From Alan Bennett's Baffled at a Bookcase, to Lucy Mangan's Library Rules, famous writers tell us all about how libraries are used and why they're important. Tom Holland writes about libraries in the ancient world, while Seth Godin describes what a library will look like in the future. Lionel Shriver thinks books are the best investment, Hardeep Singh Kohli makes a confession and Julie Myerson remembers how her career began beside the shelves. Using memoir, history, polemic and some short ...

"Shriver's debut is a 'literary' novel without an iota of pretentiousness. It reads with the grace of a well-written spy story, but conveys some of its author's early wisdom about what our humanity both demands of and grants us." — Washington PostThe first novel by the New York Times bestselling author Lionel Shriver, The Female of the Species is the exotic and chilling story of a highly independent and successful woman's late-lif...

“Complex and nervy, Shriver’s clever meditation will intrigue anyone who has ever wondered how things might have turned out had they followed, or ignored, a life-changing impulse.” — People (Critic's Choice)This dazzling novel from the Orange Prize–winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin takes a psychological and deeply human look at love and volitionDoes the course of life hinge on a sin...

With a foreword by Lionel Shriver, author of We Need To Talk About Kevin, The Book Club Bible is the essential guide to the best book club reads.

With Peaceful Repose Cemetery, Drew Slocombe is determined to revolutionize the entire death industry and make cheap, ecologically sound burials a popular choice. Unfortunately, Drew's gravedigger has just discovered that their cemetery has one too many corpses. The body of an elderly woman has been occupying the field for months before Drew opened for business. The police don't appear to be particularly concerned by the death, and seem to think that the body is that of a vagrant. But for ...

Featuring:Robert Barnard, Martyn Bedford, Ann Cleeves, Bernie Crosthwaite, Carol Anne Davis, Martin Edwards, Jurgen Ehlers, Kate Ellies, Liz Evans, Paul A Freeman, Jim Gregson, Mick Herron, Sarah Hilary, Andre Marois, Amy Myers, Christine Poulson, Karline Smith, Douglas Stewart and Yvonne Eve Walus.A coroner reveals a body’s tell-tale clues to his students, as he unwittingly dissects his own relationship . . .A breakdown driver turns his roadside ro...

A brand-new novella in the Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery series, featuring Emma Whitecastle’s daughter, Kelly—only available digitally…Like mother, like daughter? Emma Whitecastle’s daughter Kelly just wants to live a normal life and pursue her studies at Harvard. But that’s not so easy when your mother is a famous medium who hosts a TV show on paranormal activity and when your frequent companion is a ghost named Granny Apples.When reporter Tanisha Costell...

Like everything Bennett does, these stories are playful, witty and painfully observant of ordinary people's foibles. They all have brilliant twists, are immensely entertaining and highly moral. And all are modern classics.The Laying on of HandsThe painfully observant account of a memorial service for a masseur to the famous.The Clothes They Stood Up InThe comic tale of an elderly couple's trials after their flat is stripped ...

Before Shetland and Vera, Ann Cleeves wrote the George and Molly Palmer-Jones series following remarkable mysteries in a birdwatching community—now in print for the first time in the US.Landlord and politician Marcus Grenville wants to convert Ursula Ottway’s beautiful cottage into a holiday residence. So when Ursula discovers that the illegal use of poisoned bait on Grenville’s land has killed not only a rare bird of prey but her two beloved cats, she storms to hi...

Thea Osborne hopes to spend a quiet Christmas house sitting for the Shepherds in the picturesque Cotswold village of Stanton. Walks in the local countryside with the dogs and perhaps a meal in the pub are all the excitement she wants. When her arrival at the village coincides with the funeral of local businessman Douglas Callendar found electrocuted in his bath, Thea's interest is piqued. When another villager is discovered brutally murdered the following day, Thea is thrust into the middl...

Mary Helena Fortune (circa 1833 - circa 1910) was an Australian mystery, suspense, and horror writer who wrote under the pseudonyms "Waif Wander" and "W.W." She was one of the earliest female detective writers in the world (if not the earliest). She was also probably the first to write from the viewpoint of the detective. A prolific storyteller, she wrote at least 500 detective stories over 40 years, many featuring Detective Mark Sinclair. This volume reprints 15 of her classic stories (ma...

When Myrtle Clover and her friend Miles attend a play in their small town, there's a full house on opening night.It's clear to Myrtle that one of the actresses is a stage hog who loves stealing the spotlight. Nandina Marshall certainly does upstage everyone—when her murder forces an unexpected intermission.Can Myrtle and Miles discover who was behind her final curtain call….before murder makes an encore?