With the nation a-flutter in the run up to this national event, a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder, fraud and race-fixing. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant are assigned to the case and are soon snarled up in a web of skullduggery stretching across the country. They are forced to ask themselves, just how much is someone prepared to hazard to win?

Lies, Lechery and an anonymous AngelIn the tenth installment of this dramatic Elizabethan series, Westfield’s Men are flying high after a celebrated performance of The Insatiate Duke at the Queen’s Head. However, victory is bittersweet as the company is soon faced with dissolution and the loss of their theatre; were it not for one of the company’s rising stars. After acquiring a new benefactor, the company plan to build their own theatre.However, before they have the chance to find out who this guardian angel is, one of the group is found brutally murdered. Cue Nicholas Bracewell to uncover not one, but two hidden identities, of both the murderer and the anonymous benefactor, before the company gets disbanded.From Publishers WeeklyMarston's civilized series set in the theater world of Elizabethan England receives its 10th, expert installment. Gentle and intelligent, Nicholas Bracewell is the book holder of Westfield's Men, a troupe that's under attack from every direction. Their oaf of a landlord is out for blood because someone has taken advantage of his young daughter. Then the Privy Council decrees that only two companies will be allowed to perform in London, which means one will have to be disbanded. Since Westfield's Men lack a proper theater, they are at a disadvantage and decide to raise money to construct one of their own. It's up to suave, well-turned out Sylvester Pryde to find the money. Shortly after he succeeds, he is found murdered. Bracewell must calm his balky troupe, keep defections to the other companies to a minimum, find the killer and soothe the new patron. Marston's calm, well-wrought tale stands in contrast to the treachery-filled, bloody tales his characters are reenacting. He keeps introspection to a minimum, letting his imagination run when envisioning the period, which he does in high style, from intrigue at Court to events on stage, to the taprooms of London. As one of his characters says, "True art consists in concealing the huge efforts which lie behind it"Aand how well that seems to apply to Marston. (July) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalIn the tenth Nicholas Bracewell mystery (e.g., The Laughing Hangman, LJ 7/96), murder intervenes just as Bracewell's Elizabethan acting troupe is about to find a new home. Slow but with good detail. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Noted beauty and singer Harriet Gow has earned a position envied by every available women of the Restoration period: she is the King's favorite mistress. After seeing her perform, Christopher Redmayne is also captivated and the impression Harriet made is still lingering in his mind when he is summoned urgently by Charles II. Harriet has been kidnapped, and Redmayne, with the help of his friend Jonathan Bale - a Puritan constable - is engaged to resolve this delicate affair. The facade of elegance and gentility soon begins to crumble in the face of their investigations. Harriet is, indeed, an amorous nightingale; the fabric of her life entangled in jealousy, avarice and lust. Just as Redmayne and Bale start to question whether she is really the victim or the guilty party a brutal murder provides the answer...

'You've killed before, I fancy,' he said.'It's my trade.'Theatre troupe Westfield's Men take on a new actor, Francis Quilter, after reaching new heights of success. But with the new member, brings new trouble. Quilter's father, Gerard, is on trial for the murder of an enemy, but he denies the charge and Nicholas Bracewell sets about proving his innocence.However, Bracewell's loyalty to Francis drives a wedge between the players. Who will clear the Quilter family name? On their quest for the truth, they stumble across an unlikely ally, who may just hold the answers they're looking for.

In this first instalment of the Bow Street Rivals series a riot breaks out in Dartmoor prison, enabling some American inmates to escape. The twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen catch wind of a projected assassination but the target is unknown. Trouble ensues when a woman from the Home Office vanishes; a mysterious lady turns up at the archery shooting gallery; and Paul's gambling addiction worsens...

Domesday Books

Review'Once again Marston has created a credible atmosphere within an intriguing story' --Sunday Telegraph'An entertaining romp' --shotsmag.co.uk Product DescriptionMay 1915. With thousands of Britons fighting in the trenches, a severely depleted police force remains behind to keep the Home Front safe and continue the fight against crime, espionage, and military desertion. In London, Scotland Yard is already overstretched when the sinking of the Lusitania sparks an unprecedented wave of anti-German riots and arson attacks across the city. Among the victims are the immigrant tailor Jacob Stein, found dead in his burnt-out shop.Initially Jacob's killing appears to be the tragic excess of wartime hysteria -- but when it transpires that Jacob had been stabbed amidst the flames, his safe ransacked, and his daughter Ruth raped, the possibility that these assaults were long-premeditated crimes becomes unavoidable.Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy must take on this case of cover-ups and contradictions and track down Jacob's killer and Ruth's assailants. As their hunt carries them from the crime-ridden streets of wartime London across the Channel to the chaos of the front line, the horrors of crime and policing at a time of total war are brought vividly to life.

Guy Fawkes Night, 1857. Joel Heygate is the popular stationmaster at Exeter St David's railway station – an impressive figure of a man replete with frock coat and top hat, bushy eyebrows and walrus moustache. But when the charred remains of a body are discovered in the embers of the town's annual Bonfire Night celebration, everyone is horrified when it becomes clear that they belong to Mr Heygate.The South Devon Railway contacts Scotland Yard for their assistance, and Superintendant Edward Tallis sends the Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant Victor Leeming to Exeter with all due haste. They quickly unearth three suspects, but are they missing something? It is only when Heygate's diary turns up unexpectedly that the truth becomes clear and a fourth suspect emerges. As Colbeck closes in on the killer, he finds himself in mortal danger - can justice prevail? Or will his beloved Madeleine be robbed of a husband on the very eve of their marriage?

1817. Upon receiving a letter from an old family friend, Catherine Van Emden returns from Holland to find her father dead. She refuses to believe the middle-aged man died of natural causes, and the suspicious circumstances of his life during the past few months compel her to ask Peter and Paul Skillen for help. When his body is revealed missing from the casket, the twins embark on a chase of funerary agents, barmaids and body snatchers, trying to solve the mystery of his alleged death before their Bow Street rivals.

London, 1670. The completion of his new project could not run more smoothly for Christopher Redmayne. Commissioned to design a new house for the merchant Francis Polegate, Redmayne is pleased that everything has gone without a hitch. To celebrate the success of the venture, Polegate throws a party and invites him as an honored guest. Also invited are Susan Cheever, Redmane's sweetheart, her father, Sir Julius Cheever MP, and Bernard Everett, Polegate s brother-in-law. But the party comes to an abrupt end when one of the guests is murdered upon leaving the house . . .

Butchery outside a London brothel leaves Westfield’s Men in disarrayWhile England is brought low by rumours of Queen Elizabeth's declining health, celebrated theatre company Lord Westfield's Men suffer their own bitter blows. A vicious feud between players causes chaos; a rival company launches a new production; a mysterious beauty reduces their leading actor to a lovelorn wreck; and a brutal murder leaves the group of actors reeling. With matters so fraught, even a performing horse becomes a threat.Stage manager Nicholas Bracewell, accustomed to damage control, is the only man with the wit to keep the company afloat. As the Queen sinks towards death, Nicholas begins to discern the connections between the company's misfortunes and the larger shadow falling over England . . .