Cecilia Laughton

An unrecogniseable body is unearthed in the grounds of a deserted farmhouse in the Dolomites. A valuable signet ring found nearby leads Commissario Guido Brunetti to the heart of aristocratic Venice and a family still grieving for their missing son.  Book 7 of series.

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.

Grant and Kim Roxby hope that their first dinner party will be a talking point. It is, when a body is discovered in the cellar. Their friend Jude and her neighbour Carol, budding amateur detectives, quickly decide to investigate.

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.

Guy Brouard has been a generous benefactor to the island of Guernsey for over ten years. His sudden death shocks the residents, and a young American girl is charged with murder. She is a friend of Deborah St James, who asks her husband Simon and Inspector Thomas Lynley to help avert this miscarriage of justice.  Book 12 of series.

August 1923 and the peace of Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell is shattered by the visit of Dorothy Ruskin, an amateur archeologist, returning from the Holy Land. The following day Dorothy is murdered, so once again Holmes and Russell step in to investigate.

Precious Ramotswe is Botswana's only female private detective. Her methods are not conventional but she has warmth and canny intuition on her side as she deals with philandering partners, conmen and wayward children.  Book 1 of series.

Set in the court of Henry VIII, this is the story of Mary Boleyn, who was once a rival to her sister Anne for the affections of the King.

Aristocratic Lydia and her mother, exiled from Russia by the Revolution, have taken refuge in China. As destitution looms Lydia is saved from certain death by Chang An Lo. When the two fall in love they face prejudice, shame, kidnap and betrayal as their attraction is tested to the limits.

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.

May 1945 and the end of World War II means the return of a father and for Dot a new way of life.

Seventeen-year-old Pippa is one of the many dancers in the Midlands City Ballet chosen to go on an Italian tour. In Venice she attracts the attention of Niccolo, a gondolier, and gradually becomes aware of a more grown-up, complex world.

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

The lives of a handful of people in a small country town. Spending the holiday with friends, as she has for many years, Camilla finds their private absorptions - Frances with her painting and Liz with her baby - seem to exclude her from the gossipy intimacies of previous summers.

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.

Set in New York, London and India, the novel centres on wealthy nineteen-year-old twins, Harriet and Michael Wishwell. They are looking for a purpose in their lives and think they have found it when they become followers of Indian guru Rawul, a would-be world leader who falsely promises a better future for his disciples.

At 18 Mary had a love affair. There was a baby and she had it adopted. Now on holiday with her husband, David, the phone rings: it is her first daughter, reared in America, and she wants to meet her natural mother. The result of her visit is to affect the whole family and cause a good deal of re-thinking of long-accepted facts.

There were two men in Rose’s life: Ned, her husband and Mylo, her lover. After Ned’s funeral Rose looks back on 50 years of duplicity and chooses her future.

Friendship of four children on an idyllic holiday in France, and their subsequent relationships over the next 40 years

Sequel to 'Ultimate Prizes' (2823); Venetia becomes involved with her friend’s father, a married clergyman, whose admiration spirals out of control into an obsessive love. He begins to take risks and Venetia finds herself trapped in a web of love and lies.

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

This book tells the history of an Italian family, the del Campos. Gabriel, the founder of the dynasty, starts life as a peasant, then, as a young man, becomes a captive of the Vatican and in prison learns the ways of a gentleman.

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.

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.

The obsession of the author's search for a castle ended immediately she saw Villa Orsola.

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 …

When Archie Logan’s father brings his charming mistress to stay with his son and wife, their lives are turned upside-down.

When their two year old son, Bobby,is killed in a car accident, Menley and Adam are shattered. But after the birth of a daughter, Hannah, they resolve to rebuild their lives. They rent a house on Cape Cod for the summer but peace eludes them when incidents start to occur which cause Menley to relive the horror of the accident in which Bobby died.

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.

Amy thought the Hotel Parthenon in Greece would be a nice change for her M P husband, Tom, but the place is overrun with unlikely characters including Tom's ex-mistress.

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.

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

In 1941 a young woman is rescued from a London air-raid by a stranger. She finds peace in the West Country away from the intrusion of war.

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.

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.

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?