Mysteries with a Historical Twist

In this evocative murder mystery set in ancient Egypt, an empire's sumptuous glory and intrigue blend seamlessly with timeless themes of greed, ambition, and crimes of passion. ...

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Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family—until he is asked to investigate his father’s sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father’s footsteps—and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years. . . . ...

A cryptic summons to a remote country house launches Isaac Inchbold, a London bookseller and antiquarian, on an odyssey through seventeenth-century Europe. Charged with the task of restoring a magnificent library destroyed by the war, Inchbold moves between Prague and the Tower Bridge in London, his fortunes—and his life—hanging on his ability to recover a missing manuscript. Yet the lost volume is not what it seems, and his search is part of a treacherous game of underworld spies and smugglers, ciphers, and forgeries. Inchbold's adventure is compelling from beginning to end as Ross King vividly recreates the turmoil of Europe in the seventeenth century—the sacks of great cities; Raleigh's final voyage; the quest for occult knowledge; and a watery escape from three mysterious horsemen. A Book Sense 76 pick ...

"In the second adventure of Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series, the courageous swordsman-for-hire considers rejoining his old regiment to fight at Breda - but there is a job to do first. A desperate father, Don Vicente de la Cruz, hires Alatriste to rescue his daughter from a convent where a powerful priest is said to be using the girl as his personal concubine. And he can't complain, because the priest has threatened to reveal the man's family to be "not of pure blood" - of Jewish descent - which will all but destroy the family name." "Alatriste agrees to help, and several nights later, under the cloak of darkness, a rescue is attempted - but things go very badly, and Alatriste soon discovers that he has become entangled in a religious and political conspiracy that leads all the way to the highest levels of the Inquisition."--BOOK JACKET. ...

It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed, however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor’s own prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief. Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock but also cope with violence, lust and greed in a place dedicated to love and peace. ...

It is 1540, and Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer renowned as ?the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England,? is pressed to help a friend's young niece who is charged with murder. Despite threats of torture and death by the rack, the girl is inexplicably silent. Shardlake is about to lose her case when he is suddenly granted a reprieve'one that will ensnare him in the dangerous schemes of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's feared vicar-general. In exchange for two more weeks to investigate the murder, Shardlake accepts Cromwell's dangerous assignment to find a lost cache of ?dark fire,? a legendary weapon of mass destruction. Cromwell, out of favor since Henry's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, is relying on Shardlake to save his position at court, which is rife with treasonous conspiracies.With its wonderful attention to period detail and its brilliant handling of suspense, Dark Fireis sure to win comparisons with Margaret George's Mary Queen of Scotland and the Islesand captivate readers of Philippa Gregory and David Liss. ...

Amsterdam, 1659: On the world’s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city’s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city’s most envied merchants, Miguel has suddenly lost everything. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living in his younger brother’s canal-flooded basement, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation. Miguel enters into a partnership with a seductive Dutchwoman who offers him one last chance at success—a daring plot to corner the market of an astonishing new commodity called “coffee.” To succeed, Miguel must risk everything he values and face a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to see him ruined. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam’s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas. ...

The debut novel from the bestselling author of "The Arcanum" transports readers to 18th century Georgian England for an intricate, romantic tale of murder and intrigue. ...