Simon Evers

November, 1940. I.A. Serebin, a writer from Odessa and former decorated Hero of the Soviet Union, is on his way to Istanbul following a cryptic letter from a former lover.

Ostensibly there on official business for the International Russian Union, an emigre organisation based in Paris, he is drawn into a clandestine world of international spies and political players. With war in Europe drawing nearer, Serebin is recruited by the British secret services - his mission to stop the export of Romanian oil to Germany.

In a race against time, Serebin's journey will take him from the glittering salons of Paris to the back alleys of Bucharest and the Black Sea ports, in a covert operation to staunch the flow of oil, the precious 'blood of victory'.

A Bill Slider Mystery 

Award-winning ex-Guardian hack Phoebe Agnew has a reputation for attacking the police in print. So when her strangled body is found in her chaotic flat, Detective Inspector Bill Slider must abide by the impartiality of the law and find her killer.

On the day of her death the seemingly undomesticated Agnew cooked an elaborate meal for someone. It may have been her old friend and reputed lover, the government advisor Josh Prentiss, but his powerful Home Office friends are pressuring Slider to look elsewhere.

Unidentified fingerprints, missing items, alibis offered when not required - Slider is under pressure to untangle this web of lies and hidden relationships. For Phoebe Agnew was concealing a secret, which someone ass willing to kill - and kill again - to protect ...  Book 8 of series.

Black death at Bletchley! Pustules and pest houses. Burnt at the stake! Lollards tortured and hanged. French kings and guillotines! Exiled King Louis XVIII at Hartwell House. Farmhouse of thieves! The amazing true story of the Great Train Robbery. Buckinghamshire has one of the darkest histories on record. Its residents included the Dinton Hermit - better known as Charles I's executioner - and Sir Everard Digby, the Gayhurst nobleman who tried to blow up James I, as well as a truly apocalyptic priest at Water Stratford. With Romans running amok in the Chilterns and the Anglo-Saxons terrorising Aylesbury, this chilling catalogue of battles, deaths, diseases and disasters will make you see the county in a whole new light.

Ex-Princess Etheline, daughter of the exiled king of Mitteleuropia, has been kidnapped during a visit to Tawcester Towers, ancestral seat of the Dukes of Tawcester, and ducal family honour demands that she should be rescued.

The Dowager Duchess entrusts the task to her son, the Right Hon. Devereux Lyminster, known universally as 'Blotto'. He is, of course, terribly handsome, honourable and brave, but as sadly deficient in the brains department as his sister 'Twinks' is gifted.

So Blotto sets off, accompanied by trusty former batman and chauffeur, Corky Froggett. They drive across many countries to Mitteleuropia, a realm now ruled by a usurper, the ex-king's brother, where they suspect the princess has been taken.

Can brave Blotto and loyal Corky rescue Ethelinda, or will they meet their end in the evil clutches of King Vlatislav?

Calibre Audio was set up in 1974 by three pioneering and tenacious women. They had a vision to bring the joy of audiobooks to anyone with a disability who found reading print difficult or impossible. With recollections from volunteers, narrators, staff and supporters this story tells the first chapter of Calibre’s amazing 50-year journey to become a national charity whose impact now provides a lifeline to so many.

Calibre has made a big difference to the lives of thousands of people - an incredible feat when you consider that all it had to start with was the spark of an idea and only a kitchen table from which to grow it.

In December 1942, five two-man canoes were launched from a submarine off the coast of German-occupied France. The aim of these ten commandos was to paddle over ninety miles from the Bay of Biscay up the Gironde estuary to Bordeaux in order to plant limpet mines on merchant ships supplying the Nazi forces. 

Although this operation, which had taken months to prepare for, was a strategic success it came at a huge cost: only two commandos survived the raid, six were executed after they were captured and two died from hypothermia. C. E. Lucas Phillips' book, which was written in close collaboration with one of the surviving Cockleshell heroes, Herbert 'Blondie' Hasler, provides fascinating insight into this daring assault, from planning right through to the thrilling escape of Hasler and his number two, Bill Sparks, with the help of the French Resistance.

Basil Rathbone is synonymous with Sherlock Holmes. He played the Victorian sleuth in the fourteen Fox/Universal films of the 1930s and '40s, as well as on stage and radio. For many people, he is the Holmes. Basil Rathbone grew to hate Sherlock Holmes.

The character placed restrictions on his career: before Holmes he was an esteemed theatre actor, appearing in Broadway plays such as The Captive and The Swan, the latter of which became his launchpad to greater stardom. But he never, ever escaped his most famous role. Basil Rathbone was not Sherlock Holmes.

In The Curse of Sherlock Holmes, celebrated biographer David Clayton looks at the behind-the-camera life of a remarkable man who deserved so much more than to be relegated to just one role.

The picturesque village of Yew Hill, Markshire becomes an idyllic retreat for Francis Pettigrew and his wife until Francis is suddenly summoned to sit in as the County Court Judge and an elderly neighbor is brutally murdered.

Chief Inspector George Gently finds himself dodging bullets when he investigates the murder of a trucker who died in a hail of gunfire. Murdered in a lonely lay-by in the heart of the countryside, the trucker is identified as a Polish immigrant. Was this a revenge killing, a quarrel over money, an underworld execution or something even more sinister?

Fourteen-year-old Cadmus has been scholar Tullus's slave since he was a baby. But when Tullus disappears and a slave called Tog - formerly a British princess - arrives with a secret message, Cadmus's life is turned upside down. The pair follow a trail that leads to a madcap quest which will push Cadmus to the edge of the Roman Empire - and reveal unexpected truths about his past ...

A brutal murderer is stalking the streets of London and DI Denis Hamilton is tasked with apprehending the person responsible. The problem is the culprit is meticulous and doesn’t leave behind any evidence.

As the investigation gets underway the suspect list mounts, along with the pressure on DI Hamilton from his superiors.

Meanwhile, Grace Murphy is dealing with the recent loss of her beloved grandfather and falls deeper into despair when her friends’ bodies are discovered. Is she next on the killer’s list? And are her horrifying nightmares the key to unravelling the murderer’s identity?

As the body count rises, DI Hamilton realises he may need to venture into the shadows to uncover the truth and catch a vicious killer…

CONTENT WARNING: contains scenes of violence and scenes of a sexual nature

1975: A young woman’s body is found beside a busy road. She’s been disembowelled - while she was still alive. Placed on her chest is a cassette player. Inside is a sixty-minute tape, playing just one song on repeat: ‘Mack the Knife’.

Detective Bill Roach will spend the next fifty years trying to catch the vicious serial killer who becomes known as Jack the Knife.

Now: Crown Woods Retirement Home. Bill Roach sits at the bedside of elderly Gillian Lake, comforting her as she slips away. But the post-mortem shows Gillian didn’t die of old age. She was murdered.

Now Bill realises there’s a killer in the retirement home. He never caught Jack the Knife… but he’ll catch this killer. 

Detective Inspector Bill Slider is back at work with a thumping headache, courtesy of the last villain he apprehended. But he is minus Atherton, a friend and colleague, who's still recovering from his injuries. Slider was hoping for a quiet week, but a murder at a night club plunges him into the underworld of entertainment to question table-dancers, prostitutes, pimps and cabinet ministers. And when it appears that this murder could be linked to another unsolved case, Slider is left with more questions than ever.  Book 6 of series.

Pushed out of his job as an undercover HM Customs investigator by political pressure, Isaac Jackson is looking for a change of direction.

As a temporary measure, he agrees to look after a gym and canal boat owned by an army buddy. But a gentle intermission on the canal while teaching fitness and self-defence produces problems he hadn't bargained on.

A series of bodies found along the canal throws him into the middle of a web of people trafficking, corruption, forced labour and a high-level government defence contract scam.

Jackson is reluctant to get involved. But when a friend in the boating community is murdered, and all all the signs point towards a corrupt developer and a gang of traffickers, he finds walking away is not an option.

Simon Cooper grew up in Hampshire, where he first fell in love with fly fishing. Only after moving away did he realise how little people knew about the secret world of the chalkstreams. Chalkstreams are nearly exclusive to England, ranging from Dorset to Yorkshire and including the famous River Test in Hampshire. Every river is special in its own right. This is a lyrical and revealing voyage through the yearly cycle of this unique waterway.

Volume 3; THE NATURAL HISTORY OF LONDON: Peter Ackroyd's work is his definitive account of the city of London. For him it is an organism with its own laws of growth and change, so this book is a biography rather than a history.

Mr. Midshipman Easy (1836) is a novel by Frederick Marryat. Inspired by the author's experience as a captain in the Royal Navy, Mr. Midshipman Easy is a tale of bravery, foolishness, and the manifold reasons for men to take to the high seas. Frequently funny, often profound, Marryat's novel is an underappreciated classic of nineteenth century fiction that has been adapted twice for British cinema.

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Frederick Marryat's Mr. Midshipman Easy is a classic of British literature reimagined for modern readers.

1894. After rising to prominence for his role investigating the case of Jack the Ripper alongside the formidable Inspector Abberline, Daniel Wilson has retired from the force and now works as a private enquiry agent. Having built a reputation for intelligence and integrity, Wilson is the natural choice for the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, which finds itself in need of urgent assistance. The remains of an ancient princess and her entourage are to be unveiled as the centrepiece of the museum's new Egyptian collection, but strange occurrences have followed their arrival in Britain: a dead body is discovered in a previously empty sarcophagus, one of the mummified bodyguards seemingly goes 'walkabout' and another man is found strangled to death with three-thousand-year-old bandages. Aided by the talented resident archaeologist Abigail Fenton but hindered by the dismissive local police force, can Wilson unravel the mystery and preserve the reputation of the museum ahead of its public launch?

When Tim Harding agrees to do a friend a favour by bidding for an antique ring at an auction on his behalf, he is unaware of its secrets that date back three hundred years. When the ring is stolen, Harding is quickly thrown into a web of conspiracies surrounding the ring's origins. As he draws closer to the heart of the mystery, he comes across a young woman he is certain he recognizes, even though they have never met. But as he goes in search of her identity, his life begins to fall apart. Somewhere, a perilous truth awaits him, coupled with a terrible realization: those who uncover that truth cannot be allowed to live...

The world is changing dramatically, and the isolation and fragmentation permeating the western world stand in sharp contrast to events along the Silk Roads, where ties are being strengthened and mutual cooperation established. This contemporary history provides a timely reminder that we live in a world that is profoundly interconnected. Following the Silk Roads from Europe through to China, by way of Russia and the Middle East, Peter Frankopan assesses the continual shifts in the centre of power - all too often absent from headlines in the west.

The Devereux is a nice residential hotel which caters for a nice class of guest. But the arrival of Mrs Pargeter seems to act as a catalyst of disaster for everyone connected to it. On the morning after her arrival the corpse of one of the frailer residents is found at the foot of the main stairs.

WHEN JACK THE RIPPER first prowled the streets of London, an evening newspaper commented that his crimes were as ghastly as those committed by Eliza Grimwood's murderer fifty years earlier. Hers is arguably the most infamous and brutal of all nineteenth-century London killings. Eliza was a high-class prostitute, and on 26 May 1838, following an evening at the theatre, she brought a 'client' back to her home in Waterloo Road. The morning after, she was found with her throat cut and her abdomen viciously 'ripped'. The client was nowhere to be seen. The ensuing murder investigation was convoluted, with suspects ranging from an alcoholic bricklayer to a royal duke. Londoners from all walks of life followed the story with a horror and fascination - among them Charles Dickens, who took inspiration from Eliza's death when he wrote the murder of Nancy in Oliver Twist. Despite this feverish interest, the case was left unsolved, becoming the subject of 'penny dreadfuls' and urban legend. Unusually for a crime of this early period, the diary of the police officer leading the investigation has been preserved for posterity, and Jan Bondeson takes full advantage of this unique access to a Victorian murder inquiry. Skilfully dissecting what evidence remains, he links this murder with a series of other opportunist early Victorian slayings, and, in putting forward a credible new suspect, concludes that the Ripper of Waterloo Road was, in fact, a serial killer claiming as many as four victims.

France, 1205. Philip of Vercy returns from fighting the infidel in the Holy Land to find his life in ruins and his only son near death. He hears of a miracle healer, a young woman marked with the stigmata, and sets out to find her, desperate to save his child.

But he discovers that she has sought refuge from the Inquisition in the mist-shrouded mountains of the Languedoc. It’s home to the Cathars, and the Pope has ordered a crusade to crush them. As the south convulses into flame and revolt, Philip and his liege men find themselves in the middle of hell.

Any other man would cut his losses and go home. But Philip is not like other men.

After the Second World War, war crimes prosecutors charged two of King George VI's closest German relatives with 'crimes against humanity'. American soldiers discovered top-secret documents that exposed treacherous family double-dealing inside the Royal Family. Two of the King's brothers had flirted dangerously with the Nazi regime in duplicitous games of secret diplomacy.

To avert a potential public relations catastrophe, George VI hid incriminating papers and, with Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt's help, whitewashed history to protect his family.

Tea With Hitler is a family saga of duty, courage, wilful blindness and criminality, revealing the tragic fate of a Saxe-Coburg princess murdered as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme and the story of Queen Victoria's Jewish great-grand-daughter, rescued by her British relatives.

DI Sean Ellis always wanted to believe that justice was blind, impartial, guided only by cold hard facts. But when a murderer strikes in Yorkshire, leaving behind the worst crime scene Ellis has ever seen, the facts and evidence don't seem to make sense anymore. Was it a crime of passion? A vigilante acting above the law? Or something more sinister?

It doesn't help that Ellis is working with a new partner who isn't his biggest fan. Or that one of his friends is being framed for having inappropriate photos on his phone. One injustice would be enough for Ellis to handle but with three swirling around him, it would make any man question his beliefs.

To find the truth in a world where facts can be fabricated, Ellis must dig deeper before the lies break through the silence and threaten not only Ellis's way of life, but his actual life.

James Manning is perfectly content. He has a successful life as a businessman in the city, a bright young thing of a wife, Jill, and an idyllic home in the countryside, where he is a local magistrate. The only fly in the ointment is the 'Honbill' - the Honourable William Bule, a gentleman with too much time on his hands.

When a young man is knocked off his bicycle and subsequently dies, James is sure that Bule is the culprit - after all, he saw a scratch on the Honbill's car the day of the accident and it matches the description to a T. But events take an unexpected turn when James discovers that it was really Jill driving that night, and he is torn between obligations to his wife and to his profound sense of right and wrong.

A WAY THROUGH THE WOOD was the inspiration for SEPARATE LIES, a 2005 British film adapted by Academy Award-winning writer Julian Fellowes and starring Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Rupert Everett.