Search results for ""Allison Busby""

London, 1873. Madeleine Brewster''s marriage to Dr Lucius Everley was meant to be the solution to her family''s sullied reputation. After all, Lucius is a well-respected collector of natural curiosities, his ''Small Museum'' of bones and things in jars is his pride and joy, although kept under lock and key. His sister Grace''s philanthropic work with fallen women is also highly laudable. However, Maddie is confused by and excluded from what happens in what is meant to be her new home.Maddie''s skill at drawing promises a role for her though when Lucius agrees to let her help him in making a breakthrough in evolutionary science, a discovery of the first ''fish with feet''. But the more Maddie learns about both Lucius and Grace, the more she suspects that unimaginable horrors lie behind their polished reputations.Framed for a crime that would take her to the gallows and leave the Everleys unencumbered, Maddie''s only hope is her friend Caroline Fairly. But will she be able to put the pie

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As Christmas draws nearer, Simmy Henderson is invited to a party in Glenridding at the heart of the Lake District. However, the festivities are overshadowed by two alarming discoveries: a man''s body in the beck above the village and a vulnerable newborn baby, apparently abandoned by its mother. Caught in the crosscurrents and tensions of the inhabitants of Glenridding, Simmy is drawn into the investigation. The season of goodwill has been eclipsed by far darker emotions and a murderer must be found.

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A surprise phone call from her late fiance''s family sends Vivien Lowry of Bloomsbury Girls off on her next adventure. Struggling as a playwright, she moves to Italy both to reckon with her past and create a new future as a script-writer at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. Here she encounters the greatest male bastion of them all, the Vatican. Vivien ends up entangled between the church and the censors, while romantically caught between two men: an enigmatic American film financier who is not who he says he is, and a socialist Italian prince and independent filmmaker who ends up under house arrest over a censored screenplay. Each of them has a wartime experience from their past that they must revisit in order to move on - Vivien most of all.

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Nestled at the heart of the Wiltshire village of Essington St Mary lies a charming park which boasts two magnificent magnolia trees. New arrivals to the neighbourhood, including those being helped by a local charitable trust, are strolling in their shade. Amongst them is Brett, just out of the care system; Carla, escaping an abusive ex-partner; and Matthew, a widower whose house burnt down while he was in hospital.As new beginnings dawn and the coming weeks unfold, Brett, Carla and Matthew will set out on paths to lives they could not have imagined when they first came to Magnolia Gardens.

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Sisters Mattie, Nell and Renie have all managed to escape their oppressive and bullying father, but now separated, the girls must draw upon their strength and courage to build new lives for themselves. Renie, the youngest sister, is living with the newly married Nell, happy in her waitressing job at the King's Head Hotel. But a shadow falls over her the day Mr Judson arrives as assistant manager. Feeling increasingly harassed by him and also eager to escape from Nell's unpleasant husband, Renie is delighted when she is offered a new job in London. Although she at first finds the city a huge and bewildering place, soon she is settling in and making friends. And yet she still worries about her sister Nell, and the way her husband Cliff treats her. When tragedy strikes Nell and her family, Renie is left feeling horrified and helpless. Her only comfort is her growing friendship with the injured Gil, towards whom she has felt an instant trust and affection. But can their relationship progress from friendship to something more? And how will the return of the threatening Judson affect their future?

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Seeking a quiet spot to write his memoirs, Laurent de Rodergues secludes himself in Saint-Chartier, a village in the heart of France. Yet his tranquil life is soon disturbed by Carlos, an eccentric millionaire determined to give the town's medieval château a costly and controversial makeover. When the château is unveiled after months of anticipation, the whole town turns out to gaze in wonder - only to find their host lying dead in a pool of blood. Laurent suspects foul play, and when the gendarmes find nothing, he makes it his mission to unmask the murderer. But where to begin? From jilted lovers to jealous rivals, disgruntled employees to shadowy associates practically everyone had a reason to want Carlos dead. As Laurent quickly learns, beneath its idyllic façade, the town of Saint-Chartier is rife with resentment and secret passions.

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1860, Wimborne, Dorset. Rebecca Tullidge, miserably married to her callous husband, is having an affair with a railway officer, who she finds dead on the railway tracks. Determined to win votes for the upcoming election of mayor, Mr Feltham calls for Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Lemming to solve the hideous crime, which takes longer than anticipated. With a pregnant wife at home, Colbeck must work at speed if he is to return in time to be there when he becomes a father.

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1857. On the LNWR train to London, a criminal is being escorted to his appointment with the hangman. But the wily Jeremy Oxley, conman, thief and murderer, has one last ace up his sleeve - a beautiful and ruthless accomplice willing to do anything to save her lover, including cold-blooded murder. When the Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck learns that Oxley, his arch nemesis, has escaped, black memories of their shared past leave him no choice but to do his duty, whatever the cost. With the faithful Victor Leeming at his side, Colbeck must use all of his skills to track his elusive enemy. But could he have finally met his match?

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Abigail Beadle has given two decades of her life to caring for her late father and preserving the family home, Ashgrove House in Wiltshire. When her loathed stepmother, Edwina, dies, Abigail is glad to be released from her bullying. She will also be able to look after the house properly, perhaps have a real Christmas at home, without Edwina's stranglehold on the finances. But her stepmother left behind a will that casts doubt on Abigail's inheritance and raises the possibility that she will have to leave the home she loves so much. It is not until Lucas Chadwick, the man she loved when she was young, returns to the village that Abigail begins to believe her life might be able to start at last ...

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A parent's worst fear is realised when seven-year-old Libby Hallforth goes missing at a funfair; no witnesses, no leads, and no trace. Months later, after the trail for Libby has gone cold, DI Jake Porter and DS Nick Styles find human remains but that's just the tip of a gruesome iceberg. Everyone is a suspect, nobody can be trusted, including the Hallforth family. The chances of getting justice for Libby are fading fast, along with Porter's chances of stopping a killer before they strike again.

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Many citizens of Ambient, Wisconsin, believe the old tales of an angel living in the Onion River that runs through the heart of their town. So when Gabriel Carpenter vanishes one night at the river''s edge after being accosted by troublesome teenagers, he is presumed drowned. Yet the teenagers all tell a different and conflicting story, and when Gabriels lifeless body is found in a barn a mile away no one in this quiet Midwestern community can agree whether a miracle or a hoax has occurred. But as the story spreads, and curious tourists overrun the town - some skeptical, others reverent, still others angling for financial gain - one fact becomes certain beyond any doubt: life here will never be the same.

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The Curse of Penryth Hall was the winner of the Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel prize. Jess Armstrong follows in the tradition of global bestseller Jacqueline Winspear in bringing a fresh take on the interwar period.

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'Essential reading for anyone who wants to experience and understand the unique comfort that Austen's works universally provide.' NATALIE JENNER Ruth Wilson first encountered Pride and Prejudice in the 1940s and has returned to Jane Austen countless times over the course of a long life. After her sixtieth birthday, she took the radical decision to retreat from her conventional married life and live alone while confronting feelings of loss and unhappiness. As Wilson read between the lines of Austen's six major novels, she felt herself reclaiming her voice and her sense of self. An uplifting memoir of love, self-acceptance and the curative power of reading, The Jane Austen Remedy is an inspirational account of nine vivid decades, unravelling memories and searching for small truths to help explain the arc of a life that has been both ordinary and extraordinary.

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1961. London florist Felix Smythe and close friend Professor Cedric Dillworthy are Suffolk-bound once more. But their hopes of a trouble-free visit are dashed by the gruesome murder of a highly respected resident - an event which seems to be linked with the bizarre killing in Cambridge of a cleric with murky proclivities. Along with nosy Cambridge don, Professor Aldous Phipps, and Southwold''s Inspector Jennings, the task of sifting truth from falsehood is complicated by a collection of local eccentrics: Horace Dagwood, a hectoring property tycoon; the earnest Reverend Furblow and a cranky Goodhart twins, whose brand of moral crusading may not be as harmless as first thought. The shadow over Southwold looms far, menacing visitor and resident alike and leads to an alarming result.

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Edward Brazier is enlisted by Prime Minister William Pitt to assist his investigation into smuggling activity in Deal. However, with his love Betsy now locked into a loveless marriage with Tom Spafford, a useless drunk, and living as a prisoner, Brazier is distracted from his mission. Having foiled Spafford''s plan to steal Betsy away to her family-owned plantation in the West Indies, Brazier finds himself taken captive. Only his ingenuity will help engineer his escape and his cunning use of subterfuge will then allow him to infiltrate the smuggling gangs of Deal in a determined bid to unmask those in control. But with suspicion raised around him and his enemies banding together, can Brazier survive long enough to bring those responsible to justice?

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Dr Hilary Joyner is neither well liked nor well respected among his academic peers. However, he believes his next project will bring him the recognition he deserves. He''s working to uncover the truth behind the ''buried treasure story'', a local Sussex legend involving two invaluable golden statues, fabled to be hidden among the religious houses in the county. Although his latest book deadline is looming, Ethelred Tressider unwittingly finds himself hosting both the academic and his redoubtable literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle, for the weekend. The three soon find themselves part of a hunt for the missing figures, but it isn''t long before Joyner''s research project comes to an abrupt end with his death. Ethelred and Elsie must piece together the clues of the past to solve the mystery in the present - if they can avoid the distractions of chocolate and feminine wiles for long enough, that is.

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Edward Brazier is enlisted by Prime Minister William Pitt to assist his investigation into smuggling activity in Deal. However, with his love Betsy now locked into a loveless marriage with Tom Spafford, a useless drunk, and living as a prisoner, Brazier is distracted from his mission. Having foiled Spafford''s plan to steal Betsy away to her family-owned plantation in the West Indies, Brazier finds himself taken captive. Only his ingenuity will help engineer his escape and his cunning use of subterfuge will then allow him to infiltrate the smuggling gangs of Deal in a determined bid to unmask those in control. But with suspicion raised around him and his enemies banding together, can Brazier survive long enough to bring those responsible to justice?

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When Mara Gregory receives a letter from the father whom she believed to have died when she was a child, her world is turned upside down. Aaron Buchanan only discovered that he had a daughter a couple of years ago and now he's desperate to play a part in her life. In the face of her mother's opposition, Mara arranges to meet her father and his family. In a breath-taking corner of the world, amid a waterfront community on Australia's west coast, will Mara find him the disappointment that her mother promises? And when Australia brings another man into her life, she's faced with some huge decisions and some heartrending choices.

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At the end of Hawthorn Close there is a charming park which boasts two magnificent magnolia trees, and an assortment of houses and units. Several new occupants are moving into the neighbourhood and will live in units fronting the park, built and managed by a charity for people needing a home for a while. Amongst them is Brett, 18, an orphan just out of the foster child system; Carla, who is escaping an abusive ex-partner; and Matthew Woodley, a widower whose house had burnt down while he was in hospital.From the cottages and farms to the local shop, pub and old manor house, residents'' lives are set to intertwine, relationships bloom and both romance and heartache lie ahead.

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Thea Osborne reconnects with her friend Emmy while on a visit to the church in Baunton, near Cirencester with her stepdaughter Stephanie. Emmy, now married to local farmer Nick Weaver, asks Thea to, help them find their missing niece, Ginny.But before Thea can get started, she stumbles upon the recently killed body of Alice, a woman they had briefly seen in Cirencester the day before. Stephanie concentrates on searching for Ginny via social media while Thea is diverted into helping the police with the murder investigation. It soon becomes clear that Ginny and Alice are linked in a sinister way.

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Paris, 1899. Abigail Wilson has received an invitation from Professor Alphonse Flamand, a prominent French Professor of Archaeology, to join him on a dig in Egypt. Overjoyed to be presented with such an opportunity, Abigail and her husband, Daniel, travel to Paris to meet the Professor at his office in the Louvre to discuss plans. However, when Abigail goes to the appointment, she finds Flamand dead with a knife in his chest. In a whirl of confusion and despite her pleas of innocence, Abigail is arrested. Determined to prove that she has been framed for Flamand''s brutal murder, Daniel and Abigail, the Museum Detectives, will delve far into the shadowy corners of the City of Light for the truth.

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February, 1918. In the small hours of a cold morning, a burglary in Limehouse has escalated into a sinister siege between a band of thieves and the authorities, and a police constable lies dead. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy hasten to the scene where attempts at talking the men into surrendering have been met with stony silence. When the door is eventually battered down, Keedy bravely leads the way in. Then a gunshot is heard: Keedy has been hit. While his partner is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the burglars, following leads as to their previous targets and overall goals. As defenceless Keedy remains in the sights of the murderous thieves, Marmion delves into the secrets that lie behind this fatal incident ...

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Paris, 1899. Abigail Wilson has received an invitation from Professor Alphonse Flamand, a prominent French Professor of Archaeology, to join him on a dig in Egypt. Overjoyed to be presented with such an opportunity, Abigail and her husband, Daniel, travel to Paris to meet the Professor at his office in the Louvre to discuss plans. However, when Abigail goes to the appointment, she finds Flamand dead with a knife in his chest. In a whirl of confusion and despite her pleas of innocence, Abigail is arrested. Determined to prove that she has been framed for Flamand's brutal murder, Daniel and Abigail, the Museum Detectives, will delve far into the shadowy corners of the City of Light for the truth.

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When Mike Wakefield's business partner absconds with their printing firm's money, Detective Inspector Sloan is tasked with what appears to be a cut-and-dry case of embezzlement. However, unsettling events - tyres slashed, bricks through windows - make it clear that someone is really gunning for Mike. There is just one print job to put to bed in time for a lavish launch party at Ornum House. All goes according to plan until one of Mike's employees is found dead . And he wasn't the only casualty. DI Sloan and DC Crosby have a tangled set of motives and some devious chicanery to unpick to discover a killer.

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With the festive season fast approaching, amateur sleuth Juno Browne helps organise a Christmas Fair to raise funds for Ashburton's local animal sanctuary. The event is a success, but whilst Santa is handing out presents in the fairy-lit grotto, a murder is being committed in a dark corner of the garden. Juno discovers the body of Bob the Blacksmith, found clutching a horseshoe decorated with a sprig of elder. Suspicion falls on Bob's longsuffering wife, Jackie, and on Don Drummond, with whom Bob violently quarrelled in the past. From this cloud of suspicion, Juno begins to make connections between Bob's murder and previous 'accidental' deaths, but her course is obstructed by those who insist on links to ancient folklore. Determined to take the evidence with a generous pinch of salt, Juno navigates pagan ceremonies and astrological connections that turn up yet more bodies on a deadly path to the truth.

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Daniel Kind's relationship with Miranda is on the rocks. After the bright lights of London, Miranda feels isolated in the Lake District and Daniel fears that she will just up and leave. And Miranda wouldn't be the first: ten years ago Emma Bestwick left her cottage and never returned. Her disappearance went unaccounted for, much to the chagrin of DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the local Cold Case Review Team. But in a small, rural community, someone is bound to know something. And that someone has recently started calling the local newspaper and dropping hints about Emma's death. With the case reopened, Hannah and Daniel are drawn together again, and discover to their cost that one person will preserve the secrets of the past at any price.

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Welcome to Morganville. Just don't stay out after dark. Morganville is a small college town filled with unusual characters. But when the sun goes down, the bad come out. Because in Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows - one that will spill out into the bright light of day. For Claire Danvers, high school was hell, but college may be murder. It was bad enough that she got on the wrong side of Monica, the meanest of the school's mean girls, but now she's got three new roommates, who all have secrets of their own. And the biggest secret of all isn't really a secret, except from Claire: Morganville is run by vampires, and they are hungry for fresh blood.

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In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs's career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the Secret Service. Posing as a junior lecturer, she is sent to a private college in Cambridge to monitor any activities, "not in the interests of His Majesty's Government."

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London, 1802. Major Harry Sterling has left behind his regiment following the death of his father and, in quick succession, his older brother. The responsibilities that come with being Duke of Ranliegh now fall to him, including marrying and siring an heir without delay. However, Harry finds himself distracted from looking for a wife when his soldier instincts lead him to a web of treachery and the possibility that his brother's death was no accident. As his investigation unfolds, so Harry's search for a wife continues ... surely the eldest Winslow girl, the wilful Isabella, wouldn't be right at all .

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London, 1900. Hester Stanmore watches in disbelief as the jury declares her attacker 'not guilty', and the courtroom erupts into chaos. The man in the dock is being congratulated as if he were a hero, but she has seen he madness in his eyes when he had attacked her and left her for dead. It was only Hester's strength that allowed her to survive. Hester was determined to bring him to justice, but what would happen now? As she endeavours to pick up the pieces of her life, Hester meets the mysterious Daniel Hansen, and perhaps she will find the happy ending she justly deserves .

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September, 1925. After their recent adventures in Transylvania, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes look forward to spending time with Holmes' son, the famous artist Damian Adler, and his family in the French countryside. But when they arrive at Damian's house, they discover that the Adlers have fled from a mysterious threat. In the ominously empty house, Russell discovers several crates packed with memorabilia related to the artist Horace Vernet, including an old journal written in a nearly impenetrable code. Intrigued, Russell sets about deciphering the intricate cryptograph. The secrets of the past appear to be reaching into the present. Could there be things about Holmes' own history that even the master detective does not perceive?

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Penniless Gwinny Tuffel is delighted to attend her good friend Tina's upmarket wedding. But when the big day ends with a dead body and not a happily-ever-after, Gwinny is left with a situation as crooked as a dog's hind leg. When her friend is accused of murder, Gwinny takes it upon herself to sniff out the true culprit. With a collection of larger-than-life suspects and two pedigree Salukis in tow, she is set to have a ruff time of it.

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'Essential reading for anyone who wants to experience and understand the unique comfort that Austen's works universally provide.' NATALIE JENNER Ruth Wilson first encountered Pride and Prejudice in the 1940s and has returned to Jane Austen countless times over the course of a long life. After her sixtieth birthday, she took the radical decision to retreat from her conventional married life and live alone while confronting feelings of loss and unhappiness. As Wilson read between the lines of Austen's six major novels, she felt herself reclaiming her voice and her sense of self. An uplifting memoir of love, self-acceptance and the curative power of reading, The Jane Austen Remedy is an inspirational account of nine vivid decades, unravelling memories and searching for small truths to help explain the arc of a life that has been both ordinary and extraordinary.

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1947. Elinor White, known locally as 'the White lady', is living a solitary, quiet life in a grace-and-favour cottage in the Kent countryside. Unbeknownst to her neighbours, she is the veteran of two world wars, a trained killer and former intelligence agent. Yet Elinor's private and seemingly tranquil existence conceals a past trauma that comes to the fore when she is drawn into the predicament of a local man entangled with one of the most dangerous crime families in London. A treacherous path lies ahead, but it may be one that ultimately leads Elinor to a future unshackled from her own painful history.

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Egypt, 1908. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, used to the grand opulence of the Cunard cruise line, are at first disappointed with the Marmora, a small, unimpressive ship owned by the P&O shipping line. Employed by P&O to be the ship's detectives, Dillman and Masefield expect to encounter the usual assortment of petty thieves and confidence tricksters. But this cruise is certain to be unique as the Duke and Duchess of Fife and their children are aboard and the detectives will provide security for the royals. And when a dead body turns up, the voyage proves to be one to remember. Keeping the demise of the poor victim a secret on such a small ship is tough enough but suspects abound, meaning Dillman and Masefield have their work cut out for them. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series casts off for a new generation of readers.

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Rob Carswell has recently relocated to the Wiltshire village of Essington St Mary, although the reality is proving less peaceful than he had expected. For one thing, there's a nuisance of a dog to deal with but then he discovers the plight of neighbour Ilsa. Illness has taken its toll and she is also dealing with the bullying tactics of the builder intent on destroying the character of the neighbourhood. Amy Hatherall is feeling a little adrift following the death of her mother, but a final, handwritten letter leads her in an unexpected direction to a great-aunt she never knew she had in Wiltshire. As the line of old hawthorn trees begin to blossom, they watch over as romance and new beginnings bloom for the residents of the close.

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A maritime mystery from Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective series. September 1907. George Dillman sets sail from Liverpool to New York on the Lusitania's maiden voyage. Posing as a passenger, Dillman is in fact an undercover detective hired by the Cunard Line to keep an eye out for petty crimes. But after some uneventful days aboard, the ship's blueprints are stolen and then a body is found. As Dillman works to get to the bottom of the crimes, he makes an unusual friend, first-class passenger Genevieve Masefield, and the two uncover secrets aboard the ship that prove explosive. The Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk in 1915 by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. Lusitania held the Blue Riband prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is relaunched for a new generation of readers.

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York, 1865. A passenger train stands ready to depart amid the bustle at the station. The flurry of passengers and porters, the swooping pigeons and barking dogs are thrown into a state of turmoil when an explosion rips through the brake van of the train, killing guard Jack Follis. In response to a summons from the North Eastern Railway, Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are sent to investigate. Was it an accident, deliberate vandalism or targeted murder? The longer the investigation goes on, the more complex it becomes. With a dizzying array of suspects and motives, will the combined skills of the detectives be enough to identify and catch the culprit?

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AN EXPLOSIVE ASSAULT When a firebomb attack at a Brighton travellers' site kills women and children, Chief Superintendent Jo Howe has strong reason to believe the new, far-right council leader is behind the murders. A CORRUPT LEADER Howe digs deeper into the case and uncovers a criminal ring of human trafficking and euthanasia leading to a devastating plot threatening thousands of lives and from which the murderous politician will walk away scot-free. A DETECTIVE AT BREAKING POINT

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Bombay, 1909. Genevieve Masefield and George Dillman make a living as detectives aboard the early twentieth century's most extravagant ocean liners. From the members of first class in all their finery, to the card cheats and pickpockets plying their trade, they've experienced more than their share of humanity. For their latest voyage, the Salsette boasts a pair of travellers who feign ignorance of each other but there is clearly no love lost between them. Then there's an elderly man whose powers of deduction may be based on more earthly techniques than the mystical energy he claims to possess. And there's a young woman and her mother who find their way into the middle of every bit of trouble aboard. The lives of this group of travellers are set to intersect in ways none of them could have foreseen on dry land - including in a murder. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series casts off for a new generation of readers.

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November 1907. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield sail from Liverpool to New York on the maiden voyage of the luxurious Mauretania. Employed by the Cunard Line again as private detectives, they pose as passengers on what proves to be a very eventful crossing. Dillman is instrumental in rescuing a crew member from being washed overboard in severe weather, but he is unable to save one of the first-class passengers from the same fate. At first, it looks like a case of death by misadventure, but is the presence of a record shipment of gold bullion on board just too great a coincidence? Dillman and Genevieve must fathom the motive for murder before it is too late. At the time of her launch, the Mauretania was the largest moving structure ever built. She would later serve as a WWI hospital and troop ship. After returning to civilian service, Mauretania was retired and scrapped in the mid-1930s. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is relaunched for a new generation of readers.

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Lord Burford had some serious misgivings about hosting yet another house party at Alderley. After all, the previous two could, at best, be described as disastrous. But with family members travelling down for the funeral of an elderly relative, the Earl really had no choice but to offer accommodation. It did not take long for things to go wrong even before a body was found. For readers who want the twist in the tale to be as elegant as a well-tied cravat, it would be criminal to miss The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks.

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On a glorious July morning in the pretty Lake District village of Threlkeld, Simmy Brown and Christopher Henderson celebrate their wedding day. While the event passes off without undue calamity, when most of the guests have departed a severely injured young man is found nearby. Pressure on police resources compromises the investigation and speculation is rife. Was it an accident or something more sinister? What was just a chilling suspicion develops into an altogether more disturbing theory.

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DCI Hannah Scarlett is an acknowledged expert in solving cold cases, but she is struggling under the weight of bureaucracy when Ramona Smith's disappearance from Bowness more than twenty years ago crosses her desk. The prime suspect was charged but found not guilty. Now the case has come back into the public eye as the result of a shocking tragedy on the Crooked Shore, the fount of dark legends south of the Lake District. A ruthless killer, who has already got away with one murder, plans further appalling crimes. DCI Scarlett finds herself racing against the clock as she strives to solve the mysteries and save innocent lives.

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Southampton, 1910. When the Oceanic sets sail its ultimate destination is New York. But it must make one very important stop first: at Cherbourg, to pick up internationally renowned financier and art collector J. P. Morgan, fresh from a continental buying spree. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, the ship's detectives, are nervous about the presence of such an important passenger, not to mention his valuable cargo. After all, it is rare for a transatlantic voyage to pass without incident for the two sleuths. The everyday difficulties of managing passengers including a charming rake intent on causing mischief and a controversial painter travelling with his bohemian wife and his alluring French model, are brought to a pitch when a major art theft takes place and a throat is cut. Dillman and Masefield must draw upon all their experience to find the killer before it is too late. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is making waves with a new generation of readers.

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December, 1940. With the Luftwaffe pounding the city nightly, Londoners seek refuge in underground stations. Aldwych has been taken out of service to provide shelter for the British Museum's priceless Elgin Marbles, as well as civilians escaping the bombing. When the body of a young man is discovered on the tracks, wearing evening dress but barefoot, Detective Chief Inspector Coburg and Sergeant Lampson are on the case. Before long, more bodies are discovered, and Coburg's wife Rosa becomes a target for the brutal killer. Caught up in a world of underground jazz clubs, abandoned tube stations and looters, Coburg and Lampson must track down the ruthless murderer before it's too late.

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First Published as Enemy Action. September, 1940. With London having endured the Blitz for nearly a month, people are calling for vengeance, but once again the night heralds more destruction. In Custom House, anxious residents dutifully head to the nearest public air-raid shelter as the warning siren wails. When dawn brings the all-clear, people disperse, but one man remains - he is dead, stabbed through the heart. Detective Inspector John Jago discovers that the victim was a pacifist. But why, then, was he carrying a loaded revolver in his pocket?

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London, 1896. Madame Tussauds opens to find one of its nightwatchmen decapitated and his colleague nowhere to be found. To the police, the case seems simple: one killed the other and fled, but workers at the museum aren't convinced. Although forbidden contact by his superior officer, Scotland Yard detective John Feather secretly enlists 'The Museum Detectives' Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton to aid the police investigation. When the body of the missing nightwatchman is discovered encased within a wax figure, the case suddenly becomes more complex. With questions over rival museums, the dead men's pasts and a series of bank raids plaguing the city, Wilson and Fenton face their most intriguing and dangerous case yet.

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