Christmas, 1669. In the grip of the coldest winter for years, the River Thames is frozen from bank to bank and London celebrates with a traditional frost fair held on its broad back. Revellers come from far and wide to enjoy the spectacle. Among the throng is ambitious young architect Christopher Redmayne. By chance he meets a good friend, Constable Jonathan Bale, attending with his family. As the adults talk, Bale s sons skate around them. But their competitive nature spells trouble onto thin ice and is in danger of crashing into the freezing water below. Christopher and Jonathan save the...

An exquisite silver coffeepot in the shape of a locomotive is on its way to Cardiff in the care of the young silversmith, Hugh Kellow. But before he can deliver it a gruesome murder is committed. Inspector Colbeck is confronted all too soon with complications and with no shortage of suspects and he must sift through layers of deceit to find the killer. Commissioned by wealthy ironmaster Clifford Tomkins for his acquisitive wife, who wants it to be the envy of all her friends and enemies, the coffeepot is stolen. When a gruesome murder is committed at the Railway Hotel, Winifred Tomkins is...

Divided by politics but united in a desire to see justice done, Christopher Redmayne and Jonathan Bale join together once more. But how can they hope to find those who exploit the scandal of others, when the victims themselves will do anything to maintain their anonymity? And what of Sir Julius son? Most feel he must have been the victim of his own, debauched appetites, but a few talk of his repentance. So where is the repentant rake? And, with only lies, rumors and gossip to work with, even Redmayne and Bale despair of finding him.REVIEWS ..".this third offering in the Restoration Series...

In a London ravaged by the Great Fire, Christopher Redmayne envisages the rebuilding of the city. He is thrown together with Jonathan Bale, a decidedly Puritan constable, when one of his clients is killed, leading the pair on a journey through the dark underbelly of London and the hedonistic Court. Meeting in the ashes, Christopher Redmayne, an architect with Cavalier instincts, and Jonathan Bale are hardly kindred spirits. Redmayne dedicates himself to rebuilding the city that Bale believes was destroyed by its own inner corruption. The two men are thrown together when they catch thieves who...

Colonel Aubrey Tarleton is a man respected by his neighbors in the small Yorkshire village of South Otterington as much for his heroic feats in the army as for his social position. So the community is left stunned when Tarleton, deliberately, walks into the path of a speeding train. He is crushed to death on the track, but it is not his broken limbs that attract the attention of the train driver; rather, it is the note pinned to his chest, fluttering in the breeze: Whoever finds me, notify Superintendent Tallis of the Detective Department at Scotland Yard . The famous Railway Detective,...

Set in 1588 against the background of the Spanish Armada, 'The Queen's Head' is the first in a thrilling series featuring Nicholas Bracewell and the colourful world of the Elizabethan theatre.

Nicholas Bracewell is left to investigate the mysterious circumstances of his colleague's death. Is it murder, or some strange, unnatural act? Only the bizarre, spectacular climax at the country seat of Lord Westfield will tell.

When the deathly horrors of the Black Plague decimate the audiences in London's theatres, the acclaimed troupe of players called Lord Westfield's Men take to the highroad to seek out fresh audiences. But wherever they go, they are thwartd by misfortune, and are baffled by mysteries.

The fiery star of the company of players called Lord Westfield's Men, Laurence Firethorn, is hot for a lady, wife of the Lord Mayor elect. A tryst at London's Nine Giants Inn is arranged. Meanwhile, the lugubrious landlord of the actors' home base is laid even lower by a plot to take over ownership of the inn. A young apprentice actor is subjected to a horrible assault and a waterman pulls a mangled corpse from the Thames. The drama comes to a climax at the annual Lord Mayor's show as his barge moves grandly down the river.

When fire destroys their London theatre, Lord Westfield's players must seek out humbler venues in the countryside. But company manager Nicholas Bracewell is distracted by a shocking tragedy: a mysterious messanger from his native Devon is murdered by poison. Though the messenger is silenced, Nicholas understands what he must do: return to his birthplace and reconcile some unfinished business of the past.