Summer 1860, an elegant country house, a young boy is found dead in an outside privy. All clues point towards the murderer being a member of the grieving household.Called to the scene is the most celebrated detective of his day, Jonathan Whicher from Scotland Yard. But this case challenges him in ways he's never been challenged before.Over twenty years later, still haunted by the case, Whicher visits the murderer. As they replay the past, they start to question the nature o...

FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER**WINNER OF THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTIONA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: The Times/Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, Independent, Tablet and New Statesman'I loved it' Richard Osman'Shattering' Val McDermid'Gripping' Sarah Waters**In 1953, the bodies of three young women are found by a tenant in the walls of a Notting Hill ...

FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER'The queen of Victorian true crime is back' MAIL ON SUNDAYSHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTIONOn 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother Nattie set out from their East London home to watch a cricket match. Over the next ten days they spend extravagantly, visiting the theatre and eating out. The boys tell neighbours thei...

FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER'A wonderful book' HILARY MANTEL'Gothic, dark and scandalous' SUNDAY TIMESSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTIONIt is 1938. As the shadow of fascism darkens over Europe, strange things are happening in Alma Fielding's suburban home in Croydon. Crockery flies ...

On a mild winter's evening in 1850, Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage bumped across the wide cobbled streets of Edinburgh's Georgian New Town and drew up at 8 Royal Circus, a grand sandstone terrace lit by gas lamps.The guests were gathered in the high, airy drawing rooms on the first floor, the ladies in glinting silk and satin pulled tight over boned corsets; the gentlemen in tailcoats, waistcoats and neckties. When Mrs Robinson joined the throng she was at once...

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ALL BIBLIOMANIACSA BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND DAILY MAILA WATERSTONES BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOKPlunge into this rich and thought-provoking A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from the Middle Ages to the present day, as bestselling author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and...

FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITERWINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZEWINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONTHE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERA RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICKGALAXY BOOK OF THE YEAR, BRITISH BOOK AWARDS'A classic' JOHN LE CARR****É'Terrific' IAN RANKINIt is midnight on...

Enhanced Edition of the bestselling Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, including author videos and podcastsOn a mild winter's evening in 1850, Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage bumped across the wide cobbled streets of Edinburgh's Georgian New Town and drew up at 8 Royal Circus, a grand sandstone house lit by gas lamps. This was the home of the rich widow Lady Drysdale, a vivacious hostess whose soirees were the centre of an energetic intellectual scene.

'Jaw-droppingly amazing' DAILY MAILWINNER OF THE SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARDTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERBorn in 1900 to a promiscuous American oil heiress and a British army captain, Marion Barbara Carstairs realised very early on that she was not like most girls. Liberated by war work in the First World War, Marion reinvented herself as 'Joe'. She dressed in men's clothes, smoked cigars and cheroots, tat...

A fascinating biography of the woman champion motorboat racer of the 1920s who in the '30s bought and became 'ruler' of an island in the British West Indies. 'Joe' Carstairs was born in London in 1900, the daughter of a Scottish colonel and an American heiress. Educated in Connecticut, she returned to Europe in 1916 and drove ambulances for the Women's Legion in France. She deserted her husband at the church door (marriage was a prerequisite of her coming into her $4 million inheritance) a...

Bloomsbury presents The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale, read by Ethan Reid.FROM BRITAIN’S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER'The queen of Victorian true crime is back' MAIL ON SUNDAYSHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTIONOn 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother Nattie set out from their East London home to watch a cricket match. Over the next ten days ...

Bloomsbury presents The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale, read by Nicola Walker.FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITERWINNER OF THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTIONA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: The Times/Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, Independent, Tablet and New Statesman'I loved it' Richard Osman'Shattering'