Search results for ""Cranthorpe Millner Publishers""

“At sunrise on the day she would die, Ginny Hill flew fast and low along the border to save a spy with no name hiding from his enemies in a field of stones.” When a British Army helicopter crashes in a lake in Wales, killing the female pilot, questions naturally arise. Was this terrorism? If so, who were the terrorists? And why did certain people never admit they had an agent on board - one they wished dead? All too soon, the law of unexpected consequences kicks in, and the pilot’s death triggers the unravelling of five secret but interlinked lives, including that of her radical clergyman father. Moving at pace between Northern Ireland, Scandinavia, South Africa and South America, this Russian doll of a story builds to a brutal conclusion... but one with a wickedly unexpected twist in its tail.

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'As he looked on in horror, the woman turned her head, giving Craig the full view of the exit wound. A piece the size of a grapefruit had been blown out of her skull. What remained within was black and lifeless.' Lifetimes is the sequel to Legacy, the story of time-travelling ex-Marine Craig Edmonds, and his battle to save himself and his family from the evil witch, Beyath. Able to harness both time and space, Beyath returns from the dead to hunt down Craig Edmonds and destroy everything he knows and loves. Trapped in an alternate timeline, with no wife or family to support him, Craig is a wreck and bent on self-destruction. But with the help of a friend from his original lifetime, he slowly comes to terms with his new reality, and the two of them decide to go back to 1968 to finally destroy Beyath, not just in one timeline, but across all timelines. The question is: will they succeed?

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"Boomy the bittern lived in a wetland. A wetland of pools, islands, ditches and dykes..." Boomy the Bittern tells the story of a family of bitterns as they go about life in their wetland home: hiding in the reeds, bringing up their young, squelching through the mud and scooping up fish to eat. But when the wetlands are drained by humans, where will the bitterns go? Complete with beautiful illustrations by wildlife artist Sally Mills and a captivating, informative narrative by Pam Earnshaw, Boomy the Bittern makes a wonderful bedtime story for any nature lover. With text designed to develop children's reading skills, it also provides the perfect teaching tool to positively engage young readers in discussions about wildlife conservation and climate change.

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HIGH EXPLOSIVES YOU CAN STOCKPILE, NUCLEAR WEAPONS YOU CAN STOCKPILE, CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS YOU CAN STOCKPILE, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS YOU CAN NOT. The year is 1991, and the Soviet Union is in a state of collapse. But with chaos reigning in Europe and secrets being leaked all too easily from the Ministry of Defence, why should the British Security Services be interested when the premises of a small biotech start-up are burgled, resulting in an accidental death? Complete with suspected Russian spies and biological warfare, this peculiar case proves more complex to solve than anticipated, and truth and trust are tormented by doubt and deception as the path of the small unit of MI5 agents investigating the case is criss-crossed by innocence and subterfuge, bluff and bullying.

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Pianist and author Keith Jacobsen tells the story of his lifelong passion for the piano as performer and teacher from early childhood in post-war Liverpool to the present day. By interweaving practical examples of how the piano works and how to play a simple tune, he hopes to inspire readers wishing to start their own piano journey. But above all this is a compelling human story, rich in vividly recalled moments and memorable characters.

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We all imagine escaping into new worlds, but how challenging would it really be to survive? What if you were dragged through a gateway into a place filled with magic...and you had none? On Midsummer's Eve, Isabella Mackay finds herself pulled through the Anahera Gate into the archipelago of Hjaltland, a world of scented magic, chaotic storms and competing goddesses. Unable to understand the language, ignorant of its cultures and completely devoid of magic, she struggles to find her own path to freedom and safety. This might be a little easier if she wasn't shackled to the sardonic Captain Bannerman upon arrival and hauled over a mountain. He has a job to do, and she is determined to stop him from doing it. But some fates cannot be avoided, and when they reach the great Citadel, Isabella is faced with an impossible choice: accept their bargain, or be thrown into the slave pits of Hamnavoe. Whether it is flying waka over storm-haunted mountains, riding giant, psychic cats across the Citadel rooftops or feeding tidbits to tiny, alcoholic dragons, she is determined to survive, to forge new alliances and thwart her oppressors. Will Isabella make her way through it, back to our world? And will she even want to?

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There were vultures circling above us and I was told to keep moving in case they thought I was dead... Travels with a Brompton is a sparkling narrative about the adventures of an English couple and their folding bicycles over nearly 30 years of exploring France. This is a wine-fuelled account of sweaty pedalling and hard-earned freewheeling via cols, war memorials, lavender fields, and vineyards. It is a travel guide for those who long for two-wheeled trips in France and a lively read for the armchair traveller who chooses sofa over saddle. The author's Brompton, Modestine, is a descendant of the donkey Robert Louis Stevenson took on his travels in the Cévennes.

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Friday 20th March 1556: Thomas Cranmer is alone in his cell in the Bocardo Prison, Oxford. The first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. The first Archbishop of Canterbury to have a wife. The first Archbishop of Canterbury to have legitimate children. Tomorrow, on the 21st of March 1556, he will pay the ultimate sacrifice. He will be the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be burned at the stake.

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“I’d imagine my family finding me; would they be surprised? Devastated? Relieved? Would I survive? Would they find me just at the last second, resuscitate me at the vital moment before I could slip away? I could see their angry faces flashing before my eyes, screaming selfish, selfish, selfish, how selfish can you be?” Life has become banal and monotonous for 16-year-old Samantha Ward. The blade she drags across her skin is the only thing that makes her feel alive, that makes her feel real. With the death of her beloved grandmother and the rejection of her best friend, Samantha falls ever further into the grips of her darkness, every day adding to the collection of marks on her skin. Desperate and tired of waiting for change, Samantha ventures out into the rain and finds herself drawn to the graveyard nearby. She stumbles across her classmate Michael Gallagher with a noose swaying behind him. Choosing careful words, Samantha convinces him to leave it behind. With an unspoken bond between them, a friendship blooms. But as Samantha struggles to keep her habit a secret, she realises that Michael is hiding his own secrets too.

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Lucy is used to moving from place to place. With her father constantly looking over his shoulder, they have never really settled in any one city. She tries not to get too attached. After all, what's the point of falling in love if you know it's going to be temporary?

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On the run from the mob who killed her mother, young witch Gweneviere Baxter is running out of options. When the opportunity to wed the local baker is presented to her, she feels she has no other choice. But everything changes with the arrival of young slave woman, Kambili

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Glass-brimming Jenny (psychiatric nurse) and her new patient, glass-definitely-half-empty (physiotherapist) Claire, develop a lifelong and fateful co-dependent friendship that is scarred by secrets and untimely ends.

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In this thrilling sequel to 'Restless Souls', Ronnie Brown's 'Unquiet Minds' follows historian-cum-detective R.I. Penny as he learns to cope with his past trauma and goes undercover to help investigate the horrific murder of a young woman that was savagely attacked.

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Transported to a world where magical creatures roam free, mystery is around every corner, and decisions really are a matter of life or death, Jane must learn to adapt to her new surroundings. But what she doesn't know is that there is something deep within her that makes her extraordinary. All she needs is the courage to accept herself as she i

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WHAT REALLY HAPPENS AT LAST LIGHT? Last Light will give you just enough illumination to see into the wonders and horrors that dwell deep within the darkest shadows. These tales will both entrance and terrify. Scared of the dark? Let Last Light guide you safely through these stories of the paranormal and terror that surrounds us all.

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"The judge described my crime as 'the most heinous' he had seen in his career on the bench. I wanted to shout, cry out and protest my innocence as my sentence was handed down. But honestly, I couldn't." Convicted of a crime he has no memory of committing, Eli Kelly is serving a life sentence in Stoutbliss Prison. After seven years as an inmate, Eli is resigned to his fate, but when a solicitor is sent to Stoutbliss as part of a government scheme to investigate potential miscarriages of justice, he finds himself contemplating a future beyond his prison cell. Working with a psychiatrist, Eli revisits his traumatic past, and as they delve deeper into his memories, Eli realises that, regardless of his guilt or innocence, he is yet another victim whose cries for help were ignored by the very services supposed to keep him safe. Will Eli finally remember what happened on that fateful night? Is he guilty? Or innocent? And given the circumstances, does it matter?

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"I promised him... I promised my dad I would always help wildlife." Emma promised her father that she would always try to protect wildlife, and when he suddenly disappears, she feels even more determined to keep her promise to him. One day, Emma discovers an incredible secret: she can talk to 'Guardian' birds, appointed by Nature to prevent extinctions! Excited by her discovery, Emma embarks on a series of adventures with the Guardians and her friends. But evil is lurking where she least expects it, and soon, Emma must come face to face with the cruel Lord of The Air. Will Emma and her friends be able to protect the natural world? Or will evil rule the roost? A magical tale with magical illustrations, The Girl and the Goldcrest is the perfect read for the next generation of nature lovers and climate activists.

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A laugh-out-loud memoir by Parachute Regiment and 22 SAS veteran John Wick – the man who helped break the story of the 2009 MPs’ Expenses Scandal. Have you ever wondered how to conduct a ransom negotiation? Would you know what to do if you accidentally found yourself in a room full of Columbian drug barons? How would you feel if you were hurtling towards the ground beneath a partially-inflated parachute? Would you panic if you were threatened with imprisonment by the Speaker of the House of Commons? These are only a few of the dilemmas faced by John during 60 years of adventures, in both Army and civilian life, which at times left him perilously close to having a rendezvous with the Grim Reaper. This is a book about family, friendship, travel and, above all, John’s enduring resilience in the face of adversity. It ends in 2009 with the MPs’ Expenses Scandal, which rocked the nation and destroyed the careers of many Members of Parliament. Who can forget the revelations of wrongdoing that filled the pages of The Daily Telegraph newspaper that Spring? Without John Wick’s courage and determination to do the right thing, at a risk to his own safety, the truth might have remained hidden from public scrutiny forever.

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“Life, as someone once said, will always disappoint you in the final analysis.” In 1973, Stella, a university student, took her own life by jumping from a high-rise building. Or so the police reports claim. Meanwhile, in the present, crime fiction writer Robert Cross is attempting to organise a fifty-year reunion of his university friends. But as long forgotten memories begin to emerge, Robert is left to piece together the reality of Stella’s death, haunted by his own disreputable past.

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Sunday, October 28th: I have discovered failure and found that it is like goose grass. It clings still and I cannot shake it off. 2012 is a disastrous year for Sebastian Scattergood, who has recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry after thirty-seven happy and uneventful years as a Health and Safety officer. Despite his eternal optimism, however, all the earmarked projects of his newly earned freedom crumble into dust, each one faithfully recorded, warts and all, in his diary. Building firms go bust on him, landscape gardeners do a runner, and his cultural tours company is sabotaged by a couple of naked German students smoking cannabis on a night walk. It is only when he has been driven into hibernation by a savage attack in the press that salvation finally arrives, in the form of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Set in a small village in the Lincolnshire Wolds, 'Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood' is a chronicle of a horrendous year, narrated by an earnest and pompous man who lacks any sense of self-irony. Part disaster diary, part social satire, it is a novel of literary fiction which is both humorous and moving in equal measure.

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Hope Became The Enemy is the story of a young independent English woman, Josie. Looking for excitement and adventure, Josie decides on a career change and moves to Turkey to teach English. As she slowly falls in love with her new life, she takes the reader on an exciting journey across Turkey, and through her eyes they learn about the cultures and traditions of this exotic country. Josie quickly finds that living in a patriarchal country is very different to the life she knew in the west. By chance, while she is on holiday with friends on the west coast, she meets the tall, charismatic Bechir. Their relationship is rocky and has its ups and downs but a couple of years later, she accepts a proposal of marriage and soon falls pregnant with their first child. She settles down to live happily ever after with the man that she loves. All too late she discovers that she is married to a malignant narcissist and is isolated from friends and family. Trapped in a cycle of abuse, apology, and forgiveness, she knows she must leave. But how?

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With scenes inspired by real events, Matt Graydon's Leaving Fatherland follows book-loving protagonist Oskar from his childhood in pre-war Germany to New York City and beyond, as he struggles to come to terms with his father's abuse.

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David dreams every night of a mysterious red-haired woman. But as he falls more and more in love with the concept of her, his obsession leads him to make dangerous choices, culminating in his involvement with Amsterdam's criminal underworld.

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‘The Devil plays games, that’s all I can tell you.’ Steven Mason is six feet under. The only problem? He’s not dead. After escaping from the doom and gloom of low-life gangsterism on a rundown Essex housing estate, Steven had hoped to pursue a new life in the Mediterranean. But his former world of corruption and greed is not so easily set aside, and he is drawn into yet another nefarious job. Now, trapped with no means of escape, he is left to ponder why he keeps being drawn closer and closer to Hell.

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Dragged through the Anahera Gate from our world into the great archipelago of Hjaltland, Isabella is determined to learn all she can and find a way home. But life doesn't always take us where we expect to go, and with the threat of the slave pits hanging over her, she is left with no choice but to marry a stranger, the Drw-ad Bryant Lathorne.

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Steven Mason, a young career villain, needs to find his boss's girlfriend Dominique. Straightaway, he knows things are not going to be easy when he finds a dead hand in Mickey Finn's old fridge. So begins a series of encounters: St Mary with a limp wrist; Dominique's husband Texas - a semi-retired gigolo; his vicious brother Greg; rent boys; a psychiatrist and a corrupt detective. As Steven realises he's uncovering a bitter dispute between two gangs, so division and betrayal make him hunter and hunted. He will need to decide whom he can trust, torn between his loyalties and his attraction to his friend's girlfriend ... not to mention what the outcome will be with a caged parrot.

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After her sister's tragic death, Jess is forced to confront the world alone for the first time. As she fights to overcome her fears, and family secrets emerge that she could never have foreseen, Jess discovers that Denmark may hold the key to more than just her past...

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If You Build It, He Will Come is the story of an eight-year project to bring the previously extinct osprey back to the beautiful Belvoir area of England, which culminated in a successful brood of two chicks in 2022, ending over two centuries of waiting.

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Humour runs riot in this delightful exploration of the music, history and other-worldly quirks of England's second largest county. Artfully mixing elements of truth with a host of fictional (and not so fictional) characters, Witham 'n' Blues is a must read for lovers of music, comedy and Lincolnshire alike.

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Up until now, the only monsters the LAPD had ever seen were of the human variety...

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A fresh perspective on three of the most-loved Greek goddesses, offering a unique insight into their thoughts and feelings when faced with the events of myths and legends many of us think we know. Brimming with tragedy, humour, bitter antagonism and hopeful reconciliation, this novel offers readers a rare glimpse into the minds of the gods.

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From elephants to autumn leaves, this is a dancing adventure with lots of twists and turns. Join Sunny Steps and his daddy as they dance out of their playroom and into a world of imagination. Read along and join in the fun!

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Head-over-heels in love with a woman long since dead, John is perplexed by Penny's constant vanishing, wondering where she has gone, and why? But as Penny's life is played out during the English Civil War, John must reconcile his strange infatuation with his present-day life and girlfriend, who now lives in what was once Penny's manor house.

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Joy is in the playground with her two friends: Jumpit the frog and Tortie the tortoise. They are joined by other friends who have been having a very bad day! They all work together to help their friends overcome the challenges they face through gratitude, mindfulness and self-belief. Joy's Playground promotes resilience in children though practising and teaching important skills. Now more than ever anxiety, stress and change-management is crucial for young children.

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A cult hellbent on death and destruction. A troubled family with a twisted web of secrets and lies. An ancient forest swarming with ungodly abominations. When Hattie and Richard Penrose take their family on a 'staycation' to the Cornish village of Bodhmall's Rest, cracks in their unsettled marriage start to appear, as does the truth about Hattie's fling with a co-worker and Richard's burgeoning money problems. As the family members battle their own individual demons, strange creatures are sighted in the woods, and the ghost of the mysterious Red Man appears in the attic. When an undercover SOCA agent uncovers links with a criminal organisation known as The Belvedere Saints, things start to unravel at a terrifying pace. Little do the Penrose family know that Glanna Cormoran and the members of her pagan cult are keeping a close eye on them. And the Terrible Babies. They're watching too.

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When Viscount Peveril is found dead at his chateau in France, his children instantly suspect foul play. But with his demise being registered as ‘death by natural causes’, they must seek the assistance of DCI Sandy McFarlane to uncover the truth. Against his superior’s wishes, Sandy travels to Bordeaux and Saint-Émilion, and swiftly concludes that something is not quite right with the circumstances of the Viscount’s death. Enlisting the help of an old friend, DCI Rich Singh, Sandy embarks on a complex and intriguing murder investigation. With medical intrigue at its heart, this is no classic ‘whodunit’, and is the third book in the popular DCI McFarlane crime series.

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Island to Island: Photograph Collection is a unique assemblage of photographs, capturing not only the incredible wildlife and beautiful landscapes found in Seychelles, but also the difficulties of managing a remote tropical island nature reserve. Complementing the author's memoir Island to Island, this beautiful collection of photographs offers a rare and unique pictorial insight into a dynamic, challenging, yet privileged, existence: living amongst a million seabirds and some of the rarest wildlife in the world whilst experiencing and dealing with an alien culture in an isolated location. This comprehensive anthology features remarkable images of wildlife, landscapes, and day-to-day living captured through the lenses of seven photographers; from the challenges of being self-sufficient in extreme conditions, monitoring seabird populations on rugged terrain, and patrolling the island at night for poachers, all are portrayed and published for the first time.

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Henry Bogget is an ordinary boy of just eight years old, and Henry has a secret. A secret that has been kept for many, many years. A secret about magic in London... In England, whenever someone changes the world and leaves their mark on history, a little round blue plaque is placed on the house where they once lived to make sure they can never be forgotten. With every discovery made, artwork painted or song written, a little trace of very powerful magic, an enchantment, is left behind. One night, not too long ago, Henry discovered this secret and his life changed forever. An adventure beyond his wildest dreams was about to begin.

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A collection of prize-winning stories that celebrate life's absurdities and contradictions. This amusing collection of short stories explores a range of complex characters navigating their way through life, including drag queen Roxanne, who is drafted in by the police to help prevent local sex workers from being assaulted; 'cleaning lady' Doreen, who uses company gossip to swindle money out of her bosses; pizza delivery driver Mark, aiming to benefit from the sexual appetites of his wealthier clients; newly qualified pharmacist Anne, trying to battle her way through the tedium of speed dating, and many more. With narratives ranging from the familiar to the downright bizarre, these stories aim to delight and intrigue, acting as a reminder that most seemingly mundane experiences are anything but.

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“I spent six decades learning how never to reveal my weakness to anyone - now it’s time for change.” When he was just two and a half, Barrington Sowden's mother left him and his older sister in the care of his grandparents in Jamaica, joining the Windrush exodus from the island to seek work in the UK. With his father having departed years earlier, Barrington was left with no memory of his parents, and his childhood was marked by a series of unusual events, including the unexpected death of his beloved grandfather in circumstances which to this day appear suspicious. At the tender age of ten years old, Barrington joined his parents in Manchester, and was rapidly plunged into a life surrounded by violence, drugs and racism, forcing Barrington to constantly fight to forge his own path. Chronicling his life from his early years to the present day, One Journey, Many Lives tells the story of an ordinary man trying to build resilience amidst extraordinary circumstances.

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Who are you without your story? And what do you do when someone steals yours? How do you know that the stories you tell yourself, about yourself, are true? Where do they come from? What if they are actually based on distorted memories? Maggie is newly qualified, full of self-doubt and trying desperately to pretend that the dark tragedy in her past never happened. When a client, remarkably like her younger self, arrives for therapy, her carefully constructed defences are put to the test. Add in a second client with a possibly violent past, then a third preparing to face his childhood abuser in court and the stage is set for Maggie's emotional barricades to be well and truly breached. L J Jenner, a psychotherapist for 15 years, blends fiction and fact in this captivating story of identity, loss, grief and healing. Challenging themes are handled with delicate compassion, enabling The Wrong Story to deliver an intensely emotional but nonetheless enthralling experience. Readers are given a rare insight into what happens behind the closed doors of the therapy room and, crucially, into what goes on inside a therapist's head. The clients may be fictional, but the psychological theory and science are both real and astonishing.

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When David Kincaid, an author down on his luck, is offered a dream assignment – to write about the death of a young man, the heir to a fortune – he can’t resist taking it. The fee is enticing, and it’s a paint-by-numbers job. The young man was high (so to speak), and he fell. It was an accident. Simple. To the police and the coroner, it was an open and shut case… but David finds that key witnesses have disappeared, or worse. And now, someone with muscle is taking an unhealthy interest in him. David had a big reputation once; now he sees a chance to reclaim it. But to do so, he must persuade someone to give up a secret. And there’s another problem: a killer with a to-do list that has David’s name on it. To save his skin and solve the riddle of an innocent man’s death, David must trade in lies and secrets – some of them his own.

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‘Theory, whether wanted, asked for or needed, was what Penny did best. He had a theory for all things.’ Restless Souls plots the pathway of jaded art history lecturer R. I. Penny. Upon reading about the death of actress Kate Considine, found dressed as Ophelia from Millais’s painting, Penny feels complicit. Indeed, for Penny, trouble is never far away – when a file left in his pigeonhole evidences fraud in the University, he hides it. Bursting with swagger and vulnerability, Penny is questioned as a matter of routine by two detectives, Lucy Freeman and Richard Hart. But Penny is quickly convinced he can out sleuth Hart, and recruits an old friend Dove to help him solve the many mysteries laid out before him.

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