Search results for ""author dorothy dunnett""

When Sarah Cassells, a young British woman who has just completed her training as a chef, hears of her father’s violent death on Ibiza, she refuses to believe it is suicide. She heads to Ibiza to investigate and soon gets caught up with an art dealer; two beautiful jet-setters; a remarkable American woman who is not what she seems – and with Johnson Johnson, the mysterious portrait painter who shows up on his yacht, Dolly. As Ibiza prepares to celebrate Holy Week with the traditional processions, events become more and more macabre…

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Before George R. R. Martin there was Dorothy Dunnett . . . THE PERFECT GIFT for fans of A Game of Thrones. 'She is a brilliant story teller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night, desperate to know the fate of the characters you have come to care deeply about.' The Times Literary SupplementCheckmate is the sixth and final book in the series -----------------------------'If they place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left and ask me to give up my mission, I will not give it up until the truth prevails or I myself perish in the attempt . . .'It is 1557 and legendary Scottish warrior Francis Crawford of Lymond is once more in France. There he is leading an army to rout the hated English from Calais. Yet while Lymond seeks victory on the battlefield he is haunted by his troubled past - chiefly the truth about his origins and his marriage (in name only) to young Englishwoman Philippa Somerville. As the French offer him a way out of his marriage and his wife appears in France on a mission of her own, the final moves are made in a great game that has been playing out over an extraordinary decade of war, love and struggle - bringing the Lymond Chronicles to a spellbinding close.'A masterpiece of historical fiction' Washington Post 'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' The Guardian

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Before George R. R. Martin there was Dorothy Dunnett . . . PERFECT for fans of A Game of Thrones. 'She is a brilliant story teller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night, desperate to know the fate of the characters you have come to care deeply about.' The Times Literary SupplementThe Ringed Castle is the fifth book in the series -----------------------------'Not to every young girl is it given to enter the harem of the Sultan of Turkey and return to her homeland a virgin . . .'Sixteen-year-old Philippa Somerville has left Constantinople intact. Returning to England as wife in name only to Francis Crawford of Lymond, she wastes no time in seeking the truth about her new spouse, even as she finds herself navigating the paranoid court of Queen Mary.Lymond, meanwhile, arrives in Moscow to assist its young Tsar Ivan to create a fledgling Russian army. But when he is tasked to visit London as Ivan's envoy his path is bound to cross that of the wife he has sworn to divorce. Yet neither Lymond nor Philippa, caught up in their own scheming, can quite see the vast conspiracy enshrouding them . . . 'Lashings of excitement, colour and subtlety' The Times 'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' The Guardian

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Dr B. MacRannoch is in the Bahamas with her father who has moved there from Scotland because of asthma. She is a savvy and tough young woman who shows much independence of mind and spirit. However, when Sir Bart Edgecome, a British agent who has been poisoned with arsenic, falls ill on his way back from New York, she becomes involved in a series of events beyond her wildest imagination. Drawn into an espionage plot with multiple suspects, it is only the presence of enigmatic portrait painter Johnson Johnson on his yacht, Dolly, that saves the day. But nothing is quite as straightforward as it at first seems.

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To all appearances Joanna Emerson is a fully qualified, gold-medalled graduate of the world’s finest college of Nursery Nurses… Engaged as a nanny to Benedict, newly born heir to a vast cosmetic fortune, she becomes caught up in a complex kidnap plot. But the enigmatic portrait painter, yachtsman and former spy, Johnson Johnson is never far away – and he knows the dangerous game she’s playing. Before long, bullets are flying, and most of them in Joanna’s direction.

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If Ruth had stayed on leave, none of it might have happened. An astronomer working at the Maurice Frazer Observatory, Ruth Russell is enjoying her time in Rome. That is until Charles Digham, top fashion photographer and Ruth’s lover, has his camera stolen and the thief ends up a headless corpse in the zoo park toletta. The enigmatic Johnson Johnson, in Rome to paint a portrait of the Pope, is on hand to unravel the mystery. But as Johnson and Ruth begin the search for clues it soon becomes clear that more is at stake than the secrets of a couture house… something far more deadly.

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Tina Rossi, the world’s leading coloratura soprano, has travelled to Edinburgh, ostensibly to sing in the Festival, in reality to meet her lover, top scientist Kenneth Holmes. But instead of finding Kenneth at their rendezvous, she discovers an unknown corpse. Enter Johnson Johnson, a famous but enigmatic portrait painter whose yacht Dolly is about to sail in a race to the Hebrides where Holmes was conducting his top-secret research. Soon Tina and Johnson are sailing the high seas to investigate Holmes' disappearance, but as Dolly nears Rum, the race has become one for life rather than prize money…

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Rita, a small, tough Scottish make-up artist, is on Madeira investigating who killed Kim-Jim, an American make-up supremo. Also anchored off the island is Dolly, the yacht of Johnson Johnson with whom Rita teams up to get to the bottom of this foul deed. Rita’s fighting spirits are aroused despite the danger. She is not one for quitting, even when she learns she is caught up in an international drug-smuggling ring. But she also discovers that dealing with the maddeningly enigmatic Johnson Johnson is, by no stretch of the imagination, plain sailing.

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'A storyteller who could teach Scheherazade a thing or two about pace, suspense and imaginative invention'New York TimesTHE REAL MACBETH . . . It is the eleventh century and in the isles of Orkney a young boy is born. He is named Thorfinn, baptized as Macbeth. To the north are the warring Vikings and south lies Alba - the Scottish mainland. Orkney is the prize in between, and an unlikely place from which a young man might launch a bid as ruler of a united Scotland.Yet Thorfinn is unlike other men. He has a warrior's courage and the wiliness of the underdog. By his side stands his wife Groa, as shrewd and valiant as her husband. Together they will navigate the treacherous waters of the new millennium, uniting a divided nation and birthing a legend that will survive a thousand years.Thorfinn Macbeth will be King Hereafter . . .'Stunning' Washington Post

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Before George R. R. Martin there was Dorothy Dunnett . . . PERFECT for fans of A Game of Thrones.'She is a brilliant story teller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night, desperate to know the fate of the characters you have come to care deeply about.' The Times Literary SupplementThe Disorderly Knights is the third book in the series-----------------------------'The trouble about Mr Crawford is that he puts up with his enemies and plays merry hell with his friends'Summer, 1551, and Francis Crawford of Lymond is in Malta to assist the Knights of St John defend the island from an invading Turkish fleet. But under a weak leader there is dissension in the ranks of the Knights - and the chances of repelling invasion look slim.Here Lymond meets Knight Grand Cross Graham Reid Malett - known as Gabriel - a fellow Scot famed for his virtues. It is soon clear that Gabriel's wiles in war and intrigue rival Lymond's own as he attempts to bring his new comrade in arms into the bosom of his scheming. And if Gabriel should fail then his sister, Joleta, whose seductive charms no man can resist is waiting to prevail.Caught between warring factions and nations, between the wiles of Gabriel and the lascivious charms of Joleta, will Lymond prove strong enough to remain his own man?'Romance in the grand manner. I recommend it for your delight' Sunday Times'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' The Guardian

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The exquisitely-researched standalone prequel series to Dorothy Dunnett's revered Lymond Chronicles, following the ancestors of Francis Crawford of Lymond in Continental Europe.Spring of the Ram is Book Two in The House of Niccolo series.----------------------------- 'Catherine de Charetty, having chosen a lover just after the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross, was much put out to learn that, at nearly thirteen, she did not possess all the required qualifications . . .'Yet her secret suitor, Pagano Doria, claims he will wait and spirits her away from Bruges, first to Florence and then eastwards. On their trail is Nicholas vander Poele, her step-father, conducting his own journey to the fabled city of Trebizond, a Byzantine outpost on the Black Sea.Known as the treasure-house of the East, Trebizond in 1461 is the ideal location for Nicholas to open the House of Niccolo's new trading post. However, the city's riches are threated by a Turkish army while rival merchant families seek to thwart Nicholas' ambitions.Not least among them is Doria himself, harbouring a plan involving young Catherine to rain ruin on the head of House Niccolo. . .'A sorceress of the genre' Daily Mail

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Before George R. R. Martin there was Dorothy Dunnett . . . PERFECT for fans of A Game of Thrones. 'She is a brilliant story teller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night, desperate to know the fate of the characters you have come to care deeply about.' The Times Literary SupplementPawn in Frankincense is the fourth book in the series -----------------------------'It seems to me that on the whole we run more risks with Mr Crawford's protection than without it . . .'It is 1552 and the royal galley Dauphine, under the command of Francis Crawford of Lymond, sails the glittering but dangerous Mediterranean looking for a lost son. Yet as the search grows more urgent, Lymond knows he is being drawn deeper into the intricate web of his enemy Gabriel, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St John, who is already weaving a subtle tapestry of revenge.It is a journey that will lead Lymond to Constantinople and the court of Suleiman the Magnificent where a terrible game will be played with deadly and incalculable consequences . . .'Marvellous, breathtaking' The Times 'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' The Guardian

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Before George R. R. Martin there was Dorothy Dunnett . . . PERFECT for fans of A Game of Thrones.'She is a brilliant story teller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night, desperate to know the fate of the characters you have come to care deeply about.' The Times Literary SupplementQueen's Play is the second book in the series-----------------------------'The crossroads may not be of your own seeking, but at least the road you choose will be your own'It is 1548 and seven-year-old Mary Queen of Scots, betrothed to her cousin the Dauphin, heir to the French throne, has been dispatched to France. But far from home and vulnerable, surrounded by the double-dealing and debauchery of a dangerous and unpredictable court, she suffers a series of 'accidents'. Her mother, Scotland's Queen Dowager, orders Francis Crawford of Lymond to protect Mary, believing that at the very heart of Henri II's glittering, decadent court is an assassin hired to kill the infant monarch. Lymond must secretly hunt down this individual before he himself is exposed . . .'Vivid, engaging, densely plotted -- are almost certainly destined to be counted among the classics of popular fiction' New York Times'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' The Guardian

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Discover the compelling and addictive adventure from one of the nation's favourite historical writers, perfect for fans of Game of Thrones 'A brilliant storyteller, The Lymond Chronicles will keep you reading late into the night' The Times Literary Supplement ________ 'I despised men who accepted their fate. I shaped mine twenty times and had it broken twenty times in my hands' 1547. After five years imprisonment and exile far from his homeland, Francis Crawford of Lymond - scholar, soldier, rebel, nobleman, outlaw - returns to Edinburgh. But for many in an already divided Scotland, where conspiracies swarm around the infant Queen Mary, he is not welcome. Lymond is wanted for treason and murder, and he is accompanied by a band of killers and ruffians who will only bring further violence and strife. Is he back to foment rebellion? Does he seek revenge on those who banished him? Or has he returned to clear his name? No one but the enigmatic Lymond himself knows the truth - and no one will discover it until he is ready . . . ________ 'A storyteller who could teach Scheherazade a thing or two about pace, suspense and imaginative invention' New York Times 'Melodrama of the most magnificent kind' Guardian VOTED ONE OF BRITAIN'S FAVOURITE HISTORICAL NOVELS

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Upwardly mobile and smart Wendy Helmann, Executive Secretary, is in Marrakesh with her mother while her boss, Chairman of Kingsley Conglomerates, conducts very delicate if slightly dubious takeover negotiations. Morocco is a romantic place, but Wendy finds herself side-tracked from its attractions by the antics of Rita Geddes and a few peripheral problems such as kidnapping, explosions, industrial espionage, murder and car chases across the High Atlas mountains... Enter Johnson Johnson and his yacht, Dolly.

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The exquisitely-researched standalone prequel series to Dorothy Dunnett's revered Lymond Chronicles, following the ancestors of Francis Crawford of Lymond in Continental Europe.Niccolo Rising is Book One in The House of Niccolo series.----------------------------- 'It began with sea, and September sunlight, and three young men lying stripped to their doublets in the Duke of Burgundy's bath . . .'Meet Caes - Nicholas vander Poele - an eighteen-year-old orphan and dyer apprentice's working for the widow Marian de Charetty in Bruges. After fetching up in jail for accidentally sinking a lighter and breaking the leg of a nobleman, his young life seems over before it is even begun.However, fate and the fifteenth century have great expectations for Nicholas and he soon finds himself leading the Charetty company into adventures and intrigues both mercantile and military, even as enemies plot their downfall.Through cunning, bravery, wit and an unexpected wisdom, Nicholas begins to lay the foundations for the House of Niccolo . . .'As brilliant and interesting as Lymond. A generous feast' Daily Telegraph'A series that will give us our fill of high Renaissance adventure and espionage' Guardian

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