Search results for ""author cynthia harrod-eagles""

1816: Napoleon has at last been defeateed, but victory brings no peace to the English.The cost of war strikes deep into the country- there is a raging inflation, discharged soldiers join the ranks of the unemployed, wages tumble and the bread price soars- and hungry men are easily stirred to protest.Amid this turbulence, Heloise and James stand guard over Morland Place- for its spirit as much as its fortunes- when a tragic accident strikes at the very heart of the family, taking one person on whom they all depend. On top of this, a devastating scandal brings the Morland name into the glare of public notoriety, so that Sophie and Rosamund are forced to learn the difference between real love and its enticing but dangerous illusion.

Read more less

'Ingenious plots' Daily Mail'A truly outstanding series' Booklist'Harrod-Eagles writes terrific crime novels, meshing fully realized characters with multilevel plot lines' Library Journal'You can't upset anyone looking into old bones.'DCI Bill Slider's out of favour in the force - for accusing a senior Met officer of covering up an underage sex ring. As a punishment, he's given a cold case to keep him busy: some old bones to rake through, found buried in a back garden, from a murder that happened two decades ago, and with most of the principal players already dead. Surely Bill Slider can't unearth anything new or shocking with these tired old bones?

Read more less

The third novel in the Ashmore Castle series, perfect for fans of DOWNTON ABBEY, from the author of the hugely successful MORLAND DYNASTY novels Behind the doors of the magnificent Ashmore Castle, secrets are waiting to be uncovered . . . England, 1903. Giles, the Earl of Stainton, has fled from his stifling duties to resume his research in Egypt, leaving behind his wife Kitty, and his infant son. Kitty, still reeling from Giles' sudden departure, struggles to keep spirits high in the castle and establish herself as the true mistress of the house, an impossible task given how many secrets the inhabitants are hiding from her... The Earl's younger sisters, Rachel and Alice, are both pursuing forbidden romances, and his brother Richard begins a new business venture, spurred on by his clandestine lover. And below stairs, a shocking crime sends distrust rippling through the staff, more so when one of their own is accused. Kitty must draw on her strength to keep the castle from crumbling around her, but with her marriage to Giles left uncertain, and a surprise of her own to conceal, can she ever take her rightful place as true head of her household? The third novel in the Ashmore Castle historical family drama series, filled with heartbreak, romance and intriguing secrets waiting to be uncovered. The perfect read for fans of Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and rich period dramas.

Read more less

'An outstanding series' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWA Bill Slider Mystery The stabbed body of a well-dressed man is found slumped on a swing in a children's playground in the heart of Detective Inspector Bill Slider's patch.From the seedy pubs of Shepherd's Bush through the brothels of Notting Hill to the mansions of Holland Park, Slider and his team unearth the victims' sordid lifestyle of debts, drugs and dodgy deals. It soon becomes clear that their prime suspect is a crime baron who will stop at nothing to keep his identity hidden. However, Slider is not only up against a resourceful villain, but is also fighting to stop the case being taken off his hand. He's so busy he hasn't a spare moment. But when the case is all over, he'll finally have the time to hear what his on-off girlfriend has been trying to tell him... Praise for the Bill Slider series:'Slider and his creator are real discoveries' Daily Mail'Sharp, witty and well-plotted' Times'Harrod-Eagles and her detective hero form a class act. The style is fast, funny and furious - the plotting crisply devious'Irish Times

Read more less

'An outstanding series' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWA Bill Slider Mystery The lot of the working copper is getting harder: new regulations, regular rousting by the top brass, a budget tighter than a Victoria corset and a DC who thinks he's in a John Le Carré novel makes it a trying time for Detective inspector Bill Slider.Then when a noted womanizer dies in mysterious fire in a sleazy motel and the whole of his murky past comes to light, Slider begins to question whether this was suicide... or murder.And that's not the only thing Slider is questioning. As soon as he's solved the motel mystery, Bill is going to have to put his own house in order... Praise for the Bill Slider series:'Slider and his creator are real discoveries' Daily Mail'Sharp, witty and well-plotted' Times'Harrod-Eagles and her detective hero form a class act. The style is fast, funny and furious - the plotting crisply devious'Irish Times

Read more less

'An outstanding series' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWA Bill Slider Mystery There's a changing of the guard at Shepherd's Bush police station. But unfortunately for Bill Slider, incoming Detective Superintendent Barrington has something to prove and no desire to make friends with his subordinates. Luckily - or rather, unluckily - Slider has work to be getting on with, and soon the discovery of a dismembered corpse plunges him into west London's seedy underworld. But something's not sitting right. Why did Barrington have an axe to grind with the old Detective Superintendent? The more Slider learns, the less he likes it, and the less he can believe that his job is ever going to win him friends in high places ... Praise for the Bill Slider series:'Slider and his creator are real discoveries' Daily Mail'Sharp, witty and well-plotted' Times'Harrod-Eagles and her detective hero form a class act. The style is fast, funny and furious - the plotting crisply devious'Irish Times

Read more less

'An outstanding series' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWA Bill Slider Mystery Award-winning ex-Guardian hack Phoebe Agnew has a reputation for attacking the police in print. So when her strangled body is found in her chaotic flat, Detective Inspector Bill Slider must abide by the impartiality of the law and find her killer.On the day of her death the seemingly undomesticated Agnew cooked an elaborate meal for someone. It may have been her old friend and reputed lover, the government advisor Josh Prentiss, but his powerful Home Office friends are pressuring Slider to look elsewhere. Unidentified fingerprints, missing items, alibis offered when not required - Slider is under pressure to untangle this web of lies and hidden relationships. For Phoebe Agnew was concealing a secret, which someone ass willing to kill - and kill again - to protect ... Praise for the Bill Slider series:'Slider and his creator are real discoveries' Daily Mail'Sharp, witty and well-plotted' Times'Harrod-Eagles and her detective hero form a class act. The style is fast, funny and furious - the plotting crisply devious'Irish Times

Read more less

It is 1931 and the world is still reeling from the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash.Polly Morland has returned to Morland Place, saving it from financial ruin. Her plans to change things are met with resistance, however, and she must prove her mettle in a man's world. Jack, war hero and family man, knows that he must make a change for the sake of those he holds dear so when an opportunity arises that would take him back to York, he seizes it with both hands.In London, Robert is bored with his office job and seeks something grander. Fatherless and dealing with the repercussions of his family's bankruptcy, he must make his own way now that he has been left to the mercy of the world. His sister Charlotte, also frustrated with her life and sure that she will never receive an offer of marriage, longs for something different as well.As the years roll by, the threat of another war hangs in the air and when King Edward VIII takes to the throne, things seem to be on the brink of change once more. But like a phoenix rising up from the ashes, the Morlands prove yet again that they will emerge from whatever they must face stronger than ever before.

Read more less

England in 1912 still bears itself with Edwardian confidence, but strikes, protests and public violence reveal the fault lines as society evolves under the spur of new ideas and technology. Among the many branches of the Morland family, Jessie and Violet, childhood friends, learn to cope with the surprises of marriage and motherhood and their different strata of society. Jack, disappointed in love, loses himself in designing aircraft and training airmen for the newly formed flying corps. And Anne exhausted by the Suffragette struggle, seeks comfort in her friendship with an unconventional young woman. The Titanic tragedy shakes the confidence of a people used to conquering nature with engineering; and all the while, the troubled nations of Europe edge closer to a war no-one wants, but which seems inevitable.

Read more less

The forthcoming marriage of Venetia, eldest daughter of the Duke of Southport, and 'Beauty' Winchmore is the talk of London society, and a match which has the full support of Venetia's parents. But just weeks before the wedding Venetia cries off - unable to accept that her husband-to-be will forbid her to study medicine. And within weeks of her shameful behaviour her father is dead and she is ostracised from her family, left with a tiny allowance to carry on with the 'cause' and try to qualify as a doctor. Meanwhile at Morland Place George's new wife is whittling away at his fortune during the worst agricultural recession of the century. His sister, Henrietta, apparently safely married off to the Reverend Fortescue, has realised her marriage is a hollow pretence of conjugal bliss and falls heavily in love with a local squire - a passion which seems destined to be unfulfilled. Another wonderful piece of fictionalised history which brings period and place to three-dimensional and colourful life.

Read more less

1833: the industrial age is sweeping through England and the Stephensons are planning the greatest engineering scheme ever undertaken- a railway line from Liverpool to London.At Morland Place, Nicholas had hoped that his brother Benedict, had been banished forever, but railway fever has brought Benedict back to Yorkshire as an engineer on the Leeds & Selby line. It is a lonely life and he fears he will never be wealthy enough to marry his new love, Miss Fleetham. Nicholas fears that Benedict is not only a threat to his inheritance but to Morland Place itself, as plans to bring the railway to York will desecrate the estate.The conflict between the brothers mirrors the nation's battle between the old and new, but the Morland feud seems certain to end in tragedy and no-one the victor.

Read more less

Benedict Morland's comfortable life is overset when an old enemy's dying wish leaves him guardian of an orphaned boy. No-one, including his wife Sibella, can understand why Benedict accepts Lennox Mynott into his household and, amid growing hostility at Morland Place, he takes the boy to America, to join his daughter Mary at Twelvetrees Plantation. Here, Benedict, as well as Lennox, fall in love with the Southern way of life, just at the moment when bitter civil war is about to destroy it forever.

Read more less

1831: as England emerges from the post war depression, the country is changing, and the birth pains of the Reform Act bring it to the brink of revolution.The violent times breed violent acts, both outside and inside the Morland family. Sophie's life is shattered by a hideous crime. Rosamund learns that achieving her dreams brings as much pain as pleasure. Heloise, mourning her beloved James, lets control of Morland Place fall into chaos- Benedict has to flee his home and makes a life amongst the railway pioneers, while Nicholas now has the freedom to indulge the dark side of his nature.And amongst them all stalks the deadly, invisible threat of cholera.

Read more less

1558: Elizabeth I is on the throne, though still challenged by Mary, and her Protestant faith threatens the Catholic Morland family.The reign of Elizabeth I means that the Morlands must seek new spheres of influence to restore their fortunes. John, heir to Morland Place, rides north to wed the daughter of Black Will Percy, the Borders cattle lord, and learns that the way to win her heart is through blood and battle. His gentle sister, Lettice, has also travelled north to marry the ruthless Scottish baron, Lord Robert Hamilton, and in the treacherous court of Mary, Queen of Scots, she has to learn the bleak and bitter lessons of survival...

Read more less

The thirteenth book in the ever-popular Morland Dynasty series

Read more less

1795: the shadow of Bonaparte has fallen across Europe and touches each member of the far-flung Morland family.As the century draws to a close, Jemima Morland wearily ackowledges that her life is also nearing its end, but she has scant peace as her unpredictable children behave ever more incomprehensibly: James's marriage to Mary Ann is closer to falling apart; Lucy's marriage de convenance is in the balance - her affair with Lieutenant Watson is an open scandal.Mary bears a daughter on board her husband's ship during the battle of the Nile; and William supports a mistress whose marriage cannot be dissolved.Jemima's death appears to unite the family but, as ever with the Morlands, the future holds more peril than hope.

Read more less

SHALLOW GRAVE: The Old Rectory is the kind of house Detective Inspector Bill Slider would give anything to own. But the dead body of Jennifer Andrews, found in a hole on the terrace, rather spoils the view. It looks like a straightforward case: Jennifer was a congenital flirt, and the hole was dug by her builder husband Eddie, who was violent and jealous. But questions remain unanswered. Why was Jennifer's body so unmarked? And how did she reach her shallow grave unnoticed?BLOOD SINISTER: Award-winning ex-Guardian hack Phoebe Agnew had a name for championing the underdog - and for attacking the police in print. When her trussed and strangled body is found in her chaotic flat, Detective Inspector Slider must demonstrate the impartiality of the law and find her killer. Unidentified fingerprints, a missing ligature, alibis offered when none is required - Slider is on a race against time to untangle the web of lies and hidden relationships.

Read more less

The brand new series, perfect for fans of DOWNTON ABBEY, from the author of the hugely successful MORLAND DYNASTY novelsBehind the doors of the magnificent Ashmore Castle, secrets are waiting to be uncovered . . .1901. When the Earl of Stainton dies in a tragic hunting accident, Giles, the eldest son of the noble Tallant family, must step forward to replace him as the head of the family. But Giles has avoided the Castle and his stifling relatives for years, deciding instead to forge his own path away from the spotlight. Now, he must put aside his ambitions and honour his duty to the family.With their world upended, the Tallants and their servants struggle to find their place in the house - and society - once again. And Giles realises that, along with the title and the castle, he's also inherited his father's significant financial troubles that threaten the security of his entire family.In Kensington, Kitty Bayfield, the painfully shy but moneyed daughter of a Baronet, has just left school with her penniless companion Nina. Nina captures the new Earl's heart, but only Kitty can save his family from their debts, and soon Giles must choose between his duty and his heart . . .The Secrets of Ashmore Castle is the first in a brand new historical family drama series, filled with heartbreak, romance and intriguing secrets waiting to be uncovered. The perfect read for fans of Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and rich period dramas. Don't miss the next book, The Affairs of Ashmore Castle.

Read more less

'An outstanding series' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWA Bill Slider Mystery With his on-off lover Joanna away with work, Detective Inspector Bill Slider almost welcomes a call-out to the BBC TV Centre at White City. Roger Greatrex, celebrated music critic and opera aficionado, appears to have topped himself - only minutes before he was due to appear live on a quiz show. But there are signs that the body has been interfered with, and Slider suspects murder. One fellow panellist is known to have quarrelled violently with Greatrex. two members of the production team have motives, and nobody in the building has a proper alibi. Slider is under pressure to make an arrest, and all his instincts are at odds with the evidence. But a dangerous killer is on the loose, and could kill again... Praise for the Bill Slider series:'Slider and his creator are real discoveries' Daily Mail'Sharp, witty and well-plotted' Times'Harrod-Eagles and her detective hero form a class act. The style is fast, funny and furious - the plotting crisply devious'Irish Times

Read more less

1916. England is at war, and the Morland family is in the thick of it, with two men already in France and three more soon to go. Tragedy strikes Morland Place when Jessie's husband Ned is reported missing on the Western Front. His father launches a desperate bid to find him, but the family fear the worst. Jessie, in mourning and frustrated by her job as an auxiliary nurse, goes to London to work in a military hospital. There she is reunited with her old friend Oliver, posted to the capital under the RAMC. Also in London is Violet, whose affair with the brilliant artist Octavian Laidislaw is about to erupt in scandal . . .The Measure of Days paints a portrait of a family, and a nation, at war, at a pivotal point in history. With the onset of conscription, no one is left unaffected. Every man must hold himself in readiness; and every woman knows that when she says goodbye, it might be for the last time.

Read more less

"Brilliant, a definite page turner. They combine real historical events with fascinating fictional characters.The twenty-three volumes of the Morland Dynasty series has been completely repackaged in the most elegant style, using contemporaneous artwork for each period. This wonderful series opens with the back drop of the Wars of the Roses with the marriage between Eleanor Morland and a scion of the influential house of Beaufort. It is a union which establishes the powerful Morland dynasty and in the succeeding volumes of this rich tapestry of English life, we follow their fortunes through war and peace, political upheaval and social revolution, times of pestilence and periods of plenty, and through the vicissitudes which afflict every family - love and passion, envy and betrayal, birth and death, great fortune and miserable penury...The Morland Dynasty is entertainment of the most addictive kind.

Read more less

1659: Cromwell's protectorate is drawing to a close, and the restoration of the monarchy can only improve the fortunes of the Morland family.The years of civil war and their aftermath have left Morland Place in dire straits, but with the return of the King, Ralph Morland believes he can rebuild the family estates. For his beautiful and ambitious cousin, Annunciata, the Restoration means a journey to London - one that leads to the amours and intrigues of Charles's court and to the unlocking of her mysterious past.A new and kinder age is dawning - a time for healing wounds - but more uncertainty, conflict and sorrow await both Ralph and Annunciata before they can find peace and forgiveness...

Read more less

The sixth book in the epic Morland Dynasty series

Read more less

1630: after long years of peace the reign of Charles I brings brutal civil war to England.The clash between King and Parliament is echoed at Morland Place when Richard brings home a Puritan bride while his brother, Kit, joins Prince Rupert and the Royalist cavalry, leaving their father Edmund desperately trying to steer a middle course between the fighting factions.As the war grinds on, bitterness and disillusion replace the early fervour, and the schisms between husband and wife, father and son, grow deeper. Edmund struggles grimly through it all in an attempt to keep the Morland fortune intact, but he is thwarted by the estrangement between his sons and then alienated from his beloved wife, Mary.

Read more less

GONE TOMORROW: Inspector Bill Slider is called to cope with a disfigured corpse grotesquely left in a children's playground. His enquiries plunge him into the shadow world behind the fashionable facade of Shepherd's Bush, among the victims of the Welfare State and the crime barons who prey on them; a world where no one is what they seem, and lying to the police is second nature. Slider's thankless task is to convince the witnesses, against all available evidence, that honesty really is the best policy. And with his lover Joanna away, fate seems suddenly determined to strew his private life with temptations . . .DEAR DEPARTED: It looks as though Inspector Bill Slider has a serial killer on his patch: 'The Park Killer', as the media so innovatively label him, attacks his victims in London's public parks, and when Chattie Cornfield is murder while out jogging, the pattern fits. But as Slider and Atherton investigate, it is Chattie's life, rather than the killer's, that poses questions. What was she involved with? Where did she spend the last day of her life? And was it love or hate that drove the hooded figure to kill her?

Read more less

1820: the landscape of England is undergoing sweeping change as the country pioneers the steam-driven machine age.The Morlands, too, face change: Cousin Africa returns from St Helena to startle society with her unconventional ideas; Lucy brings her sons home from their Grand Tour, brimming with ideas for their future. In Manchester, Sophie and Jasper meet fierce oppostion to their plans for re-housing the factory hands; while in London, Rosamund enters a bizarre agreement with her husband Marcus, with bitter consequences.And at Morland Place, James and Heloise watch their two sons approaching manhood. Benedict delights equally in love and locomotives, while Nicholas, the heir develops a taste for more unusual pleasures- and an impatience to claim his inheritance.

Read more less

'Ingenious' Daily Mail'A truly outstanding series' Booklist'No CCTV cameras, no overlooking houses, no passing traffic or pedestrians. That means no witnesses.'Bill Slider begins a nightmarish investigation when an unidentifiable victim is found in the no man's land beneath London's A40 flyover. Slider doesn't have much to go on. The victim, a smartly dressed businessman, has no ID in his pockets and no one has reported him missing. When the autopsy reveals old injuries and faded scars cover the man's body, the mystery only deepens. If he wants answers, Slider knows he must go into London's darkest corners.

Read more less

In 1917 the Great War rages on, and for the Hunters, their friends and their servants the war is where they live now.David has returned from the Front a shadow of his former self; his sister Diana, newly married, copes with pregnancy alone, her husband at the Front. Aunt Laura, eager for challenge, goes to France with an ambulance; while Beattie struggles to manage war work and household, while racked with her secret guilt and a new threat of exposure.U-boat attacks face Britain with starvation, and with the worsening privation comes a new horror as Germany begins a lethal bombing campaign. But even in the darkest hours of war, new life and new hope can burgeon, with the promise that the future might still hold happiness for them all.The Long, Long Trail is the fourth book in the War at Home series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the much-loved Morland Dynasty novels. Set against the real events of 1917, at home and on the front, this is a vivid and rich family drama featuring the Hunter family and their servants.

Read more less

It is 1916 and the Hunters, their friends and their servants are settling down to the business of war. As conscription reaches into every household, Britain turns out men and shells in industrial numbers from army camps and munitions factories up and down the land. Bobby, the second Hunter son, gains his wings and joins his brother in France. Ethel, the under housemaid, embarks on a quest and Laura Hunter sets out on her biggest adventure yet. Diana, the elder Hunter daughter, finds a second chance at happiness in the last place she'd think of looking, and matriarch Beattie's past comes back to haunt her. But as the battle of the Somme grinds into action, the shadow of death falls over every part of the country, and the Hunter household cannot remain untouched.The Land of my Dreams is the third book in the War at Home series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the much-loved Morland Dynasty novels. Set against the real events of 1916, at home and on the front, this is a richly researched and a wonderfully authentic family drama featuring the Hunter family and their servants.

Read more less

Freed from her miserable marriage by widowhood, Henrietta is at last able to marry her beloved Jerome Compton, but his divorced state means that they have to make their home away from Yorkshire. Settling in London Henrietta finds she takes to urban life with great enjoyment, as does her daughter Lizzie. Soon their home is full of visitors from the best of the city's artistic and scientific circles, and she also makes contact with her cousin Lady Venetia - now a qualified doctor and married at long last to 'Beauty' Haselmere. Venetia's marriage has redeemed her reputation and they find themselves guests at Sandringham and Hatfield. Healthy children are born to both women and it seems as though the comfortable tenor of their lives will never be disturbed again, but clouds are gathering on the horizon and when the deluge comes one of them is forced out of society. Yet it proves more of a homecoming than an exile.Another absorbing piece of English history, deftly told with a rich and colourful background.

Read more less

August 1914: the whole country is thrilled by the declaration of war. The British Experditionary Force goes off toe France to defend gallant little Belgium, and thousands more young men rush to volunteer, hoping to see action before the war ends at Christmas. At home everyone competes to be doing the most for the war effort. The Morlands have their share of volunteers, and no-one can say they aren't at the very heart of things. But when Christmas comes the war is far from over, and nine in ten of the men who marched, singing, down the white road to Mons have fallen ...

Read more less

George Morland, newly master of Morland Place, embarks on a grand improvement and expansion of the estate. His sister Henrietta, eager to be both good and useful, marries the scholarly rector, Mr Fortescue. And in London, their cousin Lady Venetia Fleetwood, moved by the medical horrors of the Franco-Prussian war, sets out to become a doctor.But the agricultural slump threatens Morland Place with ruin; the medical world rejects Venetia with contempt; and Mr Fortescue proves to be not what he seems. The Morlands have to come to terms with hard reality, and find their happiness in other, unexpected places.

Read more less

In the last years of the nineteenth century the Morlands' fortunes are changing for the better, as Henrietta and Jerome find a true home at Morland Place, and Teddy ploughs his profits into restoring it to its former glory. But the reverses and cruelties of the Boer War and the death of Queen Victoria shake the foundations of a confident nation. The accession of King Edward seems to mark the end of the old, familiar England. Old certainties are being questioned, everything is changing, and the young generation of Morlands faces a new world, full of wonders but full of dangers.

Read more less

1772: Althought George III reigns over a peaceful England, his colonies in the Americas are claiming independence and a tide of revolutionary fervour is gripping France.Allen Morland and his beloved wife Jemimas work unstintingly to bring Morland Palace back to its former glory. Their seven children often bring them heartache, but they are sustained by their love of each other.The Mordland adventurer, Charles, emingrates to Maryland in persuit of the heiress Eugenie, but finds himself in the midst of the American claim for indepdence. Meanwhile, Henry, the family's bastard offshoot, pursues pleasure relentlessly but pennilessly until he finds a niche for himself in the fashionable Parisian salons, whilst outside revolution creeps closer...

Read more less

1815: Napoleon's escape from Elba and the preparations for battle entangle the Morland family in a web of romance and heartbreak.The Allied Army is gathering in Flanders, and where the army is, the fashionable world must go- so London society hastens to Brussels to enjoy the most exhilarating Season ever.For Heloise it brings a renewed acquaintance with her former suitor, to Duc de Veslne-d'Estienne; while Rosamund must finally come to terms with her feelings for her cousin Marcus; and for Sophie, a meeting with an enigmatic French major could well alter her future.But as romance flourishes in a warlike atmosphere, the looming shadow of battle only makes the dancers whirl more feverishly. And when the Army marches out to face the might of the French at Waterloo, one question is in every heart: which of them will not come back?

Read more less

1501: the turbulence of Henry VIII's reign brings passion and pain to the Morlands as they achieve ever greater wealth and prestige.Paul, great-grandsom of Elanor Morland, has inherited the Morland estates, and his own Amyas is set to be his heir. But Paul fathers a beloved illigitimate son, and bitter jealousy causes a destructive rift between the two half-brothers which will lead to death.Paul's niece, Nanette, becomes a maid-in-waiting to Anne Bolyen, and at the court of Henry VIII she becomes embroiled in the King's bitter feud with Rome.Through birth and death, love and hatred, triumph and heartbreak, the Morlands continue proudly to claim their place amongst England's aristocracy.

Read more less

ORCHESTRATED DEATHMiddle-class, middle-aged and, according to his partner, menopausal, Detective Inspector Bill Slider is never going to make it to the Yard. Passed over for promotion again, the last thing he needs in his life, or on his patch, is an unidentifiable, naked female corpse.A priceless Stradivarius and a giant tin of olive oil are the only clues in an investigation that takes the steely-eyed, furry-headed detective all the way from the exotic backstreets of Shepherd's Bush to far-flung Birmingham.DEATH WATCHWhen a noted womaniser dies in mysterious circumstances in a sleazy motel and the whole of his murky past comes to light, DI Bill Slider begins to question more than whether the game is worth the candle. Right is right, and indivisible. As soon as he's solved the motel mystery, and found out what the Neary boys and Gorgeous George are up to, Slider's going to have to start putting his own house in orders ...NECROCHIPDetective Superintendent 'George' Dickson's replacement by DS 'Mad Ivan' Barrington - a new broom determined to sweep clean - is all par for the course for DI Bill Slider, as he faces the unhygienic fact of a dismembered corpse in a catering establishment.But there are still niggling questions to distract him: why didn't Barrington like Dickson? What is the mystery of the stake-out they once did together? And why is Slider's home life in almost perpetual stride?

Read more less

Does blood run thicker than ink?When one of London''s best-known literary agents is found dead in strange circumstances, seemingly having fallen from his office window, DCI Slider is under pressure to confirm a case of accidental death. But when the evidence points to murder, the team find themselves uncovering some decidedly scandalous secrets.Every lead seems to result in more questions, and as Slider delves deeper into the publishing world it''s up to him to sort fact from fiction.

Read more less

1788: the bloody revolution in France causes upheaval in the Morland family.Henri-Marie Fitzjames Stuart, bastard offshoot of the Morland family, strives to protect his daughter, Heloise, his mistress, Marie-France, and their son Morland. To this end, he binds Heloise to a loveless marriage with a Revolutionary, and allies himself with the great Danton. But in the bloodbath of the guillotine and the fall of Danton, Henri-Marie loses his head and Heloise flees to England.She is welcomed with open arms by the family, and in Yorkshire Jemima proudly witnesses three marriages amongst her turbulent brood.At least three may be an heir to Morland Place, but the seeds of disaster have already been sown.

Read more less