The Alan Grant series #5

Convalescing from a broken leg, Inspector Alan Grant undertakes to solve one of the greatest mysteries of all time – the murder of the princes in the Tower. Intrigued by a sympathetic portrait of King Richard III, Grant questions conventional accounts that condemn the monarch as the murderer of his young nephews. With the help of his friend, Marta Hallard, and a new acquaintance, Brent Carradine, Grant delves into the evidence – or lack thereof – surrounding the heinous crime and comes to a startling conclusion.

The Daughter of Time is the fifth novel to feature Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, and the last novel to be published by author Josephine Tey during her lifetime. It is recognized as a classic of detective literature and was voted number one in the UK Crime Writers' Association list of the top 100 crime novels of all time.

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In the spring of 1348, tales begin arriving in England of poisonous clouds fast approaching, which have overwhelmed whole cities and even countries, with scarcely a human being left. While some pray more earnestly and live yet more devoutly, others vow to enjoy themselves and blot out their remaining days on earth by drinking and gambling.And then there are those who hope that God's wrath might be averted by going on a pilgrimage. But if God was permitting his people to be punished by this plague, then it surely could only be because they had committed terrible sins?So when a group of pilgrims are forced to seek shelter at an inn, their host suggests that the guests should tell their tales. He dares them to tell their stories of sin, so that it might emerge which one is the best.That is, the worst…

In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the Cobb—Lyme’s famous seawall—proved dangerous to a careless young woman. Now it proves deadly.Following their recent intrigue at Highbury, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy visit the seaside village of Lyme on holiday. Family business also draws them there, to receive the personal effects of Mr. Darcy’s late cousin, a naval lieutenant who died in action.Their retreat turns tragic when they come upon a body lying at the base of the Cobb. The victim is Mrs. Clay, a woman with a scandalous past that left her with child—a child whose existence threatened the inheritance of one of her paramours and the reputation of another. Did she lose her balance and fall from the slippery breakwater, or was she pushed?Mrs. Clay’s death is not the only one that commands the Darcys’ attention. When Mr. Darcy discovers, among his cousin’s possessions, evidence that the young lieutenant’s death might have been murder, he allies with Captain Frederick Wentworth (hero of Jane Austen's Persuasion) to probe details of a battle that took place across the sea . . . but was influenced by a conspiracy much closer to home.The Deception at Lyme (Or, The Peril of Persuasion) is the delightful sixth installment in the critically acclaimed and award-winning Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery series by Carrie Bebris.

WINNER OF THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD 2014.Longlisted for the John Creasey Dagger Award for best debut crime novel of 2014.London, 1727 – and Tom Hawkins is about to fall from his heaven of card games, brothels, and coffeehouses to the hell of a debtors' prison. The Marshalsea is a savage world of its own, with simple rules: those with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease. And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of the gaol's rutheless governor and his cronies.The trouble is, Tom Hawkins has never been good at following rules – even simple ones. And the recent grisly murder of a debtor, Captain Roberts, has brought further terror to the gaol. While the Captain's beautiful widow cries for justice, the finger of suspicion points only one way: to the sly, enigmatic figure of Samuel Fleet.Some call Fleet a devil, a man to avoid at all costs. But Tom Hawkins is sharing his cell. Soon, Tom's choice is clear: Get to the truth of the murder – or be the next to die.A twisting mystery, a dazzling evocation of early 18th-Century London, The Devil in the Marshalsea is a thrilling debut novel full of intrigue and suspense.

Amidst the myth and folklore of Tavistock in 1322, one tale above all others strikes fear into the hearts of the town's inhabitants - that of the murders on the Abbot's Way.One cold winter, many years ago, a young acolyte eager for distraction led a group of fellow novices in the theft of their abbot's wine store. Later, crippled with guilt and fear of discovery, Milbrosa was driven to commit still more crimes in an effort to disguise his sins. But his soul had been destroyed with his first sip of illicit wine, and, as legend has it, the devil himself appeared to mete out his punishment, leading the unwitting Milbrosa and his cohorts to their deaths on the treacherous Devon moors.Now, in the autumn of 1322, it looks as though history may be repeating itself. Abbot Robert has found his wine barrel empty, and a body has been discovered on the moors. Bailiff Simon Puttock, in Tavistock for the coining, is called upon to investigate, but the case seems only to get more complicated with time. It soon becomes apparent that it's not just wine that's gone missing from the abbey, and the body on the moor isn't the last. With the arrival of Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, the townspeople hope the mystery will finally be solved - but do the terrors of the past provide the key to their present turmoil?

The Fourteenth Chronicle of Matthew BartholomewIt is ten years since the Black Death reaped its harvest at Cambridge. Now, in the stifling summer of 1357, an even more sinister visitor is at large. He claims that when the plague comes again he will save people. Last time God failed, next time the Devil will succeed.Some people easily believe the message from the Devil’s disciple, a black-hooded figure known only as the Sorcerer. Some need a little more persuasion and for those he leaves reminders of his powers – manuals on sorcery, a hand severed from a corpse, desecrated graves. But there are stubborn sceptics in the town, and physician Matthew Bartholomew is one of them. He suspects that a more identifiable form of devilry is involved, one that has reared its head in the affairs of the town and the university before, when disputes break out between religious orders, when quarrels rage over legacies, and where mysteries linger over clerics who have fled the country.It is in Matthew’s own – and urgent – interests to unmask the Sorcerer, for there is a belief at large that this devil’s agent is none other than Matthew himself. He is, after all, a man who is no stranger to death, who has a self-professed interest in the illegal art of anatomy, and who has an impressive array of deadly methods at his disposal. And as well as the Sorcerer’s activities threatening Matthew’s reputation, it rapidly becomes clear they threaten his life…

The first of the interlinked plotlines is set in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Fandorin is charged with protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway from Japanese sabotage in a pacy adventure filled with double agents and ticking bombs.Then we travel back to the Japan of the late 1870s. This is the story of Fandorin's arrival and life in Yokohama, his first meeting with Masa and the martial arts education that came in so handy later. He investigates the death of a Russian ship-captain, fights for a woman, exposes double-agents in the Japanese police, fights against, and then with the ninjas, and becomes embroiled in a shocking finale that interweaves the two stories and ties up the series as a whole.

In 1897, New York City teems with hustlers and freshly made millionaires, fine artists and con artists, criminals and immigrants. Among them is a rabbi's son who calls himself Houdini. He is struggling to make it in the brutal entertainment business when detectives call on him to attempt the most amazing feat of his fledgling career: solve the mystery of a toy tycoon murdered in his posh Fifth Avenue mansion.It's a challenge which Harry-never at a loss for self-confidence-is more than willing to accept. But soon two more murders are linked to the first, and the investigation leads into the strange world of rare curios and the collectors who pay fortunes to own them. Now, the master magician, with the reluctant help of his brother, Dash Hardeen, must uncover a motive for murder adn track a killer to his hidden lair-an appointment with danger from which not even the great Houdini can escape.