When Peter Hadley, second mate of the British tramp steamer Ocean Waif, goes ashore in Philadelphia looking for the sister from whom he has heard nothing for two years, he quickly finds himself caught up in a web of mystery and deceit. It does not take him long to realise that his own life is in danger. But Hadley is a tough customer and knows how to look after himself. His inquiries bring him into contact with a number of colourful, bizarre and dangerous characters who both help and hinder him in his search: a striptease artist, a burlesque comedian, the proprieter of a night club, an attractive red-head dancer, professional killers, strong-arm men and dope pedlars.

Early one morning, two bombs explode in an East London street. Forewarned of the attack, Thomas Pitt of the Special Branch arrives in time to chase the bombers to a tenement in Long Spoon Lane. There, two men are arrested and one shot dead - but who fired? As Pitt investigates, he uncovers truths more disturbing than the acts of a few misguided idealists. There's a web of corruption within the police force and all the clues point to Inspector Wetron of Bow Street as its mastermind. But as head of the sinister Inner Circle, Wetron has powerful allies in every sphere.

A young woman walks home by herself. It's two o'clock in the morning and she thinks she's all alone. Asleep at home is her baby son. When he wakes the next morning she still isn't back. She's never coming back - because the streets weren't as deserted as she'd thought. Three women are dead and Detective Inspector Lorraine Hunt is searching for a serial killer. In Houghton-le-Spring it's Feast time as the fair comes to town. It's not a good time to be searching for a killer. It's not a good time to be a woman alone...

Jane Tomlinson, a mother of three from Leeds, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 26 and in 2000 she learned that the disease had spread to her lungs and bones and there was nothing more the doctors could do. Jane decided to fight, and battled fierce pain to complete three London marathons, the Great North Run and the bicycle journey 'From Rome to Home', raising 1 million for charity. Jane and Mike tell their story, how they coped separately and together, how they told their children, and how their biggest luxury is every day spent together.

To Claire Watson, a holiday in the South of France with her friends Isabel and George means lazy days sunbathing while her son plays in the pool - the last thing she expects is to fall in love. When she meets John Rock the attraction is instant, but uneasy memories begin to surface, of a life in Northern Ireland, a broken marriage, a tragic accident. How could she have known him back then? Swept off her feet by John's charm, when past and present finally collide Claire is unprepared for the astounding consequences.

Falsely accused of involvement in a doping scandal, ex-champion steeplechase jockey Eddie Malloy is at the end of his tether, having served an eighteen-month jail sentence and a five-year ban. But when he stumbles across a murder victim on a wintry Newmarket Heath, the racing authorities offer him a chance to redeem himself by helping to solve the crime. As he follows a trail of violence, drugs and blackmail he realises that it is leading him towards the man who framed him all those bitter years before. A superb, fast-paced thriller set in the racing world.

One frozen morning, Inspector Wallander responds to a seemingly routine call out. But when he reaches the isolated farmhouse he discovers a bloodbath. An old man has been tortured and beaten to death, his wife lies barely alive beside his shattered body. The woman supplies Wallander with his only clue: the perpetrators may have been foreign. When this is leaked to the press, it unleashes racial hatred. With winter tightening and his activities being monitered by a tough-minded district attorney, Wallander must forget his own troubles and throw himself into a battle against time and against mounting xenophobia.

South Chicago is a neighbourhood that private investigator V.I. Warshawski left a long time ago, but she's drawn back to the streets of her childhood to do a favour for a friend. It was never going to be easy, and when the mother of a local girl asks her to look into claims of sabotage at the factory where she works, V.I. quickly finds herself caught up in something deeply sinister. Lying by the roadside with a piece of hot, twisted metal embedded in her shoulder, looking up at the factory's smouldering remains, Warshawski begins to wonder if this trip down memory lane was such a good idea after all.

An Oz Blackstone mystery After cracking their first case together as a private investigation team, Oz Blackstone and Primavera Philips find themselves simultaneously in love and in the money. And where better to lie back and contemplate life than the picturesque village of St Marti, on the rugged Costa Brava. But soon they find their new home may not be quite so idyllic as it looks. Beneath the surface bubbles a brew of intrigue, deception and murder. Before long Prim and Oz find themselves helping to evict a squatter whom the locals fear might harm the tourist trade, as well as trying to authenticate a previously undiscovered Dali masterpiece bought by a gullible client at a highly unconventional auction. As they close in on the two cases, Prim and Oz stand on the threshold of uncovering one of the century's most amazing stories.

In the turbulent East End of London in the thirties, Jessie Warner is growing up... Emotions are running high in Stepney, with Blackshirts marching through the streets and the Jewish community under threat of violence. Jessie finds it alarming, but there is more to worry her...

With his wife, the acclaimed actress Stella Pinero, away on a movie shoot in Scotland, Chief Commander John Coffin is at a loose end. But one morning as he checks through the mail to forward to his wife, he gets an unpleasant surprise - horrific pictures of badly abused children sent anonymously. Rather than worry his wife, he vows to track down the culprit and calls in a trusted colleague, DCI Phoebe Astley, to assist him in his enquiries. As they investigate Stella's stalker, another serious problem faces the detectives of the Second City of London. Several young girls have been murdered in Spinnergate with distinct and brutal similarities between the cases. Is there a serial killer on the loose? And is there a connection to Stella?

1926: Joe Sandilands is back from India enjoying the frantic pleasures of Jazz Age London. But post-war gaiety soon wears off when Scotland Yard ask Joe to conduct a swift enquiry. Dame Beatrice Joliffe, a much-respected member of the British establishment, has been bludgeoned to death in her suite at the Ritz. It seems that death dogged the footsteps of Dame Beatrice and Joe finds himself investigating the apparent suicides of three young women who had been close to her. When his superiors unexpectedly tell him to close the case and surrender the file, Joe is forced to battle on alone against pressure from unseen government forces, through to a shattering solution.

Jenny and Mark are determined that their divorce is going to be entirely amicable; they'll sell the house, split their money and possessions, keep the same friends, and continue to socialise. It sounds easy. So why do other couples make such a big deal of it? But their friends are more sceptical...

1917 and the First World War is casting a dark shadow over the Harvey family. With one brother dead and Tristan serving at the front, young Ben is desperate to serve, despite his engagement to Emilia. But a dreadful eye injury forces him to stay at the family farm with his brother Alec - a man with secrets of his own.

Given command of the brig Triton, Lieutenant Lord Ramage must deliver despatches to three admirals off Brest, Cadiz and in the Caribbean. But, like the rest of the navy, Triton's crew has mutinied. While sympathetic to the crew's demands, Ramage knows that failure to deliver will make him a scapegoat - and he has no intention of that happening!

Returning to the Hebridean island of Garve after 35 years, Alys falls in love with Donal, her childhood playmate. Interwoven with their story is that of Henrietta, held on the island against her will 300 years earlier. Linking the women are an enchanting embroidered curiosity cabinet, the tug of motherhood - and the island itself. Shortlisted for the Dundee Prize 2005

Judge William Barber's tour of the Southern Circuit starts off as normally as wartime England will permit. But as a strange series of incidents occurs, Francis Pettigrew and Inspector Mallet puzzle over whether these are nasty practical jokes, or if someone is trying to murder the Judge.

There were seven in the crew of the heavily-laden Lancaster bomber that flew their nightly missions into the exploding skies over Germany: Piers the navigator, Van the pilot and Charlie the 17-year-old poetry-reading rear gunner, among them. And on the ground were the women who waited for them - praying each night for their safe return...

When Audrey and Ronny win the National Lottery their troubles seem to be over. Bills can be met, the loan shark paid off, and their cleaning and cowboy-builder jobs gleefully ditched. But for Audrey, the matriarch of the Gateshead tower blocks and Ronny, the flamboyant dreamer, the winning ticket brings with it many other unforeseen changes.

Beautiful Fidelis McCauley instantly falls for handsome Lieutenant Daniel Herrick when he rescues her hat from blowing away during the triumphant celebrations marking the return of his ship. Her chance meeting with Daniel seems to open new doors for her, but loving Daniel is risky - his father, a marine colonel, will disown his son if he finds out about his secret affair with a servant girl. Meanwhile, Fidelis has already promised her hand to her childhood friend Harry, drifting into the engagement to please his family - but Harry is far away in India with the Royal Marines.

Adele Ambar has always wanted to become a famous actress. Young, beautiful and ambitious, she is determined to live her dream. Jack Shakespeare is a television reporter, a man with an eye for the good things in life and a self-confessed romantic 'on a day-to-day basis'. When they meet it is obvious what is going to happen - but the obvious isn't always easy...From the farmlands of New South Wales, via New York to cosmopolitan London their love story unfolds, but Jack learns that loving Miss Ambar and keeping her are two very different things...

In No 1 PoW Camp (Officers), Grizedale Hall in the Lake District, the senior German officer, Otto Kruger, has problems. The PoW officers under his command are becoming increasingly impatient with his autocratic regime, which forbids all escape attempts unless they've been properly planned. These stories of life in the camp range from the tragic to the bizarre, and the battle of wits between Kruger and his captors draws together such diverse characters as Ian Fleming and Beatrix Potter, in a story that has the British in the unfamiliar roles of guards and captors.

North Yorkshire, 1950s. With a newly installed telephone and a car called Betsy to aid his fledgling business, Matthew Taylor continues his work for Premier Assurance in the wild landscape of the North York Moors. Matthew's customers include a newcomer who needs insurance for his model aeroplanes because he can't tell left from right, and a man whose water closet is demolished by a stolen car! He also attracts a motley collection of clients at his 'office' outside a local pub on market day...not forgetting Crocky Morris, the much-loved, accident-prone pedlar...

When Kate Ivory returns from holiday, a phone call from a concerned friend gives her some rather alarming news. Apparently Kate's normally vibrant and energetic mother Roz is a shadow of her former self, and looks very ill indeed. When Kate visits her mother, Roz sends her away, insisting that her new friends, the Freemans, are taking care of her. Although the couple seems kind-hearted, something about them disturbs Kate. Are they more interested in her mother's new found wealth than in her health? Kate decides to look into the Freeman's background. In an investigation that takes her right across the country, she uncovers a trail of deception and soon realises that her mother may not be the only one in danger...