Lukitt Bachman is waiting in his Lanterne de Mortes, a Tower of the Dead, in the middle of a cemetery. He has become an assassin and a murderer, learned the terrible highs and lows of friendships made and lost, and is awaiting now his last remaining friend to set him free so he can put right past wrongs.
In a race against time and treachery a young woman must survive, a lost legacy must be found and a city must be saved
Deadly Prospects is book 1 in the Scottish Mystery series.
'Playfully elegant and effortlessly seductive' Telegraph
Astonishment Hall, a country estate in the Pennines full of extraordinary exhibitions, is truly a place of wonder. But when a valuable exhibit is stolen, it is only the first in a series of unpleasant and seemingly unconnected events. A bell tower is burnt to the ground, trapping a young boy inside, an outbreak of thefts plagues the valley, and a man is violently murdered and left to the crows and the snow.When his own investigations come to a dead end, the owner of Astonishment Hall sends to London for help. And so Whilbert Stroop journeys north to find the answers to both his own search for a missing glass-worker, and the perplexing events at Astonishment Hall. Before long, Stroop finds himself embroiled in one man's terrifying and warped desire for vengeance against ancient wrongs, and another man's fight for survival.
A mysterious body discovered in a Salt Hedge alongside a crate of stolen books sets the stage for an intriguing investigation. Ruan Peat, the determined detective, delves into the case, unraveling secrets and connections that intertwine the victim with the literary world. As Peat navigates through clues and motives, the story explores themes of crime, morality, and the significance of knowledge, making for a gripping narrative filled with twists and revelations.
Scotland and Ireland 1798. Three people, two murders, one oath.
"Chop off my head and hawk it to the highest bidder. I'm the Anatomist's Dream, did you know? That's what they call me." In a small salt-mining town, Philbert is born with a taupe, a disfiguring inflammation of the skull. Abandoned by both parents and with only a pet pig for company, he eventually finds refuge and companionship in a travelling carnival, Maulwerf's Fair of Wonders, as it makes its annual migration across Germany bringing entertainment to a people beset by famine, repression and revolutionary ferment. Philbert soon finds a caring family in Hermann the Fish Man, Lita, the Dancing Dwarf, Frau Fettleheim, the Fattest Woman in the World and an assortment of freak show artists, magicians and entertainers. But then Philbert meets Kwert, Tospirologist and Teller of Signs, and when he persuades the boy to undergo examination by the renowned physician and craniometrist, Dr Ullendorf, both Kwert and Philbert embark on an altogether darker and more perilous journey--Page 2 of jacket.
Burning Secrets is book 2 in the Scottish Mysteries series
Hestan Island, marooned in the Solway Firth, tethered to the mainland at low tide by a causeway called The Rack; home to two men quietly living out their lives, until a boy is almost crushed to death in their tiny copper mine, when their shared past begins to unravel.