Bøger udgivet af Severn House

Detective Chief Inspector Brock investigates the murder of a well-known actor When the body of Lancelot Foley, a well-known actor, is discovered in an excavation in a fashionable Chelsea street one snowy February morning, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Brock is assigned the case. Is the dead man's wife, fellow actress Vanessa Drummond, as innocent as she would like the police to believe? As Brock - aided by Detective Sergeant Dave Poole and Kate Ebdon, his Australian-born detective inspector - investigates, the case takes him from London to Paris, and there will be more than one death before the shocking case is solved.

When a mutilated corpse is discovered in the sleepy English village of Croxton Ferriers, Jack Haldean finds an odd clue at the scene of the crime: a black marble chess knight with crystal eyes. Is murder just a game? It could be - to a killer who calls himself The Chessman.

When James Asher's daughter is kidnapped by a Master Vampire, the stakes could not be higher. When James Asher and his wife Lydia's baby daughter Miranda is kidnapped by the Master Vampire of London, the stakes are high: blindly follow the Master Vampire's instructions, keep out of the way of the human networks that serves the vampires, destroy the interloper who seeks to seize control of the London Nest, and find the key to the Nest's tortuous inner workings: The Book of the Kindred of Darkness. Even with the vampire Don Simon Ysidro on their side, there's no guarantee that anything - or anyone - is who or what they appear to be. Nor is there any certainty that they'll see their child again - or survive the experience themselves.

Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is recruited by Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster to be lady-in-waiting to Lady Mary, a cousin of the queen who is being courted by Russia's Ivan the Terrible. However, there are some nobles at court who will do anything they can to thwart such an alliance and Rosamond must put herself in mortal peril to protect her ward . . .

Henry Twyst, eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth, is convinced his mother is losing her marbles. She claims to have seen a corpse on the dining-room floor, but all she has to prove it is a bloodied bobble hat. Henry is worried enough to retain the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency - but the truth is more deadly than anyone could have foreseen . . .

1950s. Zina Marchand is hurt when her husband Peter, a successful actor, cancels their tenth anniversary lunch date with barely a thought. He expects her to put aside everything to support him in his career - but she has her own ambitions, and soon is faced with a choice: follow her dreams, or put a possibly fatal strain on her marriage . . .

It's 1970, and 18-year-old Debbie Hargreaves is enjoying her new-found independence at college in Leeds. Over the coming months, she and her new friends, shy Lisa, outspoken Karen and cool, self-assured Fran, will share tears and laughter, drama and heartbreak, and the excitement of new romance. But is Debbie in danger of forgetting her roots?

The discovery of a mummified body of a dead infant in the chimney of Hannah Ives' new house leads Hannah on the hunt for clues as to its identity. But she is unaware that more shocking events lie around the corner . . .

A gripping tale of tangled relationships and shadowy secrets, set in the dramatic surrounds of Ireland's famed Atlantic coastline Maureen lies unconscious on a lonely track. Her husband blames a fellow holidaymaker at Nessa McDermott's country house on Ireland's enchanting Beara peninsula. Two days later, a man's body is found, strangled and dumped. Amid a frenzy of police, media and family pressures, former journalist Nessa has to find her own answers - but meanwhile, ambitious young policeman Redmond Joyce is also hellbent on identifying the murderer, and conflict between them grows as they close in on the horrifying truth. Translated from the Gaelic, this novel introduces a talented author with keen observation and detail, and marks the beginning of a series with Nessa and her ambitious policeman acquaintance.

The second in the brand-new Florence Norris series.November, 1932. Still reeling from the recent murder at Mullings, country estate of the wealthy Stodmarsh family, the peaceful little village of Dovecote Hatch is about to be rocked by news of another violent death. When mild-mannered Kenneth Tenneson is found dead from a fall down the stairs at his home, the coroner's inquest announces a verdict of accidental death. Florence Norris, however - the quietly observant housekeeper at Mullings - suspects there may be more to it than that. Florence's suspicions of foul play would appear to be confirmed when a second will turns up revealing details of a dark secret in the Tenneson family's past. Determined to find out the truth about Kenneth's death, Florence gradually pieces the clues together - but will she be in time to prevent a catastrophic turn of events?

1925. Attractive and strong-willed twenty-three-year-old Isla Scott takes up a vacancy at Dr Lorne's fashionable spa, where she is reunited with her handsome brother, Boyd, but the siblings soon find that romance threatens to cloud their future . . .

Virus expert Anna Grey is disturbed when a dying patient is wheeled past her lab vomiting fountains of blood and screaming like a banshee. To make matters worse, when she examines the man's corpse, she could swear she hears him whisper: 'Get it out of me.' John Patrick Bridges is dead. He's definitely dead. But if he's dead - how is he talking? Anna wonders if she's going mad. But then a second man haemorrhages and dies; yet Anna hears him whisper, 'Please help me.' There is no such thing as demons, Anna tells herself. But cynical fortune-teller Harry Erskine knows otherwise and a series of extremely disturbing events are forcing him from his Miami home towards the bereaved Anna, who as yet has little idea of the evil she is facing . . .

Christmas, 1483: Roger the Chapman is looking forward to twelve days of peace and celebration with his wife and children in Bristol. The family is particularly excited by the arrival of a troupe of mummers, who will perform their plays in the outer ward of the castle throughout the festival. But the gruesome murders of two of the town's most prominent and venerable citizens, both veterans of the French wars, scupper Roger's hopes as he is gradually drawn into the hunt for the killer. Once again, Roger finds himself in grave danger, but it is someone else who pays the price of his inability to keep his nose out of matters that do not concern him . . .

Bill James is on top form in this sharply satirical black comedy set behind the scenes at a museum George Lepage, the new Director of the Hulliborn Regional Museum and Gallery, has great hopes that his tenure in the post will be short and profitable. He has visions of early retirement, and perhaps - like his predecessor, and his predecessor's predecessor - a knighthood. But circumstances do their best to snatch his happy dreams away from him. First a deranged former staff member causes a riot in the Folk Department, and then three recently purchased, ruinously expensive paintings of dubious authenticity are stolen, putting the museum's security - and judgement - into question. The fate of the upcoming Japanese Ancient Surgical Skills exhibition, and its astonishing collection of tonsil excision implements, hangs dangerously in the balance. And over everything hangs the grim specter of the former Director, "Flounce" Butler-Minton, whose body may be most definitely dead but whose legacy lives on. And with every day that passes, the rumours of what Flounce did behind the Iron Curtain - and how the haversack straps, the whippet and the legendary Mrs Cray were involved - grow, threatening to erupt into a scandal that may cost the museum, and Lepage himself, everything . . .

Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, go on a trip to Orkney in Scotland to visit an old friend and see some intriguing Stone Age excavations. They realize there's considerable dissension between the archaeologists and the principal donor for the newest dig, a wealthy and abrasive American. When a more recent corpse is found at the dig, various suspects are named, but there's not enough evidence to bring a case against anyone. Dorothy, always sensitive to atmosphere and the undercurrent of tension pervading the project, has become fascinated by the strong aura of the ancient past that pervades Orkney, and she and Alan launch an unofficial investigation into the murder.

When a human skeleton is discovered on the boundary of a twenty-year-old property development, it's up to Detective Chief Superintendent Lambert and Detective Sergeant Hook to dig around in the past and unearth the truth of how and why the body ended up buried in the ground all those years ago.

Dorothy Martin is in Wales for an opera full of passion, drama . . . and murder. Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, are invited to join their close friends Nigel and Inga Evans at a Welsh music festival where both Nigel and Inga will be performing with the world-renowned conductor Sir John Warner. Amid the glorious surroundings of Welsh castles and the history of long-ago battles, the stage is set for a most enjoyable festival. However, when a tragic accident takes the life of one of the choir, and the same fate befalls another performer, Dorothy and Alan find themselves in the midst of an investigation as tumultuous, passionate and complicated as any opera.

A moving saga of conflicted family loyalties and late-flowering passion set in 1970s' Liverpool. Liverpool, 1973. Reluctantly, widow Jenny Langton decides to downsize, swapping the spacious family home she shared with her late husband for a one-bedroomed retirement flat at Merseyside Mansions. It's difficult enough attempting to start anew at her age, but the antics of her wayward granddaughter Karen, and her disastrous choice of men, threaten to drive Jenny to distraction. Finally conceding that Karen must make her own mistakes in life, Jenny determines to move on and no longer interfere. Just as she's settling into Merseyside Mansions and making new friends, Karen's reappearance threatens to de-rail Jenny's carefully-constructed new life and cause problems with her fellow residents. Her relationship with her granddaughter tested to the limit, Jenny must decide whether she should allow family loyalty to stand in the way of her future happiness - particularly now she's about to embark on a late-flowering love affair ...

A young woman must follow her head or her heart in this powerful family sagaLiverpool, 1958. Nursery nurse Irene Miller can't help herself falling for her friend Peggy's handsome older brother. But nothing can come of it, for Marty is married, trapped in a deeply unhappy union. Meanwhile, Irene's friend Peggy is desperate to marry her long-term boyfriend Pete. But Peggy's staunchly Catholic parents would never accept a Protestant son-in-law.When her mother decides to remarry, her brother heads off to sea, and she loses her job, Irene feels utterly alone in the world. An unexpected job offer from America offers her a lifeline. But it would mean never seeing Marty again.Meanwhile, Peggy decides that the only way to resolve the issues with her family is to escape where no one can find her. But will Irene and Peggy ever solve their problems by running away - or should they follow their hearts back home to Liverpool?

March, 1918. The Great War is grinding slowly to its bloody finale. Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle, head of the Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police, is called to a body is recovered from the Thames. Mavis Parker, the victim's attractive widow, proves to be a good-time girl, and to complicate matters, all the suspects seem to be known to each other, including a South African who purports to be an actor. But it is when Special Branch intervene that things really get complicated . . .

Twenty years ago, the Whitebridge Players staged their last ever performance and swore that they'd return to the same theatre and stage the same play. Two decades later, they do - with tragic results. DCI Monika Paniatowski investigates. But how can she decide who is telling the truth - when all these people lie for a living?

Introducing Detective Inspector Tom Harper in a brand-new historical mystery series. June 1890. Leeds is close to breaking point. The gas workers are on strike. Supplies are dangerously low. Factories and businesses are closing; the lamps are going unlit at night. Detective Inspector Tom Harper has more urgent matters on his mind. The beat constable claims eight-year-old Martha Parkinson has disappeared. Her father insists she's visiting an aunt in Halifax - but Harper doesn't believe him. When Col Parkinson is found dead the following morning, the case takes on an increasing desperation. But then Harper's search for Martha is interrupted by the murder of a replacement gas worker, stabbed to death outside the Town Hall while surrounded by a hostile mob. Pushed to find a quick solution, Harper discovers that there's more to this killing than meets the eye - and that there may be a connection to Martha's disappearance.

Hannah, Adam and adorable young Sydney Wickes are living under assumed identities in West Philadelphia. But when an unexpected tragedy throws the harsh glare of publicity on the family, their lives are suddenly in danger. Because Hannah and those she loves are hiding a dark secret in their past, a secret that's about to catch up with them.

Benjamin January is forced to travel to Haiti to seek his family's lost treasure, in order to save everything he holds dear When Jefferson Vitrack - the white half-brother of Benjamin January's wife - turns up on January's doorstep in the summer of 1838 claiming he has discovered a clue to the whereabouts of the family's lost treasure, January has no hesitation about refusing to help look for it. For the treasure lies in Haiti, the island that was once France's most profitable colony - until the blood-chilling repression practiced there by the whites upon their slaves triggered a savage rebellion. The world's only Black Republic still looks with murderous mistrust upon any strangers who might set foot there, and January is in no hurry to go. But when Vitrack is murdered, and attempts are made on January's wife and himself, he understands that he has no choice. He must seek the treasure himself, to draw the unknown killers into the open, a bloody trail that leads first to Cuba, then to Haiti, and finally to the secret that lies buried with the accursed gold.

As the only female scientist in a top secret WW2 facility, Libby Clark is excited to begin what she believes is important government research. However, one night she discovers a dead body sprawled behind the bleachers and realizes all is not what it seems and that she must follow every possible lead to the shocking and unexpected conclusion.

A young woman investigates the murder of her mother in this absorbing historical mystery London, May, 1911. The new king, George V, is preparing for his coronation. The suffragettes are campaigning for women to get the vote. The East End seethes with unrest. And 18-year-old Kitty Challoner is looking forward to 'coming out' in London society. But Kitty's secure, sheltered world is about to be torn apart. Lydia Challoner is shot dead while out riding in Hyde Park, and during the ensuing murder investigation Kitty discovers that there was so much she didn't know about her mother. Was Lydia really the killer's intended target? Is there a link to her Russian heritage? Why had she been behaving so strangely in recent weeks? Was she having an affair? As Kitty determines to uncover the truth and wonders exactly whom she can trust, she learns that the household in which she lives harbours a number of dangerous secrets.

The Golden Age of British Detective Fiction The idyllic English village of Lindsay Carfax isn't run by the parish council, the rating authority, the sanitary inspector nor the local cops as you might suppose. The real bosses are the Carders - something to do with wool, four hundred years back. They wound stuff on cards, I suppose. But these boys are very fly customers - they're right on the ball. Boiled down, it comes to this; they're a syndicate who run this place - which makes a packet - with their own rules. One way and another they probably own most of it." Thus ruminated Superintendent Charles Luke to Albert Campion who was contemplating visiting his wayward artistic niece in Carfax. And when a missing schoolteacher reappeared after nine days, and Campion's car was "inadvertently" damaged, not to mention Campion himself, then all the signs were that not all was what it seemed. Campion himself plays the central role in this quintessentially British mystery, but there are appearances too from all of Margery Allingham's regular characters, from Luke to Campion's former manservant Lugg, to his wife Lady Amanda Fitton and others. The dialogue is sharp and witty, the observation keen, and the climax is thrilling and eerily atmospheric.

Are you brave enough to discover what figures of fear haunt the imagination of the "master of modern horror" From the beginning of history, men and women have been haunted by figures of fear - and now, in his latest short story collection, award-winning horror writer Graham Masterton reveals the figures that haunt his own imagination and keep him awake at night. FIGURES OF FEAR presents eleven stories, introducing eleven new evils, guaranteed to unsettle and disturb. Meet the little girl whose mother is keeping something important from her, with fearful results . . . Tremble at the artist who can see the future and prevent it, at a price . . . Beware of the dark, and the evil that lurks within it . . . Tremble, and hide, at the sound of the jingle-bells . . . Do figures of fear really bring bad luck? Or are they nothing more than stories? Only you can figure out how fearful you are . . .

James Asher finds himself once more in alliance with vampire Don Simon Ysidro, as their investigations takes them to far-off Peking. . . October, 1912. James Asher, his wife Lydia, and the old occultist and vampire-hunter Dr Solomon Karlebach have journeyed to the new-born Republic of China to investigate the rumour that the mindless Undead - the Others that even the vampires fear - have begun to multiply in the caverns of the hills west of Peking. Alongside his old vampire partner, Don Simon Ysidro, Asher embarks on a sinister hunt, while somewhere in the city's cold gray labyrinth lurk the Peking vampires, known as the Magistrates of Hell - with an agenda of their own . . .

The Colonel is pleased when his old friend Geoffrey Cheetham invites him up to the village of Buckby for the weekend, to coincide with a RAF reunion event. His fellow guests at the Cheethams' B&B include a reunited Lancaster bomber crew. But the Colonel finds himself taking on the reluctant role of sleuth once more when tragedy strikes . . .