Books by Ian Sansom

This is a playful and provocative collection of 365 extracts sourced from the British Library's collections, encompassing a wide range of great works in literature, poetry, essays and letters, historical and scientific treatises along with a myriad of eclectic imagery.

A new collection from the author of "The Mobile Library" mysteries, addressing the intertwined magic and menace of December.

CREAM TEAS! SCHOOL DINNERS! SATANIC SURFERS!Join our heroes as they follow up a Norfolk Mystery with a bad case of ... DEATH IN DEVON.Swanton Morley, the People's Professor, sets off for Devon to continue his history of England, The County Guides. Morley's daughter Miriam and his assistant Stephen Sefton pack up the Lagonda for a trip to the English Riviera.Morley has been invited to give the Founder's Day speech at All Souls School in Rousdon. But when the trio arrive they discover that a boy has died in mysterious circumstances. Was it an accident or was it - murder?Join Morley, Sefton and Miram on another adventure into the dark heart of 1930s England.

Love Miss Marple? Adore Holmes and Watson? Professor Morley's guide to Norfolk is a story of bygone England; quaint villages, eccentric locals - and murder!It is 1937 and disillusioned Spanish Civil War veteran Stephen Sefton is stony broke. So when he sees a mysterious advertisement for a job where 'intelligence is essential', he applies.Thus begins Sefton's association with Professor Swanton Morley, an omnivorous intellect. Morley's latest project is a history of traditional England, with a guide to every county.They start in Norfolk, but when the vicar of Blakeney is found hanging from his church's bellrope, Morley and Sefton find themselves drawn into a rather more fiendish plot. Did the Reverend really take his own life, or was it - murder?Beginning a thrilling new detective series, 'The Norfolk Mystery' is the first of The County Guides. A must-read for fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, every county is a crime scene, and with 39 counties in store there'll be plenty of murder, mystery and mayhem to confound and entertain you for years to come.

This is a book about a poet, about a poem, about a city, and about a world at a point of change. More than a work of literary criticism or literary biography, it is a record of why and how we create and respond to great poetry.