Robert Amiss

Battered to death with a piece of abstract sculpture titled "Reconciliation", Whitehall departmental head Sir Nicholas Clark is claimed by his colleagues to have been a fine and respected public servant cut off in his prime. Bewildered by the labyrinthine bureaucracy of Whitehall, Scotland Yard's Superintendent Jim Milton recognizes a potential ally in Clark's young Private Secretary, Robert Amiss. Milton soon learns from Amiss how Whitehall works: that it can be Machiavellian and potentially homicidal, that Sir Nicholas was obnoxious and widely loathed, that he had spent the weeks before his murder upsetting and antagonizing family and associates, and that his last morning on earth had been spent gleefully observing the success of his plan to embarrass his minister and his department publicly. And they still need to discover who wielded the blunt instrument. This is the first of Ruth Dudley Edwards' witty, iconoclastic but warm-hearted satires about the British Establishment

First in a new vet books mystery series, perfect for fans of cozy mysteries by Miranda James and Leann Sweeney! Veterinarian and amateur sleuth Kate Turner has her hands full trying to juggle two boyfriends, a thriving practice, and a criminal investigation It's the Christmas season and veterinarian Kate Turner is not feeling very jolly. She's overworked, unappreciated, and dealing with two dissatisfied clients. Throw in a very complicated personal life and Kate's definitely got a case of the holiday blues. To make matters worse, Kate's ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, is mugged and robbed after they have a heated argument in the hospital parking lot. Then, two of her dissatisfied clients turn up dead (which really gets Kate's tinsel in a tangle). All of these events seem like coincidences, but they add up to something much more venomous. Saddled with Murder is a cozy holiday mystery from beloved author Eileen Brady that explores the fragility and resiliency of animals and humans whose trust has been broken, and will keep animal-loving readers riveted until the last page.

"In this always entertaining series, Hayes never fails to mix action and humor in an engaging manner."-Booklist On a bleak Christmas morning, as she patrols a desolate canyon on the Arizona reservation, Sewa Tribal Police Officer Heather English stumbles upon the body of the newly-elected governor. A note explains his death is part of a drug war. His killer promises Heather will be among the victims. That same morning, her Uncle Mad Dog, a Cheyenne wanna-be shaman, receives a grisly last-minute gift from someone who thinks Mad Dog is a drug lord: a severed human hand. Meanwhile, Heather's father, Sheriff English of Benteen County, Kansas, calms a wild incident in a church parking lot. The crèche at the center of the town's largest holiday yard display has been desecrated. Its owner plans to kill the neighbors he suspects are responsible. At the family's urging, the sheriff takes the man's guns and promises not to let him make trouble. Soon the county fills with rumors that the sheriff is systematically violating Second Amendment rights and seizing every weapon. A local militia turns out, locked and loaded, ready to do what it takes to stop him.

Robert Amiss is persuaded by his friend Detective Sergeant Pooley of the CID to take a job as a waiter in ffeatherstonehaughs (pronounced Fanshaws), a gentlemen's club in St James. The club secretary has allegedly jumped to his death from the gallery of this imposing building. Against most of the evidence, Pooley believes he was murdered. Amiss finds himself in a bizarre caricature of a club, run by and for debauched geriatrics, with skeletons rattling in every cupboard. Why are there so few members? How are they financed? Will Amiss keep his job despite the enmity of the ferocious, snuff-covered Colonel Fagg?

The Great War has ended, and the army is keen to be demobbed. But Willoughby, the new British High Commissioner in Egypt, has managed to affront the Khedive by refusing to receive rival delegations fueled by rising nationalism. Then, when some Armenians, Copts, and English civil servants are attacked, a state of emergency is declared. Gareth Cadwallader Owen is the Mamur Zapt, the Head of the Khedive's Secret Police. Unlike his British colleagues, Owen works for the Khedive. His is an uncomfortable perch as agitation for political and social restructuring grows. Furthermore, Owen is married to a pasha's daughter, Zeinab, herself straddling a cultural divide. The Khedive has declared a procession: he'll drive around Cairo with his Ministers. Owen, who has spent his career defusing political time bombs, learns the streets have been made dangerous by threats of real bombs. The fi rst order of business is to ward them off. The second is to ensure the safety of an impending major European delegation to the capital. But what does it all have to do with Owen's shiny new motor car?

548 CE, Constantinople. Emperor Justinian, distraught from the death of his wife, Empress Theodora, has exiled his longtime aide, John, the Lord Chamberlain. At the Church of the Holy Apostles, an Egyptian magician tries to raise the empress from the dead. As the unholy ceremony explodes into chaos, supposed demons vanish into the darkness with one of the city's holiest relics. Felix, Captain of the Palace Guard, is selected as John's successor and charged with finding the missing relic. But before Felix's investigation even begins, someone deposits a corpse at his house. A botched attempt to dispose of the body leaves Felix looking suspect. To make matters worse, it seems as if half the city wants to possess the relic, see Felix dead-or both. If only Felix's friend, the shrewd John, were still in the city, but the former Lord Chamberlain has already sailed for Greece. Now Felix enters a fight for his very survival, a crucible in which he cannot cannot tell friend from foe-or worldly dangers from the supernatural.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder "[T]he entire book is filled with country-house-mystery wonders: the closed-circle puzzle, the dying-message clue, and the sociopathic guest who invades the weekend house party." -Booklist The English country house is an iconic setting for some of the greatest British crime fiction. This new collection gathers together stories written over a span of about 65 years, during which British society, and life in country houses, was transformed out of all recognition. It includes fascinating and unfamiliar twists on the classic 'closed circle' plot, in which the assorted guests at a country house party become suspects when a crime is committed. In the more sinister tales featured here, a gloomy mansion set in lonely grounds offers an eerie backdrop for dark deeds. Many distinguished writers are represented in this collection, including such great names of the genre as Anthony Berkeley, Nicholas Blake and G.K. Chesterton. Martin Edwards has also unearthed hidden gems and forgotten masterpieces: among them are a fine send-up of the country house murder; a suspenseful tale by the unaccountably neglected Ethel Lina White; and a story by the little-known Scottish writer J.J. Bell.

2018 Lefty Award nominee for Best Historical Mystery Novel In the winter of 1282, snow and ice ravage East Anglia while Prioress Eleanor awaits the decision of her young maid, Gracia, found starving on the streets some years ago, whether to take vows or to leave Tyndal Priory to make her way in the world. But a far greater problem arrives at the priory gate. Seven abbots are riding to meet a papal legate in Norfolk. This is not a pilgrimage-each abbot hopes to make a case for being raised to a bishopric at the next vacancy. One abbot grows so ill the party has detoured to Tyndal. And despite the limited care Sister Anne can offer, Abbot Ilbert dies a horrible death, cause unknown. As his fellows prepare to resume their journey the next day, Abbot Tristram doubles over in great distress. By now the heavy snows have choked all the roads and the priory and village are marooned. Tristram dies. And then another abbot sickens while Sister Anne struggles to determine what killed these men-which question soon becomes not just what, but who did it? One suspect is the gluttonous Odo, the ambitious Abbot of Caldwell and younger brother of Crowner Ralf. Since everyone despises Odo, is he simply a red herring? Prioress Eleanor is determined to stop the carnage that has shattered the tranquility in her priory while the Crowner must enforce the king's justice. Brother Thomas and Sister Anne form part of the investigation which plumbs the priory's kitchens and management as well as its medical facilities. The Proud Sinner, 13th in the Medieval Mysteries by Priscilla Royal, illustrates medieval matters medical and culinary as well as vocations for the religious life in a framework that crosses Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Foolishly, the British and Irish governments have chosen the tactless and impatient Baroness Troutbeck to chair a conference on Anglo-Irish cultural sensitivities. She instantly press-gangs Robert Amiss, her young friend and reluctant accomplice, into becoming conference organizer. It is a conference to remember in more ways than one. When a delegate plummets off the battlements, no one, not even the authorities, can decide whether it was by accident or design. The next death poses the same problem and causes warring factions to accuse each other of murder even as the politicians are busily trying to brush everything under the carpet in the name of peace.

"The literary cognoscenti ('the superciliati,' she calls them) hold no terror for this ribald satirist."-New York Times When the chairperson of the prestigious Knapper-Warburton Literary Prize dies in suspicious circumstances, Robert Amiss (the token sane member of the judging panel) wastes no time in summoning Baroness "Jack" Troutbeck to step into the chair. Speculation that a killer may be targeting the judges does not worry the baroness in the slightest-it's the prospect of immersing herself in modern literature that fills her with dread. But noblesse must oblige, even when it means joining the ranks of the superciliati sitting in judgment of the literati. With the baroness at the helm, the judges resume the task of whittling away at the shortlist. But the killer, too, has resumed work and is whittling away at the judges one by one....

"I should imagine this was murder, too, because it would be very difficult to build yourself into a heap of sandbags and then die…" In the blackout conditions of a wintry London night, amateur sleuth Agnes Kinghof and a young air-raid warden have stumbled upon a corpse stowed in the walls of their street's bomb shelter. As the police begin their investigation, the night is interrupted once again when Agnes' upstairs neighbour, Mrs. Sibley is terrorised by the sight of a grisly pig's head at her fourth-floor window. With the discovery of more sinister threats mysteriously signed "Pig-sticker," Agnes and her husband, Andrew-unable to resist a good mystery-begin their investigation to deduce the identity of a villain living amongst them in their block of flats. A witty and light-hearted mystery full of intriguing period detail, this rare gem of Golden Age crime returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1943. This edition includes an Introduction by award-winning author Martin Edwards.

Baron Herbert's return from crusade should have been a joyous occasion. Instead, he grows increasingly morose, withdraws from his family, and refuses to share his wife's bed. When his sons begin to die in strange accidents, some ask whether Herbert harbors a dark sin for which God has cursed him. Then the baron suddenly sends for Sir Hugh of Wynethorpe, begging his friend to bring spiritual and secular healers but giving little explanation for the request. Worried about Herbert's descent into melancholy and the tragic deaths, Sir Hugh persuades his sister, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal Priory, as well as a respected physician, Master Gamel, to accompany him. Although he is pleased when the prioress brings her healer, Sister Anne, he is surprised to find the mysterious Brother Thomas included. Is there a malign presence at this storm-blasted castle, oddly named Doux et Dur? Tensions spark among family members and soon ignite too among those who came to help. Death's scythe harvests more victims, and it is not long before Ecclesiastes' grim words seem all too apt: there is a season for everything under heaven, including a time to kill....