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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
A 'Canterbury Tales' medieval mystery As Chaucer's pilgrims shelter for the night in a well-stocked tavern, it's the physician's turn to enthral his fellow travellers with a terrifying tale of mystery and intrigue. When Brother Anselm and his novice Stephen are summoned to the Church of St Michael's, Candlewick, to perform an exorcism, little are they prepared for the horror that awaits. The demons and apparitions that plague the church would appear to have been summoned by an infamous sorcerer known as the Midnight Man. But what has he unwittingly unleashed - and why? Is someone using the haunting as the perfect cover for their murderous intent? And is there any link with the sudden disappearances of a number of young women in the area? The answers lie in the past and an unresolved wickedness from many decades before. But before Anselm can get to the truth, he must uncover the identity of the mysterious Midnight Man.
The world's most beloved literary characters. The gilded opulence of the Roaring Twenties. A murder that scandalises high society. And a clever young woman of unusual persistence... Be ready to re-think the world of Gatsby. 1922: You are cordially invited to summer at the Gatsby Mansion in West Egg, with the most illustrious - and the deadliest - guest list. Freshly twenty-one and sporting a daring new bob, Greta Gatsby - younger sister to the infamous Jay - is finally free of finishing school. An idyllic summer stretches ahead of her at the Gatsby Mansion, the jewel of West Egg. But when Greta arrives at the secluded white-stone estate bathed in the late-afternoon light, she finds she isn't the only visitor. Jay is hosting an intimate gathering of New York's fashionable set: Daisy and Tom Buchanan, along with his brother Edgar, Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker. That evening, the guests enjoy a candelabra-lit dinner party. That night, they dance to the lilt of the gramophone. The next morning, one of them is missing. Murder has come to West Egg, the warm breeze tainted by scandal, betrayal and secrets. Turning sleuth isn't how Greta meant to spend her summer - but what choice does she have when one of them could be next? A deliciously unputdownable whonunnit perfect for fans of The Christie Affair and Miss Austen Investigates.
The perfect murder mystery for fans of Richard Osman and Robert Thorogood. 'Spotswood understands that [...] spending time with unforgettable characters is paramount.' - New York Times 'A loving, intricately plotted tribute to the great days of American noir.' - Daily Mail New York, 1946: The last time Will Parker let a case get personal, she walked away with a broken face, a bruised ego, and the solemn promise never again to let her heart get in the way of her job. But she called Hart and Halloway's Travelling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus's tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren't playing it straight, and that her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink. Dodging fistfights, firebombs, and flying lead, Will puts a lot more than her heart on the line in the search of the truth. Can she find it before someone stops her ticker for good? Praise for Stephen Spotswood: 'Razor-sharp, tons of flair. A really good noir novel.' Tana French 'Spotswood's stellar debut puts a modern spin on classic hard-boiled fiction. . . The deep and sensitive characterization of the two protagonists, coupled with rich description and tonally spot-on humour, make this a novel to remember. Spotswood is definitely a writer to watch.' Publishers Weekly 'This novel not only offers fun, offbeat characters and an exceptional flavour of the time, it's utterly charming too.' Woman's Weekly 'This hugely enjoyable debut is a deft melange of Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery and 1940s Chandler-esque pulp crime fiction with a feisty narrator' Irish Independent Review 'Persuasive in its attention to period detail and dialogue, with well-constructed set piece scenes deftly staged, this is a highly accomplished, auspicious first entry in what we must hope will be a long-running series' The Irish Times
'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.
A Hawkenlye medieval mystery February, 1212. Sir Josse d'Acquin and Helewise are summoned to Southfire Hall, where Josse's elderly uncle, Hugh, lies dying, surrounded by his children. But the pair soon discovers that Hugh's ill health is not the only cause of distress in the house: for Hugh's son and heir, Herbert, has taken an unpleasant new wife, the widowed Lady Cyrille. Josse and Helewise are distracted by the discovery of an injured young man on the road outside on the evening of their arrival, but the longer they remain in the house, the more they feel that something is very wrong. What happened to Josse's cousin Aeleis, who no one speaks of? Where is Lady Cyrille's small son? And why do they both feel as if the house itself is alive - and threatened by approaching evil?
***A TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR*** 'A joy from start to finish' - ANDREW TAYLOR 'Thrilling... Deserves to be huge' - EMMA STONEX This is the confession of Laurence Jago. Clerk. Gentleman. Spy. July 1794, and London is filled with rumours of revolution. The war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with America are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, Foreign Office clerk, is ever more reliant on opium - the Black Drop - to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter, whose contents could lead to the destruction of the British Army, has been leaked to the press and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk - a supposed suicide - and it seems clear where the blame truly lies. But Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence, and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, can Laurence find the true culprit without ending up on the gallows himself?
Turn a Blind Eye is the third instalment in the gripping story of Detective Inspector William Warwick, by the master storyteller and Sunday Times number one bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles. William Warwick, now a Detective Inspector, is tasked with a dangerous new line of work, to go undercover and expose crime of another kind: corruption at the heart of the Metropolitan Police Force. His team is focused on following Detective Jerry Summers, a young officer whose lifestyle appears to exceed his income. But as a personal relationship develops with a member of William's team, it threatens to compromise the whole investigation. Meanwhile, a notorious drug baron goes on trial, with the prosecution case led by William's father and sister. And William's wife Beth, now a mother to twins, renews an old acquaintance who appears to have turned over a new leaf, or has she? As the undercover officers start to draw the threads together, William realizes that the corruption may go deeper still, and more of his colleagues than he first thought might be willing to turn a blind eye. 'Peerless master of the page-turner' - Daily Mail
After nearly 400 years, an emerald-encrusted gold pectoral cross belonging to the Catholic Church is discovered by two salvage divers off the coast of Bermuda. Carried by an Augustinian friar on the ill-fated Spanish galleon San Pedro, which sank in 1596, the cross contains a priceless hidden key. The divers want it for the money. The Bermuda government wants it for its historical value. A group of cardinals known as the "Silenti" want it for the key hidden inside. Only one of the divers and the cardinals are aware of the key. Only the cardinals know of its significance to the Papacy. Displayed in the Bermuda Maritime Museum since its discovery, it is not until Queen Elizabeth's visit to the island nine years later that the cross in the museum is found to be a fake. Who made the forgery and who stole the original cross? Who has the key and what is its significance to the Church? Inspired by real events, the crime on which The Cross is based remains one of Bermuda's greatest unsolved mysteries. Fact and fiction are skilfully woven together throughout this debut novel from author B. R. Bentley as the characters conspire to achieve their aims.
The thirteenth book in the ever-popular Hawkenlye medieval mystery series Autumn, 1210. A year ago, King John was excommunicated - and now his men have come to Hawkenlye Abbey to take it over. Abbess Caliste, Helewise's successor, worries how she is to feed the nuns under her care, let alone conduct her usual good works. Meanwhile, Helewise has moved into Hawkenlye Manor with Josse, and their lives are full of family and warmth. But after a visit to St Edmund's Chapel, Helewise's eleven-year-old granddaughter, Rosamund, goes missing - and soon all that they hold dear is threatened . .
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