British Literature

madness mad-nes n (14c): the quality or state of being mad: a: rage b: insanity c: extreme folly d: ecstasy, enthusiasm. And, added in the margins of the dictionary owned by James Tremont, the ninth duke of Parkerton, one additional definition: e: the state of finding oneself mistaken for a solicitor by a duke-hunting beauty who needs to be enthusiastically taught the true meaning of love.

DI Bliss attends the aftermath of an apparent murder-suicide—but the scene tells him and his colleagues something very different occurred. Now the Peterborough Major Crimes Unit face an adversary like no other. They have no idea why his victims had to die. They have no idea who he is. They have no idea where he might strike next—only that he will. But while the killer is cunning, leaving no evidence for them to find, his biggest mistake might be in underestimating the team now hunting him. Because when Jimmy Bliss is on the case, all bets are off.

It's New Year's Eve and the stage is set for a lavish party in one of Edinburgh's best postcodes. It's a moment for old friends to set the past to rights-and move on. The night sky is alive with fireworks and the champagne is flowing. But the celebration fails to materialize. Because someone at this party is going to die tonight. Midnight approaches and the countdown begins—but it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution. They want revenge.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore are as different as England and America themselves, and yet almost two centuries later these two iconic tales remain an important part of Christmas tradition all over the world. Now they are brought together in this very special holiday recording.

The ladies of the Mayfair Orchid and Exotic Plant Society are known for a bit of friendly rivalry, but the backstabbing has never been literal - until now. When Hiram Filmore, an orchid hunter and supplier, is found dead in Mrs. Helena Rayburn's conservatory, Inspector Witherspoon is called in to weed out a murderer. When it comes out that Mrs. Rayburn and her flowery friends knew each other from long ago, Mrs. Jeffries begins to suspect that there's more to unearth about this case than meets the eye.

Despite the dishonorable circumstances of his own birth, Adam Faulkner has never begrudged his half-brother Sebastian's legitimate position as the Viscount Willowthorpe. Having a title and everything that goes with it never mattered to Adam—until “everything” became the hand of Miss Eliza Southwick. Adam knows, as the stable manager at Hooke Manor, he shouldn’t hope to wed a well-born miss. After all, enchanting such a lady’s heart would take a true gentleman…something he is not.

ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW  EDITORS' CHOICE PICK AND 2024 NOTABLE BOOK AN NPR FAVORITE READ OF 2024 “Peri’s joint biography is a thrilling, haunting yarn of the sort that the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself became famous...

True Christian faith is a profoundly transformational experience in which every part of our being is marked by God’s change and energized by his presence. This transformation takes us far beyond mere sin avoidance to a robust “full-bodied” holiness in which we make ourselves “holy...

DCI Kett is back, heading Norfolk Constabulary’s brand-new Extreme Crime Task Force. And it’s just in time. The body of a woman bound in thorns has been discovered in Norwich’s historic Cow Tower. In her mouth is a severed finger wrapped in a scrap of red cloth, and the first few lines of a fairy tale. “Once upon a time, a young maiden waited to be saved from a hideous monster.” The finger belongs to another missing woman, and if Kett, Porter and Savage want to find her alive they must follow a chain of blood-drenched riddles, each victim leading to the next.

Georgiana returned to Pemberley fresh from a highly successful London season, yet unmoved by any of the young men who lined up for introductions. Then, out of a terrible storm, there arrives a young French count with the face and address of an angel. Is this the one for which her heart has waited?

Pretty Lily Margrave is not convinced that Hercule Poirot is needed in the matter of Sir Atwell’s murder. At the request of her employer, Lady Atwell, she has already recounted what happened ten days ago in the Tower Room, and the victim’s nephew has been charged with the murder...

At his death in 1994, Ralph Ellison left behind roughly two thousand pages of his unfinished second novel, which he had spent nearly four decades writing. Long awaited, it was to have been the work Ellison intended to follow his masterpiece, Invisible Man. Five years later, Random House...

Melissa Craig is struggling with her new novel, so when the invitation arrives to visit a nearby country house for some writing time, she decides a bit of peace and quiet is just what she needs. The house is everything she could have hoped for, even if the staff do seem rather unsettled. She has barely unpacked when the owner of the house persuades Melissa to investigate some threatening notes he has received. But before she can do any digging, he is found murdered in his own orchard.

A MOST INDECENT PROPOSAL Annabelle Green needs a husband-and quickly. To inherit the only home she's ever known, she must be married by her twenty-fifth birthday. But finding a suitor has been next to impossible after a reckless rogue named Quinton Carlisle seduced her into a scandalous midnight...

A summer wedding.... An eccentric aunt.... What can possibly go wrong? Libby's instincts tell her there's something amiss in the picturesque villages, small towns, and rural farms of Exmoor. Then, people begin to disappear.... She's joined forces with on-off partner Max in a private investigation business, but she's getting cold feet about the idea of marriage. After all, it's taken plenty of hard work to regain her independence after her husband's death. Meanwhile, a sinister new acquaintance sends shivers down her spine....

DI Kate Young is on leave. She’s the force’s best detective, but her bosses know she’s under pressure, on medication and overcoming trauma. So after her bad judgement call leads to a narrowly averted public disaster, they’re sure all she needs is a rest. But when Staffordshire Police summon her back to work on a murder case, it’s a harder, more suspicious Kate Young who returns. With a new ruthlessness, she sets about tracking down a clinical, calculating serial killer who is torturing victims and leaving clues to taunt the police.

Samuel Pickwick, founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club, engages three fellow members to accompany him on a journey. By coach they’ll travel to the outreaches of London to explore, observe, and report back on the quaint wonders of the English countryside. What transpires is a picaresque romp of misadventures, hair-raising challenges, and romantic follies entangling the fates of a riot of colorful characters - a passel of villains, spinsters, poets, and sportsmen - and the unworldly Pickwick himself, who has much to learn about life outside his gentleman’s club.

Milly-Molly-Mandy lives in a tiny village in the heart of the countryside, where life is full of everyday adventures! Join the little girl in the candy-striped dress as she enjoys her first ever visit to the seaside, goes to a concert and has a picnic with her friends – whatever...

Christopher Egan, heir to the notorious Prestwick Earldom, is one of London's most scandalous rakes. He's never credited the gossips' claim that fate cast an ancient curse on every successive Earl of Prestwick as punishment for their wickedness, but once he inherits the earldom after his infamous uncle's untimely demise, it looks as if he may be the next to lose his head. Determined to cheat the curse and avoid his ancestors' grisly fate, Kit abandons his life of merry debauchery and embarks on a London season to wed the lady he's long been promised to.

The mega-bestselling novel that made Jeffrey Archer a star, Kane and Abel, “a sprawling blockbuster!”—Publishers Weekly TWO STRANGERS BORN WORLDS APART. ONE DESTINY THAT WOULD DEFINE THEM BOTH... William Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of a Boston millionaire, the other a...