In 1978 a ' Factory for Sale' sign gave Alan Erasmus & Tony Wilson a name for their fledgling Manchester club night. Though they couldn't have known it at the time this was the launch of one of the most significant musical & cultural legacies of the late twentieth century. The club's electrifying live scene soon translated to vinyl & Factory Records went on to become the most innovative & celebrated record label of the next thirty years. Always breaking new musical ground Factory introduced the listening public to bands such as Joy Division whose Unknown Pleasures was the label's first album release New Order Durutti Column & Happy Mondays. Propelled onwards by the inspirational cultural entrepreneur Tony Wilson Factory always sought new ways to energise the popular consciousness such as the infamous Hacienda nightclub which enjoyed a chequered 15-year history after opening in 1982. Shadowplayers is the most complete authoritative & thoroughly researched account of how a group of provincial anarchists & entrepreneurs saw off bankers journalists & gun-toting gangsters to create the most influential record label of modern times. Based on both archive & contemporary sources the book tells the full story of Factory's heroic struggles its complex web of inventive idiosyncratic & tragic personalities & ultimately the acclaimed & much-loved music it produced. ...

As shadows threaten to consume the kingdom of Southmarch Barrick Eddon heir to March throne battles his way across the sinister Shadowlands. He must journey through this dangerous inhuman realm to fulfil a pact
- as this may be all that can prevent the atrocities of a full-scale war with the Twilight people of Qul-na-Qar. Meanwhile the assault upon Southmarch has truly begun. Yasammez the formidable head of the Qar army has ordered the attack believing that the pact between humans & Qar has been broken. Unless Ferras Vansen Captain of the Southmarch Royal Guard can convince her otherwise the humans are sure to meet the dark end that has been promised to them.. .
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Alex has escaped from Rule
- but what new horrors face her in the ravaged world outside? Tom is safe
- but what will he risk

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In book two of this addictive quartet Kimi & her sister Hana have disguised themselves as boys to study at Master Gokus dojo. They prepare themselves to take revenge on the uncle who murdered their father & older brothers by becoming masters of the sword & their combat skills are deadly. But after their uncles unexpected arrival & Master Gokus untimely death the sisters future is uncertain. Kimi & Hana are forced to go on the run once more but word has come that their mother & younger brother are alive & waiting for them. Can Kimi Hana & their friend Tatsuya survive the perils that lie ahead & defeat their uncle once & for all? ...

An awkward misfit nine-year-old Fulke Fitz Warin leaves his family for the household of Joscelin de Dinan Lord of Ludlow. Once there he begins to learn the knightly arts which he desperately hopes will free him from the shadows of his past. Joscelin's youngest daughter Hawise befriends Fulke when he most needs it. But as the years pass an enemy to Ludlow changes their friendship unalterably forcing them onto opposite sides of a cruel divide. When the menace to Ludlow intensifies Fulke must confront the future head on or fail on all counts all the while desperate to know if Hawise stands with or against him. ...

Rome AD 71. Against his better judgement Marcus Didius Falco secretly disposes of a decayed corpse for the Emperor Vespasian then heads for the beautiful Bay of Naples with his best friend Petronius. He conveniently forgets to mention to his companion that this will be no holiday. They have been sent to investigate the murderous members of a failed coup now sunning themselves in luxurious villas & on fancy yachts. Nor does the idyllic seaside location help his doomed romance with Helena Justina. The deeper he probes the more it seems Helena is inextricably connected to the elite plotters in ways that the smitten Falco cannot bear to contemplate.. . ...

When Thea Osborne agrees at the last minute to house-sit for Oliver Meadows she expects a few days of peace with her spaniel Hepzie. Uncomfortable with the news of her mother's sudden involvement with an old flame & herself unsure of how to deal with her feelings for Drew Slocombe Thea hopes that some time alone in the historic town of Winchcombe will help to clear her head. But with the disturbing discovery of a dead body in the gardens of the house she quickly finds herself at the heart of a sinister mystery. Thea must work quickly to unravel the secrets kept by Oliver Meadows & his brother Fraser & discover exactly what lies beneath the surface of their turbulent relationship. But without Drew there to help her she finds it ever more difficult to uncover the truth. & amidst the chaos caused by the investigation will Thea find time to deal with her own problems? ...

Simon Serrailler is on sabbatical on a Scottish island recovering from an exhausting murder investigation when he is urgently summoned back to Lafferton. Two local prostitutes have been found strangled. By the time Serrailer has reached the town another girl has vanished. Is this a vendetta against prostitutes by someone with a warped mind? Or a series of killings by an angry punter? Then the wife of the new Dean at the Cathedral goes missing
- has the killer widened their net or is there more than one murderer at large?
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The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating collection of stories featuring detectives criminal agents & debonair crooks from the golden age of crime fiction: a time when Sherlock Holmes was esconsced in his rooms at 221B Baker Street & London was permanently wreathed in a sinister fog. These gripping tales of mystery suspense & clever puzzles are wonderfully entertaining & in them you will meet The Crime Doctor Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen
- The Thinking Machine Max Carrados
- the incredible blind detective the repulsive but brilliant Skin o My Teeth & the natty ingenious French sleuth Eugene Valmont. On the other side of the law there are gentleman crooks Raffles & Simon Carn
- the Prince of Swindlers. The stories include: The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe The Stolen Cigar Case by Bret Harte The Swedish Match by Anton Chekhov Nine Points of the Law by E.W. Hornung The Ghost at Massingham Mansions by Ernest Bramah & The Great Pearl Mystery by Baroness Orczy."


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The Glasgow Orchestra are rehearsing to perform but little do they know of the sequence of events happening backstage. When George Millar the orchestras leader is brutally murdered in his dressing room his colleagues are shocked. But the show must go on. Enter DCI Lorimer & psychologist Solomon Brightman to investigate. What they uncover is a series of irrevocably tangled relationships between the orchestra members. Up until his death Millar had been involved in homosexual relationships with several other orchestra members & was well known for playing his lovers off against one another
- but were his controversial dalliances really enough to incite cold-blooded murder? A thrilling dark tale from one of Scotlands finest writers of human envy & intrigue.
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