Jill Paton Walsh – författare

'An engrossing, intelligent and provocative novel in the guise of a conventional mystery' - New York Times Book Review'A superb job of seamless collaboration. Thrones, Dominations is pure pleasure.' - Wall Street Journal1936. Lord Peter Wimsey has returned from his honeymoon, eager to settle into married life with his cherished new wife, the novelist Harriet Vane. As they become part of fashionable London society they encounter the glamorous socialite Rosamund Harwell and her wealthy impressario husband Laurence. Unlike the Wimseys, Rosamund and Laurence are not in love - and all too soon, one of them is dead. It is a murder that only Lord Peter Wimsey can solve . . .

'Imogen Quy positively sparkles on the page as an amateur sleuth' - Sunday ExpressWhat is the Summerfield secret?Biography is usually a safe profession. But more than one biographer has found that writing about the late mathematician Gideon Summerfield has nasty consequences. Consequences that can sometimes be deadly.Imogen Quy, the coolly competent nurse at St. Agatha's College, Cambridge, first notices the pattern when her enthusiastic lodger Fran becomes the latest Summerfield biographer. Before she realises how deadly the Summerfield secret is, Fran's life is in danger. And Imogen may be next . . .

'A jewel in the traditional English detective mode . . . Ms. Morse has arrived' ObserverAccording to certain Cambridge scholars, the locked library of St Agatha's College is home to an unrivalled - and deeply uninteresting - collection of seventeenth century volumes. It also contains one dead student.At first glance it seems like a tragic accident - even if malicious rumours suggest that Philip Skellow had been stealing books rather than acquiring knowledge when he'd slipped, banged his head, and bled to death overnight.Only Imogen Quy, the college nurse, has her doubts. And before long, another student is found, drowned in an ornamental fountain . . .

"The Green Book is a clever and beautifully shaped little combination of future fiction and metafiction. . .It is the record of the exodus of a group of Britons from a dying Earth to a new planet. . .The naive courage of the children. . .saves the colony." --Starred, School Library Journal

'An entertaining read' - Sunday TimesWhy did Sir Julius Farran die?Hoping to attract a generous endowment, St Agatha's College, Cambridge, invites the fabulously wealthy Sir Julius Farran to dine. The evening is a disaster for everyone except the college nurse, Imogen Quy, who Farran invites her to come and work for him.Imogen declines, but when Farran dies, suddenly and shockingly, she has to investigate. His death has left a large hole in his company accounts that could mean financial ruin for St Agatha's. To save her beloved college, Imogen starts to cast her cool eye over the financier's heirs, employees and enemies.What is right about the death of Sir Julius? What is wrong about it? And above all, why did it happen?

'Jill Paton Walsh has created a Miss Marple for the 21st century' - Mirror'A jewel in the traditional English detective mode . . . Ms. Morse has arrived' - ObserverAnother foolhardy Cambridge college night climber has died attempting Harding's Folly. This time it's John Talentire, one of the brightest young dons at St Agatha's, and the verdict is accident, compounded by idiocy.But college nurse Imogen Quy can't help wondering how such a clever young man died so stupidly.And when a wildly eccentric production of Hamlet is interrupted by a murder accusation, Imogen investigates, uncovering more crime than she expected . . .

'A delight.' - Irish Times'A pitch-perfect Golden Age mystery . . . a gem of a period puzzle' - Financial TimesThirty years ago, Lord Peter Wimsey encountered the Attenbury emeralds. The recovery of Lord Attenbury's magnificent gem made headlines - and launched the shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective. Now it is 1951: a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Then the new Lord Attenbury - the grandson of Lord Peter's first client - seeks his help again, this time to prove who owns the gigantic emerald that Wimsey last saw in 1921. It will be the most intricate and challenging mystery he has ever faced . . .

THE EXQUISITE PHILOSOPHOCAL FABLE, SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE'This remarkable novel resembles an illuminated manuscript mapped with angels and mountains and signposts, an allegory for today and yesterday too. A beautiful, unsettling moral fiction about virtue and intolerance' ObserverAt opposite ends of Grandinsula, a remote pre-reformation Christian island, shepherds find a creature with strange footprints stealing their lambs, and fishermen find a swimmer near exhaustion struggling towards the shore.The child cannot stand, eat or speak like a human being; the swimmer says he is a prince in the unheard of land of Aclar, and declares himself to be an atheist.Severo, Cardinal-Prince of the island, is confronted by a double conundrum. Could an atheist be received in good faith? Not if the knowledge of God is inborn and he has reneged it. If he is a renegade from the truth, he must be burned as a heretic; but Severo would dearly like to save him.And what of the feral child, abandoned by her mother and suckled by wolves, who knows nothing of the precarious relationship between Church and State? Does she, in fact, have a soul to save?Her innocence will become the subject of a dangerous experiment, a philosophical game of chess that soon turns into a matter of life and death...'A compelling medieval fable, written from the heart and melded to a driving narrative which never once loses its tremendous pace' Guardian'Remarkable...Utterly absorbing...richly detailed and finely imagined' Sunday Telegraph(Shortlisted Booker Prize 1994)

A gripping wartime adventure story for young readers, The Dolphin Crossing (first published in 1967) marked the fiction debut of Jill Paton Walsh, subsequently a celebrated author of detective stories and novels for adults.The Dolphin Crossing is set in 1940 at the height of the Second World War, and concerns two boys: John, a boarding school boy, and Pat, an evacuee from a London slum. Together John and Pat make a daring plan to sail a boat across the English Channel to Dunkirk. Foolhardy as their plan may seem, the boys are sure they must do something to help the stranded British soldiers.'A story of friendship and growth for two teen-aged boys... A comprehensive presentation of many points of view (the professional soldier, the battle-scarred, the wife and mother) combines with understanding of adolescent psychology in a well-paced evocation of the way it was.' Kirkus Review

'Cleverly plotted . . . Walsh's pitch-perfect re-creation of the charismatic leads is a delight' - Publishers Weekly'Delicious' - BooklistLord Peter Wimsey is delighted to discover that along with a dukedom he has inherited the duties of 'visitor' at an Oxford college. When the fellows ask him to resolve a college dispute, he and Harriet are all too keen to spend some time in Oxford.But the dispute quickly turns sour. The voting is evenly balanced between two passionate parties, and the Warden - who has the casting vote - has mysteriously disappeared. Even worse, several of the fellows begin dying unexpectedly.And the deaths of the deceased fellows bear an uncanny resemblance to the murders in Peter's past cases - murders that Harriet has used in her published novels . . .

'Miraculously right: catching precisely the tone of the relationship . . . thrilling' - The Times'A must for all Wimsey lovers . . . an entertaining read' - Northern EchoIt's 1940, and while the Second World War rages on, Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country.But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers, and the blackout makes the night-time lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London.Then the village's first air raid practice ends with a very real body on the ground - and it's not a war casualty, but a case of plain, old-fashioned murder. And it's not long before a second body is found . . .

A re-issue of a forgotten favourite, FIREWEED is an evocative and unflinching story of wartime survival for younger readersBill is a fifteen-year-old runaway evacuee, and he's finding that surviving on the streets of London is pretty easy, thank you very much. He's fed by a local cafe owner, he earns some cash as a barrow-boy in Covent Garden, and sleeping in the Underground air-raid shelters is cosy - if a bit smelly. Things get more complicated for Bill with the arrival of Julie. She's a runaway too, and although she's a bit posh, she's just as determined as Bill to stay free of interfering parents and 'the social'. But although it's fun for a while to duck Jerry missiles and camp out in bombed-out houses, the reality of living through the Blitz quickly begins to set in. Winter is coming, and Bill and Julie will discover that playing at being grown-ups can be a very dangerous game....First published in 1969, and winner of the 1970's Book World Festival Award, FIREWEED evokes a time of tin Spitfires, powdered eggs, warm woollen mittens and reading by firelight. Perfect for readers young and old, this book is a beautifully written classic, full of adventure, heroism and British wartime courage.

A PLAGUE - A VILLAGE - A LOCKDOWN 1665, Eyam, Derbyshire. 'Here I have set down all that I know of the Plague'It is 1665 and Mall Percival is a shepherd girl living in a Derbyshire village. She tends her flock, spends time with her best friend and teaches her young suitor to read. But one day a parcel of patterns, meant for a new dress for the pastor's wife, wings its way from London.The parcel carries an infection that spreads with horrifying speed. Herbal teas and open windows are the only defence against the sickness. Yet the villagers make a brave and selfless decision: to isolate themselves from the rest of the country. It is a lockdown that saves the neighbouring towns, but at heart-breaking cost to Mall's world.Based on the true events of the village of Eyam, this is the story of a courageous sacrifice that saved Derbyshire and beyond from a deadly virus. *SHORTLISTED FOR THE WHITBREAD PRIZE*'A pocket masterpiece' GuardianReaders love A Parcel of Patterns'I couldn't put it down''Brought me to tears too many times to count''If you think social distancing is hard in the Coronavirus pandemic, read this wonderful novel based on the true story of the village of Eyam'