Synopsis As the war reaches London, they’ll band together… War strikes close to home for chief librarian Cordelia when her flat is bombed, and her beloved Robert is called up and sent abroad. Fortunately, her colleagues Mavis and Jane can help see her through hard times. The three friends find purpose in making the Silvertown library a friendly sanctuary for their deprived and devastated community. But sinister forces, from callous bureaucrats to crafty criminals, still lurk among the stacks. Worse, Jane’s soldier husband is injured and suffers both physically and mentally. With so many strug ..read more

Synopsis Meet Tilda Wright… Tilda has done everything she can to make her life neat, protected, tidy. No longer the girl who was scared of everything, whose family pushed her away, who hit rock bottom. Now she runs her life – as she does her successful business – with the utmost organization. As long as she keeps everyone at arm’s length, she will be fine. She will be safe. But then a chance encounter with a man who’s fallen on hard times changes everything. Milo needs a break, and self-contained Tilda surprises herself by deciding she should help him. Just for a while. A few days at the ..read more

Synopsis The letters drop onto every doormat… Lena just moved to Mandalay Close. She needed a new start, since her boyfriend cheated her out of the happy-ever-after she’d believed they were always going to share. But on the day Lena moves in, letters begin to arrive for all her new neighbours. Letters that promise to expose everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets. Every house has received one – except for Lena’s. Someone clearly wants to implicate her, to ruin her new life and turn everyone against her. She’s made an enemy, but who, and why? Everyone seems so nice, so trustworthy. So normal. As m ..read more

Synopsis Aurora Henderson and Leo McKendrick were love’s young dream when they first dated as teenagers. But like many a first love, parents, life, and distance got in the way, and the couple lost touch. Now, twenty years later, Aurora – Rory to her friends – needs a break. Burnt out from her teaching career and longing to write a novel, Rory heads to the idyllic village of Roseford for a summer of writing and relaxation. Leo needs a change too. Ex-pat life in Australia has come to a sticky end so the opportunity to run his family’s B&B, Roseford Villas, for the summer is too good to turn ..read more

Synopsis 1946: The war might be over but for the Gilby family there are still battles to be fought at home . . . For Birmingham and the Gilby family the war years have been a time of great change. With her husband having left her for another woman, Ann Gilby is finally free to follow her heart. While the neighbours may be scandalized by having a divorcee in their midst, Ann is determined to rise above the local gossip and make a happy home with her former sweetheart, the father of Ann’s youngest child. Meanwhile daughters Joy and Sheila are lucky enough to have their menfolk back home, but ..read more

Synopsis Can DI Drake uncover the mysterious connection between two unconnected victims dressed in 1930s attire before more deaths? Two startled shop assistants find the body of well-known businesswoman June Bennett hanging in a shop premises she owns. Drake and his team immediately suspect her death is linked to the parties she organised where revellers wore 1930s style clothes. As suspicion falls upon her husband, the investigation takes an unexpected turn when the team uncovers ‘spin-off’ parties of a more scandalous nature. With the sudden death of an unrelated bank manager, Inspector Dra ..read more

Synopsis The girls are sleeping upstairs. If their parents make one wrong move, their daughters will die. Emmy and her little sister Dani are sleeping in their bedroom upstairs. Their parents are in the kitchen A knife is jammed to their mother’s throat. Their father has a stack of kitchen plates balanced on his back. The intruder rasps, ‘Don’t be breathing too hard now. I reckon smashing plates is the sort of noise that’ll wake a child. Have them coming down to see what’s going on. There can’t be witnesses . . .’ What Detective Maddie Ives will find in that nice family kit ..read more

Synopsis Manchester, 1944 Alison is thriving in her rewarding role at the railways. But when family tragedy strikes, her world is turned upside down. Persephone is struggling with matters of the heart. Can she muster up the courage to tell Matt how she truly feels? Colette is slowly learning to embrace life again after she left Tony. But will he ever let her move on? Join the railway girls as they journey through life, love and war. My Review I am a huge fan of Maisie Thomas and I have been since I had the good fortune to pick up ‘The Railway Girls’ back in 2020. Since then I have read an ..read more

Synopsis There is excitement in the air as the travelling theatre arrives in Seal Bay. When The Spriggan Travelling Theatre Company arrives in Seal Bay to perform a Cornish version of King Arthur the locals flock to be entertained. But for Morwenna Mutton, sexagenarian librarian, wild swimming enthusiast and amateur sleuth, the theatre brings intrigue too. Actor and director Daniel Kitto is not the most popular member of the cast and unbeknownst to him, his role of Uther Pendragon on the opening night is to be his swansong. In front of a horrified audience, he collapses during the dying momen ..read more

Synopsis 1918. Fleeing from her past, Cathy Carmichael is new to the Sixteen Streets. She has nothing to her name, no plan and nowhere to go. Cathy thinks she’s struck gold when she runs into Mrs Sturrocks, an elderly lady who offers her a room at her boarding house. Her son, Noel, might be strange and sulky, but he gives her a job at the Robin Hood pub and before long, Cathy is thriving as the new barmaid. The Sixteen Streets was only meant to be a temporary stop for Cathy… but could it become home instead? My Review I have a little confession to make. Although I have all of Elsie’s ..read more