Five new short plays developed and supported by The Mono Box.THE INTERVIEWby Graeme BrookesA panel of three interviewers are meeting with one of many applicants to see if they're 'working class enough' to obtain support from their elite organisation. In trying to offer their support, the expert panel slowly lose control with their own reality. What starts with honest intentions turns into a grotesque grilling.THE INTERVIEW is an abs...

Look, you won't know me. But you will. I want you to know me, you see. I want you to know me in the way I know these roads around us, the roundabouts in surround sound, the bridges, the cut-throughs, the one-way systems, the water.Supermarket driver John and property manager Anita spend their working days in Hull's endless traffic, trying to keep ahead of targets and ticking clocks. Driven to distraction by substitute groceries and dodgy plumbing, tensions flare when they ...

Britain is complacent about corruption. We are used to thinking of ourselves as firm defenders of fairness and the rule of law. But our institutions have never been more corrupt, from scandals in parliament and local government to crises in housing and the NHS. The evidence is impossible to ignore. Political leaders face a clear choice: tackle corruption or continue on the road to decline.Robert Barrington is one of the world's leading researchers on corruption. Corrupted Kingdom i...

The second children’s murder mystery from number-one-bestselling author of The Appeal, Janice Hallett, perfect for fans of Robin Stevens and Rhian Tracey.Imagine an old museum with more secrets than anyone could ever guess. A school trip that ends in murder. A crime unsolved for decades. . . But who did it?Now, Ava and Luke are on the case, following the clues left in a new box of murders. Using School workbooks, museum rec...

'Craig anatomises the state of the nation with wit and empathy' JONATHAN COE'The most mischievous take imaginable on the way we live now' FRANCIS SPUFFORD'Terrific' PHILIP PULLMAN'Sharp and funny, clear-eyed and unsentimental' CLARE CHAMBERS'She's such a skilful storyteller who vividly dramatises our lives with wit, wisdom and compassion' BERNARDINE EVARISTOIn the worst ...

For agents of the Fortuna Division, being lucky isn't just their blessing, it's their business. Responsible for gifting doses of good fortune to oblivious mortals, they are known for being invincible to disaster. However, when agents of luck start turning up dead, it is clear their own fortunes have taken a bad turn.Agents Erron Grover and Nikita Wolf are recruited to a new team solely tasked with unravelling this mystery, but they face an almost insurmountable challenge. Since the...

There’s a fine art to murder…Hal Mulberry has long dreamt of owning the iconic painting, Buttermere at Dawn. And now the entrepreneur has got his hands on it, he’s determined to bring it back to the Lakes where it belongs and put it on show, turning Penrith Village Hall into a cultural hotspot – with the painting at its heart.Journalist Jason Brazel is delighted to get the exclusive. Even if his mother in law, Amita, thinks he’s making a fuss about...

* THE CAST OF SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING THE APPEAL RETURN FOR A FESTIVE MURDER MYSTERY *One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth?Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics ent...

Winner of The Gilpin Hotel Prize for Fiction 2023Eyes down to find a killer who’s playing to win…An irresistible slice of murder and mystery – there’s a killer on the loose in the Lake District, and the members of the Penrith Bingo Club have decided they’re the ones to catch the culprit…Jason Brazel is an out of work journalist who lives in Penrith with his family and mother-in-law, Amita. She knows everyone and everything ...

Everyone knows about the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing that her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared into the care system.Now, author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the true-crime scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connecte...

Brought to you by Penguin.She will breathe a new empire into life – but all worlds can escape their creator…In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga, ‘victory city’.Over the nex...

Brought to you by Penguin.Over the last three centuries, the West rose to dominate the planet. Then, suddenly, around the turn of the millennium, history reversed. Faced with economic stagnation and internal political division, the West has found itself in freefall.This is not the first time the global order has witnessed such a dramatic rise and fall. The Roman Empire followed a similar arc from dizzying power to disintegration - a fact that is more than a...