It is June 1694, and Reiko, the beautiful wife of Sano Ichiro; Reiko's friend, Midori; the shogun's mother; and Lady Yanagisawa, wife of the shogun's powerful second-in-command, are kidnapped en route to Mount Fuji and imprisoned in the tower of a ruined palace. The shogun demands quick action – and under the threat of death, Sano is forced to work with his sworn enemies, Yangisawa and Hoshina. The women are in imminent danger and the delivery of a ransom note only complicates the situation – revealing a surprising target for the kidnapper's plot, and creating another impossible situation for Sano.

The year is 1949.

In the bombed-out ruins of Cologne, Hanno Dasch is king.

Director of the most successful black market operation in post-war Germany, Dasch has kept his clients supplied with goods so extravagant and rare that they were almost impossible to find even at the height of Germany’s conquests.

Nobody but Dasch, his enigmatic daughter and the war criminal he keeps as his bodyguard know how he does it.

None of this has escaped the attention of Allied Intelligence, who face not only the systemic corruption of a country where everything is in short supply, but the growing threat of Stalin’s KGB.

Fearing that Dasch will soon expand his business to include dealings with Russia, and invite the further meddling of Russian agents in the west, the CIA sets in motion an undercover operation to infiltrate and, ultimately, destroy Dasch’s empire.

A disgraced American Army officer, Nathan Carter, is recruited to approach Dasch and to ingratiate himself with promises of stolen army supplies.

As Carter moves further and further into the labyrinth of Dasch’s world, it soon becomes clear that the black market ring has already been compromised, but by someone even more dangerous than the Russians.

Carter stumbles upon a counterfeiting ring, with whom Dasch has unwittingly gone into business, which seems to have been created with the sole purpose of destroying the Soviet economy, something it could easily do with the superlative quality of the forged bills it is producing. With Carter caught in the middle, and facing the danger that his cover might be blown at any moment, a race begins between the Russian and American spy agencies to uncover who is responsible, before the situation escalates to war.

A Crowner John Mystery #10

Coroner Sir John gets mixed up in alchemy in this twisty instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England.

1195. Prince John plots to seize the throne from his brother, Richard the Lionheart – and he is supported in his wicked schemes by King Philip of France, who offers to help John financially by sending him a mysterious alchemist, a Mohammedan named Nizam, who claims to be able to transmute base metals into gold.

But Nizam never makes it England alive. The ship transporting him and his retainers to the Devon tin mines is found wrecked off the south Devon coast, its crew savagely slaughtered. And shortly afterwards, Sir Peter le Calve, a Norman knight living near Exeter, is also found foully murdered, his head stuck on the rood screen of the cathedral.

It’s up to Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, to find a motive and connection between the killings – and it’s clear that his unscrupulous brother-in-law, the disgraced ex-sheriff and known Prince John-sympathiser, Richard de Revelle, has something to hide…

A Crowner John Mystery #10

Coroner Sir John gets mixed up in alchemy in this twisty instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England.

1195. Prince John plots to seize the throne from his brother, Richard the Lionheart – and he is supported in his wicked schemes by King Philip of France, who offers to help John financially by sending him a mysterious alchemist, a Mohammedan named Nizam, who claims to be able to transmute base metals into gold.

But Nizam never makes it England alive. The ship transporting him and his retainers to the Devon tin mines is found wrecked off the south Devon coast, its crew savagely slaughtered. And shortly afterwards, Sir Peter le Calve, a Norman knight living near Exeter, is also found foully murdered, his head stuck on the rood screen of the cathedral.

It’s up to Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, to find a motive and connection between the killings – and it’s clear that his unscrupulous brother-in-law, the disgraced ex-sheriff and known Prince John-sympathiser, Richard de Revelle, has something to hide…

Roger the Chapman Mystery #5A nefarious plot will go right to the heart of the most powerful seat in the land…Roger the Chapman returns to London in the summer of 1475 for some badly needed rest and entertainment. But the hand of Fate interrupts his plans once again …King Edward IV is readying his troops to invade France with a great show of strength, and though rumors abound that the king is reluctant, London is teeming with the energy of the march.But as the campaign approaches, a spy infiltrates the household of the Duke of Gloucester, the king’s brother, leaving one dead in their wake. All information indicates that the spy is the tool of a conspiracy to assassinate the duke before the king’s invasion.Motive and method, no one knows – only that the duke’s death is promised by the eve of Saint Hyacinth. Roger, who proved his loyalty to Gloucester in a case a few years ago, is the only one the duke trusts to uncover the traitor and the powers behind him.A gripping political thriller and masterful medieval mystery novel, perfect for fans of D. V. Bishop, C. J. Sansom and Ellis Peters.

Perry's new hero is William Monk, a Victorian London police detective whose memory has vanished because of an accident. Trying to hide that fact, Monk returns to work and is assigned to the murder case of an exalted war hero. Slowly, the darkness fades as each new revelation leads Monk to a terrifying conclusion.

AD 848.Bernwyn of Lythe, the young daughter of an ealdorman, spurns marriage and chooses to remain a virgin dedicated to Christ. When she is found murdered in the chapel where she kept her nightly vigils, it is thought that she has fallen victim to the Viking raiders who are ravaging the country and the butterflies found resting on her body are taken to be a sign from God.But what if Bernwyn was not all she seemed? Could the saintly deeds attributed to her have been carried out by someone else and the people have set up a shrine to a false virgin?Throughout the ages, St Bernwyn comes to be regarded as the patron saint of those suffering from skin diseases, and many are drawn on pilgrimage to her shrines. But from a priory in Wales to the Greek island of Sifnos, it seems that anywhere that St Bernwyn is venerated, bitter rivalry breaks out. So when a famous poet is inspired to tell the story of the saint, perhaps it is little wonder that he finds himself writing a satirical piece on the credulity of man.