Beloved Poison

'Vivid, pungent and perilous' CHRIS BROOKMYRE 'Evocative...brilliant plotting' REBECCA GRIFFITHS A dark and richly atmospheric thriller, perfect for fans of Laura Purcell's The Silent Companions, Sarah Perry's Melmoth and Elly Griffiths' The Stranger Diaries. London, 1846. Ramshackle and crumbling, St Saviour's Infirmary awaits demolition. Within its stinking wards and cramped corridors the doctors bicker and fight. Ambition, jealousy and hatred seethe beneath the veneer of professional courtesy. Always an outsider, and with a secret of her own to hide, apothecary Jem Flockhart observes everything, but says nothing. And then six tiny coffins are uncovered, inside each a handful of dried flowers and a bundle of mouldering rags. When Jem comes across these strange relics hidden inside the infirmary's old chapel, her quest to understand their meaning prises open a long-forgotten past - with fatal consequences . . . Praise for E.S. Thomson: 'It's rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones...' LAURA PURCELL 'Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable' DAILY EXPRESS 'Marvellous, vivid . . . breathtakingly dark' JANET ELLIS 'Jem Flockhart books are the best I've read in years' KIRSTY LOGAN 'A marvel . . . thoroughly engrossing' MARY PAULSON ELLIS

'Vivid, pungent and perilous' CHRIS BROOKMYRE 'Evocative...brilliant plotting' REBECCA GRIFFITHS A dark and richly atmospheric thriller, perfect for fans of Laura Purcell's The Silent Companions, Sarah Perry's Melmoth and Elly Griffiths' The Stranger Diaries. London, 1846. Ramshackle and crumbling, St Saviour's Infirmary awaits demolition. Within its stinking wards and cramped corridors the doctors bicker and fight. Ambition, jealousy and hatred seethe beneath the veneer of professional courtesy. Always an outsider, and with a secret of her own to hide, apothecary Jem Flockhart observes everything, but says nothing. And then six tiny coffins are uncovered, inside each a handful of dried flowers and a bundle of mouldering rags. When Jem comes across these strange relics hidden inside the infirmary's old chapel, her quest to understand their meaning prises open a long-forgotten past - with fatal consequences . . . Praise for E.S. Thomson: 'It's rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones...' LAURA PURCELL 'Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable' DAILY EXPRESS 'Marvellous, vivid . . . breathtakingly dark' JANET ELLIS 'Jem Flockhart books are the best I've read in years' KIRSTY LOGAN 'A marvel . . . thoroughly engrossing' MARY PAULSON ELLIS

Set in a crumbling 1850s London infirmary, a richly atmospheric Victorian crime novel where murder is the price to be paid for secrets kept. Ramshackle and crumbling, trapped in the past and resisting the future, St. Saviour’s Infirmary awaits demolition. Within its stinking wards and cramped corridors, the doctors bicker and backstab. Ambition, jealousy, and loathing seethe beneath the veneer of professional courtesy. Always an outsider, and with a secret of her own to hide, apothecary Jem Flockhart observes everything but says nothing. And then six tiny coffins are uncovered, inside each a handful of dried flowers and a bundle of mouldering rags. When Jem comes across these strange relics hidden inside the infirmary’s old chapel, her quest to understand their meaning prises open a long-forgotten past—with fatal consequences. In a trail that leads from the bloody world of the operating room and the dissecting table to the notorious squalor of Newgate Prison and the gallows, Jem’s adversary proves to be both powerful and ruthless. As St. Saviour’s destruction draws near, the dead are unearthed from their graves while the living are forced to make impossible choices. And murder is the price to be paid for the secrets to be kept.

A murder mystery featuring Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne. August 1935. The Duke of Mersham's exclusive party ends in tragedy as General Sir Alistair Craig VC collapses, victim of a poisoned glass of port, just as Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne join the soirée. The unlikely pair - the younger son of a duke and a journalist committed to the Communist Party - find common ground as they seek the truth and discover that everyone present that evening, including the Duke of Mersham himself, had motive for wanting Sir Alistair out of the picture. But more deaths will follow before Lord Edward and Verity can get to the bottom of this intriguing mystery... Praise for David Roberts: 'A classic murder mystery [...] and a most engaging pair of amateur sleuths' Charles Osborne, author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie 'A gripping, richly satisfying whodunit with finely observed characters, sparkling with insouciance and stinging menace' Peter James 'A really well-crafted and charming mystery story' Daily Mail 'A perfect example of golden-age mystery traditions with the cobwebs swept away' Guardian

From bestselling author Peter Robinson comes this atmospheric, suspenseful, and thrilling standalone novel Through the years of success in Hollywood composing film scores, Chris always promised his wife they'd return to the Yorkshire Dales one day. Now a widower, Chris feels he must not forget his promise. Back in the Dales, he rents an isolated house that will allow him the space to grieve and the peace to compose his piano sonata. But when he finds that the house was the scene of a murder in the 1950s, and the convicted murderer was one of the last women hanged in England, he finds himself increasingly distracted by the events of sixty years before . . .

Plagued by rumours that she poisoned her fiance, Lucinda Bromley manages to live on the fringes of polite society, tending her beloved plants - and occasionally consulting on a murder investigation. For the notorious botanist possesses a unique talent: she can detect almost any type of poison. But the death of a lord has shaken Lucinda to her core. At the murder scene, she picks up traces of a poison containing a very rare species of fern - stolen from her conservatory just last month. To keep her name out of the investigation, and to find the murderer, Lucinda hires fellow Arcane Society member, Caleb Jones. As a nearly overwhelming desire blooms between them, they are drawn into a deadly conspiracy that can be traced to the early days of the Arcane Society - and to a legacy of madness that could plunge Caleb into the depths of his own tortured soul...

Do you believe in magic? Lexi and her friends do! And when they meet the Star Animals, a whole world of magical adventure unfolds in this exciting new chapter book from the Star Friends series featuring black-and-white illustrations throughout. When strange things begin to happen in Westport, Lexi, Mia, Violet, and Sita suspect that someone is doing dark magic. Mia has a scary dream about someone casting spells in the girls' special clearing in the woods. The adults seem to have forgotten about their responsibilities. And one night, the girls all notice that ivy begins crawling up the windowsill in their bedrooms! Can the Star Friends--with the help of their beloved Star Animals--figure out who is behind the dark magic before it is too late? In the Star Friends chapter book series, Mia and her friends Lexi, Sita, and Violet all discover that they are Star Friends -- they can communicate with the animals that have traveled from the Star World. The animals show the girls how to use their unique magic abilities to do good. A whole world of magical adventures awaits!