Michael Tudor Barnes

Afghanistan in the summer of 2006. In blazing heat in remote outposts the 3 Para battlegroup is pitted against a stubborn enemy who keep on coming. Until now, the full story of what happened there has not been told. This is it.

In April 2006, the elite 3 Para battlegroup was despatched to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. They were tasked with providing security to reconstruction efforts, a deployment it was hoped would pass off without a shot being fired. In fact, over the six months they were there, the 3 Para battle group saw near continuous combat - one gruelling battle after another - in what would become one of the most extraordinary campaigns ever fought by British troops.

Around parched, dusty outposts reliant on a limited number of helicopters for food and ammunition resupply, troops were subjected to relentless Taliban attacks, as well as energy-sapping 50 degree heat and spartan conditions. At the end of the tour, the Taliban offensive aimed at driving the British and Afghan Government troops out of Helmand had been tactically defeated. But 3 Para paid a high price: fourteen soldiers and one interpreter were killed, and 46 wounded.

'3 Para' will tell the stories of the men and women who took part in this extraordinary and largely unreported saga. Best-selling author Patrick Bishop has been given exclusive access to the soldiers whose tales of courage and endurance provide an unforgettable portrait of one of the world's finest and most fascinating fighting regiments, and a remarkable band of warriors. Their bravery was reflected in the array of gallantry medals that were bestowed on their return, including the Victoria Cross awarded to Corporal Bryan Budd and the George Cross won by Corporal Mark Wright, both of whom were killed winning their awards.

3 Para's saga of comradeship, courage and fortitude is set to become a classic.

Professor Lamont arrives at the Mariners Hotel, for a meeting with the guest in Room 106, where the body of Dr Whistler is found lying in a pool of blood. Suspicion lands on Lamont when his sister confirms that he had a knife with him that morning. It looks like an easy case to solve, but Detective Constable Sukey Reynolds' instincts are telling her otherwise.

A tale of life on board the cargo liner Antigone during the last great days of the Merchant Navy as seen through the eyes of Laddie on a long voyage from England to Hong Kong, Singapore and the South China Sea.

Crete, 1941. In the face of a German invasion, Sergeant Jack Tanner is embroiled in a deadly game of survival that will test his resolve more than ever before. Not only has he fallen out with his commander but he has mortally offended Alopex, a powerful local chieftain.

As if that wasn't enough, Tanner and the rest of his battalion are caught in vicious close-quarter fighting against crack German paratroopers. Before long, they find themselves in bitter retreat to the mountainous interior where only one man can help them - Alopex.

Although whether he will come to their rescue or not remains to be seen...

Christian Wolmar describes the vision and determination of the pioneers who developed railways that would one day span continents, as well as the labour of the navvies who built this global network.

In the close-knit community of the respectable market town of Lydmouth, a terrible crime is about to be discovered... Two provincial newspapers are in the throes of a bitter circulation war. And there's no pleasure left in the life of DCI Richard Thornhill. Only a corpse, a television set and the promise of truth to come...

Gentleman spy Henry Gresham is called to the deathbed of his archenemy, Robert Cecil, and given the task of retrieving letters that could be used against the King. Little does he realise that he is being set up, as live bait, to draw out a madman determined to destroy James I.

The seven courageous crewmen of the Lancaster bomber fly into the skies over enemy Germany almost every night, hoping they will survive the raid. On the ground the women who love them wait and hope too.

Why did the First Sea Lord order Convoy PQ17 to scatter leaving a merchant convoy unprotected in the Barents Sea? Was it the threat of a German attack or something more obscure? All may have remained a secret but for a dead man talking!

An ecological experiment financed by Heritage Marinerhas been set-up to track a plastic bottle. It is filled with lottery tickets and has been dropped in a Tokyo river, in order to prove how swiftly rubbish can foul the oceans. When it is found to contain the winning ticket, a dangerous game begins.

Devon farmer David Kennard battles to save his farm after a succession of potentially disastrous setbacks in this true story. The one thing he knows for sure is that he can always rely on his faithful sheepdogs.

1794. Free from jail, John Pearce is not free from the smugglers whose boat he stole. While lying low, Pearce soon has other pressing concerns on his mind. Granted a commission by William Pitt, John Pearce evades his pursuers by undertaking a dangerous mission in France. Book 8 of series.

In 1588 Philip of Spain assembles a great fleet to defeat England and Queen Elizabeth. Young Henry Grisham has inside knowledge, through his work as an agent for Francis Walsingham, but this is likely to endanger his life.

Spring 1791

Though deeply disturbed by a terrible incident during his previous commission, James Hayter is nevertheless on the verge of taking command of HMS Sloop Eglantine as Master and Commander when personal tragedy shatters his life. The twin blows convince Hayter that he is not fit to command and he must turn his back on the sea forever. Even the intervention of his friend and former captain, William Rennie cannot not dissuade him from derelicting his duty.

Though repenting in the end of his decision, Hayter's career in the Navy appears to be over until the intervention of an agent, Mr Brough Mappin, working for Hayter's old nemesis, the British Secret Service Fund.

Mappin's plan offers Hayter a chance to revive his career on a special mission, with the promise of reinstatement in the Royal Naval List if he is successful. But it is also the single most dangerous mission of his life. He must sail for France with Rennie in HMS Expedient and there rescue some persons of interest from the grasp of the French Revolutionary forces searching for them.

What no one mentions is that the rescue will bring to bear on Expedient and her crew, a force so fierce and mighty that, if it can, it will wipe all trace of the incident, Hayter and the ship from the memory of everyone involved in the forthcoming struggle.

For most, 19th century life in London was one of grinding poverty, binge drinking, prostitution and gun crime. Gilda O'Neill explores the streets, rat-infested slums, common lodging houses, boozers, penny gaffs and brothels in the heart of the greatest empire the world has ever seen.

On 3 May 1961, after a trial conducted largely in secret, a man named George Blake was sentenced to an unprecedented forty-two years in jail. By his own confession he was a Soviet spy. To the public, Blake was simply the greatest traitor of the Cold War. Yet, as Roger Hermiston reveals in this thrilling new biography, his story touches not only the depths of treachery but also the heights of heroism.

Johnny Johnson is one of very few men who can recall first-hand the most daring and ingenious air raid of all time. He can also vividly remember the series of events that led him to the RAF and the rigorous training that followed. But it was his decision to join 617 Squadron, and the consequences, that have truly stayed etched in his mind.

This is the story of the men and women who put saving life above taking life and who risk their own lives on a daily basis.

The author was brought up worshipping the deeds and the heroes of the Second World War. He often tried to quiz his father about these times, but had no success. As he uncovers the truth behind his family's past he brings to life the realities of a poverty-striken post-war London.

As a young police officer, Inspector Richard Thornhill saw and did things that still haunt his dreams and make him fear for his sanity. Now, in Lydmouth, the past has come back to claim him and he is under suspicion of murder. His wife Edith and his former lover Jill Francis form an uneasy alliance and try to help him.

From the most luxurious and historic - aboard the Orient Express, to the most futuristic - the driverless trains of London's Docklands Light Railway, here is a unique travel companion celebrating the treasures of our railway heritage from one of Britain's most knowledgeable railway writers.

One April morning in 1943, a sardine fisherman spotted the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and set off a course of events that would change the course of the Second World War. Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted, and certainly the strangest. Richard & Judy Bookclub

In 1598 all England wants to know who will succeed the ageing Elizabeth 1 on the throne of England? Henry Gresham is unwillingly embroiled in Robert Cecil’s dangerous scheming .

A powerful new account of the battle of Stalingrad, based on accounts, letters and diaries of soldiers and civilians, and including new evidence of atrocities committed by both sides.

For much of the twentieth century, warplanes were a symbol of the perils and excitements of the modern era. This is a rich and compelling account of military flying from its heroic early days to the present.