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Why do Agatha Christie’s novels continue to inspire each generation? The answer is the quality and range of her puzzles: her rich and varied structures of deception.Christie broke the mould of detective fiction and rewrote the implicit rules of the whodunnit. Agatha Christie: Plots, Clues and Misdirections examines Christie’s skills as a whodunnit writer. It analyses her methods in setting her puzzles. It shows how she uses a combination of diverse plots, cunning clues and subtle misdirections. In the sheer variety and profusion of each of these elements Christie is without peer, and her combining genuine puzzles with entertaining narratives has never been surpassed.In this unique analysis of how Christie sets her puzzles, two medical professionals and enthusiastic Christie fans explore the greatest of Christie’s deceptions – the impression that her writing is simple.

Cornish Villages Volume 2 is the perfect guide for holidaymakers and local people in Cornwall, to make planning trips easy.In her first volume, Cornish Villages, Sandra Srivastava explores a variety of delightful villages, ensuring that, wherever people may be in Cornwall, there are easily accessible places to visit. This second volume is filled with information on beautiful Cornish villages, with accompanying photographs. Each chapter provides a section on places to see nearby, so every adventure can last a day or more, from coastal walks to beaches and towns.

Do you lose hours of your life scrolling social media?Have too many group chats on your smartphone?Do you want to leave them, but don’t know how?Then this book is for you. How to Leave a Group Chat is a practical guide that will help you navigate the world of digital communication.Since the late eighties, communication has been developing at a speed that has greatly outpaced us and continues to do so. Social media and instant messengers might just be the tip of the iceberg but, although we enjoy them, they have pushed us into a new digital dimension which has dehumanised us, and we haven’t quite had the chance to understand what this means.How to Leave a Group Chat is a ground-breaking book which makes sense of this new digital age whilst providing a fascinating look at how we communicate and how this has changed over time.

After finishing University, Michael Brown, enrols on a course to teach English in Japan, determined to avoid all adulthood responsibilities.Upon his arrival in Tokyo, Michael meets Johnny, who is casual in both truth and morals. Michael is then abruptly whisked away to teach for a year in the Japanese countryside. During this time, he stumbles upon a centuries-old mystery sparking a determination to try to unravel it during his upcoming summer break.Returning to Tokyo, Michael meets the beautiful and mysterious Chihiro before reuniting with Johnny. Persuading them to join his adventure, the trio embarks on a journey across Japan through famous cities and remote locations. They are soon faced with ruthless adversaries and natural perils in a foreign land and culture. Events begin to unfold that reveal a traitor among them, Michael only has his wits to survive with time rapidly running out…

Lighting Up the Night is a heart-warming tale about a group of woodland animals who want to hold a party. However there is a problem, they have no light in the darkness of night. Determined, they embark on a journey to find help. On their travels they meet many creatures but the ones that help are the least likely of all.Lighting up the Night holds a very meaningful message; you should never judge by appearances. Sometimes the most insignificant or seemingly unable, can do the best of things! It also reinforces the importance of the natural world around us and teaches us to not overlook even the tiniest of insects and creatures.An enchanting story filled with magical illustrations by a most talented Ukrainian artist.

Do you know that, genetically, you are more bacterial than human? As you’re reading this, you are surrounded by your own unique cloud of microorganisms. You have trillions of bacteria living on you and inside of you, with around forty trillion bacteria living in your gut alone. For every human gene you have, you have at least 100 bacterial genes. These bacteria, along with other microbes, are known as your 'gut microbiome'. But these bacteria don't just inhabit your body; they are an integral part of your health and happiness, and when they go awry, disease can result. Healthy Gut, Happy You explores this incredible ecosystem while answering:·     What is the gut microbiome?·     What does the gut microbiome do?·     Why is the gut microbiome so important?·     What can I do to take care of it?Dr Emma Short has compiled this practical guide, filled with tips, tricks and gut-healthy recipes to help you and your gut microbiome to thrive.

Desperate to emerge from the shadow of his late father, Sir William Fescue – better known as Wispy – sets up his own detective agency in April 1920 along with his friend from the Western Front and fellow gourmand, Strangely, and feisty Oxford graduate and keen entomologist Miss Wanda Cushway.Flushed with success of their first case in solving the murder of Viscount George Thurmaston, they are plunged headlong into a mission to find Florence, the missing daughter of shipbuilding magnate and ruthless businessman Sir Chester Eastoff.Ransom notes and gruesome threats are delivered, sparking a race against time which takes Wispy, Strangely and Wanda across England, Scotland, Germany and France in planes, trains, and automobiles. Tracking down a kidnapper is hungry work, though, and they never miss an opportunity to indulge in the local gastronomy.Will Florence be rescued in time? Will the real culprits be caught and brought to justice? And will Wispy and his agency achieve another success and solve this high-profile case, or was his father right all along?

They're poles apart, yet Charlotte and Max are each drowning in their past; can a chance encounter provide the lifeline they both need?Charlotte’s life has come to a standstill through circumstance, choice and pure bad luck. Her marriage, career and dreams of starting a family have all come to nothing, and she feels isolated and numb.Her world is then rocked by a chance meeting with the enigmatic Max who, despite outward success as a well-known actor, is desperately trying to suppress his own personal tragedy. Charlotte inadvertently enters a glamorous world of fame and fortune alongside the rediscovery of her own creativity as an artist. But all is not as it seems and Charlotte soon learns that rebirth comes at a price. Gradually, she understands that Max is lost too and that she has an important part to play in saving him as well as herself, if she chooses to take it.

When the Saxons, invited to settle in Britannia by King Wyrtgeorn, brutally murder the father and brother of Ceredig, the second son of a fifth century Romano-British chieftain, he flees the land of his birth.While the Saxons expand their control over Britannia, Ceredig grows up in Armorica, learning the ways of the Gewisse, and ultimately taking command of this elite force of warriors, who had remained loyal to his father, Elisedd.Despite ruling as a chieftain in Armorica, Ceredig remains determined to return to his homeland, avenge his father and brother’s murder, and finally reclaim the lands his father had once ruled in southern Britannia.After over forty years in exile, Ceredig, his son and a force of Gewisse warriors return to Britannia, joining a large army of Britons who are preparing to take on the Saxons in battle at Badonbyrg.What happens next will go down in history…

In the continuing tales of Natalie Klein, our heroine is prevailed upon to help a friend in need, whose son is in a poor state and has not yet made peace with his late father who lies in The Valley of the Blessed in Israel.We follow Natalie to Israel with the mother and son, and then back to her London life as a medical secretary in the capital’s largest hospital. Along the way we meet the various characters such as Natalie’s appalling colleague who tries to get her sacked, her vindictive boss and a secretary who challenges her – but what will be Natalie’s revenge?However, these are just precursors to Natalie’s final act of devastating revenge against the printer who plagued her father’s newspaper, whom she spies at a crowded fancy dress party in Hampstead dressed up as Hitler…

It’s not all about winning, but…James Hogan’s career as an English teacher is in tatters. All he has left is the boys’ football team he coaches, but rival manager Kieran Butcher threatens to take that away too. After years of doing things the right way, he is determined to come out on top, by any means necessary.But just how far will James go to succeed?Single mother and police officer Hayley Birnham is worried about her career, her son, and the string of unusual crimes connected to the local football community.Fair is foul and foul is fair as James and Hayley try to balance doing the right thing with getting the right result. Game on.

She used to be a nurse, caring for the sick and wounded. But now, she is a prisoner of her own misery – trapped by poverty, despair and alcoholism. Her life is a nightmare, and she has no control over anything. Her body is tormented by gout, her mind by self-loathing.But things are about to get worse.As winter approaches, a mysterious rot begins to spread in her house, infecting everything and everyone it touches. It is a deadly force that consumes both flesh and soul, leaving behind only decay and madness.Will she be able to escape the rot, or will she succumb to its horrors?

When Damian’s shipbuilder father is killed at Troy, Odysseus summons him to replace his father in building the wooden horse. Never dreaming of the slaughter that his creation would unleash, Damian now has the blood of innocents on his hands.And Troy is about to claim another victim.Deadly vengeance stalks the family of Princess Chrysothemis after her father, King Agamemnon, sacrificed his eldest daughter in return for a fair wind to Troy. When the vengeance has divine approval, the only way Damian can save Chrysothemis is to challenge the gods themselves.

Twenty years after the end of the Second World War, Klara Brandt discovers that the man responsible for the brutal massacre of her family when she was a child in Germany is still alive.Her thirst for vengeance compels her to leave her comfortable new life in New York and risk everything to find him. But is the man she eventually encounters in the remote backwaters of Brazil really the sadistic killer she’d set out to find, or someone else?

‘The law isn’t what it looks like on TV: it’s more interesting. This excellent book will convince you of that.’ Henry Mance, Chief Features Writer, Financial TimesThinking of studying law at school or university? Or are you simply curious about the fascinating world of law and lawyers?A Young Person’s Guide to Law and Justice is written by an experienced father and son team of lawyers and educators. It provides an entertaining and accessible guide by blending the philosophical and practical sides of the law.You will acquire a better understanding of the world around you, and by the end of the book, you will likely know more about the law than 99% of the population.

This bizarre-but-true autobiography chronicles Mike Leaver's madcap travels and death-defying misadventures as a solo mountaineer.In pioneering Eddie-The-Eagle style, Mike overcomes childhood illness, climbing Birmingham's post-war bombsites, to build lifelong resilience to endure alone in often wild and perilous environments. Ride with Mike on his adapted motorbike as he tackles serious winter climbing in Snowdonia (featuring a miraculous, split-second rescue), the Lake District (getting hopelessly lost), and the Ben Nevis massif (with a Hogmanay Party on summit). Then brave a classic 1970s Brit-abroad road trip to the French Alps – scaling icy Mont Blanc rock unroped, wearing a yellow crash helmet, and using nine-inch nails inside glaciers!Join Mike in his self-converted truck as he travels to North Africa, walks across the Sahara Desert to swim in the Atlantic, and climbs the tallest mountain in Morocco's High Atlas in unexpected snow! Share his epic driving escapade to the High Arctic's winter wilderness: barely surviving Scandinavia's three highest peaks in Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and crawling frozen back to his lorry!Now a retired handyman and author, Mike enjoys his lorry-home lifestyle in a pretty Snowdonia town, while promoting more leisurely mountaineering, potholing, and sailing for older folk!

Not all monsters are born. Some are made.In the mythical Kingdom of Petra, a man is washed ashore, his body scarred and memory in tatters. A stranger in an unfamiliar land, he is burdened with a dark power he cannot comprehend. Lyncon is a Werewarg: a monstrous fusion of man and wolf, an innocent victim of brutal elven experiments.Against the bloody backdrop of two warring kingdoms, Lyncon must work with a mysterious elf who holds the key to his past and the power within him. As they reluctantly begin to trust one another, a dark secret reveals that a deadly evil is rising and threatens to destroy everything around them.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834) was a poet, critic and, above all, an essayist of great distinction.As the 250th anniversary of his birth approaches, Charles Lamb: Man and Brother First tells the story of a man beset by domestic responsibilities and family tragedy. He worked as a clerk at the East India House in the City of London for most of his adult life. Despite the physical and emotional demands heaped upon him, he succeeded in carving out a unique place for himself in English Literature.This biographical account not only delves into Lamb's literary accomplishments but also recounts the loving relationship between a brother and sister who spent their entire lives together, often in an atmosphere of considerable domestic uncertainty and upheaval.Charles Lamb: Man and Brother First is an exploration of both filial devotion and literary achievement, shedding light on his remarkable life.

Busy Being Born charts the rise and fall of a young graduate working in the sex trade. Read wide-eyed as Lady Trocknell introduces our hero to the pleasures of service, recoil at the antics of a bevy of bankers, and share in the sorrow of his eventual fall from grace. Humanity is laid bare and dissected in this extraordinary, fictionalised autobiography where intellect, compassion, and outrageous flights of fantasy somehow work together to create literary magic.Set in 1980s London, each chapter recreates another episode in the author's journey through the dark underbelly of human desire. However, the portrayal of sex, while real and true, is also all analogy: a visceral means of recounting other societal excesses like the rise of money to Godlike status.Clever, provocative, and resilient, Busy Being Born is a living gauntlet where the reader is as likely to laugh as to cry.

Desperate to prove his mother’s death was caused by a supernatural force haunting his hometown, thirteen-year-old Ned discovers evidence linking a missing child to his own quest.Joined by his friends, Ned embarks on a mission to investigate the boy’s disappearance. However, when they uncover their town’s dark secret, they must find a way to stop the unexpected and dangerous enemy without unleashing a greater evil on the world.

Being a businesswoman on a whirlwind tour of forty-three countries is no ordinary adventure.Unconventional Routes takes you on a wild ride, offering a glimpse into the highs and lows of global exploration. Fasten your seatbelt and prepare to embark on a journey that will have you laughing, cringing, and gasping at the absurdities of Gillian Fawcett’s encounters around the world.No two journeys were ever alike. Each possesses its own unique flavour, seasoned with a generous blend of incidents ranging from side-splitting hilarity to spine-tingling unease, and at times, hair-raising danger. It’s a never-ending game of travel roulette, where the next destination holds the mystery of what adventure awaits.

Circa 500 AD. Daring seafarers from the West Coast of Scotland have made a voyage of discovery deep into the Atlantic to a land they name Tìr-ùr. Bountiful, verdant, seemingly empty and ripe for the taking. That is until they encounter the earthbound, a race possessed of some characteristics the colonists find profoundly unsettling.Off the coast of this new land, on the fortress island of Tèarmann, a young woman, Fìrinn, awaits her arranged marriage to Amrhan, a charming and fascinating nobleman newly arrived from the distant homeland. The only child of the leader of the settlers and his earthbound wife, Fìrinn is unsure of her place in the world. When she discovers some disturbing truths about her husband-to-be, she is compelled to flee Tèarmann, seeking refuge with her mother’s people.Isles of the Earthbound is the story of a defiant young woman forced to make crucial choices, but also a powerful evocation of the natural world in all its aspects, both the joyful and the terrible.

In this fascinating biography, Lynn Florkiewicz brings Rossano Brazzi back to life, accompanying him through the streets of Italy as he reflects on his life. Beneath the serious Latin Lover image crafted by Hollywood, she discovers a mischievous and fun man, a scholar and classically trained actor.From ancient Bologna to glamorous Beverly Hills, Rossano’s career experienced extreme highs and plummeting lows. Along the way, he demonstrated courage in the Italian resistance, became an integral part of Rome’s la dolce vita, and, despite an enduring and loving marriage, engaged in many indiscretions with his leading ladies. A heartthrob of Hollywood’s golden age, Rossano was mobbed by fans worldwide and pursued by countless actresses, including one who offered to pay his wife a million dollars to divorce him!Rossano, along with his two wives, family, friends, colleagues, and agents, all contribute to his story with anecdotes and insights into the man, not just the actor.In this first-ever biography written about Rossano Brazzi, the author delves deep into his career, personal life, beliefs, humanitarianism, hopes, dreams, and regrets.

The Cotswold Manor Hotel welcomes an eclectic mix of guests, and on one fateful Friday evening, two witnesses overhear an argument in a neighbouring room, followed by a loud thud. The next morning, the maid discovers the room has been vacated; all that remains is a dried bloodstain on the carpet.Detective Chief Inspector Chloe Taylor attends the scene, and soon after, a body is discovered in the lake on the hotel grounds, launching a murder inquiry. It soon becomes clear that the case is much bigger than she initially thought when one of her key suspects is linked to a terrorism investigation. A DCI from the Counter Terrorism Unit is quickly assigned to work alongside her.As the investigation progresses, they are confronted by lies and deceit, suspicious characters, fake identities, and a case that threatens to spiral out of control. As DCI Taylor wrestles with the murder case and the politics of working with CTU, the mounting pressure leads her to make impulsive choices, putting her own life at risk.Will she survive and solve the Murder at the Manor?

Growing up together in the early 1900’s in the London Docklands, Harry and Karl forge an unbreakable friendship. With their fathers working as dockhands, both families struggle to survive on low wages and poor living conditions.Facing unemployment and destitution following a dock strike in Germany, Karl’s parents moved to England for a better life, hoping to raise their son in an environment of love and security. However, Harry’s homelife is dominated by violence and drunken cruelty inflicted by his father. Shared dreams of a life far away from the grime and deprivation of the shipyards see the two friends swear a lifetime oath of allegiance to one another.As time passes, the boys grow ever closer until a horrific accident threatens to tear their friendship apart. Struggling to maintain their alliance and with the advent of war, Karl returns to Germany, while Harry joins the British Army. By a strange turn of events and with war raging across Europe, the two meet again.Will memories of their childhood pledge prove enough to overcome their differences, or has the bond between them been broken forever?

When famed curator Giovanni Montefiore is shockingly murdered at the Italian Opera in Rome following his bold proclamation regarding the authenticity of the True Cross, there are many suspects, but suspicion falls heavily upon his nephew, Mario Montefiore.With his American girlfriend, actress Catriona Benedict, by his side, they embark on a perilous quest for truth and to uncover the real killer, leading them through some of Italy’s most iconic and glamorous cities.But as the body count rises and the relentless pursuit of both law enforcement and paparazzi intensifies, they find themselves fleeing to Florence in search of the True Cross, which they hope holds the answers they need. Amidst the ancient streets of Florence, Catriona assumes a daring new identity, delving into a world of shadows and deception.Will they uncover the secrets surrounding the True Cross before it's too late?

More Lakeland Larks, Laughter and Lunacies is the sequel to Anna Nolans’s first book, both reflecting her Polish ebullience and penchant for irreverent satire and comic verses. More Lakeland Larks, Laughter and Lunacies can also be seen as a love letter to the Lake District – Nolan’s home and playground. This exuberant and frolicsome book balances Nolan’s car-less Lakeland escapades and mishaps with her jocular musings and satirical asides. The latter touch on a wide range of topics, including the hilarities of culture clashes between native Britons and a foreigner in their midst, the quirks of human nature, the political shenanigans one can’t help but notice – and even some very funny grammatical errors!More Lakeland Larks, Laughter and Lunacies is a series of humorous anecdotes and witty digressions richly interspersed with comic verses, with no particular chronology, which makes it perfect for being dipped in and out.

“That’s the Game, Dante. That’s called winning.”“It isn’t a game when the person who is losing can’t eat.”In the Cassino Region, every adult is assigned their rank through the drawing of a card from a standard deck. The higher the drawn card, the higher the rank, meaning more privileges and prospects in the Game.Tessa Gamble, a born and raised Elite, was taught to believe in the fairness of this system. However, she soon learns that all is not as it seems. Why do the Elite stay Elite? How do they benefit from a Game of their design?Determined, Tessa decides to change the system that benefits so few, or die trying, even if the powers that be need her to lose. She learns that you’re not only as good as the cards you’re dealt; you just need to change the Game.

Natalie, facing retirement, returns to the UK from South Africa to care for her elderly mother, whose mischievous ways have caused nothing but trouble amongst her three daughters. Unsure about what her future holds, Natalie wonders if she is still young enough to have a life.She reunites with her old friend Maggie, a wickedly cynical veteran of the ‘36-year marriage-gone-stale’ club, who cannot fathom why Natalie would consider introducing another man into her life, let alone actively seek one out on the internet. Especially since, according to Maggie, Natalie has always been a terrible judge of men!But when Natalie meets 59-year-old Richard, she believes she has found the one: a softy spoken, gentle giant who wines and dines her, takes her on a Caribbean cruise, and enjoys time on the beautiful South African south coast with her.But is Richard too good to be true? And will Maggie be proven right?