Evokes the master of Barcelona-set narrative Carlos Ruiz Zafon". (" Independent"). When the death of a young witness in a case of human trafficking & voodoo provokes the normally calm Inspector Salgado to beat someone up he is swiftly removed from the project. Instead he is sent to investigate a teenager's fall to his death in one of Barcelona's uptown areas. As Salgado begins to uncover the inconvenient truths behind the city's most powerful families two seemingly unsolvable cases are set to implode under the hot Barcelona sun." ...

Matthew Bartholomew jumps at the chance to travel to Ely with Brother Michael as it will give him a unique opportunity to study in the richly stocked library of the Benedictine priory. Michael has been summoned to the city by his bishop but it isnt until they arrive that they discover the reason
- the bishop has been accused of murder. The charge seems ludicrous but Michael takes the investigation seriously & energetically sets about his task. Almost immediately he discovers that there appears to have been a series of unexplained deaths in the area. At the same time Bartholomew comes across an underground movement of rebellion against the church & the tithes they demand from the laity & the two men also learn that there has been a spate of burglaries which are being blamed on a band of travellers. Then a fellow of the priory is murdered almost under their noses. Can this death be connected to the others? Are all the killings linked to the burgeoning rebellion in the city? Once again Susanna Gregory has created a superbly crafted mystery narrated with wit & style against a perfectly realised period background.
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A terrifying & dream-like new novel from one of our greatest contemporary writers. At a critical point in her career painter Angelika Rossdal suddenly moves to Kvaloya a small island deep in the Arctic Circle to dedicate herself to the solitary pursuit of her craft. With her she brings her young daughter Liv who grows up isolated & unable or unwilling to make friends her own age spending much of her time alone or with an elderly neighbour Kyrre Jonsson who beguiles her with old folk tales & stories about trolls mermaids & -- crucially for the events that unfold in the summer of her eighteenth year -- about the huldra " a wild spirit who appears in the form of an irresistibly beautiful girl to lure young men to their doom. Now twenty-eight Liv looks back on her life & particularly to that summer when two boys drowned under mysterious circumstances in the still moonlit waters off the shores of Kvaloya. Were the deaths accidental or were the boys as Kyrre believes lured to their deaths by a malevolent spirit? To begin with Liv dismisses the old mans stories as fantasy but as the summer continues & events take an even darker turn she comes to believe that something supernatural is happening on the isl&. But is it? Or is Liv a lonely girl who has spent her entire life in the shadow of her beautiful gifted mother slowly beginning to lose touch with reality? Set in the white nights of an Arctic summer the novel has the heightened hallucinogenic atmosphere of a dream but culminates in a moment of profound horror. Intensely imagined & exquisitely written A Summer of Drowning""is a play of dark & light of looking & seeing that will hold & haunt every reader. " From the Hardcover edition."" ...

A gorgeously warm funny & heartbreaking story about facing up to your past & finding out what
- & who
- you really want... Alice

...

Who knows what might happen in a summer of love? Sian Bishop has left the hustle & bustle of the city behind & has thrown herself into a new life in the country. With her young son her picture-postcard garden & her small thriving business she's happy & very busy. She is not
- repeat not
- looking for love. & then one glorious summer evening Gus Beresford arrives. One-time explorer full-time heart-breaker Gus is ridiculously exciting wonderfully glamorous
- & Sian tells herself completely wrong for a romantically cautious single woman like her. But she & Gus have met before. & despite Sian's best intentions it isn't long before she's falling for him all over again...


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In the summer of 1979 a tamed grizzly bear is tempted by the lure of freedom & the wild open sea.. . Meanwhile the sudden death of British diplomat Nicky Fleming has left his wife closed down with shock. Relocated from Cold-War-riven Germany to a remote Hebridean island Letty Fleming is haunted by the unthinkable -- was it an accident murder or suicide? & how can she ever begin to explain to her three children that their father may have betrayed his country? Struggling to find solace in a place she loves Letty begins to unravel the mystery of Nicky's death but her determination to protect the children from the truth blinds her to the demons they are already battling. As the family's secrets threaten to tear them apart it is only the strange but brilliant Jamie who manages to hold on to the one thing he knows for sure: his father has promised to return & Nicky Fleming was a man who never broke a promise.. . ...

In the summer of 1144 a strange calm has settled over Engl&. The armies of King Stephen & Empress Maud have temporarily exhausted each other. Brother Cadfael considers peace a blessing but a little excitement never comes amiss to a former soldier & Cadfael is delighted to accompany his young friend Brother Mark on a mission of church diplomacy to his native Wales not expecting to be caught up in yet another royal feud. The Welsh prince Owain Gwynedd has banished his brother Cadwaladr accusing him of the treacherous murder of an ally. The reckless Cadwaldr has retaliated by landing an army of Danish mercenaries poised to invade Wales & retake his lost lands. As the two armies teeter on the brink of bloody civil war Cadfael is captured by the Danes together with a headstrong young woman fleeing an arranged marriage but before he can untangle such domestic passions Cadfael has to survive the brotherly quarrel that could plunge an entire kingdom into deadly chaos. ...

Knitting & life. They're both about beginnings--and endings. That's why Lydia Goetz owner of A Good Yarn on Seattle's Blossom Street offers a class called Knit to Quit. It's for people who want to quit something--or someone!--and start a new phase of their lives. First to join is Phoebe Rylander who's trying to get over a man. Alix Turner & her husband want a baby so she has to quit smoking. & Bryan Hutchinson needs a way to deal with the stress of running his family's business. Then there's Lydia's friend Anne Marie Roche. She & her adopted daughter Ellen have finally settled into a secure & happy routine--when a stranger appears asking questions. Meanwhile Lydia & her husband Brad have their hands full with the angry defiant twelve-year-old who unexpectedly becomes their foster child.... But when your life--and your stitches--get snarled your friends can always" help!" ...

Eleanor of Aquitaine's story deserves to be legendary. She is an icon who has fascinated readers for over 800 years. But the real Eleanor remains elusive
- until now. Based on the most up-to-date research award-winning novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor's magnificent story to life as never before unveiling the real Eleanor. Young golden-haired & blue-eyed Eleanor has everything to look forward to as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137 her childhood is over. Forced to marry the young prince Louis of France she barely adjusts before another death catapults them to being crowned King & Queen of France. Leaving everything behind Eleanor must face the complex & vivacious French court. She is only 13. Barely out of childhood & forced to deal with great scandals fraught relationships & forbidden love at every turn Eleanor finally sees what her future could hold if she could just seize the moment. Overflowing with scandal politics sex triumphs & tragedies The Summer Queen is the first novel in a stunning new trilogy.
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Store all of your important documents in this hard wearing home-file decorated with roses allowing it to sit nicely in any room of your home. With a metal handle secure locking system & concertinaed sections inside your papers & documents are sure to be kept safe tidy & tear free. ...