Daniel Philpott

In 1980 an airliner crashes in the French Alps, the only survivor is a small baby girl but there were two baby girls on the plane. Both families claim the child as theirs and the courts award custody to one set of grandparents. On her 18th birthday, the private investigator hired by one family gives her his case notes and as she sets out to find the truth, she uncovers eighteen years of lies and deceptions.

When a boat containing a disfigured corpse is found in the port of Vigata, the investigation leaves a luxury vessel with a shady crew stuck in the port until Inspector Montalbano can make sense of the crime. Soon Montalbano finds himself getting into tangles with the dreaded Commissioner, and a beautiful young woman with whom he becomes dangerously besotted. But can he clear his head long enough to unravel this murky mystery?

When Vigàta's elite are targeted in a series of burglaries, Inspector Montalbano reluctantly takes the case. It isn't long before Montalbano finds himself taken with one of the victims, beautiful young Angelica. But as the detective's attraction grows – until he can think of little else – a series of anonymous letters claiming responsibility for the thefts begin to arrive. Montalbano must focus his mind to solve this perplexing investigation before events spiral out of all control..

Inspector Montalbano and his girlfriend, Livia, prepare for a relaxing holiday in a villa he has found for them. But when Livia’s friends’ young son goes missing, a series of events is sparked which will certainly ruin the Chief Inspector’s pleasant interlude.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politicians and love for the fatherland; one that promised to build a 'New Roman Empire', and make Italy a great power once again.

Wearing black shirts and wielding guns, knives and truncheons, the proponents of fascism embraced a climate of violence and rampant masculinity. Led by Benito Mussolini, they would systematically destroy the organisations of the left, murdering and torturing anyone who got in their way.

In Blood and Power, historian John Foot draws on decades of research to chart the turbulent years between 1915 and 1945, and beyond. Drawing widely from accounts of people across the political spectrum - fascists, anti-fascists, communists, anarchists, victims, perpetrators and bystanders - he tells the story of fascism and its legacy, which still, disturbingly, reverberates to this day.

Tom Reynolds is an Emergency Medical Technician with the London Ambulance Service. Based on his blog, this book reveals the stories behind the flashing blue light and is by turns moving, funny, heart-rending and compassionate.

Collected in one volume, here are the true life stories of London ambulance driver, Tom Reynolds.

*Previously published as Sirens, after the Channel 4 TV show inspired by the book*

On any given day Tom Reynolds might be attacked by strangers, sworn at by motorists, puked on, covered in blood and other much more unpleasant substances. He could help to deliver a baby in the morning and witness the last moments of a dying man in the afternoon. He deals with road accidents, knife attacks, domestic violence, drug overdoses, neglect and suffering.

And you think you're having a bad day at work?

His experiences spawned two volumes of memoir, both of which are collected here.

Paris, 1585, a city on the edge of catastrophe. Alone and near destitute, Giordano Bruno turns to old friend and zealous preacher, Paul Lefevre. But when the priest is murdered, Bruno is pulled into a dangerous world. If Bruno can’t uncover the truth, not only is the future of the de Valois monarchy threatened – but his own life will be the forfeit. Book 5 of the series.

Farideh's husband is a corporal in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, entrapped by MI6 for interrogation, but he won't talk unless Farideh is brought out of Iran. The SAS say it's too dangerous, but the director of the operation doesn't want to lose his prize. He assembles a little team of three ex-soldiers and one student drop-out who knows the language and smuggles them into Tehran...

Inspector Montalbano is sitting on his porch, when his attention is caught by a seagull which falls from the sky, performing a strange dance, before lying down to die - the scene hangs over him like an omen. About to depart for a holiday with his girlfriend Livia, Montalbano makes a trip to the police station to tie up loose ends. But when his colleague Fazio is discovered missing, Montalbano launches a desperate search for his friend, as time begins to run out . . .

A collection of three novellas featuring Giordano Bruno. The Secret Dead: Novice monk Giordano Bruno has a habit of asking difficult questions, but this time his investigations may deliver him into the hands of the Inquisition. The Academy of Secrets: An invitation arrives from a secret society of enlightened philosophers, led by the eccentric Don Giambattista della Porta. Bruno finds keeping these new heretical secrets soon becomes a matter of life or death. A Christmas Requiem: When Giordano Bruno is told the pope wants to see him, he fears he may be walking into a trap.

Sir Thomas Blackstone, the British archer knighted on the field of Crecy, has used the intervening years to forge his own war band and has hacked out a fiefdom in central France. But the field of battle is not only arena in which Blackstone will have to fight for his life...  Book 2 of series.

1888. When young Scottish scientist James Murray receives a letter from Sofia Esposito, a woman he once loved and lost, he cannot refuse her cry for help. Sofia's fifteen-year-old cousin has vanished but the police are unwilling to investigate. As he embarks on his search for the missing girl, Murray uncovers a series of mysterious disappearances and rumours of a haunted abbey on the outskirts of the city.

A young man is found murdered in front of his apartment building, and an elderly couple are reported missing after an excursion to the ancient site of Tindari – two seemingly unrelated cases for Inspector Montalbano to solve. But his investigation stumbles onto Sicily’s brutal ‘New Mafia’, leading him down a path more evil and far-reaching than any he has been down before.

England 1586. Giordano Bruno brings shocking new intelligence to Sir Francis Walsingham. A band of Catholic Englishmen are plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth and spring Mary Queen of Scots from prison to take the English throne in her place. Bruno is surprised to find that Walsingham is aware of the plot, and is allowing it to progress. His hope is that Mary will put her support in writing - and condemn herself to a traitor's death. Bruno is tasked with going undercover to join the conspirators. Can he stop them before he is exposed? Either way a Queen will die; Bruno must make sure it is the right one....

When Montalbano comes to the aid of his new neighbour, Liliana Lombardo the inspector can little imagine where this will lead. It soon transpires that the young woman is being targeted by someone. But is Liliana’s growing interest in Montalbano simply a product of the detective’s innate charm? Meanwhile a bomb explodes outside an empty warehouse in Vigàta. As Montalbano and his colleagues investigate, they begin to receive a barrage of false clues. The inspector realises that he is being led into a hall of mirrors where there is danger at every turn.

David Adam has suffered from OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, for twenty years, and this is his attempt to understand the condition. Drawing on the latest research on the brain, as well as historical accounts of patients and their treatments, this book will challenge the way you think about what is normal, and what is mental illness.

England, 1346: For Thomas Blackstone the choice is easy - hang for a murder he did not commit, or join the king's invasion of France. As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone will learn the brutal lessons of war - from the terror and confusion of his first taste of combat, to the savage realities of siege warfare.  Book 1 of series.

In May 1937, a man in his early thirties waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block, expecting to be taken away to the ‘Big House.’ Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now, and few who are taken there ever return.

Inspector Montalbano is faced with the gruesome murder of a man – shot in the face at point-blank range with his pants down. Add two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, dirty cocaine, dead politicians, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters, and things soon get very complicated at the police headquarters in Vigàta.

Chief Inspector Montalbano is on enforced sick leave. But when a local girl goes mysteriously missing, the whole community takes an interest in the case. The ever-inquisitive Montalbano steps in, to get to the heart of the matter in his own inimitable style.

While Vigàta is wracked by storms, Inspector Montalbano is called to attend the discovery of a dismembered body in a field of clay. Bearing all the marks of an execution style killing, it seems clear that this is the work of the notorious local mafia. But who is the victim? And what is the significance of the Potter's Field? Working to decipher these clues, Montalbano must also avoid the distraction of the enchanting Dolores Alfano...

Inspector Montalbano is considering retirement. Everything – the government, the world – seems to be going to the dogs. But when he bumps into a dead body during a bracing swim, his detective instincts are aroused once more. Particularly when the most likely identity of the victim is a man long buried ...

In 1958 Adam Strickland travels to Tuscany to study a sixteenth-century garden at the Villa Docci. Fascinated by the Docci family, he realises that their wartime history is as intriguing as the history of the garden. What lay behind a killing at the Villa, and what secrets are still hidden? Richard & Judy Bookclub

An angry octogenarian holds a terrified secretary at gunpoint. The secretary’s boss, a financial adviser, has vanished along with several billion lire entrusted to him by the good citizens of Vigata. Also missing is the adviser’s young colleague. Inspector Montalbano is reluctantly drawn into the case.

In 1945 ten-year-old Daniel’s father introduces him to the work of a forgotten author, Julian Carax in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He loves the book so much that, years later, he sets out to find more of Carax’s work but someone is destroying every copy in existence and his book may be the last. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, volume 1.

When Silvio Luparello is found dead 'in flagrante', the verdict is death by natural causes - quite unnusual in Sicily! But Inspector Montalbano is not convinced about the official verdict.

Brighton, 1951. Pantomime season is in full swing. When two children mysteriously disappear, DI Edgar Stephens has plenty of leads to investigate. Does the clue lie in the missing girl’s unfinished and disturbing last script? Or with the eccentric theatricals who have assembled for the pantomime?  Book 2 of series.

Inspector Montalbano, the Sicilian detective, investigates two seemingly unconnected deaths: the gunning down of a crewman on a fishing trawler by a Tunisian patrol boat, and the stabbing of an elderly man in an elevator. X rated, contains offensive language.

Istanbul 1838. Lefevre, a French archaeologist, has arrived in Istanbul determined to uncover a lost Byzantine treasure. Yashim is hired to investigate him, but when the man turns up dead, there is only one suspect: Yashim himself - so the investigator finds himself in a race against time to uncover the startling truth.

Several incidents lead Inspector Montalbano to a secret grotto where a terracotta dog watches over the intertwined bodies of two young lovers who died over fifty years ago. Trying to solve this old crime, Montalbano is faced with horrors from WWII.

When a crazed elderly man and his sister begin firing bullets from their balcony down onto the Vigata street below, Inspector Montalbano finds himself a reluctant television hero. When a letter arrives containing a mysterious riddle, the Inspector becomes drawn into a treasure hunt set by an anonymous challenger. He follows the clues, travelling from Vigata's teeming streets to its deserted outskirts. But when a horrifying crime is committed it isn't long before Montalbano himself will be in terrible danger...

When Connor Tempest and his swashbuckling pirate buddies get a rare break in their duties, they're in the mood for fun, sun and adventure. A chance meeting with the crew of The Lorelei seems to offer all that and more.

Soon, Connor and co are learning to freedive into the amazing world far beneath the ocean's surface. But the pirates are further out of their depth than they realise. Under the water, danger is lurking - and it's going to take everything they've got to get out alive.

Trying to get to a funeral, Montalbano bumps a car with the police car. He leaves a note, but his curiosity is piqued when no-one contacts him about the repair. Visiting the owner's house illicitly, he discovers a body. Following an inept investigation, he and his team take over the case, but it must be done totally covertly! X rated, contains graphic violence and explicit sex.

It is Naples, 1943, and James spends his time interrogating would-be Italian fiancées of the armed forces. When he meets Olivia she becomes his cook, translator and general helper and they begin to fall in love; then the two are forced to flee behind enemy lines. X rated, explicit sexual content.

When the body of a young woman is found in a dump, a tattoo of a sphinx moth on her shoulder links her with three other missing girls bearing the same mark. All victims of an underworld sex trade, these girls had been rescued by a Catholic charity organization. But as his investigation progresses, it seems that not everyone wants Inspector Montalbano to discover what really lies behind the organisation's charitable façade.