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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > Historical mysteries
April, 1865. Having been an eye witness to the assassination of
President Lincoln, Matthew Grand, a former captain of the 3rd
Cavalry of the Potomac, has come to London on an undercover
assignment to hunt down the last of the assassin's co-conspirators.
Ambitious young journalist Jim Batchelor has been charged with
writing a feature article on the visiting American, with the aim of
getting the inside story on the assassination. Both men are
distracted from their missions by the discovery of a body behind
the Haymarket Theatre in London's Soho district. It's the latest in
a series of grisly garrottings by a killer known as the Haymarket
Strangler. As Grand and Batchelor team up to pursue their
investigations through the dark underbelly of Victorian London, it
becomes clear that there may be a disturbing connection between the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Haymarket Strangler.
Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is recruited by Queen Elizabeth I's
spymaster to be lady-in-waiting to Lady Mary, a cousin of the queen
who is being courted by Russia's Ivan the Terrible. However, there
are some nobles at court who will do anything they can to thwart
such an alliance and Rosamond must put herself in mortal peril to
protect her ward . . .
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 Roger the Chapman mystery Christmas, 1483: Roger the Chapman is
looking forward to twelve days of peace and celebration with his
wife and children in Bristol. The family is particularly excited by
the arrival of a troupe of mummers, who will perform their plays in
the outer ward of the castle throughout the festival. But the
gruesome murders of two of the town's most prominent and venerable
citizens, both veterans of the French wars, scupper Roger's hopes
as he is gradually drawn into the hunt for the killer. Once again,
Roger finds himself in grave danger, but it is someone else who
pays the price of his inability to keep his nose out of matters
that do not concern him . . .
Benjamin January is forced to travel to Haiti to seek his family's
lost treasure, in order to save everything he holds dear. When
Jefferson Vitrack - the white half-brother of Benjamin January's
wife - turns up on January's doorstep in the summer of 1838
claiming he has discovered a clue to the whereabouts of the
family's lost treasure, January has no hesitation about refusing to
help look for it. For the treasure lies in Haiti, the island that
was once France's most profitable colony - until the blood-chilling
repression practiced there by the whites upon their slaves
triggered a savage rebellion. The world's only Black Republic still
looks with murderous mistrust upon any strangers who might set foot
there, and January is in no hurry to go. But when Vitrack is
murdered, and attempts are made on January's wife and himself, he
understands that he has no choice. He must seek the treasure
himself, to draw the unknown killers into the open, a bloody trail
that leads first to Cuba, then to Haiti, and finally to the secret
that lies buried with the accursed gold.
Anne Beddingfeld observes a deadly accident and believes she has
witnessed a murder. Impulsively following a chain of clues, Anne
uncovers a sinister collection of plotters with a potentially
lethal intolerance for the amateur sleuth. When a man dies in an
apparent accident in a London tube station, Anne Beddingfeld
notices the suspicious actions of a mysterious man in a brown suit.
A second death that is seen as connected to the first by no one
other than herself, puts Anne on the trail of the buried truth.
Clues will drive her, alone, on a quest for justice that will
result in her passage on a cruise ship bound for South Africa, and
a chain of confrontations with a merciless band of professional
thieves. This stand-alone novel, first published in 1924, shows
Agatha Christie experimenting a little by both stepping away from
her already established detective hero, Hercule Poirot, and
blending stronger elements of the international thriller into her
story. Replete with stolen diamonds, undercover agents, an exotic
island hideaway and a steadfast heroine desperately trying to
survive and make sense of it all, The Man in the Brown Suit remains
one of the author's most spellbinding tales. With an eye-catching
new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of
The Man in the Brown Suit is both modern and readable.
Atbara, Sudan, 1913. A dead man is fished out of the River Nile. An
accident - or something more sinister? A visiting Pasha from the
Royal Household believes it was murder - and that he himself was
the intended target. He insists that the Mamur Zapt, Head of the
Khedive's Secret Police, escorts him on his return train journey to
Cairo, for protection. It's to be an eventful voyage. Matters take
an unexpected turn when the train is stranded in the desert
following a sandstorm. With the help of English schoolboy Jamie
Nicholson, the Mamur Zapt pursues his investigations, convinced
that at least one of his fellow passengers has a secret to hide.
And what was the Pasha really doing in that remote corner of the
Sudan? Could the Mamur Zapt's deepest fears be true? Could he
really be about to uncover a conspiracy against the British?
Introducing 14th century poet Geoffrey Chaucer as a memorable new
amateur sleuth in the first of an ingeniously-conceived medieval
mystery series. April, 1380. About to set off on his annual
pilgrimage, Comptroller of the King's Woollens and court poet
Geoffrey Chaucer is forced to abandon his plans following an appeal
for help from an old friend. The Duke of Clarence, Chaucer's former
guardian, has been found dead in his bed at his Suffolk castle, his
bedroom door locked and bolted from the inside. The man who found
him, Sir Richard Glanville, suspects foul play and has asked
Chaucer to investigate. On arrival at Clare Castle, Chaucer finds
his childhood home rife with bitter rivalries, ill-advised love
affairs and dangerous secrets. As he questions the castle's
inhabitants, it becomes clear that more than one member of the
Duke's household had reason to wish him ill. But who among them is
a cold-hearted killer? It's up to Chaucer, with his sharp wits and
eye for detail, to root out the evil within.
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?
Leeds, England, Christmas Eve, 1890. DI Tom Harper is looking
forward to a well-earned rest. But it's not to be. A young man has
been found stabbed to death in the city's poverty-stricken Jewish
district, his body carefully arranged in the shape of a cross, two
bronze pennies covering his eyes. Could someone be pursuing a
personal vendetta against the Jews? Harper's investigations are
hampered by the arrival of Capitaine Bertrand Muyrere of the French
police, who has come to Leeds to look into the disappearance of the
famous French inventor Louis Le Prince, vanished without trace
after boarding a train to Paris. With no one in the close-knit
Jewish community talking to the police and with tensions rising, DI
Harper realizes he'll have to resort to more unorthodox methods in
order to unmask the killer.
A Victorian mystery featuring private investigator Liberty Lane
September, 1840. Novelist and patron of the arts Lady Blessington
has hired Liberty Lane to escort a French gentleman to The Hague.
For he has in his possession important papers that will assist in
the forthcoming trial of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the late
emperor's nephew who has failed in an attempt to seize power in
France. Plans for the undercover expedition are disrupted however
when a body is found hanging in the attic at Gore House, Lady
Blessington's Kensington mansion. Uncovering evidence that the
murder was meticulously prepared for and planned well in advance,
Liberty determines to track down the killer. But she is about to
find herself plunged into a highly dangerous game involving
blackmail, treachery, espionage - and cold-blooded murder.
Apprentice healer Lassair encounters a mysterious veiled noblewoman
who brings unexpected peril When Lassair encounters a veiled
noblewoman on the quay at Cambridge one morning, set on by an angry
mob, she assumes involvement with her will be brief. She has no
idea that the woman, alone but for her infant child, brings both
mystery and peril. Then a devastating flood hits the fens, and
among the wreckage and debris washed up at Aelf Fen is a body;
Lassair, in the company of a sheriff's officer, wonders if she is
dealing with murder . . . Meanwhile, in the south, Lassair's
partner Rollo is moving with relief towards the conclusion of his
mission for King William in the Holy Land. But then disaster
strikes, and, with the mighty forces of an emperor on his heels,
abruptly he turns from hunter to hunted. In order to escape alive,
he risks help from a stranger, and embarks on a voyage that turns
out to be far more dangerous than he could ever have imagined.
Mara, Brehon of the Burren, judge and lawgiver, investigates the
death of a man suspected of kin-murder in this compelling medieval
Irish mystery. When Mara, Brehon of the Burren, is summoned to the
sandy beach of Fanore, on the western fringe of the kingdom of the
Burren, she sees a sight that she has never witnessed before during
her thirty years as law-enforcer and investigating magistrate: a
dead man lying in a boat with no oars. Immediately her scholars
jump to the conclusion that the man has been found guilty of
kin-murder. The Brehon sentence for this worst of all crimes is
that the murderer be towed out to sea and left to the mercy of wind
and waves and the ultimate judgement of Almighty God. But Mara
notices something odd about the body, something which arouses her
suspicions. And something familiar about the boat in which he lies.
Soon she has embarked on a full-scale murder investigation. And
gradually suspicion dawns that someone near and dear to her is
involved in the murder.
A compelling new mystery for Libertus, set against the backdrop of
the Roman Empire in turmoil and fighting for its survival . . .
Libertus is passing the villa of his patron, Marcus Septimus
Aurelius, when he sees an elaborate travelling carriage which has
pulled up outside and is now blocking the road. Recognising that
this may be an important visitor, Libertus approaches the carriage,
intending to explain that Marcus is away, gone to Rome to visit his
old friend Pertinax, who has recently been installed as Emperor.
However, for his efforts, Libertus instead receives a torrent of
abuse and the carriage-driver almost runs him down as he departs.
Libertus is badly shaken, but goes back to the villa the next day
to find out why there was no gate-keeper in evidence to deal with
the stranger. There he finds a gruesome discovery: the man is dead
and hanging in his hut, and none of the other house-slaves are to
be found. Worse things are to follow as news arrives from Rome
which will turn the lives, not only of Libertus and his family, but
the whole Empire upside down . .
Ancient Roman sleuth Marcus Corvinus uncovers a treasonous plot in
this witty and intriguing new mystery November, AD 40. When a
wealthy consul's wife asks Corvinus to investigate the death of her
uncle, killed by a block of falling masonry during renovations on
his estate in the Vatican Hills, a sceptical Corvinus is inclined
to agree with the general verdict of accidental death. But his
investigations reveal clear evidence of foul play, as well as
unearthing several skeletons among the closets of this well-to-do
but highly dysfunctional family. Who could have wanted Lucius
Surdinus dead? His vengeful ex-wife? His ambitious mistress? His
disillusioned elder, or his estranged younger, son? Or does the key
to the mystery lie in the dead man's political past? But when
Corvinus's investigations draw him to the attention of the emperor,
a dangerously unpredictable Caligula, his prospects of surviving
long enough to solve the mystery look slim to say the least.
Crime writer sleuth Donald Langham is faced with the classic
locked-room conundrum in this engaging historical mystery July,
1955. Donald Langham has interrupted his romantic break in rural
Suffolk with the delectable Maria Dupre to assist a fellow writer.
Alastair Endicott has requested Langham's help in discovering
what's happened to his father, Edward, who seems to have
disappeared without trace from inside his locked study. Before he
vanished, the elder Endicott had been researching a book on the
notorious Satanist Vivian Stafford. Could the proposed biography
have something to do with his disappearance? Does local resident
Stafford really possess supernatural powers, as some believe? As
Langham and Dupre question those around them, it becomes clear that
there have been strange goings-on in the sleepy village of Humble
Barton. But is the village really haunted - or does someone merely
want it to look that way? With a further shocking discovery, the
case takes a disturbing new twist.
London, May, 1911. The new king, George V, is preparing for his
coronation. The suffragettes are campaigning for women to get the
vote. The East End seethes with unrest. And 18-year-old Kitty
Challoner is looking forward to 'coming out' in London society. But
Kitty's secure, sheltered world is about to be torn apart. Lydia
Challoner is shot dead while out riding in Hyde Park, and during
the ensuing murder investigation Kitty discovers that there was so
much she didn't know about her mother. Was Lydia really the
killer's intended target? Is there a link to her Russian heritage?
Why had she been behaving so strangely in recent weeks? Was she
having an affair? As Kitty determines to uncover the truth and
wonders exactly whom she can trust, she learns that the household
in which she lives harbours a number of dangerous secrets.
In 1097 the Pope appealed to all virtuous and God-fearing men to
join the Crusade to wrest Jerusalem from the Infidel. But by 1100,
Sir Geoffrey Mappestone is one of the few knights who have survived
the harrowing journey, the battle to take the city, and the
political infighting over the rule of the kingdom.
Upon returning to Jerusalem one day following an exhausting desert
patrol, Geoffrey hears screams coming from the house of a Greek
baker and discovers that one of his closest friends, a fellow
knight, has been murdered in the woman's bedchamber. But this is
not the first suspicious death in the city--other knights and
priests have also been killed, and all, it is discovered, with the
same type of curved dagger with a jewelled hilt.
Ordered to investigate the deaths by his liege lord, Prince
Tancred, Geoffrey realizes too late that they are somehow part of a
plot to topple the most formidable lords from their uncertain hold
on power. It is not long before he finds himself drawn into dire
straits involving some of the most dangerous men in the city--and
learns that his closest friends could also be his deadliest
enemies.
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, otherwise known as the Secret City, rose
seemingly overnight in 1942, built by the US Government. No one was
quite sure what its purpose was or where it came from, but there
was certainly something going on . . . Libby Clark, a gutsy Bryn
Mawr graduate, is determined to find her place as a scientist in a
world where women are thought better suited to housework and
marriage. As the only female scientist in the top secret facility,
Libby is excited to begin what she believes is important government
research. She soon begins to suspect, however, that not all is as
it seems. And to make matters worse, one frosty night she discovers
the dead body of her roommate's sister sprawled behind the
bleachers. No one else seems to think finding the killer is
important and it's up to Libby to make sense of the situation.
Aided by a band of like-minded scientists, Libby follows every
possible lead until she comes to a shocking and unexpected
conclusion.
Accident ...or murder? Detective Inspector Hardcastle's seemingly
simple investigation turns more complicated, in his latest case
June 1918. A patrolling constable discovers the body of Georgina
Cheney, wife of a naval commander, in the basement area of a house
in Westminster. At first it is thought to be suicide or even a
tragic accident. But as Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest
Hardcastle of the A or Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan
Police begins to investigate - ably assisted by Detective Sergeant
Charles Marriott - they soon discover a different story. It is
clear that the woman was murdered, and revelations about the
victim's previous life in Malta arouse Hardcastle's interest. But
things are destined to get even more complicated for Hardcastle,
when he is assigned two further murder cases by Detective Chief
Inspector Frederick Wensley, head of the CID at New Scotland Yard.
Could they be connected? This may be a puzzle too tricky even for
Hardcastle to solve ...
Introducing 19th-century private investigators Matthew Grand and
James Batchelor in the first of a brand-new historical mystery
series. April, 1865. Having been an eye witness to the
assassination of President Lincoln, Matthew Grand, a former captain
of the 3rd Cavalry of the Potomac, has come to London on an
undercover assignment to hunt down the last of the assassin's
co-conspirators. Ambitious young journalist Jim Batchelor has been
charged with writing a feature article on the visiting American,
with the aim of getting the inside story on the assassination. Both
men are distracted from their missions by the discovery of a body
behind the Haymarket Theatre in London's Soho district. It's the
latest in a series of grisly garrottings by a killer known as the
Haymarket Strangler. As Grand and Batchelor team up to pursue their
investigations through the dark underbelly of Victorian London, it
becomes clear that there may be a disturbing connection between the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Haymarket Strangler.
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