From Alan Bennett's Baffled at a Bookcase, to Lucy Mangan's Library Rules, famous writers tell us all about how libraries are used and why they're important. Tom Holland writes about libraries in the ancient world, while Seth Godin describes what a library will look like in the future. Lionel Shriver thinks books are the best investment, Hardeep Singh Kohli makes a confession and Julie Myerson remembers how her career began beside the shelves. Using memoir, history, polemic and some short ...

When Pelé Broke Our Hearts is the definitive and bestselling story of Wales's remarkable 1958 World Cup campaign. Now republished in an updated and expanded third edition, Mario Risoli’s highly acclaimed book contains additional material from the players and their families and many more photographs and illustrations from the qualifying campaign and tournament. An incredible tale that features the Munich Air Disaster, a bizarre qualification as representatives of FIFA’s Middle East/Asia gro...

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet againA Bird in the Hand is the first novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.In England’s birdwatching paradise, a new breed has been sighted – a murderer . . .Young Tom French is found dead, lying in a marsh on the Norfolk coast, with his head bashed in and his bin...

Murder in My Backyard is the second mystery novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.No one in Heppleburn has a bad word to say about Alice Parry . . . but here she is, murdered in her own backyard on a bitter St. David’s Eve.When detective Stephen Ramsay starts asking questions in the village, a more ambiguous picture begins to emerge. Yes, old Mrs. Parry was loved by everyone, but ...

Published under a pseudonym, J. K. Rowling's brilliant debut mystery introduces Detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates a supermodel's suicide in "one of the best books of the year" (USA Today), the first novel in the brilliant series that inspired the acclaimed HBO Max series C.B. Strike.After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors...

Enticed by advertisements for a newly restored palatial hotel and filled with visions of a life of leisure, good weather and mango juice in their gin, a group of very different people leave England to begin a new life in India. On arrival they are dismayed to find the palace is a shell of its former self, the staff more than a little eccentric, and the days of the Raj long gone. But, as they soon discover, life and love can begin again, even in the most unexpected circumstances.

A Lesson in Dying is the first mystery novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.Who hung the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Halloween Party?Almost everyone in Heppleburn either hated or feared the viper-tongued Harold Medburn. Inspector Ramsay is convinced it was the headmaster’s enigmatic wife but Jack Robson, school governor and caretaker, is determined to ...

The Glass Room is the fifth book in Ann Cleeves’s Vera Stanhope detective series – which is now a major ITV crime drama starring Brenda Blethyn as Vera.Sometimes crime strikes too close to home . . .DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her neighbours keep her well-supplied in homebrew and conversation. But when one of them goes missing, her path leads her to more than a missing friend . . .Vera tracks the young w...

**A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERA Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy is the third novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.**For Dorothea Cassidy, Thursdays are special – a welcome respite from her duties as a vicar’s wife. Then she is strangled, and Thursdays are never the same again.With the summer carnival underway in the small town of Otterbridge, Inspector Ramsay begins a p...

**Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet againThe Baby-Snatcher is the sixth and final mystery novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.**Marilyn Howe’s and her mother Kathleen are an inseparable duo, until one night Kathleen doesn’t come home . . .Fifteen year old Marilyn turns up alone and frightened on Inspector Ramsay’s doorstep so he takes th...

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again.A Prey to Murder is the fourth mystery novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.The huge and powerful hawk dominated the scene. Its talons pierced the woman’s flesh and the beak pointed towards her eyes . . .The sight is a particularly horrible shock f...

A woman is found dead in an apparent suicide – but there may be something darker at play. Featuring Inspector Jimmy Perez, Too Good To Be True is a gripping Quick Read from Ann Cleeves' bestselling Shetland series.Now a major BBC One drama, Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall.When young teacher Anna Blackwell is found dead in her home, the police think her death was suicide or a tragic accident. After all, Stonebridge is a...