“Fourteen hundred crowns – as near as possible,” he said miserably. “Is that high or low, for a man’s life?”

On the ground-floor of a damp, Venetian warehouse, two men plot an assassination. The year is 1913, and Italy is walking the fine line of peace with the Austrian Empire. To prevent a war and catastrophic consequences across Europe, Italian Senator...

Even before the terrible events of the spring of the year ’74 Miss Unwin had regretted, frequently and sometimes bitterly, her decision to accept the post of governess to Mr. Richard Partington’s two motherless girls.

When Harriet Unwin reluctantly begins her governess position at Harrow Road, she is appalled by the state of the house. Little food, minimal...

What if the one thing that kept you together was breaking you apart?

All Linda wants to do is sleep. She won’t look at her husband. She can’t stand her daughter. And she doesn’t want to have this baby. Having this baby means moving on, and she just wants to go back to before. Before their family was torn apart, before the blame was placed.

Alienated by...

So there it is. He intends to kill me. And I must let him kill me.

A thick fog has settled over London as Nigel Strangeways and Clare make their way through Greenwich to dine with Dr. Piers Loudron. Over a bizarre evening, Nigel observes the strange relationships between the Loudron siblings and their father. Dismissive of some and doting on others, it...

Three men, three motives, one murder. Who will come out on top? No one ever said murder was easy.

Nicholas Latimer considers himself indispensable to advertising agency NeO-aD – unlike his partners Barraclough and Spencer. Sometimes Nicholas thinks it would be better if he was running it by himself. If only some unfortunate accident would befall his...

This unique omnibus edition features two of P.C. Nick Rhea’s charming adventures in the Yorkshire village of Aidensfield.

Constable Around the Village

Nick Rhea is busy settling into his role as a Police Constable in Aidensfield, getting to grips with rural life and his new colleagues and neighbours. P.C. Rhea maintains his charismatic approach through the...

Despite being the older child, Petra has grown up in the shadow of her sister, Caroline. More precocious, more popular, more perfect, Caroline has always stolen everyone’s attention away from Petra.

Now, as Petra and her mother set out to Caroline’s, Petra is overcome with memories of their diverging paths: Petra fading into the background of her own life as...

On a hot summer night, Sir John Appleby is dragged from his newly-wedded bliss to investigate a disturbing crime that predates itself.

It seems the Dromio family history is steeped in both legend and tragedy. With a long-unbroken tradition of twin male heirs, Sir Romeo Dromio lost his mind when his wife gave birth to triplets. In a fit of madness, he set the...

The year is 1802, and Cristabel and Max are headlining a youth performance of Orpheus and Eurydice in Lissenberg’s new opera house. Christabel convinces Max to switch parts to let her sing the male lead only to reveal herself to thunderous applause, and her father’s burning shame, at the opera’s close. Disgraced, Christabel is sent back to England.

...

“When I was younger,” the Brigadier mused, “it seemed to me that we had the best Secret Service in the world. It never got mentioned in the newspapers … Only later did I realise that this was because we had no Secret Service at all.”

The year is 1912, and as political animosity rises and wars in South Africa and Greece rage, the dominoes of Europe feel...

‘You have lived like a Star, at which the World hath Gazed.’

Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the most divisive figures of the Tudor period; instrumental in the colonisation of North America, the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and the popularisation of tobacco in England, he is held up as a symbol of the tumultuous ambition of the Elizabethan age. Known in...

‘All these books are interesting, but they have a common fault. The books about King Edward are written at the expense of the Queen and the books about the Queen at the expense of King Edward.’

In this biography, Hector Bolitho attempts to rectify a glaring problem in previous accounts of Queen Victoria and King Edward. Here he paints a fascinating portrait...

“The only thing I have against cruise life,” said Clare, yawning again, “is that it’s turning us all into busybodies and gossips.”

Renowned sculptor, Clare Massinger, is in a bit of a creative slump. To provide a little inspiration, Nigel Strangeways books them a relaxing cruise on the Aegean Sea. Filled with Greek temples, swimming pools, and sandy beaches...

Everyone who was anyone knew that the London Season of 1939 would be quite different from any that had gone before.

The year is 1939, England’s aristocrats are preparing to present their daughters as debutantes, introducing them to society as young women. Bidding childhood farewell, the debutantes will find themselves thrust into a world of balls...

By the way,’ said Appleby, ‘what is the name of this sta –’ He stopped, his question already answered. Straight before him, sufficiently lit by the yellow rays of a hanging lantern, was a boldly lettered board. He read the inscription: APPLEBY’S END.

Strange things have been happening in Snarl: missing animals have been replaced with marble effigies; ominous...

There is a saboteur hiding in plain sight at the publishing house of Wenham & Geraldine. An incendiary, and wildly libellous, passage has been slipped into a book somewhere between the final check and the printing press… a seemingly impossible task. Desperate to avoid a scandal, the partners call in Nigel Strangeways to uncover the meddler.

Is it Stephen...

Camilla Forest has fallen upon hard times since fleeing France and the tyrannical rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. When her job as a governess ends in disaster, Camilla finds herself penniless and alone, stranded on a muddy roadside.

A chance encounter with the notoriously aloof Lord Leominster presents Camilla with an unexpected solution to her dire situation:...

You can’t keep Strangeways out of mischief. …

On a fine August day in Kensington Garden, Bert Hale is anxious to test out his toy boat, a police informant is running for his life, and Nigel Strangeways is out for a stroll.

By the Round Pond, blood seeps into the water, a young boy flees with a note, and a private investigator is left bewildered.

Meanwhile...

Nesfield University has awoken to a bizarre discovery: Professor Pluckrose is dead, apparently struck down by a falling meteorite. Inspector Appleby is called and it soon becomes clear that the meteorite didn’t fall from the sky, but from the tower looming above a courtyard in which the Professor routinely took his breaks.

Was Pluckrose’s death an...

Prior’s Umborne was a poisoned village, no doubt about that.

The small town of Prior’s Umborne is alive with gossip and accusation. A rash of poison pen letters has been sent to some of the inhabitants. Bleeding out buried secrets from the recipients’ pasts, the letters have already driven one man to take his own life.

With fear and suspicion spreading like...