Cecilia Laughton

Minty's fiance, Jock Lewis, was supposed to have died in the Paddington train crash. When his ghost appeared before Minty, and even touched her, she decided to protect herself from this shadow man and started to carry a knife!

The death of a beautiful New York socialite whose body is pulled from the sea off the small town of Amagansett on the coast of Long Island was apparently accidental, but the new deputy police chief is not convinced. Set in the post-WW2 era this literary crime novel describes a community whose way of life is disappearing.

After a weekend in Paris with her husband, Mrs Dade returns home to discover that her teenaged children, along with their teen-sitter, have disappeared. She is convinced that they drowned when the River Brede burst its banks. Wexford's investigation calls into question his assumptions about the way people behave.

Gina and Laurence have been the best of friends ever since they were teenagers. They have never been in love - just friends. When her husband leaves Gina and their teenage daughter, she turns for emotional support to Laurence, her dearest friend. And as Laurence gives comfort, so his own marriage and the stability of his children edges towards destruction …

The criminal impulse may be present in the most routine or intimate situation. Murder, passion, and lost innocence are all contained in these stories. Ruth Rendell probes behind the patterns of everyday life to pinpoint the frailties, desires, deceptions and guilty secrets of human beings.

Questa Adamson is stranded in Italy for the duration of the Second World War. When she finally returns to England she finds that the safe childhood world she remembers has disappeared. She also finds that she has inherited a tumbledown manor house in Shropshire and is determined to restore the estate to its former glory, despite post-war austerity.

Billy Ray Rickman leaves the States in search of prosperity in the growing oil industry. From the oil fields of Alaska to the country houses of England, Billy Ray seeks solace in the arms of women as he ruthlessly exploits the earth’s riches. X rated, contains offensive language.

Three young wartime evacuees are sent to live in the country with two unmarried sisters. It is an idyllic time for them until they are cruelly split up. By chance they are reunited after the war, when hearts will be broken and mended.

Jerry and Pete have been successfully conning householders but Jerry decides to go straight after meeting Charlotte Frost. Charlotte is persuaded to let Jerry renovate her garden, and one day she suddenly disappears. Why, and is Jerry involved?

When the novelist Gerald Candless died, his daughter decided to write a memoir, but even his identity appeared to be untrue. Who was he and why had he concealed his real idenitity?

For generations wealthy La Houssiniere and impoverished Les salants have fought for the control of the beach of a tiny Breton island. When a local girl returns home after aten year absence, she finds her home village, Les Salants, dying. And decides to redress the balance between the two communities!

Carol Shields won critical acclaim and several prizes for her novels, but she was also a talented short story writer. Now, for the first time her short stories have been collected into one volume.

A guide to prayer that is practical and realistic from a Benedictine monk.

These nine short stories indicate hidden depths in ordinary events and create a sense of unease.

In the village of Middle Bardolph acts of greed and obsession are about to turn elderly Mrs Newton's prim life upside-down. An ex-convict has moved into the house next door: her recently jilted daughter is going mad with grief, whilst her middle aged son is desperate for his inheritance!

A provocative view of modern society weaved into a tale of explosive love and, perhaps, even, black magic.

Scandalous Eleanor Darcy, wild young wife of a world-famous economist, sketches her vision of Utopia to two journalists, Hugo Vansitart and Valarie Jones. In glorious detail, she describes an earthly paradise of peace, love and technological progress where sex is plentiful and money does not exist. Such is Eleanor's charisma that, to their own astonishment, Hugo and Valerie abandon their families and set up home together on a Holiday Inn.

CONTENT WARNING: contains scenes of a sexual nature

When a wealthy student is found dead at an isolated theological college, his father demands an investigation by Scotland Yard. Commander Dalgliesh volunteers and finds himself embroiled in the most puzzling and horrific case of his career.  Book 11 of series.

Isabel Allende has placed her heroine against the background of a turbulent South American country where love, politics, tragedy and disaster shape her life.

When Commissario Brunetti is called to a crime scene, he doesn't expect the culprit to be his wife. She has deliberately thrown a rock through a travel agent's window, but why?  Book 8 of series.

In the Dower house two children are being raised in protected innocence. They are equal claimants to the inheritance of Wideacre; tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry, yet only one can inherit the estate.  Book 2 of series.

Secretive Framboise returns to her former home, a ruined farm, in the village of Les Laveuses. Gradually she relives the tragic wartime events of her childhood, which caused her family to leave the farm.

Galileo's daughter became a cloistered nun but continued to correspond with her father. These intelligent letters have been translated for the first time and are used to bring Galileo, his times and his beliefs to life as never before.

Compelling story set in modern India. Twins, Rahel and Estha fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family and learn that things can change in a day. Man Booker Prize Winner. Contains some violence.

Alison sees herself as a committed revolutionary. When she isn't busy making curtains for her 'squat' she likes to be on the battlefront, picketing, being bound over and, best of all, spray-painting slogans. But she fails to see the dangers under her own roof: the dabbling with explosive, ill-formed objectives and the disregard of consequences.

4 delightful novellas varying in styles and subjects. From a British soldier on the African fringes of the 2nd World War, to a young, underprivileged black girl in London living in the world of a liberal white middle-class family.

Sergeant Louise Nightingale is recovering from the ordeal of being viciously attacked. The attacker is now behind bars, but Louise is unaware that he was just a pupil of a more deadly opponent, and Louise is his chosen victim!

The author and her husband met Graham Greene in the 1960's and a strong friendship developed. Here she describes aspects of Greene's character and work.

Tristram Abberley, a poet in the 1930's, died fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. When, fifty years later, his sister, Beatrix, is murdered, her niece is stunned. It soon becomes apparent that Beatrix has been the victim of a conspiracy which leads to the revelation of long-buried family secrets and a vendetta which continues.

A romantic and partly ruined house on Devon/Cornwall border is bought by a painter and his daughter. Mysterious events change their lives in a disturbing and delightful way.

In his latest case Wexford is forced to confront the issues of violence and prejudice which surround domestic crime, after the disappearance of several young girls in Kingsmarkham.

Joss le Guern has set himself up as town crier for the 14th arrondissement in Paris. For a fee he will announce messages left in his box, and some are enigmatic and disturbing. Meanwhile Commissaire Adamsberg is visited by a woman who keeps finding reversed fours painted on her building's door. He soon senses a grotesque connection.

Inspector Sejer's investigation into a brutal murder at an isolated house in the woods develops into a manhunt when the main suspect is taken hostage during a bank robbery. X rated, contains graphic violence.

Harold and Claudia have to face the unthinkable: their son has committed murder. What kind of loyalty do they owe a son who has committed this horrible crime and how have they failed him.

The Jerusalem Bible version of the Four Gospels.

Catherine has become a victim in her own home after frequent nuisance calls and then a vicious attack. As she comes to terms with her injuries two men seem anxious to uncover the truth.

Since the eighteenth century the eccentric and flamboyant Beltran family have ruled their desolate Andean valley. Now they are almost extinct.

At seventeen, Lydia Sinclair, newly married to Don Diego Beltran, the last of the line, arrives at the vast decaying Hacienda La Bebella. As her husband retreats into himself, Lydia takes refuge in unearthing his ancestors' tragic history. Benito, the family's oldest retainer, relates to her tales of splendour and romance, violence and suffering. From these she weaves a rich gothic tapestry in which the fantastic legends of the past are mingled with the present necessity for survival in a harsh, drought-ridden land.

CONTENT WARNING: contains scenes of a sexual nature