Books published by Allison & Busby

They halted close to the water's edge. This was their destination. This was the Serpent Pool. And here, six years ago, Bethany Friend's body had been found.The Lake District's cold case specialist, DCI Hannah Scarlett, is determined to uncover the truth behind an apparent suicide in the Serpent Pool some years ago. Why would Bethany, so afraid of water, drown herself? Hannah fears that her partner, bookseller Marc Amos, is keeping dark secrets. Does he hold the key to Bethany's past - and why was his best customer burnt to death in an Ullswater boathouse?Hannah still carries a torch for Daniel Kind, who is researching Thomas De Quincey and the history of murder. Once Daniel and Hannah suspect connections between Bethany's drowning and a current sequence of killings, death comes dangerously close to home.

January 1916. Britain is on the brink of enforcing conscription. Eligible young men who have not yet signed are despised as 'conchies' and 'shirkers', subjected to hatred and verbal abuse. When a conscientious objector is brutally bludgeoned to death, Scotland Yard detectives Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are assigned to the case.

After a tumultuous past, the future is finally looking rosy for the Angel sisters. Livia is set to marry handsome Jack Flint, while her sisters are contentedly living at Todd Farm in the beautiful Lake District.Yet Livia still dreams of resurrecting the neglected drapery business which was left to her when her father died. Racked with guilt over the tragic death of her sister Maggie, she promises never to let anyone down again and to do something worthwhile with her life. But is she prepared to jeopardise the love she shares with Jack to achieve her wish? With the wealthy and determined Matthew Grayson standing in the way of her ambitions, Livia must stay true to her heart, or risk losing everything . . .

London, 1958. In the jazz clubs of Soho and the coffee bars of Notting Hill the young and the restless - the absolute beginners - are forging a new lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Moving through this world is MacInnes' young photographer, whose wit and honest views remain definitive of 1950s London and what it means to be a teenager.

Early 1938. Maisie Dobbs is back in England. She is intercepted on a walk by two Secret Service men. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only into the hands of his family. The Secret Service want Maisie - who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter - to retrieve the man from the outskirts of Munich.

Now that Nell's three sons are in work and becoming more independent, she's ready to build a new life for herself. She's been left a house in England by an elderly aunt and decides to leave Australia to start a new chapter. On her arrival at Peppercorn Street, Nell encounters Angus Denning, a software engineer with an Honourable title and a stately home at the end of the road. Then there's Winifred, an elderly lady who lives alone but has made friends with young, single mum Janey. It's not long before the quartet are firm friends and Nell has trouble resisting Angus's charms. But life doesn't always run smoothly; Winifred is being harassed by an estate agent to sell the only home she's ever known to the Cinnamon Gardens development and Janey realises she and her daughter, Millie, are being stalked.With things far from settled, can Nell build a new life with Angus? Will Winifred surrender her home to the greedy property developer? Can the residents of Peppercorn Street find happiness?

An exquisitely designed silver coffee-pot in the shape of a locomotive is on its way to Cardiff in the care of the young, talented silversmith, Hugh Kellow. It has been commissioned by wealthy ironmaster Clifford Tomkins for his acquisitive wife, who wants it to be the envy of all her friends - and enemies.But the coffee-pot is stolen. When a gruesome murder is committed at the Railway Hotel, Winifred Tomkins is distraught. Caring little for the dead silversmith, all she can think about is her missing treasure. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming of the Detective Department are summoned to Wales from London by telegraph and they are soon confronted by some additional crimes. The situation is complicated by the arrival of a famous theatre company and by revelations of illicit liaisons among members of the local high society. There is no shortage of suspects and Colbeck has to sift through layers of deceit to find the killer - before it is too late.

September 1666. Meeting in the ashes of a devastated London, Christopher Redmayne, an architect with Cavalier instincts, and Jonathan Bale, a Puritan constable, are hardly kindred spirits. Redmayne dedicates himself to rebuilding the city that Bale believes was destroyed by its own inner corruption.

'London is a veritable cesspool... A swamp of corruption and crime'. When Sir Julius Cheever's son, a notorious rake, goes missing, and a blackmailer begins terrorising London's most dissolute fops, it seems plausible that the two events are connected.

In England's young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. Nevertheless, Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate the criminal activities that surround Fflytte's popular movie studio. As filming gets underway on cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King, Russell soon senses a brewing storm of trouble.

As crowds of passengers rush to make the departure of the London to Brighton Express, a man watches from the shadows nearby - Chaos, fatalities and unbelievable destruction are the scene soon after when the train derails just outside the Balcombe Tunnel. Could it simply be a case of driver error? Detective Inspector Colbeck thinks not.