Her Own Rules

Jonathan Whitelaw (Author)

The Village Hall Vendetta

There's a fine art to murder... Hal Mulberry has long dreamt of owning the iconic painting, Buttermere at Dawn. And now the entrepreneur has got his hands on it, he's determined to bring it back to the Lakes where it belongs and put it on show, turning Penrith Village Hall into a cultural hotspot - with the painting at its heart. Journalist Jason Brazel is delighted to get the exclusive. Even if his mother in law, Amita, thinks he's making a fuss about an ugly piece of modern art. But when Amita uncovers a theory that the painting is cursed, she wonders just what Hal is bringing to their door: hex, hoax or dirty-deal? While the great and the good gather for the unveiling, someone's got murder on their mind. And it's up to Jason and Amita to find who is trying to put people out of the picture ... permanently.

Andrew Barrow (Author)

The Tap Dancer

'My favourite novel and one I wish I'd written.' ALAN BENNETT Winner of the McKitterick Prize for best first novel by an author aged over 40, and the Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature. Everyone craves retirement from the Civil Service, don't they? That time for an ageing patriarch to enjoy the fruits of a well-earned pension and the respect of his family; maybe even to indulge in a love of music halls and metropolitan life. If only people would listen and do as they were told... His fourth son William, the long-suffering narrator, is the constant butt of his father's jokes and victim of his brothers' indifference. But as death, divorce and other darker dramas follow, father and son slowly establish a strange harmony.

Tony Medawar (Editor)

Bodies from the Library 6: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection

Bodies from the Library brings into the daylight the forgotten, the lost and the unknown, and the 2023 volume is another indispensable collection for any bookshelf.The sixth volume of Bodies from the Library includes the usual eclectic mix of pre- and post-war stories by classic crime and thriller writers. Unearthed from ephemeral publications, newspapers and magazines, some of these 'lost' stories are by authors who have appeared in previous volumes, with others who are new to the series: We welcome back to the Library familiar Golden Age detective writers in the form of stories by Christianna Brand, Alice Campbell, Joseph Commings and Cyril Hare, a previously unknown novella by Anthony Gilbert, a short novel by Margery Allingham, and a hitherto unpublished Detection Club radio play by John Rhode.We also welcome for the first time George Bellairs, Victor Whitechurch and Andrew Garve, with E. C. Bentley's 'Greedy Night' providing a humorous parody of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, before five thriller writers including Geoffrey Household and Dennis Wheatley round off the collection with an unusual and exciting round-robin novella.And, whether this is your first encounter ...