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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
September 1940 is finally drawing to a close. With London having
endured the Blitz for nearly a month, people are calling for
vengeance: Britain should retaliate even harder with their own
bombing campaign in enemy territory. But once again the night
heralds more destruction. At Custom House, anxious residents
dutifully head to the nearest public air-raid shelter as the
warning siren wails. When dawn brings the all-clear people
disperse, but one man remains - he's dead, stabbed through the
heart. As Detective Inspector John Jago begins his investigation,
he discovers that the victim was one of a minority - a pacifist.
But why, then, was he carrying a loaded revolver in his pocket?
Cairo, 1912. The Pasha receives an unexpected gift: a traditional
Bride Box. When opened, however, the box contains an unwelcome jolt
from the past . . . At the same time, a little girl is discovered
riding under a train from Luxor - and the Mamur Zapt, Head of the
Khedive's Secret Police, is called in to investigate.
He soon finds himself confronting a political storm as the end of
British rule approaches and his investigations uncover a tangled
web of family loyalties and betrayals, with its roots in a slave
trade long supposed to have been stamped out in Egypt.
On the 9th of June 1865, Charles Dickens was travelling aboard the
Folkestone to London Boat Train with his mistress and her mother,
when it derailed while crossing a viaduct near Staplehurst in Kent.
The train plunged down a bank into a dry river bed, killing ten
passengers, and badly wounding forty. Dickens was profoundly
affected by the disaster, and a year later, he published The
Signalman, a supremely atmospheric ghost story in which the
narrator, while investigating a dank and lonely railway cutting,
meets the signalman who works there. His new acquaintance appears
to live under the shadow of an unbearable secret, haunted by an
apparition whose appearance prefigures terrible rail accidents.
Drawing on Dickens own experiences, and introduced by Simon
Bradley, author of The Railways, The Signalman is both an important
piece of rail history, and a sinister tale which will make you
think twice next time you enter the quiet carriage.
The peaceful atmosphere of the Reverend Mother's annual retreat is
shattered by sudden, violent death in this gripping historical
mystery. 1920s. Cork, Ireland. The Reverend Mother regrets the
bishop's decision to invite the five candidates for the position of
Alderman of the City Council to join them for their annual retreat.
Constantly accosted by ambitious, would-be politicians hoping to
secure the bishop's backing, she's finding the week-long sojourn at
the convent of the Sisters of Charity anything but peaceful. What
she doesn't expect to encounter however is sudden, violent death.
When a body is discovered in the convent's apple orchard cemetery,
blown to pieces by a makeshift bomb, it is assumed the IRA are
responsible. But does the killer lie closer to home? Was one of the
candidates so desperate to win the election they turned to murder?
Does someone have a hidden agenda? Once again, the Reverend Mother
must call on her renowned investigative skills to unearth the
shocking truth.
Sister Fidelma returns in THE HOUSE OF DEATH, the thirty-second
Celtic mystery by Peter Tremayne, acclaimed author of THE
SHAPESHIFTER'S LAIR, BLOOD IN EDEN, and BLOODMOON. If you love
Ellis Peters, you'll be gripped by THE HOUSE OF DEATH and the
Sister Fidelma series. Ireland. AD 672. The Feast of Beltaine is
approaching and the seven senior princes of the kingdom of Muman
are gathering at Cashel to discuss King Colgu's policies. Just days
before the council meets, Brother Conchobhar, the keeper of the
sacred sword, is found murdered. Sister Fidelma and her brother
Colgu fear that the killer had been trying to steal the sword that
symbolises the King's authority to rule. And as rumours begin to
spread of an attempt to overthrow Colgu, news reaches Cashel that a
plague ship has landed at a nearby port, bringing the deadly
pestilence to its shores. Amid fear and panic, Fidelma, Eadulf and
Enda must work together to catch a killer as the death toll starts
to mount... What readers are saying about the Sister Fidelma
series: 'Tremayne is one of those very few historical mystery
writers who can perplex and bewilder. He weaves the twisty plots
into a complex historical narrative' 'A must-read for anyone
looking for a good mystery' 'The characters are original, the
settings are imaginative and true-to-life and the intricate plots
form enough threads to keep you guessing at every turn'
THE WORD-OF-MOUTH INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Born of No Woman proves
that fiction can still amaze' Le Monde 'A vivid, mesmerizing tale'
L'Express 'A choral novel radiating with black light' Elle
Nineteenth-century rural France. Before he is called to bless the
body of a woman at the nearby asylum, Father Gabriel receives a
strange, troubling confession: hidden under the woman's dress he
will find the notebooks in which she confided the abuses she
suffered and the twisted motivations behind them. And so Rose's
terrible story comes to light: sold as a teenage girl to a rich
man, hidden away in a old manor house deep in the woods and caught
in a perverse web, manipulated by those society considers her
betters. A girl whose only escape is to capture her life - in all
its devastation and hope - in the pages of her diary... THE HIT
NOVEL RECOMMENDED BY FRENCH BOOKSELLERS: 'The most beautiful French
novel of the year' 'Love at first sight for a book is rare. But
this novel left me speechless' 'Dive in: you'll come out feeling
utterly alive' 'One of the most beautiful books I've ever read'
'The best book I have read for a long time' 'This story has
something powerful, animal, carnal and terrible too. A punch in the
gut'
August 1911. Emily Hardcastle and her inimitable lady's maid
Florence Armstrong are enjoying a fine summer until Harry, Lady H's
brother, turns up out of the blue with a mystery for them to solve.
A routine parachute test at a local aeroplane factory has gone
horribly wrong-with pilot Dickie Dupree plummeting to his death.
Harry is certain there is more to this 'tragic accident' than meets
the eye, having discovered that someone at the airfield is leaking
top secret intelligence to foreign rivals. In between strolls to
the Dog & Duck and planning for the annual village show, the
daring duo dust off the Crime Board and go undercover at Bristol
Aviation. With international powers investing heavily in
aeronautics, the stakes are high-sky high-and the suspects soon
mount up. Can Lady Hardcastle find the culprit before someone else
falls down dead?
We last saw our hero in Mountains of the Misbegotten and Heywood
delivers an even more thrilling mystery. Lute Bapcat and Pinkhus
Zakov had been partners in the far northern counties of Michigan's
Upper Peninsula for years when in early 1917, Zakov suddenly
disappeared. A year later, Bapcat and Jordy (now 18) get a summons
to Marquette, by former President Teddy Roosevelt. (Bapcat had
served as a Roughrider with Roosevelt back in the day.) Roosevelt
tells them that Zakov was sent to Russia by the U.S. government to
find Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who abdicated and disappeared. Zakov
went into Russia in April 1917 and had been feared dead, until an
urgent message comes through a Swedish diplomat: Zakov wants Bapcat
and Jordy sent to Russia to assist him. In the midst of the flu
epidemic, a strange, Russian-born American marine major named Dodge
is assigned to lead them into and across Russia until they locate
Zakov. They dive deep into the heart of the Russian Fatherland as
the Revolution of 1917 turns into a full out Civil War, with a
level of chaos, random violence, and blood-letting far beyond
Bapcat's imagination.
He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, hieroglyphics; exhibiting in
his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the
ordinary apprehension praeternatural.
April, 1933. To the costermongers of London, Eddie Pettit is simply
a gentle soul with a near-magical gift for working with horses.
When he is killed in a violent accident, the costers are sceptical
about the cause of his death, and recruit Maisie Dobbs to
investigate. Maisie, who has known these men since childhood and
remembers Eddie fondly, is eager to help. But it soon becomes clear
that powerful political and financial forces are equally determined
to prevent her from learning too much about Eddie's death. As
Maisie uncovers lies and manipulation on a national scale, she must
decide whether to risk all to see justice done.
London, 1899. Queen Victoria lays the foundation stone on the site
of a new museum being built, which she names as The Victoria and
Albert Museum. Shortly after, Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton are
called to the site because the dead body of a man, curator Andrew
Page, has been found in one of the trenches. The Queen is
determined that nothing will sully the new museum, and by
association her beloved Albert's legacy. But the more Wilson and
Fenton dig, the more they discover other potential motives for
Page's murder, some with potentially explosive implications for the
Royals and the Government. They will have to tread carefully as
someone is determined that they will not uncover any more .
From No.1 bestselling author Andrew Taylor comes the sequel to the
phenomenally successful The Ashes of London Over 1 Million Andrew
Taylor Novels Sold! A time of terrible danger... The Great Fire has
ravaged London. Now, guided by the Fire Court, the city is
rebuilding, but times are volatile and danger is only ever a
heartbeat away. Two mysterious deaths... James Marwood, a traitor's
son, is thrust into this treacherous environment when his father
discovers a dead woman in the very place where the Fire Court sits.
The next day his father is run down. Accident? Or another
murder...? A race to stop a murderer... Determined to uncover the
truth, Marwood turns to the one person he can trust - Cat Lovett,
the daughter of a despised regicide. Then comes a third death...
and Marwood and Cat are forced to confront a vicious killer who
threatens the future of the city itself.
The incredible and thrilling first novel in a brand new series by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer.
William Warwick has always wanted to be a detective, and decides, much to his father’s dismay, that rather than become a barrister like his father, Sir Julian Warwick QC, and his sister Grace, he will join London’s Metropolitan Police Force. After graduating from university, William begins a career that will define his life: from his early months on the beat under the watchful eye of his first mentor, Constable Fred Yates, to his first high-stakes case as a fledgling detective in Scotland Yard’s arts and antiquities squad. Investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum, he meets Beth Rainsford, a research assistant at the gallery who he falls hopelessly in love with, even as Beth guards a secret of her own that she’s terrified will come to light.
While William follows the trail of the missing masterpiece, he comes up against suave art collector Miles Faulkner and his brilliant lawyer, Booth Watson QC, who are willing to bend the law to breaking point to stay one step ahead of William. Meanwhile, Miles Faulkner’s wife, Christina, befriends William, but whose side is she really on?
Nothing Ventured heralds the start of a brand new series in the style of Jeffrey Archer’s number one Sunday Times bestselling The Clifton Chronicles: telling the story of the life of William Warwick – as a family man and a detective who will battle throughout his career against a powerful criminal nemesis. Through twists, triumph and tragedy, this series will show that William Warwick is destined to become one of Jeffrey Archer’s most enduring legacies.
Egypt, 1908. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, used to the
grand opulence of the Cunard cruise line, are at first disappointed
with the Marmora, a small, unimpressive ship owned by the P&O
shipping line. Employed by P&O to be the ship's detectives,
Dillman and Masefield expect to encounter the usual assortment of
petty thieves and confidence tricksters. But this cruise is certain
to be unique as the Duke and Duchess of Fife and their children are
aboard and the detectives will provide security for the royals. And
when a dead body turns up, the voyage proves to be one to remember.
Keeping the demise of the poor victim a secret on such a small ship
is tough enough but suspects abound, meaning Dillman and Masefield
have their work cut out for them. Previously published under the
name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series casts off for a new
generation of readers.
Bombay, 1909. Genevieve Masefield and George Dillman make a living
as detectives aboard the early twentieth century's most extravagant
ocean liners. From the members of first class in all their finery,
to the card cheats and pickpockets plying their trade, they've
experienced more than their share of humanity. For their latest
voyage, the Salsette boasts a pair of travellers who feign
ignorance of each other but there is clearly no love lost between
them. Then there's an elderly man whose powers of deduction may be
based on more earthly techniques than the mystical energy he claims
to possess. And there's a young woman and her mother who find their
way into the middle of every bit of trouble aboard. The lives of
this group of travellers are set to intersect in ways none of them
could have foreseen on dry land - including in a murder. Previously
published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series casts
off for a new generation of readers.
'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
An eagerly awaited collection of brand new, specially commissioned
short stories from the master of historical crime fiction Edward
Marston, featuring his quick-witted Railway Detective, Inspector
Robert Colbeck. In this thrilling selection of stories, a young
porter is found dead in a coal tub; Colbeck devises a trap to catch
a thief; and a burnt train carriage holds a gruesome secret in a
small coastal village. As Colbeck and his trusty aide Sergeant
Victor Leeming begin to piece together clues and motives for each
crime, it becomes clear the pair must stay a step ahead of the
culprits to solve the cases. With a new suspect at every turn, can
the duo unearth the real villains? Including 'The End of the Line'
and 'The Barber of Ravenglass', jealousy, vengeance and duplicity
all collide in this supercharged anthology, proving once again,
that Inspector Colbeck is the master of mysteries.
***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?
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