with a strong sense of history and place.
A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
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