Books published by Duckworth Books

Tuesday nights have suddenly turned quite ridiculously noisy in the country town of Chalmsbury, where the good folk are outraged at having their rest disturbed.It begins with a drinking fountain being blown to smithereens - next the statue of a local worthy loses his head, and the following week a giant glass eye is exploded. Despite the soft-soled sleuthing of cub reporter Len Leaper, the crime spate grows alarming.Sheer vandalism is bad enough, but when a life is lost the amiable Inspector Purbright, called in from nearby Flaxborough to assist in enquiries, finds he must delve deep into the seamier side of this quiet town's goings on.Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.What people are saying about the Flaxborough series: "Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates ... and the quality of the writing which makes these stories utterly superior.""The Flaxborough Chronicles are satires on the underbelly of English provincial life, very well observed, very funny and witty, written with an apt turn of phrase ... A complete delight.""If you have never read Colin Watson - start now. And savour the whole series.""Light-hearted, well written, wickedly observed and very funny - the Flaxborough books are a joy. Highly recommended.""How English can you get? Watson's wry humour, dotty characters, baddies who are never too bad, plots that make a sort of sense. Should I end up on a desert island Colin Watson's books are the ones I'd want with me.""A classic of English fiction... Yes, it is a crime novel, but it is so much more. Wonderful use of language, wry yet sharp humour and a delight from beginning to end.""Colin Watson threads some serious commentary and not a little sadness and tragedy within his usual excellent satire on small town morality and eccentricities.""Re-reading it now, I am struck by just how many laugh-out-loud moments it contains. A beautifully written book.""As always, hypocricy and skulduggery are rife, and the good do not necessarily emerge triumphant. Set aside plenty of time to read this book - you won't want to put it down once you've started it!""If you enjoy classic mysteries with no graphic violence and marvellously well drawn characters then give the Flaxborough series a try - you will not be disappointed."Editorial reviews: "Watson has an unforgivably sharp eye for the ridiculous." New York Times"Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice ... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid." Daily Telegraph"Arguably the best of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce ... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot." Time Out"A great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit." Cecil Day-Lewis"One of the best. As always with Watson, the writing is sharp and stylish and wickedly funny!" Literary Review"The rarest of comic crime writers, one with the gift of originality." Julian Symons"Flaxborough, that olde-worlde town with Dada trimmings." Sunday Times

In the respectable seaside town of Flaxborough, the equally respectable councillor Harold Carobleat is laid to rest. Cause of death: pneumonia.But he is scarcely cold in his coffin before Detective Inspector Purbright, affable and annoyingly polite, must turn out again to examine the death of Carobleat's neighbour, Marcus Gwill, former prop. of the local rag, the Citizen. This time it looks like foul play, unless a surfeit of marshmallows had led the late and rather unlamented Mr Gwill to commit suicide by electrocution. ('Power without responsibility', murmurs Purbright.)How were the dead men connected, both to each other and to a small but select band of other town worthies? Purbright becomes intrigued by a stream of advertisements Gwill was putting in the Citizen, for some very oddly named antique items...Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.What people are saying about the Flaxborough series: "Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates ... and the quality of the writing which makes these stories utterly superior.""The Flaxborough Chronicles are satires on the underbelly of English provincial life, very well observed, very funny and witty, written with an apt turn of phrase ... A complete delight.""If you have never read Colin Watson - start now. And savour the whole series.""Light-hearted, well written, wickedly observed and very funny - the Flaxborough books are a joy. Highly recommended.""How English can you get? Watson's wry humour, dotty characters, baddies who are never too bad, plots that make a sort of sense. Should I end up on a desert island Colin Watson's books are the ones I'd want with me.""A classic of English fiction... Yes, it is a crime novel, but it is so much more. Wonderful use of language, wry yet sharp humour and a delight from beginning to end.""Colin Watson writes in such an understated, humorous way that I follow Inspector Purbright's investigation with a smile on my face from start to finish.""If you enjoy classic mysteries with no graphic violence and marvellously well drawn characters then give the Flaxborough series a try - you will not be disappointed."Editorial reviews: "Watson has an unforgivably sharp eye for the ridiculous." New York Times"Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice ... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid." Daily Telegraph"Arguably the best of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce ... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot." Time Out"A great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit." Cecil Day-Lewis"One of the best. As always with Watson, the writing is sharp and stylish and wickedly funny!" Literary Review"The rarest of comic crime writers, one with the gift of originality." Julian Symons"Flaxborough, that olde-worlde town with Dada trimmings." Sunday Times

Fifteen years ago, Jeannie's relationship with a close friend ended in rape. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, recurring nightmares have returned and to process her conflicted feelings of betrayal she resolves to face her trauma head-on.

From cycling for travel around the British countryside to its importance for widening the gene pool and its role in the women's liberation movement, the bicycle is a marvel of modern technology that transformed Britain and the world over.

The story of poison is the story of power... The Royal Art of Poison is a hugely entertaining work of popular history that traces the use of poison as a political - and cosmetic - tool in the royal courts of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Kremlin today.

Empire of Guns expertly brings to life a bustling industrial society with a human story at its heart to offer a radically new understanding of a critical historical moment and all that followed from it.

A mysterious illness afflicts friends of Governor Bill Hoeksma of Michigan, and his conspiring advisors point to a rumoured viral weapons attack by the Wisconsin government. When the conspiracy runs out of road, and guns are drawn in a showdown outside a Cracker Barrel, will anyone emerge victorious from the Great American Cheese War?

Dorothy has gone missing, along with all of the company's equipment and the contents of its bank account. Meanwhile, Tom has other things on his mind, including how to unwind his father from a cryptocurrency scam and how to work out the significance of the messages he's been receiving from Rufus Fairbanks's LinkedIn account...

Magic is forbidden in Myrsina, along with other abominations such as girls doing maths. This is bad news for Gretel Mudd, who doesn't perform magic but does know a lot of maths. When her inventions prompt the sinister masked Huntsmen to accuse her of witchcraft, Gretel must act fast to help the Witches save the Darkwood and her home village.

On changing trains near Batch Hall, two crooks on their way home from a wages snatch in Shrewsbury find matters starting to unravel. The money goes missing, and in the midst of a historical re-enactment show, a real gun takes its place among the replica firearms. As a result, the spectators find that there's an extra event on the programme.

The town's psychic cat, Irene Peggledrip, is being visited by a band of malevolent spirits who all claim to be murderers. The stage is set for Hettie and Tilly to solve an old murder mystery, where all the cats involved appear to be dead.

Ike and Kay is a thrilling tale of wartime romance, brimming with love, duty, sacrifice and heartbreak, set against the backdrop of the most tumultuous period of the twentieth century.

Martha searches for a way forward beyond grief, but finds herself drawn into tensions between entrepreneur Eugene Riordan and local hill farmer Paddy O'Connell, while also coming to know a young poet, Colm. Caught between its history and its future, the Celtic Tiger reels with change, and Martha faces redemptive choices that will change her life forever.

From behavioural scientists to best mates, Kate finds extraordinary stories and research, drawing on her own experiences to create a fascinating blend of accessible smart thinking, investigative journalism, pop culture and memoir to understand the meaning and importance of modern friendship.

When Elsie Munday arrives to take up position as housemaid to the Spencer family, her life quickly becomes entwined with the charming and irascible Stanley, his artist wife Hilda and their tiny daughter Shirin. Elsie does her best to keep the family together even when love, obsession and temptation seem set to tear them apart...

'Historical fiction at its finest.' @MargaretAtwood The richly atmospheric story of a young woman's struggle to define herself in a world of uncertainty, intrigue and danger in a time of great upheaval during the Tudor era.

An extraordinary memoir of military conflict and personal battle. The first book, both 'beautiful and disturbing' (Wall Street Journal), from a young man who escaped to Bosnia in search of a vocation and excitement and later went on to become an award-winning war correspondent.

A. J. Wentworth, formerly teacher of mathematics at Burgrove prep school for boys, now passes his retirement years in a typically English rural village where somehow he seems unable to stay out of trouble.

What's going on behind the doors of Fountain Inn? This beautifully observed thriller marked Victor Canning's entree into crime fiction, and rewards with a thrilling finale - sure to delight fans of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence.

Customs & Excise are tracking a gang of cigar-smugglers who operate on the quiet Kent coast near Plummergen, home to retired art teacher Miss Emily Seeton. Their attempt at a midnight ambush goes wrong, and a man is found dead.

In a tale marrying the insight of Sue Townsend with the farcical humour of John O'Farrell, a priceless cello is abducted, a conductor is stranded on the wrong side of the Atlantic, and Erin the cellist stumbles (eventually) on her true calling in life.

Eight authors were given the freedom of their chosen English Heritage site, from medieval castles to a Cold War nuclear bunker. Immersed in the past and chilled by rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories.

Concrete Poetry is the first photographic survey of Modernist sculpture within the Brutalist context.