David realised that he had tumbled in upon something that was not merely a mess… He had tumbled in upon a mystery.

Desperate for some time away from his rowdy peers, David Henchman heads out of Oxford for a hike across Dartmoor. Relishing the peace and quiet, the last thing David expects to find at the top of Knack Tor is a dead body.

Positioned with a gun in...

Two families from two classes. Four siblings with four dreams. Fate versus destiny.

Midge and Gordon Hardie have grown up as the children of a wine merchant. But their lot in life, to inherit The House of Hardie, is not what they have in mind. Midge wants more than her mundane life – she craves intrigue and luxury. Gordon wants nothing more than a life of...

‘It is chastening to consider how easily fate can change our lives.’

For Suki Brown, one small decision has a lifetime of consequences. Working as a wetnurse for a wealthy family, the baby in her care dies suddenly, and she is faced with a heartbreaking choice: sacrifice her own child for the one who passed or be left homeless and without prospects.

Nearly...

‘Nowadays, the Mystery goes everywhere.’

Re-issued thirty years after its first publication, The Return of Mr Campion is a collection of thirteen short stories by Queen of Crime Margery Allingham. This exclusive proof copy is prefaced by ‘Mystery Writer in the Box’ — Allingham’s own musings on the mystery genre as well as her beloved detective, Albert...

An intimate portrait of the two sides of the inimitable Jane Austen: the private life of a decorous and genteel young woman dedicated to family life; and the extraordinary life of an enigmatic author who shied away from the spotlight but illuminated, with her acerbic wit and observation, women's lives ruled by English manners.

Weaving in both historical...

‘Of the four of them, only three remained. And there was no going backwards from there.’

Emily and Josephine have always shared everything. They’re sisters, flatmates, and best friends. It’s the two of them against the world.

When Emily has the perfect wedding, and Josephine finds the perfect man, they know things will change forever. But nothing can prepare...

Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton hasn’t had a holiday in six months. Hoping to get him out of his workaholic rut, his Chief assigns him a more laid-back case: providing security for US Vice-President Hartley on his trip to the UK.

Coming over to do some sleuthing on his family history, Pemberton gets the jump on Hartley and engages in some...

“Birch and elder. Elm and oak. Ash and thorn. Your oath is sworn.”

Change is afoot in Havoc Wood. Vanessa moves out of the Way sister’s childhood home, Charlie and Aron never seem to be on the same page anymore, Emz is fully engrossed in her job at Prickles nature reserve, and, in the midst of it all, Calum has gotten the approval from Hettie Way to ask Anna...

Hope House, a New York boarding home for women, has led a rather sleepy existence in terms of emergencies. One wastepaper basket fire surely doesn’t count as a five-alarm fire. That is until new tenant Ruth Miller’s limp and lifeless body is found in the courtyard after plummeting to her death.

In a clandestine and hot-chocolate infused meeting, the heads of...

Jane was fifteen, pregnant, and abandoned by her sweetheart and seducer, George Hudson, when she fled her small Yorkshire village in disgrace.

She makes her way in the world and raises her daughter Milly with love. All the while swearing to one day take revenge on the cruel man who deserted her.

Years later, Jane and Milly manage to find work together… work...

Private Investigator Alexandra Best has been hired for a missing persons case. The question is… is the victim even missing at all?

Thirty-something Caroline Price has been ‘missing’ for over two weeks. A reclusive freelancer, Caroline rarely has plans, rarely speaks to her family, and rarely leaves her home. But, surely, this doesn’t mean she’s been the...

‘You may be an adventurer, but you strike me as a gentleman.’

After the French suffer a bloody defeat at the battle of Leipzig, the survivors of Napoleon’s army retreat through Germany. Plundering and pillaging along their way, a group of stragglers attack the Von Hugel estate. Hiding in the hayloft, Sonia von Hugel witnesses the massacre of her family...

‘Nobody is to know where we are. You must forget England. That part of your lives is over.’

Twins Ginny and Emily Holborn have everything they could ever need in their Wolverhampton home: a loving family, a garden to play in and a staff waiting to attend to their every need. Until, one summer day in 1926, they disappear without a trace.

Ten years later...

When a handsome stranger walks into Robin Pollards’s favorite secluded beach cove, he changes not only the landscape of her Cornish home, but the trajectory of her life.

After her father succumbs to big business realty tycoons and sells off the wild moors on his land, Robin’s life is turned upside down.

Fiery and headstrong, Robin won’t let her childhood home...

“Once I go, I’ll never come back here. I hate the place. Beyle! Do you know what its real name was? What the old people round here used to call it? The House in the Lepers’ Hollow. That’s what it was called. How right they were… the whole place seems unclean…diseased…rotten… I won’t stay another night here.”

Inspector Littlejohn is back in this eerie...

Another golden age mystery from the sardonic and sly Richard Hull. Master of the inverted mystery, here he weaves a true-to-style, classic whodunnit.

‘No policeman ever forgets those first faltering steps of nights. If there is a time when the public is at its most vulnerable, it is during the hours of darkness.'

PC Nick is still settling into his role at the Ashfordly Section police station, and he’s drawn the short stick of shifts: night duty.

A sleeping village doesn’t mean a simple shift, though...

‘An heiress, and a damned bad hat of an uncle. Look after her, George.’

And so George Ferris makes a vow to a dying soldier to wed his sister. Honour-bound, George resolves to keep his promise.

But Jennifer Purchas has other ideas. Desperate to get away from the money-hungry clutches of her Uncle Gurning, Jennifer refuses to marry a man she has never met...

From best-selling author, Beryl Kingston, A Stitch in Time follows Rose Boniface as she and her friends adapt to life in south-east London during WWI. Fraught with heartbreak and loss, resilience and hope, this sweeping saga provides a window into a time gone by.

A Stitch in Time was first published in 1995 as Alive and Kicking.

Perhaps it’ll start being Christmas now you’re here…

And who better to spend a cosy Christmas with than ingenious and affable investigator, Albert Campion. Featuring two classic Campion mysteries and two special holiday tales, this short story collection from Queen of Crime, Margery Allingham, is the perfect Christmas treat for any Golden...