** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION **In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck.What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade i...

Alfred Wallis was born in 1855 and died in a workhouse in Cornwall in 1942. A fisherman, sailing from Newlyn, Mousehole and St Ives, he began to paint in the 1920s - strange, brilliant pictures of ships and the sea. In 1928 he was discovered in St Ives by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood and for the rest of his life, alone in his tiny cottage, attacked by periods of madness, he painted furiously. In MATISSE'S WAR, Peter Everett explored the psyche of one of the most celebrated painters o...

In 1912, in Storyville, the notorious red-light district of New Orleans, a photographer named E. J. Bellocq took a series of photographs of the women who worked in the brothels. Rediscovered in the 1950s, Bellocq's photographs have become famous, but the man himself remains a mystery.In Bellocq's Women, Peter Everett performs as remarkable a feat of fictional reconstruction as he did in Matisse's War and The Voyages of Alfred Wallis. All we have of Bellocq are his photographs and a few fra...

At seventy, Henri Matisse is a trim, clean old gentleman with a passion for naked women. He is UN MONSTRE SACRE who depicts with passion and conviction only what he takes pleasure in, only what he chooses to see. He is art personified. If there were no Matisse there would be no art as such. . . . He has purged everything from his painting except anxieties concerning structure and colour; his struggle is with these alone! MATISSE'S WAR is a minutely researched yet fictional account of Matis...

Uncovering the Hidden Worlds Within Leaves, Stems, and Roots Welcome, intrepid explorers of the minute and marvelers of the botanical! Are you intrigued by the microscopic universes that dwell within the plants around us? Ready to uncover the secrets of photosynthesis, transpiration, and nutrient transport that power our green earth? Your microscopic adventure into plant biology begins now!Embark on a journey into the cellular soul of the plant kingdom: Ce...

Are you tired of struggling to keep your plants thriving?Have you ever wondered why your plants refuse to bloom, grow, or even survive? Do you find yourself asking why some plants thrive while others struggle? And do you wish there was a comprehensive solution to your gardening challenges?If you're nodding along, you're not alone. The struggle of nurturing plants is a shared experience among many of us.The Complete Encyclopedia of Plants An In-Depth Guide to Plan...