Crowns And Codebreakers

Meet Piotr, Minnie, Andrew, Flora and Sylvie – true friends and even better mystery-solvers! When Minnie's gran comes to stay, all the way from Nigeria, Minnie KNOWS there will be trouble. And straight away Gran notices she's picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport. This one is full of boy's clothes, and she's not at all happy about it! But when their house is burgled and the only thing taken is the suitcase, Minnie realises there'll be much more trouble than she bargained for. Can the gang solve the crime or will the mystery of the little lost boy be forever unsolved? The second in a fantastic new series filled with friendship, adventure and mystery! Perfect for fans of Lauren St John, this is THE new mystery adventure series by Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author Elen Caldecott.

Meet Piotr, Minnie, Andrew, Flora and Sylvie – true friends and even better mystery-solvers! Hollywood sensation, Betty Massino, has come to star in the theatre down the road and Piotr and his friends Andrew and Minnie couldn't be more excited! But when the famous actress's hugely expensive diamond necklace goes missing, Piotr's dad, a security guard at the theatre, is a prime suspect. Soon, Piotr faces the very real threat of being sent 'home' to Poland. With the help of Sylvie and her twin sister Flora, can Piotr, Andrew and Minnie solve the crime or will they lose Piotr forever? The first in a fantastic new series filled with friendship, adventure and mystery! Perfect for fans of Lauren St John, this is THE new mystery adventure series by Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author Elen Caldecott.

"The author, Bengt Beckman, for many years was the head of the cryptanalysis department of the Swedish signal intelligence agency. He has crafted a book that a reader at any level of mathematical sophistication will thoroughly enjoy. It will appeal to a broad audience of readers, from historians and biography buffs to mathematicians to anyone with a passing interest in cryptology and cryptanalysis."--BOOK JACKET.

The magnificent, unrivaled history of codes and ciphers -- how they're made, how they're broken, and the many and fascinating roles they've played since the dawn of civilization in war, business, diplomacy, and espionage -- updated with a new chapter on computer cryptography and the Ultra secret. Man has created codes to keep secrets and has broken codes to learn those secrets since the time of the Pharaohs. For 4,000 years, fierce battles have been waged between codemakers and codebreakers, and the story of these battles is civilization's secret history, the hidden account of how wars were won and lost, diplomatic intrigues foiled, business secrets stolen, governments ruined, computers hacked. From the XYZ Affair to the Dreyfus Affair, from the Gallic War to the Persian Gulf, from Druidic runes and the kaballah to outer space, from the Zimmermann telegram to Enigma to the Manhattan Project, codebreaking has shaped the course of human events to an extent beyond any easy reckoning. Once a government monopoly, cryptology today touches everybody. It secures the Internet, keeps e-mail private, maintains the integrity of cash machine transactions, and scrambles TV signals on unpaid-for channels. David Kahn's The Codebreakers takes the measure of what codes and codebreaking have meant in human history in a single comprehensive account, astonishing in its scope and enthralling in its execution. Hailed upon first publication as a book likely to become the definitive work of its kind, The Codebreakers has more than lived up to that prediction: it remains unsurpassed. With a brilliant new chapter that makes use of previously classified documents to bring the book thoroughly up to date, and to explore the myriad ways computer codes and their hackers are changing all of our lives, The Codebreakers is the skeleton key to a thousand thrilling true stories of intrigue, mystery, and adventure. It is a masterpiece of the historian's art.

Meet Piotr, Minnie, Andrew, Flora and Sylvie – true friends and even better mystery-solvers! Flora and Sylvie are going on the holiday of a lifetime with their dad. But – WHAT? – Dad cancels the trip only hours before the flight because – OH MY GOODNESS – someone has stolen precious blueprints of Dad's latest invention: an amazing new scooter. But who? And why? Time to call on the only five people who can possibly solve the crime! The third in a fantastic new series filled with friendship, adventure and mystery! Perfect for fans of the Laura Marlin Mysteries by Lauren St John, this is THE new mystery adventure series by Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author Elen Caldecott.

The final title in the brilliant Marsh Road Mysteries adventure series by hugely popular children's author Elen Caldecott. For fans of the Laura Marlin Mysteries by Lauren St John. Meet Piotr, Minnie, Andrew, Flora and Sylvie – the Marsh Road Mystery solvers. Sylvie Hampshire is in hospital. She knows she's responsible enough to take control of her diabetes medication, but now she has to prove it on the hospital ward. She's only been there a couple of hours when Barry, a therapy dog, goes missing in suspicious circumstances. It's time to bring in the gang! With their detective senses on high alert, the five friends set out to find Barry, but the stakes soon become much higher than they thought. Have they finally met their match? Not if Sylvie Hampshire has anything to do with it!

Kirsty Jenkins adores the allotment her grandfather lovingly tends and, just before he dies, he asks Kirsty to look after it for him. But when horrible Mr Thomas from the council insists it must go to the next person on the waiting list, Kirsty is determined to find a way to keep her promise. After pleading with Mr Thomas and demonstrating at the council offices, Kirsty and her half-siblings undertake their most daring plan of all: to 'borrow' the stuffed elephant from the museum that Mr Thomas loves so much, in a last-ditch attempt to gain his attention and understanding. Perhaps this risky ruse might also shake Kirsty's dad from the quiet sadness he has fallen into ever since her grandfather died. A warm, funny and moving novel about family relationships, dealing with bereavement, green beans and marrows.

The fourth title in the brilliant mystery adventure series by Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author, Elen Caldecott. For fans of the Laura Marlin Mysteries by Lauren St John. Meet Piotr, Minnie, Andrew, Flora and Sylvie – the Marsh Road Mystery solvers. It's a good day for Andrew. His mum is feeling better than she has done in ages and she's even going back to work at last. But things begin to go badly wrong when she signs for a mysterious package containing an ancient Egyptian mummified cat. Has the fated feline cursed the Marsh Road junk shop – or is there something else afoot? The five friends have a new case to solve.