Bøker utgitt av Allison & Busby

Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of the Lake District to be nearer her charismatic parents. Things are going well, with her latest flower arrangements praised and Simmy content to lose herself in her work. But the peace she has found is shattered when, at the wedding of a millionaire's daughter, the bride's brother is found brutally murdered in the lake.As the florist of the wedding and one of the last people to talk to Mark Baxter alive, Simmy gradually becomes involved with the grief-ridden and angry relatives. All seem to have their fair share of secrets and scandals - an uncaring mother, a cheating father, and a husband twenty-five years older than his bride. When events take another sinister turn, Simmy becomes a prime witness and finds herself at the heart of a murder investigation. The chief suspects are the groom and his closely knit band of bachelor friends. They are all intimidating, volatile and secretive - but which one is a killer?

1916: Bella is working as a Voluntary Aid driving ambulances in England when she gets engaged to Philip, on leave from fighting in France. His family strongly disapprove of her but the two of them are happy together. When the worst happens, Bella must manage on her own, though there are shocks and dangers she did not foresee ahead.

1860, Wimborne, Dorset. Rebecca Tullidge, miserably married, is having an affair with a railway officer, who she finds dead on the railway tracks. Mayoral hopeful, Mr Feltham calls for the Railway Detective to solve the hideous crime. With a pregnant wife at home, Colbeck must work at speed if he is to return in time for the birth.

An unexpected inheritance from her grandmother offers Libby Pulford the opportunity to escape her abusive marriage and return to her Lancashire roots with her young son Ned. But her domineering husband Steven won't let her go so easily.

September 1143. Serjeant Catchpoll hopes a fire at a Worcester silversmith's is just an accident, but when a charred corpse is discovered following a second fire, he has no choice but to call in the undersheriff. Hugh Bradecote may be new to the job compared to his wily colleague, but his analytical eye is soon hard at work.With further fires and a hooded figure stalking the streets, the duo must piece together the arsonist's vengeful motive.'Thoroughly engaging and beautifully written . . . A page-turner' Mystery PeopleThe second instalment in the Bradecote and Catchpoll series.

Thea Osborne's latest house-sitting assignment is a little different to the rest. She finds herself in the village of Chedworth. She is tasked with creating an inventory of Rita Wilshire's possessions, requested by her son, Richard Wilshire, after moving her into a care home. All goes to plan, until Thea finds Richard dead in a barn.

Brand-new series from much-loved author Anna Jacobs.

Mystery and intrigue in the beautiful Cotswold countryside.Following a string of disastrous house-sitting assignments, and with troubles in her recent personal life, Thea Osborne is understandably apprehensive about her latest commission: a wintery month in an isolated farmhouse with only an assortment of animals, including her loyal spaniel Hepzie, for company.With the summer lushness of the Cotswolds turned icy grey, Thea spends her first few days exploring the tiny but beautiful hamlet of Hampnett, and the nearby town of Northleach. While discovering more of the surrounding area she meets some of the mysterious local characters: the unappreciated au pair from Bulgaria and the elusive Kate from a neighbouring farm. But then the weather turns extreme, and so do events.When she stumbles across a man lying dead in a snow-filled field, Thea is once again at the heart of a mystery in the gorgeous Cotswold countrysideExciting and thought-provoking, with a plot which will have readers' minds working overtime, the latest in the Cotswolds series shows author and heroine on top form once again.

Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on another house-sitting assignment, this time in the very quiet village of Temple Guiting. Detective Superintendent Phil Hollis is looking forward to visiting and celebrating the couple's one year anniversary, but a slipped disk in Phil's back soon puts an end to their romantic weekend.

1859. St Mary's Church, Spondon. A little girl playing hide-and-seek jumps into a freshly-dug grave to find a dead man already occupying it. It is the body of a senior director of the Midland Railway. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming travel to Derbyshire to investigate.

Rose Trevelyan finds herself at the heart of the investigation.

When Rose Trevelyan sees a young girl being carried away by someone who appears to be her father, she thinks nothing of it. Until, that is, the appearance of a frantic mother who cannot find her child. As time passes, it becomes clear that the chances of getting Beth back unharmed are very bleak indeed...

After the death of her husband, Rose Trevelyan lives peacefully in Cornwall, working as an artist and photographer. But when she hears terrified screams as she paints the rugged Cornish countryside, and a local woman is reported missing, Rose finds herself suddenly caught at the centre of a police investigation.With so many people who trust her, Rose is - reluctantly, at times - privy to the secrets of many. When the things she is told in confidence appear connected to the investigation, Rose must decide how far the bonds of friendship reach.

A small village in a beautiful corner of Wiltshire, where things are not what they seem and danger can strike at rich and poor alike. The trick is to survive it, and for this you need good friends and courage: all freely available in Peppercorn Street.

Thea Osborne and her spaniel Hepzibah embark on their second house-sitting commission with few worries. She arrives at idyllic Frampton Mansell with renewed enthusiasm. However it seems she is jinxed: within days of her arrival she finds a body hanging from the rafters of one of the barns. But was it suicide... or murder?

Duntisbourne Abbots is a timeless and quintessentially English village nestled in the fertile hills of the Cotswolds in peaceful Gloucestershire. Recently widowed Thea Osbourne fears three weeks house-sitting there may prove a little dull, but her first night's sleep at Brook View is broken by a piercing scream. She assures herself it was only a fox and nothing more sinister, but then a body turns up...When Joel Jennison is found slaughtered in the same field where his brother's corpse had lain ten weeks previously, a whole community falls under suspicion. As a forty-something woman with no experience of detective work, she knows she shouldn't get involved, but in questioning neighbours Thea uncovers more tragedy and intrigue than she thought possible.

The year is 1864 and Detective Inspector Faro's idyllic life has been shattered by the escape of convicted murderer John McLaw. With countless dead end sightings of the killer and further criminal activity Faro realises that this case is far more complicated than he had first assumed. When the disappearance of a maid comes to light, Faro begins to think there could be a link between her disappearance and the murder of Annie McLaw. His determination to unearth the truth becomes personal and in a race against time to solve the anonymities of the case, he takes matters into his own hands.

A devastating accident is only the start of Emily Mattison's troubles... When Emily Mattison falls victim to a near-fatal accident shortly after receiving an unexpected inheritance from a distant cousin, her ruthless nephew George seizes the opportunity to take control of his aunt's assets.

In this first instalment of the Bow Street Rivals series a riot breaks out in Dartmoor prison, enabling some American inmates to escape. The twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen catch wind of a projected assassination but the target is unknown. Trouble ensues when a woman from the Home Office vanishes; a mysterious lady turns up at the archery shooting gallery; and Paul's gambling addiction worsens...

1925. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes arrive home to find a stone. The stone is inscribed with the same name that they last saw in the Tokyo garden of the future emperor of Japan. In Japan there were spies; in Oxford there are dreams. In both places, there is a small, dark-haired woman, and danger...

The fifth book in a series featuring painter/photographer Rose Trevelyan. Rose suspects a murder has been committed. In trying to help young, talented Joel, Rose uncovers family secrets. She is proved right; there is a murder, but not the one she had forseen nor one which the family could possibly have anticipated.

Rose Trevelyan is not concerned when her friend Etta does not turn up at the opening of her exhibition. When she hears the following day that a young man fell of a cliff in suspicious circumstances, Rose starts to makes connections and things start to go terribly wrong.

Bracewell befriends a young beggar who is trying to eke out a living as a counterfeit crank, pretending to have epileptic fits in order to get money from gullible bystanders. When the beggar is murdered, Nicholas has to pose as a beggar himself in order to get inside the institution and solve the crime. Counterfeiting of all kinds is exposed.

'I hoped that we might be safe but we have not seen the last of them, after all. They want more blood.'During a performance of their new play, A Trick to Catch a Chaste Lady, Westfield's Men are sabotaged, and they find themselves in the throngs of an audience-player melee. In the midst of the rotten-vegetable battlefield, one of the audience members is found stabbed, and their masterful clown, Barnaby Gill, is discovered with a broken leg.With the company clown-less, they must find a replacement before they embark on their tour of Kent. Enter Gideon Mussett, a ruffian, scallywag and all around drunk. Thinking the victim in the theatre was an accident. Nicholas Bracewell and his fellows soon learn that there is more to this death than a drunken brawl. With a murderer still on the loose, it appears further deaths are on the cards, but who will be the second victim?

A delicious mystery in which murder invades polite society and romance springs in unexpected places.

Westfield's Men are out of work. When their widowed patron chooses a Danish bride and plans a wedding in Elsinore, the troupe is invited to perform, as guests of King Christian IV. But the play they select will prove a disastrous choice. Westfield's Men soon find themselves embroiled in political intrigue and religious dissension.

Lord Westfield's men are in dire straights when the company is offered a new play which could drag them out of their rut. However, during the play's first performance, a cast members is struck down, making it his first and last appearance on stage. Suspicion is rife and trusty book keeper Nicolas Bracewell refuses to let the crime go unpunished.

Bracewell s loyalty to a new actor drives a wedge between the players. Meanwhile, Quilter s father is on trial for murder, but denies the charge. Bracewell sets about proving his innocence."

When a lead actor succumbs to a series of illnesses identical to those afflicting his character in the play, members of Westfield's Men fear there is a witch among them.

Allison & Busby is proud to reissue titles in this popular early series from Edward Marston. Nicolas Bracewell is the book holder for a leading theatre company in Elizabethan London. He saves his actors time and again as they are threatened by rivals, assassins and political interference...