(Ulverscroft Large Print)

Annabel Lee had been brought up in an orphanage, but had always longed to be able to trace her father, and at last she decided to follow the few slender clues she had to her real identity. They led her to the most beautiful place in the world - where Annabel not only found what she was seeking, but met Gideon Darroch, the most wonderful man in the world, too! How would he feel if he knew the reason she had come?

A husband was the last thing she wanted. In fact, marriage wasn't even on Lian Downing's agenda. She'd come to ask for financial assistance--she needed the money to help raise her son. Bryn Thornley, however, was insisting on claiming his rights to their child. He left her no choice but to fall in with his plans--and marriage was what he was offering. For Jonathan's sake Lian finally agreed; and she knew there'd be no going back. But adjusting to the disturbing stranger who was now her husband was more heart-wrenching than she'd ever imagined.

Jane Grey's new-found step-grandmother Esmeralda was a perfect darling, and Jane loved her dearly even before she solved all her problems for her. For Jane had been hunting for a place for her family to live and work in, and Esmeralda's offer of a house in the beautiful Otago district of New Zealand, where Jane and her mother could paint pictures and sell them to tourists, exceeded anything they could possibly have hoped to find. And it was even nicer that it would enable Jane to lend a helping hand to Esmeralda too. So she just couldn't see why Esmeralda's grim neighbour, Broderic Adair, should be so disagreeable about everything, and so suspicious of everything Jane did . . .

When Sarah Ashington's actress mother dies after a devastating scandal, Sarah is left at her long-lost father's rambling, ancestral estate to face the disturbing questions of her own past. Then her father's death draws her to his Ceylon plantation -- and into the shadows of a legend from which their may be no return . . .

Spoiled by missing pages

Nick Atwell #3 Detective Sergeant Nick Atwell has been suspended, accused of soliciting a bribe from a murder suspect. His wife, and former cop, Clare sets out to prove his innocence, which involves delving in the family affairs of politician and TV personality Sir Guy Frensham. Frensham's seventeen-year-old son is guilty of bludgeoning widow Florence Isaacs. Nick had been the investigating officer in the case, and Clare will need more than a little help to unlock the mystery of the real criminal ..

Elizabeth had never met the Rainwood family to whom her uncle Derek was related by marriage. But her Aunt Pamela lost no time in rectifying the omission when they came up to Northumberland for the funeral of Elizabeth's father. With his death a busy, useful but protected life ended for Elizabeth, leaving her to find a new home and a new career. But happily two of Aunt Pamela's Rainwood nieces had both married in the north and, what was more, Christine and Giles Coalville over at Castleton needed to take on an assistant in the office of their Cheviot tree nursery. It seemed a perfect opportunity for Elizabeth who took to her new-found Rainwood relations with gratitude and real pleasure. The problem of her younger sister Carol, was not to be solved so smoothly, however. For Carol had taken up it appeared with a highly unsuitable older man - a rake, Elizabeth thought him, despite Carol's mockery at the old-fashioned label. But Richard Menteith was a rake, Elizabeth was certain, and when he appeared at Castleton the surface composure of her new life was to be more than ruffled.

Early in 1837 Thomas Winter was invited to take his theatrical company to the Earl of Bagot's country house to entertain the Earl's guests. The evening heralded the beginning of a new life for Winter's two enchanting daughters; for Isabella a dizzy rise to a great social position that was to be shadowed by scandal and the threat of public disgrace; and for Lettice the start of a career which involved the excitement of working with the greatest actor/manager of his day, the fascinating and terrifying Henry Davenant.

Stella Verney was distressed when she heard that John Marbury was about to sell The Cormorant Hotel, without mentioning it to her until he had to. Her future had seemed so assured both in the hotel and with John, but now, though John would still be manager, everything was going to be different. She was right: the hated new owner was to alter her life completely, and her ideas about the man she was to marry.

284 p. ; 23 cm

Mendoza has a third child. The murder of a retiree appears to lead to the suicide of her friends, a cop is found dead at home and little girls have disappeared. The search is on

Kit Stone moved to a small English village to share the practice of an aging country doctor. After four years of wandering aimlessly about the world, the change of pace was pleasant and diverting. And most diverting of all was lovely Mardie Rochester, a sensitive young woman who unwittingly captured Kit's heart. But there was one very large obstacle in Kit's search for happiness - the woman he so adored was Jack Rochester's wife.

For a year the glamorous Sylvie had been corresponding with Adam Soames, and the personality revealed in the letters had so intrigued him that now he was coming home to visit her. But the letters had actually been written by Sylvie's younger, plainer cousin Sarah. What would happen when the three of them met at last?

Joanna was a rich man's daughter, but now she was poor and had to work for her living. Coming to the delightful Scilly Isles to do so indeed made an entirely new life for her. But it was one that she would have enjoyed immensely, if only her employer did not so obviously distrust her capability for hard work. Yet it was through the disapproving Don that she found the happiness that she had thought impossible.

When lovely, high spirited Olivia Penrose entered the household of the Duke of Queensford she could readily believe the legends of amorous conquests that had sprung up around this handsome and wickedly fascinating man. But although she felt a powerful attraction to him she refused to let her heart rule her head. When the Duke offered her the dubious honor of becoming his ward's governess, educated Olivia would not allow herself to be tempted by this hollow victory and was determined to become his legal wife. But she soon learned that there was more than one step to the mating dance, and that a penniless girl cannot call the tune unless she's prepared to pay the piper.

After WW II, Lucilla Eliot's soldier son George and his beautiful wife Nadine lived with their five children. They acquired an ancient pilgrim's inn on the river, that touches not only its new owners but also those strangers who stop there for a rest on their pilgrimages. Sally Adair had never seen this face before, but as she studied the unfinished portrait of David Eliot, her untried heart knew the meaning of love. She would always know this face... the finely shaped head, the obstinate jaw, the hint of bitterness about the mouth. But David was tied, tied to a married woman who could not let him go. This is an unforgettable story, one that will hold you spellbound as you enter the portals of Pilgrim's Inn...

When a marriage of twenty years ends, is there any going back? Can you regain what's been lost? For heart surgeon Jack Morgan the answer is yes.Paralyzed by a stroke, he has no choice but to turn to his ex-wife, Anne—just as if they were still married. During the months that follow, they discover that the memories of their marriage have an unexpected power to bring forgiveness—and the return of a love that never really left.

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 sometimes her kindness had caused trouble. Yes, her two nephews were devoted to her, but they didn’t really want her interfering in their rather complicated personal lives. Even among her neighbors, Alice Parry’s helpfulness had sometimes misfired. And after her death, tension tight as a clenched fist grips the uneasy village. Meanwhile, the suspects keep rolling in, and Heppleburn’s friendly neighborhood killer continues his nasty piece of work . . .

While vacationing at her friends' country home in the quiet village of Stillbeam, a middle-aged divorcee becomes caught up in a bizarre murder which the surrounding villagers refuse to admit ever occurred

From the jacket As the carriage approached Bascomb's Point, Miranda Heath's gay spirit of adventure waivered under the combined onslaught of the raging storm and the shadowy outline of the gloomy, mysterious old house ahead. She shivered as she remembered her father's dying warning that the house was one of ill-omen. But now Miranda was alone and without resources. Wasn't it natural that she should turn to the sea captain whose romantic, adventurous past was as much a part of her heritage as the legendary ship, the Sea Jade? Miranda soon has cause to regret her impulsive visit, for she finds herself plunged into a loveless marriage with a dour, black-browed Scotsman. She will never submit - yet she must remain. Everyone in the great house at Bascomb's Point seems to seek bitter revenge against her. Tight-lipped Sybil, her husband's autocratic mother, makes terrible accusations, while Obadiah's exotic wife, the Chinese woman Lien, moves mysteriously to obstruct her at every turn. Only Ian Pryott, himself a victim of Bascomb tyranny, offers sympathy and help. Fighting for her life and happiness, a desperate Miranda realizes that she will have to piece together the tragedy of the three sea captains if she is to solve her own nightmare. Miranda's moment of truth comes during a raging fire aboard an old whaling ship in a scene that climaxes the most compelling, exciting novel ever to come from the pen of the mistress of romantic suspense, Phyllis A. Whitney.

In her latest, hard-hitting novel of suspense, award-winning writer Mary Willis Walker introduces a gutsy new heroine - Texas-based crime reporter Molly Cates - and a chilling tale of violence and revenge. As The Red Scream begins, Molly has just published her first true crime book, which describes the blood-curdling exploits of serial killer Louie Bronk. Now Louie is on death row, about to be executed by lethal injection. Molly will be there as a witness, and she wants to write about it - the final coda to her story. But suddenly she's being strongly discouraged - by her boss at the Lone Star Monthly and by Charlie McFarland, the millionaire real estate developer whose first wife, Tiny, was Bronk's most famous victim - and the only one whose murder is a capital offense. Then Molly starts to receive dark hints that Louie may not have killed Tiny after all. First the veracity of her book is threatened, and then her very life. Caught between moral imperative and personal threat, Molly realizes that by attempting to save Louie, she will be putting herself in jeopardy, and discrediting her own work. Mary Willis Walker brings a lusty new voice to the mystery scene. In Molly Cates she has created a character just cheeky and appealing enough to take her place among the top rank of female protagonists - Kinsey Millhone, Kat Colorado, and Kay Scarpetta.

Gerald Brown is a handsome and brilliant young engineer - wrongfully accused of stealing diamonds from his South African firm. Why has he been framed? Elizabeth Burleigh is a beautiful and talented West End actress - compelled to deny what marriage could bring her. What is the secret that impairs her love? Gerald and Elizabeth are half-brother and sister. They are reunited in London and together they face the mysteries that have made them both so unhappy.

Georgina Shannon struggled to recover from a shattered love affair by burying the past and with it her life-long friendship with the Conways, who were responsible for her broken engagement. But Hugo Conway believed Gina's road of escape was the wrong one and he refused to be dismissed as an enemy. He tells her: "You won’t escape it, the Conway touch, Gina. It's part of your life that you can't cut out." But Hugo had a hard task before him, for Gina was a difficult person to handle.

Verna's career was going very well. At twenty-three she was the youngest Sister the Jublilee Hospital had ever had. But at home, too, she was the youngest sister, and that was rather different. Overshadowed by bossy Ellice, and most of all, by the beautiful and charming Daphne. Daphne collected and discarded admirers with ease. Verna was determined that the man she fell in love with would be a man Daphne had never met. But when she seemed to have him, Daphne once again came on the scene to complicate matters.

At first there seemed to be no doubt who had killed Cosmo Ducrow, the recluse millionaire, with a croquet mallet, but the police are reluctant to arrest the obvious suspect. The family calls in Sergeant Beef and his tireless chronicler Townsend to solve the crime. Then there is another murder faked to look like suicide before Beef's unorthodox methods finally bear fruit.

Just another routine overseas assignment. That's what successful young New York architect Ken Strang thought when a national travel magazine sent him to Europe to sketch Greek ruins. What he did not know, until it was too late, was that from the moment he boarded the ship, he had become the pawn in a murderous game of international intrigue. To Strang, danger was no object. He could take care of himself, but he had reckoned without Cecilia, his beautiful photographer. When he fell in love with her, he gave his enemies the one weapon they needed.

Account of attempt to reach North Pole by four men and two women, with no previous polar experience, in spring of 1977. Includes a list of those who sponsored and equipped the expedition, and an account of preliminary training journey in Greenland.

Once more Sam Durell rides high on the wanted lists in both Peking and Moscow. Once more he is forced to pit his wits against the formidable Madame Hung, the arch-mistress of intrigue. Once more he assumes her demise only to find she has survived to fight again. Once more he is baited into a trap, this time by the mysterious Maltese heiress, Anna-Maria, and none other than Sam's own boss, General McFee of K Section. A relentless suspenseful chase across NorthAfrica, into Malta and tight intrigue. From Back Cover Blurb

Richard and Frances Myles are preparing for their annual European summer vacation in 1939 when they are visited at their Oxford college by old friend Peter Galt, who has a seemingly simple job for them. But in the heightened atmosphere of pre-war Europe, nobody is above suspicion, in fact the husband and wife are being carefully monitored by shadowy figures. Above Suspicion was MacInnes’ breakthrough book, a bestseller published in 1941 and released as a movie in 1943, directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray. Interesting necause based on the real experience of the author and her husband, two scholars who made many trips in Germany. Gilbert Highet served as a British intelligence agent in MI6 in addition to working as a classical scholar.

It was the first really nice day of the summer. The strawberries were ripe and Irene Cable was having a few friends over for cocktails in the garden. It happened so fast--the cry, the splash, the flailing of strong arms across the still water to what lay sprawled in the pool under the shade of the chestnuts--that Catherine Gifford afterwards was never certain what she had seen under those trees. It was Andie Manson who dived into the pool and emerged with the limp body of Douglas Cable. Douglas couldn't remember what had happened, and it appeared that he had been hit on the head before he fell into the pool. Attempted murder in this quiet country village? Unheard of. But, soon after, another body is found in the pool--very, very dead, and most definitely murdered.

Gillian St. Just, vacationing with her handsome new friend Jamie Craven on a yacht off the coast of Sicily, soon realized she had become involved in a dangerous Mafia kidnapping plot which threatened to implicate herself as well as her fellow passengers. The idea of touring southern Italy on a yacht, the Petrel, in the fascinating company of the young man she was just starting to get to know was an intriguing one, but even before the boat set sail, Gill discovered there were things about Jamie she ought to have learned on dry land. A bombing, a prowling stranger, an erroneous passport and a wrecked ship, the Tamarisk, still haunted by the ghosts of a young couple who had gone down with it, are all keys to Gillian's mystery. She herself has a secret which she has vowed to keep from Jamie and the others on board, and it is not until the Mafia vendetta involving the Tamarisk's dead skipper turns on her that she is forced to rely on the strange young man whom she calls Jamie Craven. By the time Gill has connected the pieces of the puzzle, it is almost too late to halt the frightening sequence of events about to befall her. The kidnapping plot she has promised to implement nearly costs her her life, and the ghosts of the Tamarisk seem to hover expectantly as Gill carries out the errand she is determined to complete. Her fear of the Sicilian vendetta drives her on, and the surprising climax of this compelling mystery is a tribute to the plucky and indomitable heroine's intelligence and bravery. THE WAY OF THE TAMARISK is an unforgettable thriller.

She's grown up wild and free among the Texas Rangers and Harvey Girls of the untamed West. Now True McCormick was a famous published author, writing Wild West adventures under the name "Granite Westwind." But trouble had a way of riding double in True's life - - her publisher wanted to send Granite Westwind on tour! She had two choices. She could 'fess up to her true identity - - or hire someone to play the part of the lightening-fast gunslinger. . . . She found her man in a Galveston jail house. Seth Atherton was a hardware store clerk with foolhardy dreams of gun smoke and justice. But True was determined to turn this handsome young greenhorn into a larger-than-life hero. Filling the boots of a legend wasn't easy. Especially when the bullets began to fly - - and True began to fall in love with the hero she created . . . . (From the Author's web-site.)

For centuries the tombs of the Pharaohs were haunted by a deadly curse, so when two eminent archaeologists die under mysterious circumstances, Judith Osmond is certain the curse was the cause. Then, overnight, her life changed forever. There was an unexpected inheritance. Then the handsome young archaeologist she adores, Tybalt, asks her to marry him. But when Tybalt plans a honeymoon amid the tombs of the Pharaohs, it suddenly appears as if the curse of the kings has come to haunt Judith . . . “The prolific Miss Holt combines suspense and romance with the master's touch.”—Boston Herald “Victoria Holt has a wonderful way with suspense, with atmosphere, and with a haunted heroine.”—Newsday

Judy Cameron is ever so bored with modern London and her glamorous, perfect life. Stifled, her imagination seizes on a picture she sees in a shop window, a picture of the Scottish wilds. It inspires her. Strong-willed, she prevails on her parents and fiance to change their summer plans and head for cold, damp Scotland--sure that there she will find the freedom she craves. She finds that she knows everything about the old house and glen - and about Ian MacDonald the Laird. She felt so unaccountably at home in her Scottish holiday surroundings. But why is she deathly afraid of the middle window in the parlour? Then in a dream, Judy learns the story of an earlire Judith whose destiny bewitches the modern Judy. The pain and glory of a former love set her young hear free, and she is swept into the magical stream of a spendid past...and a radiant future. The spell of the past was on them... And they were possessed by love. The mountatins, the old house, the people, and especially the young lad...

High Ambo, in England, is the setting. It is winter, and Caroline West—a very human, placid and unexcitable person, has gone there to escape her late husband’s relatives. Like so many good-hearted people, she is immediately put upon.
Caroline’s sister Iris comes first, full of impulse and determination to be a reporter—an ambition abruptly deflected by a handsome young schoolmaster—an authority on birds.
Then comes Robert, with his sweet, ingenuous fiancee Polly, and thus making the three-ring circus of a genuine Cadell household.
A great number of little boys with big ears and caps are supporting players—English private school variety.
Altogether, this book is in the happiest tradition of the English social comedy, and those who want to find as much life and laughter as possible between the covers of a novel will enjoy reading it.

Andrew Basnett series #4

Jane Winfarthing was helping out with Mary Wroxham's jolly brood of children for the summer when Mary's brother David Carleton arrived on the scene — and made a far from good impression on Jane! 'A blue-stocking', he called her. 'But clever enough to camouflage her brains with frilly nighties, and to know that a light hand with an omelette is worth several degrees in the long run.' He was obviously one of those insufferable men who regarded unmarried women as playthings and married women as unpaid house-keepers. And he was going to join their camping holiday in Switzerland! Well, she for one, Jane decided, was not going to be yet another scalp on his belt. Let him turn his attention to the more obvious kind of girl like—well, like Chloe Brundali. Why should Jane care ? In fact, why did she care ?

When Sarah Dallas, for her invalid mother's sake, accepted a post as housekeeper in her uncle's house in the country in return for a home for them both, she did so with many doubts, for she could still remember the warning which her father had given her shortly before he died. "There's a mean, avaricious little soul hiding behind your Uncle Edwin's smile, my dear. He serves Mammon. Give him a wide berth." To Sarah's mother, however, a spacious home in the country, free of financial worry, seemed a wonderful exchange for their cramped home in a London suburb. This is the story of the prison Sarah found herself in; of her introduction to the Madison family who lived nearby at "Camerino", the lovely old house on Juniper Hill; and of how it became for Sarah a castle in the air, containing all the freedom and happiness from which she was debarred.

As they await word about college, three iseparable friends who are the force behind their high school football team explore the nature of their special relationship.

Kirsten MacPherson was dressed and ready for her wedding to Gilbert when the phone call arrived that was to shatter her life -- the call from the woman to whom Gilbert was already married. Kirsty's immediate instinct was to run blindly away -- back to New Zealand, the land of her childhood. But even there her troubles followed her, and led to even more complications.

Champagne Nights – and sun filled days – those were the gifts that Phil Maxwell gave to Melissa Colville. What had started as a purely professional association quickly grew into an affair of the heart as well. But Melissa was a widow with other responsibilities, chief among them the two children she adored. Their needs had to come first, even though she thought that giving them happiness would mean denying her own. How wrong could one woman be? Very wrong, as she soon learned from within the sanctuary of Phil’s strong arms.

Bold, professional, ruthless - hero and man of action"Sharpe asked three things of his men. That they fought as he did with a ruthless professionalism.That they stole only from the enemy and the dead unless they were starving. And they never got drunk without his permission."Richard Sharpe is having a difficult war. Excluded from promotion because he is always on the battlefield, up against pompous, incompetent colonels, and worst, suddenly finding himself at the head of an inexperienced company who use all twenty five drill book approved movements to load and fire their muskets.A soldier like Sharpe can't be kept down though and his promotion to Captain, when it comes, makes a dangerous enemy in the upper ranks. As Sharpe approaches bloody battle in Talavera, he knows he is fighting for his own honour and that of his men.