Showing titles in Historical

Following on from Dissolution and Dark Fire, Sovereign is the third gripping historical novel in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory. ‘Sansom has the trick of writing an enthralling narrative. Like Hilary Mantel, he produces...

As twilight descends on the third century AD, the Roman Empire is but a shadow of its former self. Decades of usurping emperors, splinter kingdoms and savage wars have left the people beleaguered, the armies weary and the future uncertain. And into this chaos Emperor Diocletian steps, reforming the succession to allow for not one emperor to rule the world, but four. Meanwhile, two boys share a chance meeting in the great city of Treverorum as Diocletian's dream is announced to the imperial court. 

Cornwall, 1901: Lucy and Jack, in the guise of a tranquil honeymoon, track a spy who threatens England's vital global telegraph lines. Enter Holmes and Watson, with young Irregulars Becky and Flynn in tow, diving into a whirlpool of sunken treasure and spectral sirens. As cryptic messages, hidden loot, and the song of a Cornwall siren entwine, the serene coast becomes a stormy battleground. The stakes? Nothing less than the Empire's safety during wartime. "The Cornwall Mermaid" is a symphony of past and present, where classic mystery meets the adrenaline of a thriller.

Now a major Disney+ original series, Shardlake – airing this summer on ITV. 'C. J. Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going' – The Sunday Times Dissolution is the first novel in C. J. Sansom’s phenomenal bestselling Shardlake series, perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE SIXTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL George Smiley, now acting head of the Circus, must rebuild its shattered reputation after one of the biggest betrayals in its history. Using the talents of journalist and occasional spy Jerry Westerby, Smiley launches a risky operation...

Summer, 1585: Sir Francis Drake prepares to embark on an expedition by royal commission to cross the Atlantic and seize major Spanish ports, diverting King Philip of Spain’s treasure to Queen Elizabeth. When a ship captain is brutally murdered, and Drake’s life threatened, it becomes clear that someone plans to destroy the expedition before it begins. Giordano Bruno and Sir Philip Sidney hunt for the killer, but are they being lured into a trap?

I was the new boy, so they saddled me with the worst jobs.' Rome, AD 71. Against his better judgement, 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 and on fancy yachts.

What did he eat last? Whom did he eat, in fact? Lumbered with working alongside reptilian Chief Spy Anacrites, Falco has the perfect plan to make money - he will assist Vespasian in the Emperor's 'Great Census' of AD 73. His potential fee could finally allow him to join the middle ranks and be worthy of long-suffering Helena Justina. Unexpectedly confronted with the murder of a man-eating lion, Falco is distracted from his original task, uncovering a bitter rivalry between the gladiators' trainers.

India Steele is desperate. Her father is dead, her fiancé took her inheritance, and no one will employ her, despite years working for her watchmaker father. Indeed, the other London watchmakers seem frightened of her. Alone, poor, and at the end of her tether, India takes employment with the only person who’ll accept her–an enigmatic and mysterious man from America. A man who possesses a strange watch that rejuvenates him when he’s ill.

After an adventurous season spent excavating at Dahshoor, and narrowly averting the clutches of the Master Criminal, Victorian Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson and her spouse prepare for a quiet summer in England. The social and domestic routine, though interrupted by the precocious escapades of their only child, Ramses, hardly seems much of a challenge for the indomitable Emersons.

While the whine of the air raid sirens might no longer be rousing him from bed every night, a two-decade-old unsolved murder case will ensure that Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is about to suffer more sleepless nights. Young Robert McFarlane’s body was found outside the local church hall on 30th September 1923. But, his cause of death was drowning, and he’d been missing for three days before his body was found. No one was ever arrested for the crime. No answers could ever be given to the grieving family. The unsolved case has haunted Mason ever since.

Narrated by acclaimed British actor Edward Petherbridge, The Last Moriarty is set in London, 1895. On a cold November morning, a young American actress visits 221B Baker Street, desperate for Sherlock Holmes to protect her from the threats of a mysterious, menacing man who has recently appeared in her life. Holmes agrees to help, even though he has just promised the Prime Minister to solve the murder of John D. Rockefeller's security agent before the incident can derail an upcoming British-American summit.

From the bestselling author of the Shardlake series, C. J. Sansom, comes Winter in Madrid, a standalone historical novel set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. 1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless...

It's not unusual for spies to have secrets, but Henry Hunter has more than most, and after he is stopped by British Intelligence at Croydon airport on the eve of the Second World War, he finds he has even more. In March 1941 in Berlin, haunted by a dark episode from his past, he makes a fateful decision resulting in a dramatic journey to the Swiss frontier, with a shocking outcome.

Recently, there had been some strange goings on at Styles St Mary. Evelyn, constant companion to old Mrs Inglethorp, had stormed out of the house muttering something about "a lot of sharks". And with her, something indefinable had gone from the atmosphere. Her presence had spelt security; now the air seemed rife with suspicion and impending evil.

Harriet White is settling into life in the post room of the Baker Street building society. Until she discovers a letter in The Times challenging Sherlock Holmes to prove his status as the world’s greatest detective by solving an impossible mystery. The letter, signed Professor James Moriarty, advises Holmes that the crime will be committed within the next seven days. Holmes himself must deduce which crime is the correct one to investigate. Dismissing the letter as a prank – after all, Sherlock Holmes isn't real – Harry goes about her business.

Less than one year into her marriage to respected magistrate George Knightley, Emma has grown unusually content in her newfound partnership and refreshed sense of independence. The height of summer sees the former Miss Woodhouse gracefully balancing the meticulous management of her elegant family estate and a flurry of social engagements, with few worries apart from her beloved father's health . . . But cheery circumstances change in an instant when Emma and Harriet Martin, now the wife of one of Mr. Knightley's tenant farmers, discover a hideous shock at the local church.

Against the romantic backdrop of Edwardian Egypt, the irresistible Amelia Peabody and her charmingly unconventional family prove themselves to be formidable foes of villainy. In The Ape Who Guards the Balance Amelia must muster all of her considerable skills of detection to unravel a snarled web of stolen archeological treasures, murderous cults, and fallen women.

Romulus and Fabiola are twins, born into slavery after their mother is raped by a drunken nobleman on his way home from a good night out. At 13 years old, they and their mother are sold: Romulus to gladiator school, Fabiola into prostitution, where she will catch the eye of one of the most powerful men in Rome, and their mother into obscurity and death in the salt mines. Tarquinius is an Etruscan, a warrior and soothsayer, born enemy of Rome, but doomed to fight for the Republic in the Forgotten Legion.

Three more dastardly deeds lead Holmes and Lucy into a lurid game of cat-and-mouse. The game won’t end until a climactic showdown between the Baker Street team and a ruthless and deadly ring of rogue cops who believe they’re above the law. Two wealthy, influential women have gone missing, both associated with a fashionable enlightenment group run by a charismatic guru. As the Baker Street team investigates, they are taken down dark twists and turns, and forced to confront an old enemy anew.