Tristram Abberley was an English poet of the 1930s whose reputation was sealed when he died fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Nearly fifty years later his sister Beatrix is murdered during what appears to be a robbery at her home, but robbery
- it transpires
- is only part of the motive that underlies her death. Beatrix is the victim of a dark conspiracy, one that her loved ones are powerless to defeat.

But nothing is quite as it seems in a Robert Goddard novel. In a narrative that moves between Cheltenham & New York, Paris & rural Wales, Tunbridge Wells & wartime Spain, the conspirators themselves are caught up in a chain of dramatic events that are the consequence of meddling in the dark secrets of the legendary poet.



...

Tristram Abberley was an English poet of the 1930s whose reputation was sealed when he died fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Nearly fifty years later his sister Beatrix is murdered during what appears to be a robbery at her home, but robbery
- it transpires
- is only part of the motive that underlies her death. Beatrix is the victim of a dark conspiracy, one that her loved ones are powerless to defeat.

But nothing is quite as it seems in a Robert Goddard novel. In a narrative that moves between Cheltenham & New York, Paris & rural Wales, Tunbridge Wells & wartime Spain, the conspirators themselves are caught up in a chain of dramatic events that are the consequence of meddling in the dark secrets of the legendary poet.



...

When Donna Leon, the acclaimed author of the best-selling Commissario Guido Brunetti series, is not conjuring up tales of crime & corruption in Venice, she is listening to opera. Over the years, Leon has noticed that her favourite composer, George Frideric Handel, filled his operas with arias that make reference to animals; rich in symbolism, the perceived virtues & vices of the lion, bee, nightingale, snake, elephant, & tiger, among others, resonate in his works.

In Handel

...

Palmyra, 3rd century AD: a lush oasis in the heart of the Syrian Desert. The inquisitive, beautiful & fiercely independent Samoya takes her place as apprentice priestess in the temple of Antich. Decadent bachelor Prince Alif has other ideas. He wants a wife, & sends his equally lascivious sister to bring Samoya to the Bacchanalian wedding feast he is preparing. Samoya embarks on a journey that will alter the course of her life. Before reaching her destination, she is to encounter Marcus, the battle-hardened centurion who will unearth the core of her desires. ...