Patrick Knowles - Designer

Death of a Cosy Writer (The St. Just Mysteries)

G. M. Malliet

A family reunion and medieval-style murder? Ever so inconvenient. Cosily ensconced in his eighteenth-century Cambridgeshire manor, bestselling mystery writer Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk delights in tormenting his four grown children with threats of disinheritance. Then he announces his latest blow - he's engaged to Violet, a beautiful widow with a dubious past. Money-driven panic soon sets in am... read more

Tuf Voyaging

George R. R. Martin

A classic novel from George R.R. Martin, author of the hit HBO TV series A GAME OF THRONES Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader (one of the few), and he likes cats. So how is it that, despite being up against the worst villains in the universe, he has become the proud owner of the last working seedship, pride of Earth's Ecological Engineering Corps? We'll leave that aside for now - just be t... read more

Foreign Devils

John Hornor Jacobs

The world is on the brink of war. Fisk and Shoe - mercenaries, very much not wanting to get caught in the middle of a political whirlwind - must deliver a very important message, and find a very dangerous man. They have caught the eye of the powerful men of the world, and now the stakes are higher than they like.And the Emperor has decreed that Livia Cornelius, pregnant with Fisk's child, must... read more

The Mortal Tally

Sam Sykes

Akin to the works of both Fritz Leiber and Scott Lynch but bringing it's own energy and humorous vigour the writing of Sam Sykes sets itself apart from the dour feel of Grimdark fantasy and brings a fresh vigour to fantasy fiction. In this sharp and darkly mysterious novel Lenk and his fellow adventurers must find their way through the silk-trading city of C'Jer Daal as demons and gods stalk t... read more

Murder-On-Sea

Julie Wassmer

It's not the season of good will to all men...The festive month is kicking off in style and Pearl is rushed off her feet with her restaurant, The Whitstable Pearl. She's also busy planning her own family Christmas and providing mulled wine for a charity church fundraiser when Christmas cards begin arriving all over town - filled with spiteful messages from an anonymous writer. Pearl's curiosit... read more

Master of Shadows

Neil Oliver

In fifteenth-century Constantinople, Prince Constantine saves the life of a broken-hearted girl. But the price of his valour is high. John Grant is a young man on the edge of the world. His unique abilities carry him from his home in Scotland to the heart of the Byzantine Empire in search of a girl and the chance to fulfil a death-bed promise. Lena has remained hidden from the men who have bee... read more

A History of London in 100 Places

David Long

Shaped by invasion, occupation, and immigration, by upheavals as diverse as the Great Fire, the Blitz, and the Big Bang, London’s history is unmatched for variety and drama. Choosing 100 places that best tell this incredible story, David Long shares his passion and expert knowledge of the city. From the early modern frost fairs, Victorian stations, and Saxon burial grounds to medieval plague p... read more

Poems to Learn by Heart

Ana Sampson

A collection of some of the finest and memorable poems to learn by heart"Paths of glory," "Theirs not to reason why," "When you are old and grey and full of sleep," "A handful of dust," and "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day"—these and many others are famous lines of poetry that often occur in everyday speech. However, most people find it difficult to recall the rest of the poem, and that... read more

Oranges and Lemons: Rhymes from Past Times

Karen Dolby

A nostalgic and entertaining look back through childhood nursery rhymes and stories, explanations of their origins and meanings, and the controversies surrounding themPlugging into the memories and knowledge of our earliest years, this collection gathers the most well-known and best-loved nursery rhymes, many of which we always seem to have known, yet struggle to remember clearly, along with s... read more

Coram Boy

Jamila Gavin

A vivd, compelling and harrowing tale from Whitbread award winning Jamila Gavin. The Coram man takes babies and money from desperate mothers, promising to deliver them safely to a Foundling Hospital in London. Instead, he murders them and buries them by the roadside, to the helpless horror of his mentally ill son, Mish. Mish saves one, Aaron, who grows up happily unaware of his history, provin... read more

The Phoenix Code (Secrets of the Tombs)

Helen Moss

When Ryan Flint accompanies his journalist mother to an archaeological expedition in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, he isn't expecting life-threatening danger and a 3,000-year-old murder mystery - but that's exactly what he finds! Before he knows it, he has joined forces with Cleo McNeil, an archaeologist's daughter, to solve secret codes, discover an ancient treasure and outwit a strange cult i... read more

Rules for a Perfect Life

Niamh Greene

Rules for a perfect life ...Rule One: Do not ditch the man everyone says is perfect for you because he eats the last yellow jelly-baby in the bag. Rule Two: Do not move to a shack in the country to 'find yourself' and inadvertently become an object of ridicule for the locals. Rule Three: Do not fall for a man who has two children who hate you, a saintly dead wife you can never live up to and a... read more

Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens

Brandon Sanderson

A whole army of evil Librarians! And Alcatraz Smedry has only his friend, Bastille, a few pairs of glasses and an unlimited supply of exploding teddy bears to help him defend the island of Mokia. Even Alcatraz's extraordinary talent for breaking things may not be enough to defeat the evil Librarians' giant robots. Can Alcatraz find a way to save the Free Kingdoms?

Daughter of the Wolf

Victoria Whitworth

Next Therapist Please

Laurie Finkelstein

Anne Brontë Nightwalker: A Brontë Blood Chronicle: Volume 1 (Brontë Blood Chronicles)

Gea Haff

In 1849, Anne Bronte died a devout and innocent virgin. Three days later, she rose from the dead. No....

Yellowthread Street (A Yellowthread Street Mystery Book 1)

William Marshall

The first in Marshall's unforgettable, classic series of police procedurals - suspenseful and hilarious in equal measure.Yellowthread Street is the sort of place that breeds more crime than any cops can handle.Among the gangsters and the goldsmiths of Hong Bay, Chief Inspector Feiffer and his police department had their hands full . . . tourist troubles, a US sailor turned stick-up artist, and... read more

Three Cheers for Me (The Bandy Papers Book 1)

Donald Jack

“I enjoyed every word . . . terrifically funny.” P.G. WodehouseWith his disturbingly horse-like face and a pious distaste for strong drink and bad language, young Bartholomew Bandy doesn’t seem cut out for life in the armed services, as we meet him at the start of the First World War. Yet he not only survives the dangers and squalor of the infantry trenches, he positively thrives in the Royal ... read more

Picture Miss Seeton (A Miss Seeton Mystery Book 1)

Heron Carvic

When Miss Seeton walks out of a performance of Carmen and witnesses a real-life stabbing, all she can recall is a shadowy figure. But how could even she have guessed that her latest artistic endeavour is a picture-perfect portrait of the killer? Her caricature, however, puts her in a perilous position, for back at her rustic cottage in Plummergen, she’s fated to be a sitting duck . . . for mur... read more

The Golden Age of the Garden: A Miscellany

The relationship between England and its gardens might be described as a love affair; gardening is one of our national passions, rooted in history. The eighteenth century is often called the Golden Age of English gardening; as the fashion for formal pleasure grounds for the wealthy faded, a new era began, filled with picturesque vistas inspired by nature.Charting the transformation in our land... read more

Blood and Destiny: A gripping and bloodthirsty tale of Anglo-Saxon courage and victory! (Shadow of the Raven)

Chris Bishop

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror

Chris Priestley

Avanaux: The Adventures of the Space Heroine Hickory Lace (The Prosperine Trilogy Book 1)

PJ McDermott

The Intragalactic Agency is concerned about the political stability of Avanaux. A rebellion in the medieval province will destroy any hope of acquiring the planet's crynidium, a rare element that enables faster than light travel.The rulers of Avanaux say a miracle worker known as the Teacher is at the center of the trouble and have asked the Agency to step in.Meanwhile, Earth’s Alien Corps hav... read more

Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas)

Charlaine Harris

Grave Sight (Harper Connelly 1)

Charlaine Harris

Dead Reckoning: A True Blood Novel: 11 (Sookie Satckhouse series)

Charlaine Harris

Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes Novel Book 2)

Anthony Horowitz

Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and d... read more

Killed at the Whim of a Hat: A Jimm Juree Novel

Colin Cotterill

When crime reporter Jimm Juree is forced to quit the city for a fishing village on the Gulf of Siam, she expects much in her life to change. Quiet will replace quick, and, surely, crime will give way to calm. There goes the career, then.Not a chance. No sooner has she settled than a surprise discovery springs from a local well. Two skeletons: both wearing the signs of thirty years of decay, wi... read more

Rivers of London: The First PC Grant Mystery

Ben Aaronovitch

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of t... read more

Land Where I Flee

Prajwal Parajuly

To commemorate Chitralekha Nepauney's Chaurasi - her landmark 84th birthday - three of Chitralekha's grandchildren are travelling to Gangtok, Sikkim, to pay their respects. Agastaya is flying in from New York. Although a successful oncologist, he is dreading his family's inquisition into why he is not married, and is terrified that the reason for his bachelordom will be discovered. Joining him... read more

All Their Minds In Tandem

David Sanger

The setting is October 1879. The stage is New Georgetown, West Virginia.A mysterious figure by the name of 'The Maker' has entered this small community and, almost immediately upon doing so, started entering the minds of the townsfolk.Townsfolk who are as curious as The Maker himself. Like Dr Umbründ, the pint-sized physician with a prodigious capacity for sin; like the three sisters in the ho... read more

Gold Fever: One Man's Adventures on the Trail of the Modern Gold Rush

Steve Boggan

Have you ever imagined giving up your day job and heading for the hills in search of gold? Journalist Steve Boggan decided to do just that when the price of the precious metal scaled dizzying heights in the wake of the global financial crisis. Clueless, and with neither equipment nor experience, Boggan flew to California and followed in the footsteps of the '49ers', miners who fuelled the orig... read more

The Last Wolf: The Hidden Springs of Englishness

Robert Winder

Come to the Edge

Joanna Kavenna

A narrator in retreat from suburban life, a shambolic draughty farmhouse in a scenic valley...A widowed survivalist called Cassandra White...A banker, a village-full of empty second homes, and scores of poor and elderly people with nowhere to go...A crazy utopian scheme to reclaim the valley for the locals. A dark, timely satire from Joanna Kavenna, the prize-winning author of Inglorious and T... read more

Cooking with the MasterChef: Food for Your Family & Friends by Michel Roux Jr. (2012-12-18)

Michel Roux Jr.

The Winter Isles

Antonia Senior

"One of the must-reads of the year.' Manda Scott I am Somerled. The summer warrior. What am I, if not a warrior?In twelfth-century Scotland, far removed from the courtly manners of the Lowland, the Winter Isles are riven by vicious warfare, plots and battles. Into this hard, seafaring life is born a boy called Somerled. The son of an ageing chieftain, Somerled must prove his own worth as a war... read more

A Very Special Year

Thomas Montasser

‘It’s not particularly difficult to run a successful bookshop, thought Valerie: a grasp of the rudiments of business, a sensible plan, a little skill in negotiation, a couple of contacts and a large portion of magic.’When businesswoman Valerie takes over the bookshop owned by her aunt – who has vanished without trace – her intention is to bring some order to the chaos, and then sell the busine... read more