'To shoot a man on the spur of the moment in the presence of the king and his court, not to mention the cardinal and his household, that took a boldness … Or utter despair.' - Hampton Court, 1522Lawyer Hugh Mac Egan has arrived from Ireland to draw up the marriage contract between James Butler, son of his employer the Earl of Ormond, and Anne Boleyn – a dynastic alliance that will resolve an age-old inheritance dispute. But Anne, it seems,...

Secrets, intrigue, and meddling in love – I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison is a historical romantic comedy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton.Jane says that if I am to be the heroine of this story, something will throw a hero in my way . . .I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend is the secret diary of Jenny Cooper, Jane Austen’s teenage friend and confidante. Their evenings are a blur of beautiful dresses, balls, go...

When Inspector Field shows his friend Charles Dickens the body of a young woman dragged from the River Thames, he cannot have foreseen that the famous author would immediately recognise the victim as Isabella Gordon, a housemaid he had tried to help through his charity. Nor that Dickens and his fellow writer Wilkie Collins would determine to find out who killed her. Led on by fragments of a journal discovered by Isabella's friend Sesina, the two men track the murdered girl's journeys from ...

It’s 1923 and London is a whirl of jazz, dancing and parties. Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away.Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the ...

It’s 1924. Leaving their beloved Beech Grove Manor to go to London for the season, Poppy and Daisy Derrington know that they must shine as debutantes.Since a girl cannot inherit her father's estate, the sisters have to marry well or face being left penniless.But it’s not money or marriage that interests them. It’s music, cinema, literature, fashion, parties, love – everything that is shiny and new. Trapped by the dusty traditions of their class, Daisy and Poppy must choose ...

Der 1. Fall für Mutter AquinasHistorisch, irisch und voller Atmosphäre – für alle Fans von Martha Grimes und Inspector Barnaby.Cork, 1923. Der Fluss Lee spült der Nonne Mutter Aquinas eine junge Frau vor die Füße, im feinen, seidenen Ballkleid - und ganz offensichtlich tot. Die resolute Mutter Oberin verständigt umgehend Sergeant Patrick Cashman, einen ehemaligen Klosterschüler von ihr, der neben einem scharfen Verstand auch einen besonderen Blick fürs Detail besitzt. Nicht u...

An unforgettable new female detective bursts onto the audio scene in this historical mystery series set in 1920’s Ireland, featuring the Reverend Mother Aquinas. Read by Audie award-winning narrator Rosalyn Landor.A dead body washed up after a flood dressed in evening finery is not a sight often seen in the slums of Cork city, Ireland.When Reverend Mother Aquinas discovers the body at the gate of the convent chapel she teams up with former pupil, Police Sergeant Patrick Cas...

November 1853. Inspector Field has summoned his friends Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to examine a body found in an attic studio, its throat cut. Around the body lie the lacerated fragments of canvas of a painting titled 'A Winter of Despair'. Wilkie realises he recognises the victim, for he had been due to dine with him that very evening. The dead man is Edwin Milton-Hayes, one of Wilkie's brother Charley's artist friends. With his own brother under suspicion of murder, what secrets ...

When a murder is staged at magnificent Knebworth House, Victorian writer-sleuths Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins investigate.August, 1856.Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens are spending the summer at Knebworth House, the magnificent Hertfordshire home of fellow writer Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton, where they are putting on a charity performance of one of Lord Edward's most successful plays, The Lady of Lyons. But the dress rehearsal is disrupted by the dis...

When an exhibition featuring London's top engineers results in sudden, violent death, Victorian writer-sleuths Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens investigate.March, 1859*.* After the “Great Stink” of the previous summer when Parliament was overwhelmed by the stench of sewage from the River Thames, and with cholera running rife throughout the city, Charles Dickens has a new enthusiasm. Having formed a firm friendship with Joseph Bazalgette, he is assisting the ambit...

Bestselling novelist Cora Harrison's light historical romance in the form of a secret diary was inspired by real life events in the Austen family and will delight Jane Austen fans everywhere. When fifteen-year-old Jane Austen’s shy cousin Jenny comes to stay, their evenings are a blur of beautiful dresses, balls, gossip and romance; their days are spend writing about them – Jenny in her diary, Jane in her witty first attempts at fiction. When Jenny falls utterly in love with a handsome nav...

When shy Jenny Cooper goes to stay with her cousin Jane Austen, she knows nothing of the world of beautiful dresses, dances, secrets, gossip, and romance that Jane inhabits. At fifteen, Jane is already a sharp observer of the customs of courtship. So when Jenny falls utterly in love with Captain Thomas Williams, who better than Jane to help her win the heart of this dashing man?But is that even possible? After all, Jenny’s been harboring a most desperate secret. Should it become kn...