Books published by Duckworth Books

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.

Georgia in the Mountains of Poetry is essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating region, as well as for students and researchers looking for an insight into life after the collapse of the old Soviet order in the richest and most dramatic of its former republics.

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.

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

Miss Seeton is off to Buckingham Palace on a secret mission-but to foil a jewel heist, she must risk losing the Queen's head . . . and her own neck. Serene amidst every kind of skullduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

The gentle Miss Seeton? A thief? A preposterous notion-until she's accused of helping a pickpocket . . . and stumbles into a nest of crime. Serene amidst every kind of skullduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

It's highway robbery for the innocent passengers of a motor coach tour. When Miss Seeton sketches the roadside bandits, she becomes a moving target herself. Serene amidst every kind of skullduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

Join disillusioned junior PR exec Tom Winscombe and a cast of disreputable and downright dangerous characters in this witty thriller set in a murky world of murder, mystery and complex equations, involving internet conspiracy theorists, hedge fund managers, the Belarusian mafia and a cat called .

When Darren Stubbs accidentally short-circuits a robot lamppost, life on the Dolestar Discovery changes forever - for everyone. This anarchic comic adventure travels from the shining skyscrapers of Singulopolis to the hidden depths of the internet, and reveals what happens when a person finally puts down their mop and bucket and says 'No.'

Hettie Bagshot and her sidekick Tilly set out on a road trip to catch a killer cat amid a sea of entertainers. As Psycho Derek's bus lurches from one venue to the next, the killer strikes again. The big question for The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency is who will be next?