1592 Books
Sunday Times #1 BestsellerNew York Times #1 BestsellerThe spellbinding new Robert Langdon novelfrom the author of The Da Vinci Code.'Fans will not be disappointed' The TimesRobert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever". The evening?s host is his friend and former student, Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old tech magnate whose dazzling inventions and audacious predictions have made him a controversial figure around the world. This evening is to be no exception- he claims he will reveal an astonishing scientific breakthrough to challenge the fundamentals of human existence.But Langdon and several hundred other guests are left reeling when the meticulously orchestrated evening is blown apart before Kirsch?s precious discovery can be revealed. With his life under threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape, along with the museum?s director, Ambra Vidal. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch?s secret.In order to evade a tormented enemy who is one step ahead of them at every turn, Langdon and Vidal must navigate labyrinthine passageways of hidden history and ancient religion. On a trail marked only by enigmatic symbols and elusive modern art, Langdon and Vidal uncover the clues that will bring them face-to-face with a world-shaking truth that has remained buried - until now.'Dan Brown is the master of the intellectual cliffhanger? Wall Street Journal'As engaging a hero as you could wish for? Mail on Sunday 'For anyone who wants more brain-food than thrillers normally provide? Sunday Times
The Pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and twenty Cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals. Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.
Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant are assigned to investigate the discovery of a disembodied head during the Derby Day at Epson Downs, and soon find themselves snarled up in a web of skullduggery.
January 1910. A journalist has been killed in a suspicious blaze. Everything points to a group of suffragettes, but the apparent culprit insists she is innocent. When Lady Hardcastle receives a letter from a suffragette requesting her urgent help, the retired spy turned sleuth knows only she stands between an accused young woman and the gallows. Evidence at the scene makes Lizzie Worrel's innocence difficult to believe, and with the police treating it as an open-and-shut case of arson, Lady Hardcastle faces a barrage of resistance as she tries to dig out the truth. With her trusted maid and confidante, the formidable Flo, Lady Hardcastle sets off in pursuit of the truth as time runs out for the accused suffragette. Was she set up? And if so, is the real culprit a traitor to the cause--or part of a darker conspiracy?
August 1911. Emily Hardcastle and her inimitable lady's maid Florence Armstrong are enjoying a fine summer until Harry, Lady H's brother, turns up out of the blue with a mystery for them to solve. A routine parachute test at a local aeroplane factory has gone horribly wrong--with pilot Dickie Dupree plummeting to his death. Harry is certain there is more to this 'tragic accident' than meets the eye, having discovered that someone at the airfield is leaking top secret intelligence to foreign rivals. In between strolls to the Dog & Duck and planning for the annual village show, the daring duo dust off the Crime Board and go undercover at Bristol Aviation. With international powers investing heavily in aeronautics, the stakes are high--sky high--and the suspects soon mount up. Can Lady Hardcastle find the culprit before someone else falls down dead?
July 1910. Lady Hardcastle and her tireless sidekick Flo have finally embarked on a long-overdue seaside break. But just as they're wavering between ice creams and donkey rides, their fellow guests start to go missing--and the duo find themselves with a hysterical hotel manager and a case to solve. The first to disappear is Dr Goddard, a scientist doing something terribly top-secret for the government. Gone too are his strongbox and its mysterious contents. By the time Lady Hardcastle has questioned the horde of international guests, her number-one suspect has been dispatched in grisly circumstances--and then the others start vanishing too. As the case begins to look like a matter of national security, Lady Hardcastle takes advice from her brother in the secret service. But could there be an even more personal connection at play? To solve the case, Lady Hardcastle may face a shocking discovery of her own.
Late October 1909, and the season of ghouls and things that go bump in the night has descended on the village of Littleton Cotterell. Lady Hardcastle and her trusted lady's maid, Florence, find themselves hosting a colourful cast of actors whose spooky moving picture, The Witch's Downfall, is being shown to mark Halloween. But things take a macabre turn when the first night's screening ends with a mysterious murder, and the second night with another...One by one the actors turn up dead in ways that eerily echo their film. With the police left scratching their heads, Lady Hardcastle calls upon her amateur sleuthing skills to launch an investigation, with Flo's able assistance. Surrounded by suspects both human and supernatural, Lady Hardcastle must use a little trickery of her own to unmask the murderer.
When Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, are invited to Lord Riddlethorpe’s country estate for a week of motor racing and parties, they both agree it sounds like a perfectly charming holiday. But when one of the drivers dies in a crash during the very first race, they discover that what seemed like an uncharacteristic error in judgement may have a more sinister explanation . . . Closer investigation reveals that the driver’s car was sabotaged – and the driver murdered. The local constabulary are quick to dismiss the case, but Flo and Lady Hardcastle are determined to find out just who has committed this dastardly act, and why. As the pair begin to make enquiries of Lord Riddlethorpe’s servants and guests, it seems that, below stairs and above, there is more to this case than meets the eye. And, even in the quiet of the countryside, death is always just around the bend.
Spring, 1909, and Lady Hardcastle, amateur sleuth and all-round eccentric, is enjoying a well-deserved rest. But a week after a trip to the cattle market, Spencer Caradine, a local farmer, turns up dead in the pub, face-down in his beef and mushroom pie. Once again, it is up to Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, to solve the case. Armed with wit and whimsy, not to mention Florence's mean right hook, the pair set out to discover what really happened and why. Was it poison or just ill luck? As they delve further into their investigation, they encounter a theft where nothing is stolen, a s�ance with a troubled ghost and an ever-increasing number of Spencer's family and friends who might just have motive for murder. One thing's for sure: Lady Hardcastle has a mystery on her hands.