Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it.

One day, however, one of his older guests disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. Another guest, the enigmatic Valérie, persuades a reluctant Richard to join her in investigating the disappearance.

Then things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens. The disappearance of a guest is one thing, but you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens!

One day, five lives, but whose heart will be broken by nightfall? It started like any other day in the picturesque village of Weirbridge. Tress Walker waved her perfect husband Max off to work, with no idea that she was about to go into labour with their first child. And completely unaware that when she tried to track Max down, he wouldn't be where he was supposed to be. At the same time, Max's best friend Noah Clark said goodbye to his wife, Anya, blissfully oblivious that he would soon discover the woman he adored had been lying to him for years. And living alongside the two couples, their recently widowed friend, Nancy Jenkins, is getting ready to meet Eddie, her first true love at a school reunion. Will Nancy have the chance to rekindle an old flame, or will she choose to stay by Tress's side when she needs her most? One Day with You - two fateful goodbyes, two unexpected hellos, and 24 hours that change everything.

Continuing the saga begun in Annie Murray's Chocolate Girls, and set in 1960s Birmingham, The Bells of Bournville Green is a story of families whose lives are entwined, of belonging and loss . . . and of a young woman's search for transforming love. Pretty seventeen-year-old Greta has never known a stable family life. With no father, and loathing her mother's latest boyfriend, Greta finds life hard at home and is happiest at work with her friends at the Cadbury factory. Greta soon decides that her only way out is marriage, but all too soon she discovers that life with her old class mate Trevor is not a ticket to freedom and happiness. She finds herself on the streets, pregnant and homeless. She is taken in by her mother's old friends, but the love and security of this haven is soon shattered by appalling tragedy, which affects all the chocolate girls and their children and changes life forever . . . Continue the gritty family saga with Secrets of the Chocolate Girls.

A brutal attack on a family friend leads to something darker and deeper for DC Hazel Best and Gabriel Ash. No one ever said: "See Norbold and die." So why would a man from DC Hazel Best's past cross England in order to get himself beaten senseless in this uninspiring Midlands town? Everyone assumes he was looking for Hazel. She can't think why he would; and when David Sperrin wakes up, he can't think why he would either. Amnesia - or something to hide? Flashbacks as Sperrin's battered brain recovers only make the case more troubling. His sharpest memory is of a girl dying in his arms. But who, and how? And why is there no body, no witnesses, no missing persons report? Struggling to make sense of the situation, Hazel turns to her close friend Gabriel Ash for help. But Ash has problems of his own: one of his own ghosts has returned to haunt him. And the stakes are so high there's no one, not even Hazel, he can confide in . . .

The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in Divine Rivals.

Two weeks have passed since Iris returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over.

Roman is missing, lost behind enemy lines, with no memory of his past, or Iris. Hoping his memories return, he begins to write again – but this time for the enemy.

When a strange letter arrives through his wardrobe door, he strikes up a correspondence with a penpal who seems at once mysterious… and strangely familiar.

As their connection deepens, the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.

"Aficionados of British crime fiction can't get enough, and this fresh mystery will satisfy their cravings" - Library Journal Starred Review Introducing outspoken female sleuth Alex Quick in the first of a brand-new mystery series When her business partner, acclaimed art historian and university professor Dr Helena Drummond, disappears, Alexandra Quick is consumed by guilt. Shortly before she vanished, Helena had complained of being menaced by a stalker, and Alex had dismissed her fears as groundless. Now Alex, a former police detective, is determined to use her finely-honed investigative skills to find out what's happened to her friend and colleague. But the more she uncovers, the more Alex realizes how little she really knew Dr Helena Drummond. As it becomes increasingly clear that the woman she thought she knew so well has been keeping a great many secrets from her, Alex must decide: is Helena a victim . or is she a killer?

a comic about dinosaurs finding meaning, together from the international bestselling team behind dinosaur therapy, @dinosandcomics including exclusive, never-before-seen bonus comics posing questions such as 'do I exist?', 'how should I live?', 'what is beauty?' in each comic, dinosaur characters explore how to exist in the modern world and meditate on what it means to 'live well'. suitable for grown-ups.

Two friends discover that life doesn't always turn out as one would expect in this absorbing family saga. It's not always easy living in a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone else's business. Growing up in a quiet West Country village, butcher's daughter Rebecca Peterson and her best friend Cindy Mason are keen to expand their horizons and see more of the world. On leaving school, Rebecca heads off to university in Cardiff, while Cindy gets a job at the new local supermarket - but dreams of becoming a model or actress. The two friends promise to keep in touch. But when tragedy strikes, rumours and suspicion engulf the village, and the longstanding friendship between the Peterson and Mason families looks set to be torn apart. Will Rebecca and Cindy's friendship survive? Will Rebecca ever see Cindy again?

A daughter sets out to discover the truth about her mother's death Eden Radley had a strained relationship with her mother ever since Tara deserted the family nine years before to run off with her much younger lover. But when she's told that her mother has killed herself and her severely disabled young son, Eden's half-brother, Eden is ridden with guilt. For her mother had tried to get in touch with her on the night she died, and Eden had ignored her text. Was Tara calling for help? Heading to Cleveland, Ohio, for the funeral, Eden discovers there was so much she didn't know about her mother, nor about her enigmatic, troubled stepfather Flynn Darby. And the more she learns, the more convinced she becomes that Tara's death was no suicide. Could Flynn really be guilty of murder .?

J.R.R. Tolkien's writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume. J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a 'dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told'. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dur and the rise of Sauron. It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father's death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book's content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Numenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Numenoreans' power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien's magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form. Now, adhering to the timeline of 'The Tale of Years' in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolour and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.

Introducing tough-as-nails former Royal Marine, ex-cop and sportfishing skipper Steve Flynn in the first of a brand-new series of exciting action thrillers. When he is accused of murdering his boss, sportfishing captain Steve Flynn finds that his idyllic life in the Canary Islands has suddenly lost its charm. Arrested by a tenacious - and corrupt - Spanish detective, Flynn knows he is facing a grim future unless he can somehow prove his innocence. Matters take a turn for the worse however when Flynn's ex-girlfriend is kidnapped and her life used as a bargaining chip. The only way Flynn can save her is to pull out all the stops, re-hone his old policing and military skills, and put himself in the firing line against a murderous gang for whom violent death is a way of life.

Rooted in place, slipping between worlds - a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories. Eight authors were given the freedom of their chosen English Heritage site, from medieval castles to a Cold War nuclear bunker. Immersed in the past and chilled by rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories. Also includes a gazetteer of English Heritage properties which are said to be haunted.

'The audacity of this magical author duo to sneak in and steal Christmas in the sexiest way possible . . . the charming holiday romp you absolutely need in your life!' TESSA BAILEY 'The holiday romcom of my dreams! Sexy, progressive, hilarious, and full of good cheer' HELEN HOANG When Bee Hobbes takes the lead in a squeaky-clean romantic Christmas movie, there are only three rules: 1. Don't get involved with anyone on set. 2. Don't tell anyone what you do for a living. 3. Definitely don't get involved with anyone on set. 3b. Seriously. Now, she's filming in Christmas Notch, a small town with Christmas trees and festive tunes all year round. But Bee's got a secret identity to hide, and it's not family-friendly. And her co-star, Nolan Shaw, an ex-boyband member infamous for his own x-rated antics, not only knows it, but is secretly her biggest fan. When things start to heat up on set, Bee and Nolan must keep this steamy affair under wraps, or risk ruining everything . . . _________________ 'Funny and saucy, this certainly puts the X-rated into Xmas' Heat 'A merry little masterpiece . . . this is a read for those who want a winter romcom but with some X-rated antics' Metro 'The holiday rom-com of your dreams!' Cosmopolitan 'Looking for a little bit of spice from your Christmas romance? . . . A refreshingly entertaining and sexy read, which also features some great plus-size representation' Popsugar 'For something a little spicy this Christmas, try this holiday romcom' Yours 'With plenty of cheeky charm and a cast of superbly nuanced characters, this brilliantly executed rom-com both cleverly skewers and unabashedly celebrates the appeal of squeaky-clean holiday romances, while also championing body positivity in life and love' Booklist

What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven-and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets?

These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang.

Stories of your life . . . and others.

From rising star manga artist Tetsuya Tsutsui comes a three-volume horror-thriller that draws the reader into a tangled web of intrigue and lies as two detectives trying to solve a string of mysterious deaths come face to face with a much larger conspiracy that threatens a manmade global pandemic.

A killer parasite is on the verge of threatening 180 million people . . . and a race against the clock has begun!

What do two Japanese detectives, a naked man on a city street, and a roundworm from Botswana all have in common? In this first volume of Manhole, Ken Mizoguchi and Nao Inoue are a pair of investigators asking themselves this very question as they string together clues to solve a string of bloody and mysterious murders. But as the pieces come together, they begin to uncover the threat of a deadly biological agent which poses a threat of epidemic proportions.

An unlikely lead sets them off on the hunt for a mysterious photographer, but as they chase down shadows, the infection keeps spreading. This thrilling detective story with a biological horror hook will keep readers on the edge of their seat. Rising star manga artist Tetsuya Tetsui’s Manhole is a tightly paced fight to prevent a pandemic as perplexing as it is deadly.