Historical Mystery

1919: The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is still reeling from four terrible years of war, and now, just when the village is coming to terms with the loss of so many of its sons, the brutal murder of a young girl shatters its hard-won tranquillity. Imagine a plot as devious as anything Agatha Christie devised, locate it in a Derbyshire village in 1919 and with writing as close to the pulse as Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth and you will have some idea of the extraordinary power of Kate Ellis’s new novel.

Andrew Martin – The Yellow Diamond is our british crime book of the month for January. India, 1923. On the broiling Night Mail from Calcutta to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target?

Calcutta, 1837. Young Ensign William Avery is tasked by his employers - the East India Company - to track down disgraced agent Xavier Mountstuart, lost to the jungle. Forced to take with him dissolute, disillusioned, errant genius ex-officer Jeremiah Blake, Avery is sure their mission is doomed.

Quintin Jardine – Mathew's Tale is our british crime book of the month for August.

Frances Brody – Death of an Avid Reader (Kate Shackleton Mysteries #6) is our british crime book of the month for June. Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter, born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now, Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case, but as Kate delves deeper into Lady Coulton's past, she soon finds herself thrust into a scandal much closer to home.