With the help of her old diaries, Sarah Morris recounts her life story. The daughter of an English vicar, she begins by telling of her happy childhood with her brothers and sister in their country village. As a teenager, Sarah's brother brings home a friend - Charles, a charming Austrian to whom she quickly becomes close. Over the years they fall in love, but when war breaks out Charles must return to Austria. While she awaits his return, Sarah quietly continues working hard and caring for her family. But she can't stop wondering if she will ever see her sweetheart again...

January, 1381. As guests of the Regent, John of Gaunt, Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston are attending a mystery play performed by the Straw Men, Gaunt's personal acting troupe, at St John's Chapel in the Tower of London when the evening is rudely interrupted by sudden, violent death. Who would have the audacity to murder two of Gaunt's VIP guests and the wherewithal to strategically position two severed heads on the stage without being noticed? The regent orders Athelstan to find out.

1952, Brighton and London. When 17 year old debutante Rose Bellamy Gore goes missing in a seedy Soho jazz club the prime suspect is black saxophone player, Lindon Claremont, the last person to be seen talking to her. Under suspicion, Lindon heads straight for Brighton and his childhood friend, Vesta Churchill who works with ex-Secret Service office girl Mirabelle Bevan, now in charge of the McGuigan and McGuigan Debt Collection Agency. When Lindon is taken into custody the two women dive into London's underworld of smoky night clubs, smart cars and lethal cocktails to establish the truth.

When Jim Maddern - well-respected police sergeant and pillar of the local community - begins to act completely out of character, ex-Met officer John Cannon is concerned. As Cannon tries to find out what has got Maddern so spooked, he discovers that death threats have been sent to Maddern and his family via the local paper after Maddern stumbled on the paperboy's criminal lineage. Their intervention after a massive gold bullion raid by another gang has resulted in years of retribution on the streets of London. But it is on Lincolnshire's waterways, in the woods, the villages and above all in Cannon's own public house, that the gangland rivalries, revenge and retribution will reach their bitter end...

Dave Harmon, former lawman, drifted into Miles City. After a casual conversation with well-known rancher, Jeffrey Munro, Munro is attacked by three toughs. When Dave tries to intervene, a fourth man clubs him with a pistol and is about to shoot him when Pete Green, a gambler, kills the attacker. Green wants no thanks from Dave, but he does tell him that now he owes the gambler a life. Munro persuades the town council to appoint Dave as principal marshal. Pete Green urges Dave to take the job. It is uncertain how anything will play out, and Dave's future unfolds in a totally unpredictable, even dangerous way, one in which it becomes exceedingly difficult for Dave to distinguish between foe and friend.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, United States relations with Mexico were marked by conflict between the desire to aid Juarez and an unwillingness to openly oppose Emperor Maximilian. Defying the vacillating policy of diplomacy, General Sheridan massed troops and supplies on the Rio Grande, then sent out a call for the one man capable of helping the Juarists. He was Fred Starke, sub rosa agent of the Union army, friend of Juarez, hero of the border, Texas legend. To Starke, battle and death and the acrid taste of a secret mission are a daily business: what surprise, then, that the task of outwitting Imperials, guerrillas, and Confederate renegades should fall to him?

November 5th, 1982. It's been one of the worst days of Detective Sergeant Jack Frost's life. He has buried his wife Mary, and must now endure the wake, attended by all of Denton's finest. All, that is, apart from DC Sue Clark, who spends the night chasing a bogus tip-off, before being summoned to the discovery of a human foot. And the night gets worse. Local entrepreneur Harry Baskin is shot inside his club, an off-licence is set on fire and a famous painting goes missing. And Superintendent Mullett's attempts to join the Freemasons are being rudely thwarted. As the week goes on, a cyclist is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and the arsonist strikes again. Frost is on the case.

Tobias Campion, rector of Moreton St Jude, is delighted to welcome the widowed Lady Chase as his parishioner. Although charming and generous-spirited, she harbours a secret sorrow: her son, Hugo, is missing, presumed dead. Her late husband's nephew, Sir Marcus Bramhall, making a prolonged, unwelcome visit to Moreton Hall, speaks darkly of bringing a court case to declare him the heir. Then Miss Southey, the Bramhall family's ill-treated governess, disappears on the very day that the body of a stranger is found in a local river. When it transpires that the man might have been bringing news of the missing heir, Tobias and his loyal groom, Jem Turbeville, are forced to quit their beloved village to uncover the truth.

When her mother leaves the family home in Belfast for her lover, Louise McGuigan is left feeling betrayed. It is up to Louise to look after her brother and sister while her father loses himself to alcohol. Returning to work, she has to endure the cruel gossip about her mother and when Conor O'Rourke, the man of her dreams, continues to drag his heels about their future, Louise doesn't know how much more she can take. Louise's luck appears to change when she finds a job in a local bookshop, but her family troubles still weigh heavy on her mind. Can Louise find happiness with the right man or will she be tied to her troubled family for ever?

When a young girl, Jill Harris, is murdered, the case soon becomes personal for Monika Paniatowski. She saw the victim looking distressed only hours before she was killed, and Jill was the same age as her own daughter, Louisa. Driven by guilt and pity, Monika throws herself into the investigation, but both the chief constable, who is away, and Colin Beresford - her right hand man - think she is too emotionally involved to handle it. What none of them know is that the killer is planning to strike again...

Summer, 1939. The de Lacey family believes they are ready for the changes the war will bring. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, is due to return home from her grandparents' farm in France and is expected to marry Captain Max Coburn. But when Grandpere suffers a stroke, her future is changed. Instead of returning home, Elizabeth chooses to stay and help her grandparents. Max is also stationed in France - but will the war threaten to separate them for ever? Meanwhile, in the village of Nayton, Lucy Storey dutifully cares for her father the stationmaster. Her long hard days are brightened by meetings with the handsome Jack de Lacey. As their friendship grows, can they overcome the class prejudices set in their way?

Isabella of Spain was a great woman, a great Queen. Crown Of Aloes is presented as a personal chronicle. Within the framework of known fact and detail drawn from hitherto unexploited contemporary Spanish sources, a novelist's imagination and understanding have provided motives, thoughts, and private conversations, helping to build up the fascinating character Isabella must have been. Her fortunes were varied indeed: she knew acute poverty, faced anxiety and danger with high courage, gave much, suffered much, lived to the full. At the end she was mainly aware of her failures. It was left to others to realise how spectacular her successes had been.