Now an Apple TV series starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER Overall Book of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2017 (Nibbies) Longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction The Waterstones Book of the Year 2016 Shortlisted for the 2016 Costa Novel Award London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne's controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis - a curious, obsessive boy - she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge. On arrival, rumours reach them that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist with no patience for superstition, is enthralled, convinced that what the local people think is a magical beast may be a yet-undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter's vicar, who is also deeply suspicious of the rumours, but thinks they are a distraction from true faith. As he tries to calm his parishioners, Will and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves at once drawn together and torn apart, affecting each other in ways that surprise them both. The Essex Serpent is a celebration of love, and the many different shapes it can take.

A debut historical mystery set in Victorian London's first - and now forgotten - Chinatown. As Pearl Fitzgerald fights for justice to find the killer of a murdered Chinese docker, she unexpectedly falls in love with the victim's sister. All the while, the murderer is preparing to strike again...

Pearl Fitzgerald arrives in Limehouse - London's very first Chinatown - to settle her late father's affairs and claim her inheritance. But when she unwittingly finds herself at the scene of a murder, her plans are thrown off course. Even more so by the alluring Mei, sister to the dead man. Utterly infatuated, Pearl promises Mei that she will bring her brother's killer to justice, and she dives into the East End's criminal underworld.

But in the city of smoke and silk, where cultures clash and the hangman's noose is always waiting, the truth comes at a cost. With each step of the investigation Pearl risks her livelihood, her relationship with Mei, and her life. Because the killer will strike again, and they're already hunting for the next victim . . .

Opium smuggling, murder and unexpected romance meet in this historical thriller for fans of Leonora Nattrass, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Sarah Waters.

Can Old Scars Be Forgotten?
"From the moment I began I Never Knew Home by Wellsley Fitzroy Shelton, I was captured by the story of Willie Bo Abraham, part-time attorney, part-time fix-it man, who's defending a drifter on a murder charge for killing a "good Christian man." Willie Bo believes his client is innocent. But it's 1929, and Willie Bo, a "colored" man, is up against more than a winning white prosecutor. He may not have the East Coast law degree and impeccable reputation, but he's got something more important- self-worth. And he's here to patch things up. I loved every page of this compelling debut novel by a wonderful new writer."
- Penny Warner, Author of 50 books, including award-winning Dead Body Language.
After his first murder case, Willie Bo Abraham, should've begun repairs on Mrs. Morgan's house. Instead, it's postponed again. He accepts a case that may cost him his life-defending a former slave-owner who's accused of murder in Logan Creek, South Carolina. His only ally is a one-armed sheriff.

THE NEW GRITTY CRIME THRILLER NO ONE KNOWS CRIME LIKE KRAY 'A cracking good read' Jessie Keane 'Well into Martina Cole territory' Independent 'Great writing, gripping story, loved it' Mandasue Heller SHE'S BEEN BETRAYED. SHE WANTS REVENGE. Judith Jonson has been a widow for five years. At first, she hoped Dan would return, but her dream turned to a nightmare as the war ended, and she had to accept her beloved husband was never coming home. Then one day she sees a picture in the paper - the aftermath of a dramatic robbery in London's West End - and Judith can't believe her eyes. It's Dan, she'd stake her life on it, or rather his life, the traitor. Betrayed and desperate for answers Judith begins a hunt for the man she thought she married. And in amongst the lowlifes of the East End's gangland underworld she finds more than she bargained for. But Judith had better be careful whose business she meddles in. The rule of law doesn't apply in Kellston. She had been deceived, but she doesn't want to end up dead... Praise for Roberta Kray: 'Action, intrigue and a character-driven plot . . . sure to please any crime fiction fans' Woman 'Gripping' Daily Express

Hidden in Plain Sight is the second brilliant and captivating novel featuring William Warwick by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles, Jeffrey Archer. Newly promoted, Detective Sergeant William Warwick has been reassigned to the drugs squad. His first case: to investigate a notorious south London drug lord known as the Viper. But as William and his team close the net around a criminal network unlike any they have ever encountered, he is also faced with an old enemy, Miles Faulkner. It will take all of William's cunning to devise a means to bring both men to justice; a trap neither will expect, one that is hidden in plain sight . . . Filled with Jeffrey Archer's trademark twists and turns, Hidden in Plain Sight is the gripping next instalment in the life of William Warwick. It follows on from Nothing Ventured, but can be read as a standalone story.

Second in the thrilling new Kit Marlowe historical mystery series November, 1583. Desperate not to let the Netherlands fall into the hands of Catholic Spain, the Queen's spymaster orders Cambridge scholar and novice spy Christopher Marlowe to go there to assist its beleaguered leader, William the Silent. However, travelling in disguise as part of a troupe of Egyptian players, Marlowe encounters trouble even before he leaves England. When the players make a detour to perform at the home of Dr John Dee, one of their tricks ends in tragedy - and an arrest for murder . . .

"A collection that might have been called CSI: 1912."-Kirkus Reviews The seventh book in the esteemed Library of Congress Crime Classics, an exciting new classic mystery series created in exclusive partnership with the Library of Congress. This short story collection features twelve tales of intrigue and suspense, starring Craig Kennedy, the "American Sherlock Holmes." New York City, early 1900s. Craig Kennedy, a university professor who uses science to help catch criminals, investigates crimes in and around NYC boroughs featuring deaths by apparent-but-inexplicable means. These highly imaginative crimes include spontaneous combustion and vengeful spirits, along with less fatal crimes involving kidnapping, safe-cracking, and a missing fortune in diamonds. With his impressive knowledge, friend Walter Jameson (his own Watson!), and use of cutting-edge technology of the day, Kennedy cracks each case using unorthodox yet entertaining means. Arthur B. Reeve's Craig Kennedy stories were so popular in his time that he went on to publish twenty-six books featuring the professor, who also appeared in comic strips and a number of films. Readers of classic crime fiction will delight in this collection of twelve short stories. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will especially appreciate Kennedy's insistence on logic and science over brawn.

A medieval mystery featuring Brother Athelstan June, 1381. Summoned to the monastery at Blackfriars to investigate the murder of a fellow priest, found stabbed to death in his locked chamber, Brother Athelstan learns there may be a connection with the fate of the king's great-grandfather, Edward II, murdered 54 years earlier. Meanwhile, the rebel armies plot the present king's destruction.

Introducing the Reverend Mother Aquinas in the first of a brand-new historical mystery series. Cork, Ireland. 1923. When, one wet March morning, Reverend Mother Aquinas discovers a body at the gate of the convent chapel washed up after a flood 'like a mermaid in gleaming silver satin', she immediately sends for one of her former pupils, Police Sergeant Patrick Cashman, to investigate. Dead bodies are not unusual in the poverty-stricken slums of Cork city, but this one is dressed in evening finery; in her handbag is a dance programme for the exclusive Merchant's Ball held the previous evening - and a midnight ticket for the Liverpool ferry. Against the backdrop of a country in the midst of Ireland's Civil War, the Reverend Mother, together with Sergeant Cashman and Dr Sher, an enlightened physician and friend, seek out the truth as to the identity of the victim - and her killer.