I don’t want to die, she thought, I just want everything to be different, to get away from it all.

Charlotte Comlyn is running away. From a marriage proposal, from her fortune, and from a series of misunderstandings with her parents.

Disguised in her brother’s clothes, she appears at the London home of her mother’s estranged best friend, the actress Beth...

A quartet of paintings hang in the gallery. The artist now famous, his subject long forgotten: nobody of consequence…

Sent into service at the tender age of twelve, Rosie Goodison learns just how unfair the world really is. Some people work their entire lives and have little to show for it, while others do nothing and seem to have it all.

Full of courage and...

‘It was a bridge too far and perhaps the whole plan was doomed to failure from the start, but we had to try, didn’t we?’

17 September 1944: 30,000 airborne soldiers prepare to drop 64 miles behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Holland; tens of thousands of ground troops race down Hell’s Highway in tanks and armoured cars, trucks and half-tracks to link up...

Dear Edie, I wanted you to know so many things. I wanted to tell you them in person, as you grew. But it wasn’t to be.

Jess never imagined she’d be navigating single motherhood, let alone while facing breast cancer. A life that should be just beginning is interrupted by worried looks, heavy conversations, and the possibility of leaving her daughter to grow...

An astonishing and evocative debut from a new voice in crime fiction.

And now he knew what was wrong with the arrangement. It was the Ma… the negative space… There was only one thing beautiful enough to fill it and — finally — she was with him. Ready, if not willing, to play her role.

Holly Blain wants to cover real news. The entertainment beat — pop stars...

The temperature is dropping, the wind is rising: something sinister is on its way to Smugglers’ Cottage.

Ten guests huddle together in a guest house for their Christmas holidays in the south of England. Among them is Private Investigator Nigel Strangeways, sent by the British security department to keep a close eye on Professor Alfred Wragby – a...

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...

Grace Hardie has grown up in a sweeping estate on the outskirts of Oxford. But her life has been a far cry from a fairytale. Ailing and asthmatic as a child, she never really found her place – not with her brothers, not with any friends – always on the outside.

And when tragedy strikes twice in the same day, Grace’s world, and her place in it, is turned...

London, 1890: Alberto Pelucci is young and wide-eyed when he steps off the boat from Italy and into the bustling heart of London. Dreaming of adventure and romance, he is determined to fall in love and find an English wife. And when Alberto meets the beautiful, but shy, Alice, it seems his dreams have come true.

Blinded by the excitement of first love...

Nothing was ever what it seemed. It was a phrase that Alex never forgot.

When Private Investigator Alex Best sets sail on a well-deserved cruise, the last thing she expects is to be confronted with predictions of her death by a lonely old woman. But when she meets the mysterious Leanora Wolstenholme, a cloud of the surreal and macabre descend upon the rest...

But at least we still have each other. As long as we still have the family, we’ll be all right.

When their father announces that the family business, Caldwell Supplies, has been bought out by Preston’s Emporium, the Caldwell family’s life is turned upside down. With an ailing mother and a young brother to care for, Imogen and her sisters need to find a way...

But of course, Marianne thought. It was the obvious answer. She would have to join the navy and go after him.

It was the only thing to do. It’s 1803 in Portsmouth, England and after a blissful wedding day, Marianne Morris should have everything she ever wanted. But when a spat in their bridal suite ends with her new husband Jem stalking off, she’s not so...

At first, the women hadn’t believed Dodd was dead. They had put him in his pyjamas, fixed up his wound with plaster and lint, and put him to bed. Then, they’d realised he had died quietly whilst in their hands.

When Harry Dodd calls Dorothy Nicholls for a ride home from the pub, she and her mother think he’s just had too much to drink. Little do they know...

Detective Inspector Mark Pemberton has been haunted by one case for his entire career. The brutal murder of Muriel Brown is the only case he never solved, and Pemberton is determined to crack it before handing in his badge. But when ageing detective Hadley is added to his team, the investigation doesn’t go as planned.

Driven to sick leave by allegations...

The stage was already set for the astonishing reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

After the discovery of previously unfound letters and journals in Germany, Hector Bolitho here continues his series of royal biographies to expand on and re-frame the extraordinary lives of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Bolitho expertly navigates the unparalleled rule...

‘What’s the good of digging up the past? You never know what you might find.’

Returning to England after four years in Geneva, Bobbie Chadwick has no idea who she is. Back in London for the dawn of a new decade, the seventies bring more independence: she can be whomever she chooses. But, haunted by an unknown past, Bobbie finds herself listless, jobless, and...

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...

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...

‘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...