Showing results by publisher "Oakhill Publishing Ltd" in All Categories

It's 1527 and Hans Holbein is welcomed as a guest at the splendid Chelsea home of Sir Thomas More to paint the family portrait. Unknown to them, it is the dawn of a tumultuous time in English history, affecting the family as well as Tudor society. Meg Griggs, a foster daughter of More, attracts the attention of two people, one of them being Holbein. She marries one - but loves the other.

When magistrate Matteo Arconti’s namesake, an insurance man from Milan, is found dead outside the court buildings in Piazza Clodio, it’s a coded warning to the authorities – a clear message of defiance and intimidation. Commissioner Alec Blume, all too familiar with Rome’s criminal underclass, knows little of the Calabrian mafia currently under investigation by the magistrate.

Here Jonathan and Angela Scott tell the story of their modern day exploration of this extreme continent, a journey through the magnificent icy landscape, to explore the wildlife of this rare sanctuary, and reflect on the experiences of early explorers like Shackelton, Amundsen, Scott and Mawson, and on the relationship between man and wildlife in this remote and spectacular environment.

Within an unconventional artists' neighbourhood, DCI David Brock and DS Kathy Kolla need to find six-year-old Tracy Rudd, the third child to be abducted in recent weeks. Tracey is the daughter of controversial artist Gabriel Rudd, who Tracey's grandparents blame for the suicide of Tracey's mother and hint at his complicity in their granddaughter's disappearance.

Alice is growing up in post-war London: a grey world of old bomb sites. Her escape is her imagination, which always brightens up her day. But when a new boy starts school, her mind begins playing tricks on her. She's oddly drawn to him, and whenever they are out together the world becomes a more exciting place. A place where the things she imagines appear to become real.

When best-selling author Carrie McClelland visits the stark and beautiful Slains Casle, she decides to use the castle as the setting for her new novel, and one of her own ancestors, Sophia, as her heroine. Then Carrie realises her writing is taking on a life of its own and the lines between fact and fiction become increasingly blurred. As Sophias' memories draw Carrie more deeply into the intrigue of 1708, she discovers a captivating love story lost in time.

1963. England is about to explode. An ageing hack defects to Russia. A cabinet minister resigns. A young woman takes an overdose. A Harley Street physician blows out his brains. Commander Troy investigates. But what with the sex and the drugs, he finds that he's up to his neck in the mess, personally and professionally. The damn thing might blow up in his face, and the English can be so unforgiving of a good scandal.

In the fifth century, the Western Roman Empire has been overrun by German tribes. In a series of brilliant campaigns, Aetius, last of the great Roman generals, forces the Germans to settle peacefully. But his old friend Attila, leader of the Huns, has turned his attention to the West, and a confrontation between the two, now bitter enemies, is inevitable.

He challenged the greatest empires on earth with a ragtag bunch of renegades - and brought it to its knees. Henry Morgan crossed the Atlantic in 1655, hell-bent on making his fortune. Awash with bloody battles, political intrigues, and natural disasters, Empire of Blue Water brilliantly re-creates the passion and the violence of the age of exploration and empire.

March 1938. The Germans take Vienna without a shot being fired. Covering Austria for the English press is a young journalist named Rod Troy. Back home his younger brother joins the CID as a detective-constable. November 1938. Kristallnacht. The Jews leave Vienna - Sigmund Freud with an American escort on a sleeper train, Josef Hummel tied to the underside of a box car.

It took three tortured days in 1876 for Charles Bravo to die from the poison that burned its way through his body. The subsequent investigation revealed many people with a grudge against the young barrister. The dramatic inquest was covered in sensational detail by the press, but no one was convicted of his murder. Over a century later, James Ruddick draws on new evidence to solve one of the most famous murders in criminal history.

Cambridge University, 1888. The world of Miss Vanessa Duncan, a young schoolmistress, is shattered when a Fellow of Mathematics, Mr Akers, is found dead. Another death occurs and Vanessa's new love becomes a suspect. Convinced of his innocence, Vanessa sets about to clear his name.

Once again, award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean brings a literary classic to life, retelling The Faerie Queen in an accessible and compelling way. The original was written in 1596 for Elizabeth 1st, but now McCaughrean introduces a whole new generation of readers to Edmund Spenser's exciting adventures of knights and dragons, sorcerers and hermits, princesses and sea nymphs.

Oz and Lily’s family have inherited an ancient chocolate shop and they’re moving in upstairs. It’s the perfect home...apart from the small fact that it’s haunted. And then they discover some gold chocolate moulds - with magic powers! Soon the ghosts are joined by some evil villains determined to get their hands on the priceless secrets of the magical chocolate.

The day 28-year-old Willie Upton returns to her hometown of Templeton, New York, in disgrace is the day an enormous monster surfaces in Lake Glimmerglass. So begins The Monsters of Templeton, a novel of mystery, hubris, obession, passion and revenge spanning two centuries, where the dead rise up to tell their sides of the story and the living are haunted by the sins of the past.

After escaping an assassin who tries to kill him Max Gordon learns that his explorer father is missing. Determined to find him, Max discovers a clue which leads him to the inhospitable wilderness Namibia and the discovery of a potential ecological disaster masterminded by the ruthless Shaka Chang.

Banff in the 1620s. A man staggering down the street. He appears drunk, but he's been poisoned. The victim, and apothecary's apprentice, is discovered dead in Alexander Seaton's house, a fallen minister whose life lies in tatters after his affair with the Laird's daughter is discovered and he is cast out of the kirk in disgrace. When his friend is accused of the apprentice's murder, Alexander sets out to solve the crime and clear his friend's name.

On June 6th 2004, in a quiet suburb of Riyadh, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were filming a programme on al-Qaeda when they were ambushed by Islamic gunmen. Simon was killed outright. Frank was shot and lay pleading for his life. A figure pumped four more bullets into his body at point blank range. Against all the odds, he survived. This is the remarkable account of his agonising journey to where he is today.

London, 1934. Doreen Bates is working in the same office as E, an older married man. They strike up a passionate affair and Doreen records it all in her diary - secret midnight walks, countryside escapades and stolen moments of intimacy. But Doreen longs for a child with E. Despite all the taboos at the time and against the wishes of E, Doreen gets pregnant and is amazed when twins are born during the war. However, Doreen faces an uncertain future - will E ever leave his wife and join his new family?

Who would sever a tongue from a living mouth? Or kill a pathetic, homeless old man? Or frighten a young doctor into silence? The questions are piling up, and Doug McHarg can't stop asking them - especially when he's warned off by both his boss in the local police and by Scotland Yard. The pattern that emerges is of a powerful organisation with links to the throne and the White House. And all that stands against them is McHarg: a discontented copper with nothing to lose.