British Literature

In June of 1893, the future Nicholas II travels to London for a royal wedding, bringing with him his private security force and his ballerina mistress, Mathilde Kchessinska. Rumored to be the target of a professional assassin known only as La Sylphide, and the subject of conspiracies against his life by his own family who covet his future throne, Nicholas is protected by not only private security, but the professional forces of both England and Russia.

Seventy-five-year-old Sylvia Perkins was found battered to death in her home in 2010. The murder weapon was suspected to be a fire poker and it seems she was quite popular with older gentlemen. Her grandson Robbie inherited everything, but he can't be placed at the scene of the crime. Who killed this harmless old woman and why? And what secrets was she hiding?

Melissa couldn’t be happier that summer has arrived. She’s delighted to have her mother back by her side, and she is extending her beloved Hawthorn Cottage so her new family can live together. Meanwhile, Melissa’s mother, Sylvia, is back in good health and enjoying a brief stay at a stately retirement home. She loves getting to know the residents, until first a dog and then his owner are both found dead in the dining room. Like mother, like daughter, Sylvia decides to do a little investigating of her own.

Forensic entomologist Dr Vanessa Marwood is settling into her new role in Manhattan when she's faced with a chilling case: an Oscar-winning actress has been found dead, poisoned by a glittering hair clip adorned with a live beetle. As a second high-profile death emerges - a fashion designer poisoned by an insect-encrusted watch - shockwaves run through New York's elite.

In Jessie Greengrass' dazzlingly brilliant debut novel, our unnamed narrator recounts her progress to motherhood while remembering the death of her own mother 10 years before and the childhood summers she spent with her psychoanalyst grandmother. Woven among these personal recollections are significant events in medical history: Wilhelm Rontgen's discovery of the X-ray; Sigmund Freud's development of psychoanalysis and the work that he did with his daughter, Anna; and the origins of modern surgery and the anatomy of pregnant bodies.

They were meant to be safe on Fleet Ward: psychiatric patients monitored, treated, cared for. But now one of their number is found murdered, and the accusations begin to fly. Was it one of his fellow patients? A member of staff? Or did someone come in from the outside? DC Alice Armitage is methodical, tireless, and she's quickly on the trail of the killer. The only problem is, Alice is a patient too.

When Belize is invaded by a powerful neighbour, it's Britain that must spring to the defence of this old outpost of empire. But intervening in distant Central America will test the limits of the former colonial power. And in the end the outcome will turn on the skill, boldness and heart-bursting bravery of a handful of British forces already in country....

British accents should come with a warning label. When they're attached to deep, baritone voices that belong to sexy, cocky men, you should have to sign a waiver. Most people wouldn't touch short-term rental properties, but since my business partner took off with my client list, I need every deal I can get. Enter, one insanely sexy and completely exasperating Camden Reid. The smug executive found fault with every property I showed him. Too cramped. Too feminine. Too far from a decent pub. His demands were ridiculous, and I couldn't wait to be rid of him and his British bangers.

Penniless and stranded in France after a bid to escape her cruel uncle goes awry, Cornelia Shaw is far from the Parisian life of leisure she imagined. Desperate and out of options, she allows herself to be recruited to Napoleon’s Grande Armée. As a naturalist, her mysterious ability to heal any wound with herbal mixtures invites awe amongst the soldiers…and suspicion.

At thirty-three, nurse Heather is desperately waiting for her romantic life to begin. Then she meets handsome, strong Anthony and is sure she’s found the one. Brushing any doubts aside, she projects all her hopes for true love onto him. Meanwhile, at a yoga retreat in Spain, happy-go-lucky Joe can’t believe his luck when he meets vivacious, witty Amy. She’s the sharpest, most beautiful woman he has ever dated, and the fact that she’s interested in him feels like a dream come true.

In this deliciously strange debut collection, Leon Craig draws on folklore and gothic horror in refreshingly inventive ways to explore queer identity, love, power and the complicated nature of being human. In the 13 darkly audacious stories of Parallel Hells, we meet a golem, made of clay, learning that its powers far exceed its Creator's expectations; a ruined mansion which grants the secret wishes of a group of revellers and a notorious murderer who discovers her Viking husband is not what he seems.

Sal had woken up with no recollection of the night before a few times but never like this...in a forest...alone...confused...scared. She scoured her surroundings, desperate for some clue as to how she’d ended up here. Fragments of conversations, snapshots of memories were all she could scramble together. But, suddenly, none of it mattered. A stranger. A warning. And the hunt is on. Now Sal and her friends are in a battle like no other. Death and terror lurk around every corner. Can they defy the odds and live to fight another day? Or will they fall like so many before?

As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career—including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora. The glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats, and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. As a woman, she knows her reputation is worth its weight in gold but as a politician, she discovers it only takes one slip-up to destroy it completely.

Listen to the first book in the new heart-stopping series Gentlemen of the Order. Noah Ashwood has suffered his fair share of injustices. It’s why he joined the Gentlemen of the Order, why he solves crimes committed against the vulnerable and needy. To his friends he’s known as Dauntless - a fearless fighter, a man with steely determination. And yet his strength is tested when he forms an infatuation for his new client. When a catalogue of strange events leaves Evangeline Dunn fearing for her life, she has no option but to seek professional help.

Harriet Andover had no intention of dying young like her silly siblings had. She intended to outlive them and outdo them as she always had. But Harriet discovers that the best intentions can lead to murder when she is strangled inside her mansion with a house full of holiday guests. As much as Inspector Witherspoon enjoys his job delivering justice, the last thing he wanted was a complicated murder case just a week before Christmas. He soon discovers that Harriet's own husband and grown stepchildren are not overcome with grief and neither are most of her friends.

Quinn Maxwell. Student. Dork. And a woman in love with a guy who doesn't know she exists. Cooke Thompson. British. Hottie. Rugby star. Chick magnet. And a guy trying to FaceChat with his old mate Maxwell Quinn. Sure, it was a wrong number, but sometimes, wrong ends up being so, so right.

From acclaimed author Quintin Jardine comes the latest gripping mystery in his bestselling Bob Skinner series, perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter May.

As bogus corruption charges loom over her, DS Kat Ballantyne finds herself deskbound and stuck with cold cases. Her hated boss, DI Carver, has given her just one week to explain how £50,000 found its way into her bank account. If she can’t, she’ll be lucky to have a desk at all. Then a close friend calls her from a murder scene, claiming to have strangled a local gangster’s wife. Kat has no choice but to disobey orders and investigate. Despite overwhelming forensic evidence supporting her friend’s confession, something still doesn’t add up…

When a group of missionaries get caught up in bloody African civil war, London is forced to act. For the men of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, it should be a quick in and out. A nice clean operation. But what awaits them will test them like never before. And, facing overwhelming odds, this time the skill and raw courage of these legendary fighting men may not be enough....

When local fisherman Horace Boller decided to row his boat out on the tidal backwash of the river one morning, he couldn't have meant to land a catch like this. What he ended up with was a body floating on the river's surface. And judging by the state of the corpse, the death was not a recent one. The strange thing is, the coroner report indicates that drowning was not the cause of death. It's up to the intrepid C. D. Sloan - and his markedly less intrepid assistant, Constable Crosby - to investigate.