After the Armistice Ball

Author: Catriona McPherson
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780334079
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Book Description
A classic murder-mystery set among the struggling upper classes of 1920s Perthshire as, in the aftermath of the First World War, their comfortable world begins to crumble. Dandy Gilver, her husband back from the War, her children off at school and her uniform growing musty in the attic, is bored to a whimper in the spring of 1923 and a little light snooping seems like harmless fun. Before long, though, the puzzle of what really happened to the Duffy diamonds after the Armistice Ball has been swept aside by a sudden, unexpected death in a lonely seaside cottage in Galloway. Society and the law seem ready to call it an accident but Dandy, along with Cara Duffy's fiancé Alec, is sure that there is more going on than meets the eye. What is being hidden by members of the Duffy family: the watchful Lena, the cold and distant Clemence and old Gregory Duffy with his air of quiet sadness, not to mention Cara herself whose secret always seems just tantalizingly out of view? Dandy must learn to trust her instincts and swallow most of her scruples if he is to uncover the truth and earn the right to call herself a sleuth.

Bury Her Deep

Author: Catriona McPherson
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1444740547
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Dear Alec, Remember my engagement yesterday? The annual duty luncheon for the Reverend Mr Tait from which and whom I expected only boredom? I could hardly have been more wrong, Alec dear, and I am this minute packing to follow the Reverend home to his manse in Fife, there to attend a meeting of the Rural Womens' Institute. Hardly a house party at which one would usually leap, I grant you, but not only is the man himself a perfect darling - imagine Father Christmas shaved clean and draped in tweed - but his parish, it seems, heaves with more violent passions than a Buenos Aires bordello. A stranger, you see, is roaming the night and pouncing on the ladies of the Rural. At least that's the tale they're telling and the one that Mr Tait told me, but since half the village think he's a figment and he only ever strikes at the full moon, I cannot help but wonder if there's something even odder going on . . . Much love and remember me fondly if the dark stranger gets me, Dandy xx Catriona McPherson's latest novel in the series, Dandy Gilver and a Spot of Toil and Trouble is now available for pre-order.

They Called Them Soldier Boys

Author: Gregory W. Ball
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 157441500X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONE Winner of two Communicator Awards for Cover (overall) and Cover (design), 2013. They Called Them Soldier Boys offers an in-depth study of soldiers of the Texas National Guard's Seventh Texas Infantry Regiment in World War I, through their recruitment, training, journey to France, combat, and their return home. Gregory W. Ball focuses on the fourteen counties in North, Northwest, and West Texas where officers recruited the regiment's soldiers in the summer of 1917, and how those counties compared with the rest of the state in terms of political, social, and economic attitudes. In September 1917 the "Soldier Boys" trained at Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth, Texas, until the War Department combined the Seventh Texas with the First Oklahoma Infantry to form the 142d Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division. In early October 1918, the 142d Infantry, including more than 600 original members of the Seventh Texas, was assigned to the French Fourth Army in the Champagne region and went into combat for the first time on October 6. Ball explores the combat experiences of those Texas soldiers in detail up through the armistice of November 11, 1918.

Quiet Neighbours

Author: Catriona McPherson
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 1448304679
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
A woman on the run uncovers a series of deadly secrets in this gripping, twisty standalone psychological thriller from award-winning master storyteller Catriona McPherson. Lowland Glen is the oldest bookshop in a quiet Scottish town full of bookshops; rambling and disordered, full of hidden treasures. Londoner Jude fell in love with it when she visited last summer, the high point of a miserable holiday. Now, in the depths of winter, it seems a strange place to run away to - but Jude's tired and heartsick, and when the bookstore's charming but eccentric owner, Lowell, welcomes her with open arms, she knows she's made the right decision. Lowell needs an assistant, and the job comes with accommodation too. The isolated gravedigger's cottage isn't perfect for a woman alone, but it's a good place to hide from her troubles - and at least she has quiet neighbors. Quiet, but not silent. The long dead and the books they left behind have tales to tell, and the dusty bookshop is not the haven it seems. Lowell's past and Jude's present are a dangerous cocktail of secrets and lies - and someone is coming to light the taper that could burn everything down around them . . .

Paris at War

Author: David Drake
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674495918
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 589

Book Description
Paris at War chronicles the lives of ordinary Parisians during World War II, from September 1939 when France went to war with Nazi Germany to liberation in August 1944. Readers will relive the fearful exodus from the city as the German army neared the capital, the relief and disgust felt when the armistice was signed, and the hardships and deprivations under Occupation. David Drake contrasts the plight of working-class Parisians with the comparative comfort of the rich, exposes the activities of collaborationists, and traces the growth of the Resistance from producing leaflets to gunning down German soldiers. He details the intrigues and brutality of the occupying forces, and life in the notorious transit camp at nearby Drancy, along with three other less well known Jewish work camps within the city. The book gains its vitality from the diaries and reminiscences of people who endured these tumultuous years. Drake’s cast of characters comes from all walks of life and represents a diversity of political views and social attitudes. We hear from a retired schoolteacher, a celebrated economist, a Catholic teenager who wears a yellow star in solidarity with Parisian Jews, as well as Resistance fighters, collaborators, and many other witnesses. Drake enriches his account with details from police records, newspapers, radio broadcasts, and newsreels. From his chronology emerge the broad rhythms and shifting moods of the city. Above all, he explores the contingent lives of the people of Paris, who, unlike us, could not know how the story would end.

After the Armistice Ball

Author: Catriona McPherson
Publisher: C & R Crime
ISBN: 1780334079
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Scot Free

Author: Catriona McPherson
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 1448304628
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
Lexy Campbell fights to prove the innocence of a client she's been providing marriage guidance to after she is accused of murdering her husband. It's the Fourth of July in California and Lexy Campbell is headed home to Scotland. But first she must deliver her final dose of marriage guidance to the elderly Bombarros. They don't turn up for the session, but the cops do. Turns out Mr Bombarro is in the morgue and Mrs Bombarro is in the jail, arrested for murder. Certain of the old lady's innocence, Lexy decides to stay and clear her name. But after her own recent whirlwind divorce, she's got no money and no place to stay. So she checks into the Last Ditch Motel. As the plucky little band of motel guests start to take over Lexy's life, and the shady Bombarro relations come to town, one thing is for sure . . . the fireworks have only just begun.

Very Special Ships

Author: Arthur Nicholson
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1848322356
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the six Abdiel-class fast minelayers, the fastest and most versatile ships to serve in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. They operated not only as offensive minelayers dashing into enemy waters under cover of darkness but in many other roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta. In lieu of mines, they transported items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. Distinguished by their three funnels, the Abdiels were attractive, well-designed ships, and they were also unique no other navy had such ships, and so they were sought-after commands and blessed with fine captains. To give the fullest picture of this important class of ships, the book details the origins and history of mines, minelayers, and minelaying; covers the origins and design of the class; describes the construction of each of the six ships, and the modified design of the last two; tells in detail of the operational careers of the ships in the second World War, when they played vital roles in the battle of Crete and the siege of Malta, plied the hazardous route to Tobruk, and laid mines off the Italian coast. The post-war careers of the surviving ships is also documented. Written to appeal to naval enthusiasts, students of World War II and modelmakers, the author tells the story of these ships through first-hand accounts, official sources, and specially- commissioned drawings and photographs.

The Mirror Dance

Author: Catriona McPherson
Publisher: Mobius
ISBN: 9781529337921
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
Something sinister is afoot in the streets of Dundee, when a puppeteer is found murdered behind his striped Punch and Judy stand, as children sit cross-legged drinking ginger beer. At once, Dandy Gilver's seemingly-innocuous investigation into plagiarism takes a darker turn. The gruesome death seems to be inextricably bound to the gloomy offices of Doig's Publishers, its secrets hidden in the real stories behind their girls' magazines The Rosie Cheek and The Freckle. On meeting a mysterious professor from St Andrews, Dandy and her faithful colleague Alex Osbourne are flung into the worlds of academia, the theatre and publishing. Nothing is quite as it seems, and behind the cheerful facades of puppets and comic books, is a troubled history has begun to repeat itself.

Conkers – Armistice Runner

Author: Tom Palmer
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 1781129762
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
Tom Palmer celebrates the unsung athletic heroes of the Armistice in a powerful tale of the fell-running messengers on the front-line of war, publishing for the centenary anniversary of the end of WWI.