Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Historical

Vietnam, 1963. A female Viet Cong assassin is trawling the boulevards of Saigon, catching US Army officers off-guard with a single pistol shot, then riding off on the back of a scooter. Although the US military is not officially in combat, 16,000 American servicemen are stationed in Vietnam 'advising' the military and government. Among them are Ellsworth Miser and Clovis Robeson, two army investigators who have been tasked with tracking down the daring killer.

In the grey mist of the early morning a body is dumped on the shore of the Thames by a boatman in a metal canoe. The city is soon alive with talk of the savage Esquimaux stalking Victorian London and an eyewitness who claims the killer had an accomplice: a tall woman dressed in widow's weeds, with the telltale look of the degenerate Irish.

Visiting the Great Exhibition to view the wax anatomical models of the famous but reclusive Dr Silas Strangeway, Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain find a severed hand, perfectly dissected and laid out amongst the exhibits. Assuming it to be a prank by medical students they return it to Dr Strangeway, who works at Corvus Hall, a private anatomy school run by Dr Alexander Crowe—once one of Edinburgh's most revered anatomists. Jem's persistence reveals that a body does indeed lie in the school's mortuary, minus its right hand.

Cheshire. May Day, 1753. Tabitha De Vallory believes her life is perfect: she has an imposing home with all the comforts she has ever desired, and is expecting her first child with doting husband Nathaniel De Vallory. But Tabitha's happiness is shaken when a girl is slaughtered beneath the Mondrem Oak on the family's forest estate. Recognizing the victim from her former scandalous life, Tabitha vows to find the killer.

After arresting a ruthless silk-factory owner and his gang of thugs in Girl Waits with Gun, Constance Kopp became one of the nation's first deputy sheriffs. She's proven that she can't be deterred, evaded or outran. But when the wiles of a German-speaking con man threaten her position and her hopes for a new life, endangering the honourable Sheriff Heath, Constance may not be able to make things right....

Frank and Sarah Malloy are enjoying married life and looking to make their family official by adopting Catherine, the child Sarah rescued and has been raising as her daughter. The newlyweds soon discover Parnell Vaughn, an actor and Catherine's legal father, is looking to fatten his pockets by insisting on a financial settlement to relinquish his parental rights. When Frank returns with money and finds Vaughn beaten to death, all evidence points to Frank as the culprit.

The biggest event in the Catholic calendar is a disaster in Zofia Turbotyńska’s household. Her maid, Karolina, has handed in her notice and worse, gone missing. When Karolina’s body is discovered, violated and stabbed, Zofia knows she has to investigate.

In the midst of Sarah and Frank's wedding preparations, Sarah accompanies her mother on a condolence call to the Upper West Side, where the son of family friends has died unexpectedly. The father believes his son was poisoned and would like Sarah and Frank to look into the matter. They soon learn that not everyone wants to know more about Charles' death, and they also discover that they are in the company of a very present danger.

The legendary Knights of St John, the last of the great surviving Christian chivalric orders, have retreated to the small island of Malta. But Emperor Suleiman wants the Knights wiped off the map, and dispatches the greatest armada that ever set sail to annihilate them. The Order seems doomed until the extraordinary bravery of one Englishman, Christian Hardy, attracts the attention of the Grand Master himself...

London, 1863: prostitutes in the Waterloo area are turning up dead, their sexual organs mutilated and removed. When another girl goes missing, fears grow that the killer may have claimed their latest victim. The police are at a loss, and so it falls to courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey to investigate. With the assistance of her trusty Chinese maid, Amah Li Leen, Heloise inches closer to the truth. But when Amah is implicated in the brutal plot, Heloise must reconsider whom she can trust before the killer strikes again.

A taut and gripping thriller: King Edward VIII is on the throne and keen to broker peace at any cost - WWII could turn out very differently.... As the storm clouds gather over Europe and German troops are amassing, a clandestine 'King's Party' of fascist peace campaigners is stealthily undermining the war effort. Back from Ceylon to work on a newly founded literary magazine, Cynthia Kirkpatrick finds herself at the centre of a web of intrigue. London shivers with uncertainty. As Hitler's troops encroach further into Europe, Cynthia soon discovers that taking sides can be a very dangerous business.

Scandal, intoxication and lies flourish in the silent film studios of Paris. A silent film, destroyed in a fire in 1914 at the Pathé studio, before it was seen even by its director. A lowly seamstress who makes the costumes she should be wearing but believes her talent - and the secret she keeps, too - will soon get her a dressing room of her own. A famous - and dashing - creator of spectacular cinematic illusions, husband to a beautiful, volatile actress, the most adored icon of the Parisian studios.

Tegen, headstrong druid-in-training, has struck out alone - but the world beyond her village is a dangerous place. The Roman invaders are tightening their grip on the land and the British tribes are warring instead of uniting. When Tegen meets a sensible young druid he seems the perfect guide. But Owein's dark past is chasing him and he brings Tegen into the orbit of a deadly new enemy.

Lawrence Shaw still has the reputation as the fastest gun alive. But since the death of his beloved Rosa, his shots have come out of a bottle. Then a friend gets Shaw a job helping a widow with her ranch, and Fast Larry sees the glimmer of a second chance.

1588. In Lisbon the Spanish Armada prepares to set sail for England. Behind it is a dark and secretive game, one of murder, treachery and deceit. This is the realm of the spy, and home to legendary spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. Gradually his intelligence sources vanish, until finally he sends the young soldier Christian Hardy to discover the truth. But time is running out- for Hardy, and for England...