. . Cambridge on the morning of a day in April, the year of Our Lord 1569.And Christopher Radcliff, Doctor of Civil Laws at Pembroke Hall and recruiter of clever young men to the service of the Earl of Leicester, is amongst a crowd of excited townsfolk and university scholars gathered on a field to watch a game of foot ball. It is to be played between the apprentices of the town and pupils of the colleges and it is hoped it will reconcile differences between town and gown. Bets are placed, wagers made. On the field long-standing animosities surface and violence breaks out but not before the college team is victorious, thanks to the skill of a Pembroke Hall man, John Groom.Later that day, Radcliff is summoned to the senior tutor’s rooms. It transpires that John Groom has been locked up on a serious charge of assault – he’d nearly caused a cobbler’s apprentice to drown. If found guilty, Groom would be expelled from college and face imprisonment. But Christopher smells a rat. He believes the charge to be the fabrication of someone with a serious grudge against the young man, and yet it does seem as if Groom is hiding something. Enlisting the help of his friend Edward Allington and his wife Katherine, Dr Radcliff knows the truth lies somewhere within the infamous den that is Slegge’s gaming house…

    Of his many ministers and advisors, his favourite is a foreigner - the Venetian Marco Polo, whose understanding of the language and etiquette of the court is exemplary, and whose advice is widely sought. So when a flood of portents, strange visions and ghastly murders occur throughout the kingdom and even across the oceans, Marco's wisdom is called upon. The leaders of a demonic sect have disappeared from the desert to which they were banished, and Kublai Khan believes that they will attempt to release the Plague Lord himself, and open the gates of Hell...

     Daisy McDare is busy nursing a broken heart, trying to build up her interior decorator business, and baking cookies when murder strikes Cozy Creek. At first she leaves the investigation to Chris Crumple, the local bumbling police detective. But when Crumple arrests the wrong suspect, Daisy takes the investigation into her own hands. Cracking the case won't be easy. She'll need help from her pastry-baking best friend Samantha, her wise-cracking Granny Annie, and her trusty West Highland Terrier Shamus.

    But the noble and ancient family of Inverkillen, residents of Loch Down Abbey, are much more concerned with dwindling toilet roll supplies and who will look after the children now that Nanny has regretfully (and most inconveniently) departed this life.Then Lord Inverkillen, Earl and head of the family, is found dead in mysterious circumstances. The inspector declares it an accident but Mrs MacBain, the head housekeeper, isn't so convinced. As no one is allowed in or out because of the illness, the residents of the house - both upstairs and downstairs - are the only suspects. With the Earl's own family too busy doing what can only be described as nothing, she decides to do some digging - in between chores, of course - and in doing so uncovers a whole host of long-hidden secrets, lies and betrayals that will alter the dynamics of the household for ever.

    In this first Cottage Tale, Albert introduces Beatrix, an animal lover who has just bought a farm in England's beautiful Lake District. As Beatrix tries to win over the hearts of her fellow villagers, her animal friends set out to solve a mystery all their own.

    Struggling to support herself after her father's disappearance, Katherine has neither time nor money to solve the mystery alone. She has no choice but to seek help from a woman she has only just met; awkward socialite Connie Swift.As the letters become increasingly frantic, this unlikely team of amateur detectives must learn to work together, while struggling to navigate the rigid rules of Victorian propriety, their families’ expectations, and the complicating interference of men.Confronting danger as they venture into new and frightening territory, Katherine and Connie risk arrest, exposure, and even their reputations to solve the Case of the Black Tulips. Can they solve the mystery before someone gets killed....or they kill each other?The Case of the Black Tulips is the first book in the Caster & Fleet mystery series, set in 1890s London.

    Dottie Manderson stumbles upon the body of a dying man in a deserted night-time street. As she waits for help to arrive, she holds the man’s hand and tries to get him to tell her what happened. But with his last breaths he sings to her some lines from a popular stage show. But why, Dottie wonders? Why would he sing to her instead of sending a final message to his loved ones? Why didn’t he name his attacker? Dottie needs to know the answers to these questions and so, even though a particular, very annoying, young policeman is investigating the case officially, she feels compelled to carry out her own investigation into the mysterious death. Introducing a new 1930s female sleuth in a traditional, cozy mystery series set in London between the two world wars, from Caron Allan, the writer of Criss Cross, Cross Check and Check Mate, a diary-based murder not-so-mysterious trilogy set in contemporary Britain. Extract from Night and Day: a Dottie Manderson mystery: If she hurried, she shouldn’t get too wet. She had been hopelessly optimistic when she told the cabby the rain had stopped. It hadn’t. Dottie drew her fur coat more tightly around her and held onto her hat, now not much more than a bit of limp lace and ribbon. But almost her first step took her an inch deep into a puddle and she couldn’t help but give a little yelp at how cold the water was, and the shock of it. ‘Blast it,’ she grumbled, and leaning against a nearby gate-post, she shook the worst of the water from her silver sandals. Almost new, too, she thought ruefully, and almost certainly ruined. At least her dress hadn’t seemed to suffer too badly. She hitched the skirt of it up a little higher and continued her short but eventful journey. A sound came to her ears. A soft shushing sort of sound but almost melodic. She paused a moment. Listened. Her eyes, growing accustomed to the darkness, made out a shape on the pavement not ten yards ahead. Her heart gave an odd lurch, as if a cold hand gripped it. ‘Idiot,’ she muttered, and forced herself to keep going. She really shouldn’t read gothic novels late at night, it made her jumpy. No doubt all she would find were the pages of a newspaper all spread about by the wind, and made to look odd by the streetlamp behind her creating shadows. The sound came again. A little louder, a little more insistent. It sounded almost like… There was someone—a man—lying on the pavement. She felt a little shimmer of fear. Could it be a drunk? Perhaps she ought to step into the road, walk round him very carefully, keeping her distance… The head moved very slightly. His face was a pale oval in the dim lamplight. And she saw that the lips moved too. It was him making that odd noise. So it was a drunk, after all. He was singing to himself in a soft sibilant whisper. Her ear caught the rough melody of it, and even then, just as she saw the blood on his shirt-front, one part of her mind was saying, I know that song. She forgot her fears and ran to his side. ‘What happened? Are you all right?’ she asked, then berated herself for asking such a stupid question. Because it was all too obvious he was not all right. She knelt beside him and put out a hand to take his groping one. He was quite young, though older than her own nineteen years of age. But no more than perhaps his early thirties. Fairish hair, slightly receding, and dark from the rain. One of those moustaches that were all the rage at the moment. Blue eyes, very blue like a child’s, wide and astonished-looking. From his smart evening dress, he was clearly well-to-do, although she didn’t recognise him. But the blood—oh the blood.

    Before this woman can finish telling her fortune, Bess is summoned back for an afternoon tea with the Maharani, a close friend of her parents'. The seer's last words are a warning about forthcoming danger that Bess takes as the usual patter. But this visit by the Maharani has ominous overtones that mark it as more than a social call. Her husband has political enemies, and she has come to ask Bess's father, Major Crawford, for help.As the Maharani is leaving, Bess notices that there is something amiss with the royal entourage. Major Crawford must set out after them—but will he be in time?And what will happen to Bess, and the household left behind, when a vicious assassin circles back to take hostages?Here is an extraordinary glimpse into the childhood of the Bess Crawford we know from her service in the Great War.

    A foreign artist and war hero seeking refuge from the world has been murdered. Marie Paige, the frail, sickly wife of the village doctor, lies beside him beaten into a coma.The police arrest Marie's husband, convinced that they are looking at a crime of passion. But Dr. Paige finds himself with an unlikely champion: Fr. Gabriel, a blundering but brilliant Benedictine priest who believes in his innocence and feels compelled to search for the truth.In a country struggling to come to terms with the devastation of the Second World War, even a secluded English village has its share of secrets and broken lives. It is not long before Fr. Gabriel and his companions find themselves embarking on a dangerous journey into the victims' troubled war histories and a chapter of Europe's bloodiest conflict that is almost too terrible to be acknowledged.

    In return she expects payment: an annual rent of a single rose, to be delivered on the day of translation of St Winifred. But such a beautfiul woman, and with such a substantial dowry, is an attractive proposition for would-be suitors... and even more so if the house should revert to her. Someone it seems, will stop at nothing to prevent the payment of the rose - not even murder. To Brother Cadfael, as ever, falls the enquiry into this sensational crime.The Hermit of Eyton Forest: Ten-year-old Richard Ludel has, rather reluctantly, become the new lord of Eaton following the death of his father. With the position come the inevitable burdens of responsibility, among them the expectation that young Richard will make a marriage of convenience. But Richard has his own ideas, and befriends the young companion of Cuthred the hermit, who has recently taken up residence in Eyton Forest. It is a peaceful place but its tranquility is rudely shattered by the discovery of a corpse, forcing Brother Cadfael to leave his treasured herb garden and begin his quest to solve the mystery and track down a ruthless killer.The Confession of Brother Haluin: A harsh winter, and the roof of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul threatens to give way under the weight of snow. Brother Haulin, working on the necessary repairs in treacherous conditions, slips from the roof and sustains such grave injuries that he makes his deathbed confession to the Abbot and Brother Cadfael. But Haulin recovers, and in order to atone for his sins he sets out on an arduous journey of expiation, with Cadfael as his sole companion. It is a journey which leads to some shocking revelations, and eventually to murder...

     “This is an important as well as an entertaining story and should be a must-read for those bored with traditional Victorian fiction, those concerned with the unfolding historical role of women and those who just love a great story based on truth and told with utter believability and real compassion.“ Crime Review January 1822: A child is found dead on wasteland in London's Liberty of Norton Folgate. Adah Flint, the Liberty's Searcher, must examine the little girl's body to determine her identity and discover the cause of death. MEET ADAH FLINT AND DISCOVER THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SEARCHERS Adah's search for the truth takes her through the cosmopolitan backstreets of early 19th century London, with its inns and prisons, street markets and prostitution, cruelty and compassion. Written by Australian history professor T.J. Alexander and based on real characters and a true crime. This novel takes readers into the long-forgotten world of the women searchers who once played an important role in the solving of crimes, and eventually into the twenty-first century, where mysteries are resolved and new enigmas unfold. A MYSTERY WHICH WILL ENTRANCE AND HAUNT YOU.

    Charles turns to Miss Silver to uncover the strange truth behind Margaret's complicity, and the identity of the terrifying and mysterious individual behind the grey mask.

    Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester and honorary canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two-year-old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the color of hazelnuts, and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clerical detective. He can go where the police cannot.Together with his roguish friend, inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney inquires into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewelry theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a jazz promoter's daughter, and a shocking art forgery that puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but he nonetheless manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer, and hot jazz - as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior.With a whiff of Agatha Christie and a touch of G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, The Grantchester Mysteries introduces a wonderful new hero into the world of detective fiction.

    And the ripples of this seismic change are felt even in the small northern port of Liverpool.When novice nun, Agnes Moore, ejected from her convent and staying with resentful relatives, claims to have been attacked in the ancient chapel of St Mary del Quay on Liverpool’s waterfront by Satan himself, her former abbess, Lady Katheryn Bulkeley, comes to her aid. Then a young priest is found dead in the River Mersey, his right hand hacked off, and Katheryn suspects that Liverpool harbours some disturbing secrets. The pregnant Agnes refuses to reveal her lover’s identity and when she is brutally murdered, Katheryn must seek her killer amongst Liverpool’s highest and lowest citizens. Then corpses are mutilated in a local churchyard and it seems that this evil may be linked to Agnes’s death. As Katheryn uncovers more of Liverpool’s dark side and draws closer to the truth, she must find the answer to the most urgent questions of all. Why has such evil come to the town? And who is the devil’s priest?

    Rich widow Luty Bell Crookshank, experienced nurse, knows stingy incompetent blackmailer Dr Slocum did not succumb to mushroom soup at neighborhood luncheon. (Same isbns for pb 184 pg)