Showing results by publisher "QUEST from W. F. Howes Ltd" in Historical

The seventh audiobook in Griff Hosker's epic Lord Edward's Archer series of historical adventures.

The relics of Christendom have been plundered during the long Moorish conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Newly minted Templar Sergeant Arnau de Vallbona must recover one of the most elusive to save his priory at Rourell in Spain. Travelling to Majorca on a stealth mission to retrieve the bones of St Stephen, Arnau soon discovers the raid is more complex than it first appears: the mighty Almohad dynasty has laid claim to the island, and will fight them every step of the way.

While deciphering what few clues they have managed to recover about the Templar’s secrets, Jessop and Mallory make a discovery about their legendary treasure. Rather than gold or jewels, the long-sought prize may be something far more valuable: information. For the Templars were the original inventors of international banking. Lands, titles and the fates of entire noble houses were placed in their keeping. The records of such transactions, though centuries old, may possibly yield the greatest wealth in the world. 

Atticus Perennis, prefect of the Roman fleet, waits restlessly in Carthage. His crew is agitated, as they wait on edge for news from Rome, hoping the powers-that-be send more ships to help his Carthaginian forces put down a rebel mercenary army. When word reaches them that a fleet is on their...

An ancient secret means the difference between life or death in this chilling thriller. When the body of a poetry professor is found tortured in a deserted barn outside Florence, Inspector Perini is assigned to the case. No murder of passion, it is clearly a professional job. When, hours later, thieves break into Dante’s cenotaph, it seems the two crimes may be connected by some missing verses from the Divine Comedy. They could contain a code so valuable someone is willing to murder for it. But who? And why?

Betrayed by his kinsmen, his forces overrun by Danes, King Alfred of Wessex has retreated deep into the marshes of his homeland, lying in wait for his chance at redemption. The scourge of the heathen horde that has ravaged the kingdom for decades is at its peak. Led by the fearsome Viking warlord Guthrum, the fate of the men, women, and children at their mercy appears all but sealed. But underestimate the great king at your peril....

A series of kidnappings seemed like straightforward, run-of-the-mill crimes at first, but Inspector Sam Blackstone soon realises they are anything but. This gang is so ruthless that it shocks even the hardened London criminal underworld. And it is plain to Blackstone that this is just a preliminary skirmish - that the gang ultimately intends to play for much larger stakes. But Blackstone's problems are only just beginning.

England 1616. Robert Belstrang, ex-magistrate bored with country life, comes to London to investigate the strange disappearance of Thomas Jessop, son of a poor Catholic neighbor. He locates the youth in Bedlam asylum, silent and starving himself. When he tries to free Jessop, he is warned off the case by a politic lawyer, Anstis. Soon after, Belstrang finds himself drugged, robbed and falsely imprisoned. Once released Belstrang persists in his investigation, but he is thwarted at every turn: unseen forces are at work who seemingly want Thomas Jessop to die. 

Northumbria, AD 864. Viking warlord Ragnar Lothbrok is captured and killed in brutal fashion, an event that will shape the future of the nation for decades to come. Mercia, AD 868. Alfred, son of Wessex and heir to the throne, draws his first blood on the battlefield. It will not be his last. A devastating scourge from the north is coming to Britain, one that will bring armies and entire kingdoms to their knees. Travelling along the whale road in their feared longships, the Great Heathen Army move fast, striking with a savagery unmatched, in a seemingly unstoppable tide of blood and iron.

After thwarting the scourge of the Viking hordes that had decimated Britain for decades, King Alfred assured a period of peace and prosperity for the kingdom of Wessex. The dream of uniting all Anglo-Saxons under one, noble banner seems closer than ever before.

Atticus Perennis, Roman prefect and hero of the seas, is stranded in Carthage. His Roman masters have all but abandoned him, and at his feet gape the jaws of an angry mercenary army. For while the senators and consuls of Rome bicker and debate, the mercenaries around Utica are running out of patience and strain at the leash, on the verge of war. And then, when a councillor is sent as a message to Atticus and his comrades, all but dead and hideously disfigured, the leash finally breaks.... 

A tragic death in Ipswich leaves clues to the mysterious demise of Edmund Gurney in Brighton. Private Detective Lawrence Harpham investigates leaving his partner Violet to unravel a series of strange disturbances at a Suffolk rectory. Both inquiries lead unexpectedly to Whitechapel and the murder of Frances Coles. Was Frances a Ripper victim and is her murder linked to the autumn of terror? Jack is back – or is he?

There might be a war on, but that doesn't stop Georgina Garrett running her business with an iron fist. No one said running the Battersea gang was going to be easy, but her unflinchable nature makes Georgina unstoppable. With a role that requires a ruthless ability to seek revenge and pay out crippling punishments, Georgina's enemies are growing in number. With a target on her back, Georgina knows she must do everything to protect her family. But, with the loss of someone closest to her, can Georgina rise up from the ashes or allow a usurper take her crown?

Following many years of war with Rome, Carthage is exhausted. Yet the trouble is not yet over. As mercenaries land in Carthage to claim payment for services rendered, they do not receive what they expect. Lacking a shared culture, structure and even language, this band of warriors has taken up residence in Carthage and is becoming increasingly angry.... Meanwhile, veteran Roman sailor and prefect Atticus Perennis is fighting pirates in the seas around Sicily. Perpetually an outsider due to his Greek heritage, Atticus is a fine Roman warrior with several points to prove.  

England, 1617 Susanna Cobbett, teenage daughter of a powerful Worcester landowner, is found dead in a gloomy woodland pond which has an evil reputation as the Witching Pool. The girl is said to have drowned herself, driven to madness by a local widow named Agnes Mason, who is arrested on a charge of witchcraft. If found guilty, she will hang at the next Assizes. But Justice Belstrang, shrewd ex-magistrate and sceptic, does not believe a word of it. And when Agnes's family beg him to help, he finds himself caught up in an ever-darkening mystery.

April 1971. When DI Webb and DS Raymond respond to a 999 call at Harpur Mews in Bloomsbury, a horrific scene awaits them. Susan Lang is lying on the ground, bleeding to death. Her husband Henry is sitting nearby, holding a large blood-stained knife. In shock, Henry claims to have no memory of the events that led to his wife's death, leaving his barrister, Ben Schroeder, little with which to defend a potential murder charge.

England, 1618. At his manor of Thirldon, ex-Justice Belstrang - still at loggerheads with his old rival Justice Standish—receives devastating news: King James intends to purchase the estate for his favourite, the Marquis of Buckingham—and Belstrang must comply. In the ensuing turmoil, while his son-in-law George petitions the King on his behalf, Belstrang receives a plea from a dying friend, Sir Richard Mountford, to visit him at Foxhill Manor. To take his mind off his troubles Belstrang goes—and discovers things are not so simple.

1300 AD: the armies of Edward Longshanks and the Guardians of Scotland confront each other. The final battle for control of northern Britain looms. Meanwhile Robert de Bruce, the young lord of Carrick, waits in the background to seize his opportunity. Bruce dreams of taking the Scottish crown for himself, and will stop at nothing to seize it. En Pascal of Valencia, the poor knight of Aragon, tells the tale of these bloody wars. After surviving the carnage of Göllheim and Falkirk, he now serves the English as warrior, spy and assassin. 

The Great War is over, but for Edith Potter an equally devastating conflict is about to begin. She is unhinged by a secret so terrible her conscious mind doesn’t acknowledge it. It is 1927, and Dr Stephen Maynard is using the new science of psychoanalysis to restore her sanity. From his first meeting with her in the lunatic asylum, Dr Stephen Maynard is determined to bring her back to reality. During the long challenge, her disturbed behaviour forces him to confront his limitations.

Overstrand 1895. Lawrence Harpham and Violet Smith are witnesses to suicide while on holiday. Beneath the body, lies a bible belonging to a murdered man. Clues lead to the violent death of a bookseller and a chilling confession from the past. From Norfolk to Liverpool, investigations point to the unsolved murder of Fanny Nunn in the town of Diss. But how are the murders connected? Why do the parish registers contain so many unnatural deaths?