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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
When Ursula's young son is kidnapped, she is lured into an
impossible dilemma. March, 1581. Queen Elizabeth is once again
being urged to consider marriage to the Duke of Alencon, a French
Catholic twenty years her junior. The prospect of the match is
causing unrest throughout the kingdom. Ursula Blanchard however has
more immediate matters to worry about when her 9-year-old son is
snatched away while out riding. If she is ever to see him again,
Ursula must undertake an impossibly difficult and dangerous mission
- and commit an act of high treason. Can she rely on her
half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, for help?
Despite years on the run, Sophie Neumann is determined to care for
two young children. She won't abandon them the way she thinks her
older sisters abandoned her. But times are growing desperate, and
when she falls in with the wrong crowd and witnesses a crime, she
realizes fleeing 1850s New York is her only option. Disappearing
with her two young charges into a group of orphans heading west by
train, Sophie hopes to find safety and a happy life. When the train
stops in Illinois for the first placement of orphans, Sophie faces
the most difficult choice of her life. Reinhold Weiss has finally
purchased his own small farm. With mounting debts, a harvest to
bring in, and past scars that haunt him, he's in no position to
give his heart away . . . but can he say no when his long-lost
friend shows up on a nearby train pleading for his help?
10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION - FEATURES READING GROUP QUESTIONS AND
NEW MATERIAL FROM STEF'S UPCOMING EPIC NOVEL, UNDER A POLE STAR
COSTA AWARD WINNER and WORLDWIDE BESTSELLER. A breathtaking tale of
mystery, buried secrets and romance, set in nineteenth century
frontier Canada - for fans of THE SNOW CHILD and A PLACE CALLED
WINTER. 'Unquestionably atmospheric, evocative and rewarding'
Independent on Sunday 'A tense and delicately written thriller'
Observer Canada, 1867. A young murder suspect flees across the
snowy wilderness. Tracking him is what passes for the law in this
frontier land: trappers, sheriffs, traders and the suspect's own
mother, desperate to clear his name. As the party pushes further
from civilisation, hidden purposes and old obsessions are revealed.
One is seeking long-lost daughters; another a fortune in stolen
furs; yet another is chasing rumours of a lost Native American
culture. But where survival depends on cooperation, their fragile
truce cannot afford to be broken, nor their overriding purpose - to
find justice for a murdered man - forgotten. The Tenderness of
Wolves is a must-read historical epic, weaving adventure, suspense
and humour into an exhilarating thriller, a panoramic romance and
ultimately, one of the books of the last ten years.
First published in 1923, Jim Hanvey, Detective is a collection of
seven stories that originally appeared in The Saturday Evening Post
and features private eye Jim Hanvey in classic whodunit style
mysteries. Described as the "backwoods Nero Wolfe," the genial
Hanvey befriends "good guys" and criminals alike to get the job
done. Bank robberies, jewel heists, and all-purposes cons-none are
a match for Octavus Roy Cohen's waddling sleuth.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Architect!
Charles Belfoure's next novel is a puzzling historical thriller
about a man who must dig through the rubble of his past to
construct a future worth living, grounded by Belfoure's experiences
as a professional architect. Someone has to take the blame when the
Britannia Theatre's balcony collapses. Over a dozen people are
killed, and the fingers all point at the architect. The man should
have known better, should have made it safer, should have done
something. Douglas Layton knows the flaw wasn't in his design, but
he can't fight a guilty verdict. When the architect is finally
released from prison, he has no job, no family, nowhere to go. He
needs to assume a new identity and rebuild his life. But the
disgraced man soon finds himself digging up the past in a way he
never anticipated. If the collapse wasn't an accident ... who
caused it? And why? And what if they find out who he used to be? A
chilling novel of architecture, intrigue, and identity, this
historical thriller uncovers one man's quest to clear his name and
correct the mistake that ruined his life. "A twisted
mystery...Belfoure gets better and better"-Karen Bakshoian,
Letterpress Books (Portland, ME) Also by Charles Belfoure: The
Paris Architect House of Thieves
After rising to prominence for his role investigating the case of
Jack the Ripper, former Detective Inspector Daniel Wilson is now
retired. Known for his intelligence, investigative skills, and most
of all his discretion, he's often consulted when a case must be
solved quickly and quietly. So when a body is found in the Egyptian
Collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Wilson is called
in. As he tries to uncover the identity of the dead man and the
circumstances surrounding his demise, Wilson must contend with an
unhelpful police Inspector, and more alarmingly, Abigail McKenzie,
the archaeologist who discovered the body and is determined to
protect the Egyptian collection. Can they find a way to work
together to solve the mystery?
"...Part Shirley Jackson's stories of inner demons, part Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland... part Astrid Lindgren's faith in children's
resilience and part ghost story."
"Enter a mysterious world in the hands of capable women. Getting drawn
into this story is easy; getting out again is trickier." -BookPage
1901. After the death of Queen Victoria, England heaves with the
uncanny. Séances are held and the dead are called upon from darker
realms.
Helena Walton-Cisneros, known for her ability to find the lost and the
displaced, is hired by the elusive Lady Matthews to solve a
twenty-year-old mystery: the disappearance of her three stepdaughters
who vanished without a trace on the Norfolk Fens.
But the Fens are an age-old land, where folk tales and dark magic still
linger. The locals speak of devilmen and catatonic children are found
on the Broads. Here, Helena finds what she was sent for, as the Fenland
always gives up its secrets, in the end...
Spring 1940. With Britons facing what has become known as the Bore
War - nothing much seems to have happened yet - Maisie Dobbs is
asked to investigate the disappearance of a local lad, a young
apprentice craftsman working on a "hush-hush" government contract.
As Maisie's inquiry reveals a possible link to the London
underworld, so the country is bracing for a possible enemy invasion
amid news of the British expeditionary force stranded along the
French coast. And another mother is worried about a missing son -
but this time the boy in question is one beloved by Maisie.
"My life would have been more tranquil in the days after Martinmas
had I not seen the crows. Whatever it was that the crows had found
lay in the dappled shadow of the bare limbs of the oak, so I was
nearly upon the thing before I recognized what the crows were
feasting upon. The corpse wore black." Master Hugh is making his
way towards Oxford when he discovers the young Benedictine - a
fresh body, barefoot - not half a mile from the nearby abbey. The
abbey's novice master confirms the boy's identity: John, one of
three novices. But he had gone missing four days previously, and
his corpse is fresh. There has been plague in the area, but this
was not the cause of death: the lad has been stabbed in the back.
To Hugh's sinking heart, the abbot has a commission for him ...
'Incredible... I was enraptured through every single part of it...
Made me feel quite emotional... Fabulous read.' NetGalley reviewer,
5 stars London, 1910. Twenty-one-year-old Esther Watkins would do
anything for the Suffragette cause. Imprisoned, force-fed and
beaten, she is determined to fight for what she believes is right -
no matter what it costs her. With new love Joseph by her side, will
she get the better future she dreams of? Kent, 2019. With her
marriage in tatters, school teacher Lizzie Armstrong moves to
sleepy Elm Heath for a fresh start, and her pupils and the
community soon steal her heart. So when the school is threatened
with closure Lizzie knows she has to fight, and she looks to the
school's founder for inspiration. What makes Esther, born and bred
in London, a proud Suffragette, suddenly leave the city and escape
to Elm Heath? And when Lizzie uncovers Esther's heartbreaking
secret, could it give her the strength she needs to save not just
the school, but her new beginning too? A heart-wrenching and
uplifting novel for fans of Emily Gunnis, Kathleen McGurl and
Kathryn Hughes. Readers LOVE The Secret Letter! 'Love love love
this book!' Kathleen McGurl, USA Today bestselling author of The
Forgotten Secret 'Pulls you in right away from the first few
pages... Hard to put down... I really enjoyed this book.' NetGalley
reviewer 'Beautiful and heart-wrenching and so impossible to put
down!' NetGalley reviewer 'A great read!... Have tissues handy! I
highly recommend!' NetGalley reviewer 'I absolutely adored this
book.' NetGalley reviewer 'Amazing book!' NetGalley reviewer
'Perfectly paced and plotted... I soon found myself lost in the
characters' world and reluctant to put the book down... Brilliant.'
Over the Rainbow Book Blog 'Sucked me in... I had a hard time
putting it down.' NetGalley reviewer 'This book honestly has it
all... Shocking, heart-warming, funny and superbly researched.'
Readers Enjoy Authors' Dreams
Kaite Welsh's thrilling medical mystery THE UNQUIET HEART is the
second in the gothic Sarah Gilchrist series, following a medical
student turned detective in Victorian Edinburgh. For readers of
Natasha Pulley's THE WATCHMAKER OF FILIGREE STREET or Laura
Purcell's THE SILENT COMPANIONS This powerful novel combines a
disturbing look at late Victorian attitudes towards women and
morality with a satisfying murder mystery - Sunday Express Sarah
Gilchrist has no intention of marrying her dull fiance Miles, the
man her family hope will restore her reputation and put an end to
her dreams of becoming a doctor, but when he is arrested for a
murder she is sure he didn't commit she finds herself his reluctant
ally. Beneath the genteel facade of upper class Edinburgh lurks
blackmail, adultery, poison and madness and Sarah must return to
Edinburgh's slums, back alleys and asylums as she discovers the
dark past about a family where no one is what they seem, even Miles
himself. It also brings her back into the orbit of her mercurial
professor, Gregory Merchiston - he sees Sarah as his protegee, but
can he stave off his demons long enough to teach her the skills
that will save her life?
New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry brings us an exciting
new thriller of espionage and murder set across Europe in the
1930s. The world is on the brink of war and no one is to be trusted
as young photographer Elena Standish becomes embroiled in a
terrifying game of cat and mouse... It is 1933 and Europe is a
place of increasing fear and violence. Young British photographer
Elena Standish is on assignment in Amalfi when she meets Ian
Newton, a charming Englishman with whom she falls in love. But what
does she really know about him? Accompanying him on a train across
Italy to Paris, she finds him critically stabbed and dying. He
tells her he is a member of Britain's Secret Service, on his way to
Berlin to warn MI6 so that they can foil a plot to assassinate one
of Hitler's vilest henchmen and blame Britain for it, thus causing
a devastating diplomatic crisis. Elena promises to deliver the
message. But she is too late, and finds herself fleeing for her
life. Meanwhile Lucas Standish, secret head of MI6 during the war,
learns that his beloved granddaughter is being hunted in Berlin for
murder. With Elena on the run, and at least one traitor in the
British Embassy, it is impossible to know who to trust... Praise
for Anne Perry's previous novels: 'A brilliant Victorian police
procedural in which well-realized characters and settings are
fascinating in themselves' Booklist 'Engrossing... Perry has always
excelled in courtroom scenes and arguments between barristers, and
she outdoes herself in two dramatic trials'Washington Times Daily
'Perry balances plot and character neatly before providing a
resolution that few will anticipate'Publishers Weekly
Healer Lassair returns to England and uncovers a secret that puts
the lives of everyone she knows in grave danger, in the final Aelf
Fen medieval mystery. It is the summer of 1100, and after seven
long years away in Spain, Lassair is finally going home. Back to
her beloved mentor Gurdyman. Back to her family. And back to young
lawman Jack Chevestrier, who Lassair hopes still carries the same
deep feelings for her as she does for him. Before she can reunite
with her loved ones, however, Lassair has a long-overdue task to
perform. Old flame - and king's spy - Rollo Guiscard left her a
chest before he died, and it is finally time for her to collect it.
But the chest contains more than gold, and soon Lassair is caught
up in a web of danger and deception that threatens not just her own
life, but the lives of everyone she holds dear. And this is not the
only peril Lassair must face. For although she's left the south
behind her forever, the south is not done with her yet . . .
Gripping, tense and moving, the last installment of the Aelf Fen
series provides both a twisty and compelling historical murder
mystery and a hugely satisfying end to Lassair's story, which began
over a decade ago with OUT OF THE DAWN LIGHT.
Murder always sells. But when a series of dark and puzzling crimes
takes place in seventeenth-century London, will printer's
apprentice Lucy Campion be publishing the news - or starring in it?
London, 1667. Printer's apprentice Lucy Campion is unsettled when,
on a frozen December morning after church, an elderly woman dressed
in mourning clothes whispers an ominous warning in her ear. Lucy
sternly tells herself it's nonsense, but then her much-loved former
master, Magistrate Hargrave, is viciously attacked with a brass
hourglass during a break-in. But what exactly was the intruder
searching for? And why did they first stop to steal a piece of
Cook's lamb and lentil pie? The puzzling case is just the start of
a series of dark, bizarre crimes. Lucy's determined to uncover the
truth and see that justice is done. But someone is equally
determined to stop her - whatever it takes. This page-turning
historical mystery set in Renaissance London is a great choice for
readers who like their heroines lively, their mysteries twisty and
their historical settings brimming with authenticity.
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Tombland
(Paperback)
C.J. Sansom
1
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R365
R302
Discovery Miles 3 020
Save R63 (17%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Tudor England is brought vividly to life in Tombland, the seventh novel
in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of
Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.
*The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller*
Summer, 1549.
Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos
. . .
The nominal king, Edward VI, is eleven years old. His uncle Edward
Seymour, Duke of Somerset, rules as Protector. The extirpation of the
old religion by radical Protestants is stirring discontent among the
populace while the Protector’s prolonged war with Scotland is proving a
disastrous failure and threatens to involve France. Worst of all, the
economy is in collapse, inflation rages and rebellion is stirring among
the peasantry.
Since the old King’s death, Matthew Shardlake has been working as a
lawyer in the service of Henry’s younger daughter, the Lady Elizabeth.
The gruesome murder of Edith Boleyn, the wife of John Boleyn – a
distant Norfolk relation of Elizabeth's mother – which could have
political implications for Elizabeth, brings Shardlake and his
assistant Nicholas Overton to the summer assizes at Norwich. There they
are reunited with Shardlake’s former assistant Jack Barak. The three
find layers of mystery and danger surrounding Edith's death, as a
second murder is committed.
And then East Anglia explodes, as peasant rebellion breaks out across
the country. The yeoman Robert Kett leads a force of thousands in
overthrowing the landlords and establishing a vast camp outside
Norwich. Soon the rebels have taken over the city, England’s second
largest.
Barak throws in his lot with the rebels; Nicholas, opposed to them,
becomes a prisoner in Norwich Castle; while Shardlake has to decide
where his ultimate loyalties lie, as government forces in London
prepare to march north and destroy the rebels. Meanwhile he discovers
that the murder of Edith Boleyn may have connections reaching into both
the heart of the rebel camp and of the Norfolk gentry . . .
Includes an Historical Essay from the author on Reimagining Kett's
Rebellion.
"If there's ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime
fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can't think of one." -Jeffery
Deaver In one of his most puzzling cases, Scotland Yard Inspector
Ian Rutledge must delve deep into a dead man's life and his past to
find a killer determined to keep dark secrets buried. A peaceful
Welsh village is thrown into turmoil when a terrified boy stumbles
on a body in a nearby river. The man appears to have fallen from
the canal aqueduct spanning the valley. But there is no
identification on the body, he isn't a local, and no one will admit
to having seen him before. With little to go on, the village police
turn to Scotland Yard for help. When Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent
from London to find answers, he is given few clues-a faded military
tattoo on the victim's arm and an unusual label in the collar of
his shirt. They eventually lead him to the victim's identity: Sam
Milford. By all accounts, he was a good man and well-respected.
Then, why is his death so mysterious? Looking for the truth,
Rutledge uncovers a web of lies swirling around a suicidal woman, a
child's tragic fate, and another woman bent on protecting her past.
But where among all the lies is the motive for murder? To track a
killer, Rutledge must retrace Milford's last journey. Yet death
seems to stalk his every move, and the truth seems to shift at
every turn. Man or woman, this murderer stays in the shadows, and
it will take desperate measures to lure him-or her-into the light.
Southampton, 1910. When the Oceanic sets sail its ultimate
destination is New York. But it must make one very important stop
first: at Cherbourg, to pick up internationally renowned financier
and art collector J. P. Morgan, fresh from a continental buying
spree. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, the ship's
detectives, are nervous about the presence of such an important
passenger, not to mention his valuable cargo. After all, it is rare
for a transatlantic voyage to pass without incident for the two
sleuths. The everyday difficulties of managing passengers including
a charming rake intent on causing mischief and a controversial
painter travelling with his bohemian wife and his alluring French
model, are brought to a pitch when a major art theft takes place
and a throat is cut. Dillman and Masefield must draw upon all their
experience to find the killer before it is too late. Previously
published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is
making waves with a new generation of readers.
It's tough to be a preacher's kid, and for Leo Stanhope it may be
harder than for most. He was born Charlotte, and in the Reverend
Pritchard's home-as in all of Victoria's England-there is little
room for persons unwilling to know their place and stick to it. And
things are about to get harder: There's a gentleman who knows the
secret that could get Leo locked up for life, and this so-called
gentleman is not above a spot of blackmail. There is a bright spot,
though, in the form of two little kids who are teaching Leo's heart
to open again, after a wretched year. In warming to them, he
realizes how much more he has to learn. Leo knows how to be a man.
Now he must learn to be a father.
The fourth installment of the critically acclaimed manga adaption
of BBC Hit Sherlock introduces the femme fatale and the detective's
famous rival, Irene Adler! Fresh from confronting Moriarty in the
end of The Great Game, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and
John Watson (Martin Freeman) are called to save the royal family
from blackmail at the hands of Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), a
dominatrix known as "The Woman". Adler pulls Sherlock into a
complex web of mysteries involving the CIA and the MOD, with
secrets that could threaten to threaten international security and
topple the monarchy.
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