The Rose Code


Kate Quinn - 2021
    As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. 1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy—closer...

Mrs Boots


Deborah Carr - 2020
    Life for the Rowe family is good, but Florence can’t help yearning for more…When Jesse Boot, the successful owner of Boots the chemist, arrives on the island, Florence is immediately captivated by his tales of life in a busy, bustling city on the mainland. For the first time ever, Florence imagines a life away from the constraints of Jersey society, of being someone more than just a shopgirl.Until her parents reveal the shocking news they will refuse any marriage proposal from Mr Boot. Can Florence find a way to be with the man she loves and make a new life for herself?

Last Seen


Robin Mahle - 2021
    Reemy takes a new job and ends up running to stop a sex traffic organization - - but every step they take - someone seems to knowIs there a mole in their organization? Is there someone high up involved? Will they find the answer before more people are killed?

The Dark Yorkshire Series #4-6


J.M. Dalgliesh - 2019
     Books four to six in this bestselling series are brought together for the first time in a great value collection. BLOOD MONEY A businessman found hanged. A tortured and mutilated loaner. High finance has never been so deadly… DI Nathaniel Caslin is spiralling toward a professional crisis. His biggest case in years has collapsed amid accusations of police intimidation. A rebuilt reputation is now facing ruin… As the extremes of nationalist hate descend upon York, a refugee is tortured to death while a straightforward case of a bankrupt’s suicide proves to be anything but simple. How does an enigmatic campaigner with a secret to keep link these two disparate worlds? Shining a light onto corporate finance draws Caslin to those who prefer to live in the shadows. Making money, concealing wealth, protecting what you have… comes at a price. Your enemies - your friends - may find the true cost is underwritten in blood… FEAR THE PAST A murder without motive. A downtown bombing. The sins of the past revisited… DI Nathaniel Caslin is heading up a specialist unit, an opportunity to make a real difference. Little does he know, decisions taken decades previously are about to threaten all that he holds dear… Gangland tensions are on the rise as an uneasy peace is fractured in spectacular fashion. Two warring factions are lining up to unseat the other. Old adversaries rekindle their passion to exact revenge whilst the next generation seek to make a name for themselves. Meanwhile, Caslin is asked to investigate the mysterious murder of a private detective, revealing the vested interests of a multitude of figures. Finding himself walking the line between upholding the law and delivering justice, Caslin sees the past returning to haunt those around him. A crime perpetrated years previously sends ripples far and wide. Some people have much to gain whilst others have so much to lose… none more so than Caslin himself… THE SIXTH PRECEPT A killer stalks his prey. The five precepts are laid down. The sixth will be his own... DI Nathaniel Caslin has earned the freedom to run his case load as he sees fit, bypassing the hierarchical constraints with his specialist unit. Little does he know a deadly adversary is walking the streets of York. One who will push the team to their psychological limits... Reluctantly agreeing to a joint investigation alongside a detective from the Drug Squad, Caslin is perplexed by the multiple homicides of a number of addicts. Poisoned by their own supply with no apparent motive, the killings appear gang related. The crime scene is filthy and forbidding with each victim having the index finger removed from their right hand after death. A planned mutilation? A trophy? Strategically placed among the dead is a blooming pink flower, the only beauty within a dark, macabre scene. When a bank employee vanishes only to be found dead at the hands of a medieval stoning, Caslin's team are left with a puzzle to unpick. An index finger is missing and inside the victim's mouth, carefully placed and undamaged, are the petals of a small pink flower... A serial killer is on a mission. Caslin must reach into the darkness in order to confront the most dangerous and determined killer of the age. One who seeks to build a monument to his efforts.

Mother’s Only Child


Anne Bennett - 2006
    But then her father has a dreadful accident and her mother breaks down in guilt and grief. Maria, the only child, must care for them. Her hopes are dashed, not only of her career, but of marrying the one who's loved her for years.Reluctantly, Maria is driven into the arms of the supposedly reliable Barney. But he's no such thing. The young couple have to leave their home in a hurry and settle in Birmingham, where Barney grows increasingly difficult and finally goes too far. A family crisis ensues but out of it comes the one thing Maria had given up hope of ever finding again.This is a superb saga of love, loss and family closeness, set against the tumultuous years of the war and its aftermath. Established fans of this author will love it and it is set to win her many new dedicated readers.

The Truth About Murder


Chris Collett - 2019
    A MISSING WOMAN. THEN A MURDER. Stefan Greaves wakes up from a coma. He was brutally mugged while investigating a complaint about a local hospital. The woman who visited the law firm where Stefan worked had feared something very sinister was going on in the hospital’s postnatal ward. Now she has disappeared. Rookie policeman, Mick Fraser interviews Stefan. Mick’s new partner Denny Sutton is a cynical man with secrets of his own. They try to track down the missing woman. Then a body is found on the riverbank. HOW ARE THESE CRIMES LINKED AND WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON IN THE POLICE STATION?

They Do It with Mirrors


Agatha Christie - 2012
    Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a gun at the administrator, but that isn't the only shooting!

River Oaks Plantation


B.J. Robinson - 2013
    J. Robinson comes a family saga amidst the backdrop of the Civil War and a deadly hurricane, rising floodwaters in the Big Easy, or Crescent City, as a plantation on River Road in Vacherie, Louisiana, is threatened. Will Hurricane Katrina destroy what the Civil War spared? Margaret Jane Turnrow first laid eyes on River Oaks Plantation amid lush foliage and oak trees dripping with Spanish moss when she returned from her honeymoon as a petite hazel-eyed fifteen-year-old bride to the antebellum mansion. She immediately fell in love with the house and grounds and beautifying the garden with plants. Her first task involved lining the oak drive with azaleas. Determined to have the best plantation gardens, she soon recreated formal ones designed from precious memories of France, Italy, and England she'd toured on her honeymoon. Before the Civil War, she imported plants, and gardening became her passion. During the war, it was her only one. The fertile Louisiana soil loved and nursed her plants as much as she did, and they grew like the cotton and sugarcane. Pale as a magnolia blossom, she sparkled like the sun reflecting off Lake Pontchartrain when she flashed pearly white teeth with her camellia red smile, but small white hands tucked demurely into the folds of her gown as she sat quietly during elegant dinners, concealed her true vivacious spirit. The war would change the shy woman-child as it ravaged through her life and took its toll on the home and family life she came to know and love with all of her heart. Before the Civil War, dashing Danny Paul Turnrow stood six-foot-two-inches, as tall and elegant as the white-columned plantation home he'd purchased on the banks of the Mississippi River. He led a charmed life as a charismatic cotton baron known as one of the richest men on River Road. River Oaks boasted over thirty-five-hundred acres of fertile Louisiana soil, mostly planted in cotton with the exception of some sugarcane along the Mississippi River banks and his wife's gardens. He returned from the war a different man, as broken as the pillared splendor of the South. Surrounded by cypress swamps and sugarcane fields on the river's end and white blankets of cotton edging the dirt roads, River Oaks Plantation still stood, but the grand life he'd led turned to one of backbreaking toil. He no longer stood so tall and proud with an aching back hunched over Louisiana cotton fields. With the future uncertain, fear lurks in his heart and soul and clouds his mind. What will sustain his marriage through the loss? Can they defend what's most precious to them and maintain River Oaks as a working plantation? The manor home is the only legacy he has left and the only life he has ever known. Will he lose it? Years later, Amaryllis Camilla O'Brien is stranded alone with two dogs on the top floor of an antebellum plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana, as a deadly hurricane rips and roars through the city and raging floodwaters threaten to devour the old home. She discovers a yellowed diary. Will family secrets drown in the flood with her? Will the diary matter? She's determined to save it and the dogs, or die trying. Has her grandmother left her a sinking ship? Noah Gautreaux, the plantation manager, took vehicles to higher ground and is supposed to return, but will he make it in time to save Amaryllis and his pet girls? The old house withstood the floods of 1973, 1983, and 1993. He doesn't think he has to worry about it floating off down the Mississippi River, but as excessive rain and wind continue to batter the area and the water continues to rise when the levee breaches, he realizes there's a first time for everything and this could be it for the white-columned beauty of ages past.

Epitaph


Anita Waller - 2020
    She’s planned a holiday with her best friend Wendy on a journey across the Yorkshire and Derbyshire Dales. But before they depart a letter arrives, and the contents stir up trouble and memories of the past.Soon Doris and Wendy are drawn into the mystery surrounding a troubled family, a missing person and gruesome murder.When Doris and Wendy join the investigation, intriguing revelations about Doris’s past and present surface, which shock even those closest to her.Step by step they uncover familial secrets that could tear a family even further apart. Together can Wendy and Doris solve the mystery and if they do, will their lives ever be the same again?

THE LATCH MAN


John Dean - 2020
    DCI Blizzard attends in person, bemused that a woman who has spent her life evading the law, now seeks its protection.Meeting the tough old bird, he senses a genuine fear. But if suspicions that the unwelcome guest was the infamous Latch Man are true, that fear should be allayed. A ‘gentleman thief’, he has never harmed a soul. But when the woman is later found to have died, DCI John Blizzard senses something is afoot.Dismissing the doctor’s summary conclusion of natural causes, he determines to investigate further. What he discovers will shake the community to its core, scaring criminals and law-abiding folk alike.If it is true The Latch Man has returned, that is only part of the puzzle. Rivalries that have been simmering for years have come to the fore, and Blizzard must stop the case from snowballing into further tragedy.Can Blizzard discover The Latch Man’s identity, and can he collar him for the crime?

The Night in Question


Laurie Graham - 2015
    With no beauty, and few prospects, she was lucky to discover a lucrative talent - she can make people laugh. Now the queen of London's music hall stage, Dot feels she's not done badly. She has her audience, her independence, and enough money for champagne: a good life. Pretty, popular orphan Kate Eddowes was an unlikely childhood friend for Dot. The older girl's beauty was bound to take her places, and sure enough Kate soon left, lured away by love and the prospect of adventure. A chance encounter on a London street years later makes it clear that Kate's life has not gone according to plan. Though poor and alone, she retains her indomitable spirit. But this is Whitechapel in 1888, and the shadowy streets are no place for a desperate woman to wander...With her inimitable sharpness and wry wit, Laurie Graham brings to life the bustling pleasures and not-so-hidden dangers of life in a crowded city with its extremes of poverty and wealth. And all the while, in the shadows, lurks the lacerating threat of the Ripper.

Blood of the Reich


Mike Whicker - 2009
    Set in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the height of World War II, Blood of the Reich is a non-stop thriller that continues story of the enigmatic German spy Erika Lehmann.

A Vintage Affair


Isabel Wolff - 2009
    She imagined every detail, from the Vivienne Westwood bustiers hanging next to satin gowns, to sequinned cupcake dresses adorning the walls.At the launch of Village Vintage, Phoebe feels the tingle of excitement as customers snap up the fairytale dresses. Her dream has come true, but a secret from her past is casting a shadow over her new venture.Then one day she meets Therese, an elderly Frenchwoman with a collection to sell, apart from one piece that she won't part with …As Therese tells the story of the little blue coat, Phoebe feels a profound connection with her own life, one that will help her heal the pain of her past and allow her to love again.

Snow Light


Danielle Zinn - 2017
    Out of guilt, Thomas quits his job at Homicide Headquarters and relocates to the tiny village of Turtleville, where he regains control of himself and begins to enjoy life again. However, a year later, all the guilt and shame of the park murder re-emerges when a local hermit, Ethan Wright, is murdered with an unusual weapon and left on display in the centre of the village.For Thomas, the situation gets worse when DS Ann Collins, a colleague from his past, appears to help with the case. But things become complicated when the victim’s identity is put into question.Who is the victim? And why was he murdered?Thomas and Collins will find themselves trying to solve a highly unusual case and both may have more in common than they could have ever imagined.Danielle Zinn is a debut author not to be missed. If you like gripping murder mysteries full of twists and turns then you'll love Snow Light.

The Golden Hour


Beatriz Williams - 2019
    Newly-widowed Leonora “Lulu” Randolph arrives in Nassau to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires?Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess’s social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands’ political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward’s marriage lies an ugly—and even treasonous—reality. In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. Inevitably, the willful and wounded Lulu falls in love.Then Nassau’s wealthiest man is murdered in one of the most notorious cases of the century, and the resulting coverup reeks of royal privilege. Benedict Thorpe disappears without a trace, and Lulu embarks on a journey to London and beyond to unpick Thorpe’s complicated family history: a fateful love affair, a wartime tragedy, and a mother from whom all joy is stolen.The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime . . . and the rise and fall of a legendary royal couple.