BRITISH LIBRARY

(P/B) Impact of Evidence
Near St. Brynneys in the Welsh border country, isolated by heavy snow and flooding from the thaw, a calamity has occurred. Old Dr. Robinson, a known 'menace on the roads', has met his end in a collision with a jeep on a hazardous junction. But when the police arrive at the scene, a burning question hints at something murkier than mere accident: why was there a second body-a man not recognised by any locals-in the back of Robinson's car? As the local inspectors dive into the muddy waters of this strange crime, Chief Inspector Julian Rivers ...
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(P/B) Fear Stalks the Village
Ambling along the lanes of a sleepy village in the Downs, passing cosy Tudor cottages rustling with wisteria, a novelist imagines the sordid truth hidden behind the quaint, rustic facade. Her musings are confirmed when a spate of anonymous poison pen letters shocks the community, turning neighbour against neighbour and embroiling everyone from the rector and the 'queen of the village' Decima Asprey to the high-born Scudamores. With venom in the air, the perpetrator a mystery and dark secrets threatening to come to light, a shadow of shame ...
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(P/B) CHECKMATE TO MURDER
This crime classic is a spiritual successor to E. C. R. Lorac's Murder by Matchlight, one of the British Library Crime Classics' most popular titles from recent years (with Crossed Skis published in Spring 2020). It is a fantastically tight and twisty mystery set during the Second World War in London. The British Library is one of the only publishers currently re-releasing Lorac's work as they are increasingly difficult titles to find and very expensive secondhand. On a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathere...
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(H/B) THE PHILOSOPHY OF COFFEE
The Philosophy of Coffee is the perfect gift for coffee lovers everywhere and includes chapters on the rise of the coffeehouse, legal bans on coffee, Brazil's domination of the world coffee trade and the birth of the espresso. It also discusses variations in taste and brewing techniques with an accessible and engaging tone. (From the publisher)...
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(P/B) HOW TO SURVIVE A CLASSIC CRIME NOVEL
What would you do if you found yourself in the world of the classic crime novel? How would you avoid being framed for murder - or evade an untimely demise? Let classic crime expert Kate Jackson give you the tools to survive the golden age murder mystery. From dinner parties to detective interrogations, you'll need to know how to keep your wits about you in a world of red herrings, hidden identities and one too many suspicious butlers. . . Complete with original illustrations by Joanna Lisowiec, this insightful parody of the genre takes sur...
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(P/B) MURDER BY MATCHLIGHT
'"A man who played about on the fringes of the Black Market, who had fought for Sinn Fein, who lived by his wits - and who finally became dangerous to somebody and was knocked over the head in the blackout. It may prove to be a sordid story, but I certainly find it an interesting one."'During a stroll through Regent's Park, Bruce Mallaig witnesses two men acting suspiciously around a footbridge. In a matter of moments, one of them has been murdered; Mallaig's view of the assailant but a brief glimpse of a ghastly face in the glow of a stru...
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(P/B) A PHANTOM LOVER
An anthology of the best stories, snippets and imaginative pieces by Vernon Lee, the pen name of Violet Paget. During her lifetime Violet Paget, who wrote as Vernon Lee, was referred to as 'the greatest of modern exponents of the supernatural in fiction', and yet today she remains on the periphery of the genre. This collection of her uniquely weird short stories and dark fantasies proves why she was once considered among the best of the genre, and why she deserves to return to those ranks today. From modernised folk tales such as 'Marsyas ...
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(P/B) Sea Monsters on Medieval
The sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps, whether swimming vigorously, gambolling amid the waves, attacking ships, or simply displaying themselves for our appreciation, are one of the most visually engaging elements on these maps, and yet they have never been carefully studied. The subject is important not only in the history of cartography, art, and zoological illustration, but also in the history of the geography of the 'marvellous' and of western conceptions of the ocean. Moreover, the sea monsters depicted on maps can supply i...
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(H/B) ANIMALS
Artworks, manuscripts, printed works and wildlife sound recordings come together in this major compendium of the greatest and strangest representations of animals on record. Eighty detailed case studies highlight celebrated works, including John James Audubon's The Birds of America, Matthew Paris's Liber additamentorum, Maria Sibylla Merian's Metamorphosis (1705), Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, as well as letters from Charles Darwin, the Baburnama, translated by Mirza Abd al-Rahim Khan, Japa...
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(P/B) ROARINGS FROM FURTHER OUT
Four of the best novellas from one of the most underrated names in horror and weird fiction - writers such as H. P. Lovecraft rated Blackwood as one of the very best writers of the genre. This title features an introduction and notes contextualizing this characterful author "It is my firm opinion that?The Willows is the greatest weird tale ever written." - H.P. Lovecraft From one of the greatest and most prolific authors of twentieth century weird fiction come four of the very best strange stories ever told. The Willows: Two men become str...
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(H/B) THE PHILOSOPHY OF WHISKY
The true pioneer of civilization is not the newspaper, not religion, not the railroad but Whiskey!' - Mark Twain From illicit distillation to worldwide export, whisky has a powerful and multi-faceted history. Writers including Robert Burns, James Joyce and Haruki Murakami have all mused on it, and there are strong opinions on every aspect, even down to how the word itself should be spelled. A staple of the classic cocktail, whisky is at the heart of diverse cultures around the globe, both in the established whisky traditions of Scotland an...
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(H/B) MEDIEVAL MONSTERS
From satyrs and sea creatures to griffins and dragons, monsters lay at the heart of the medieval world. Believed to dwell in exotic, remote areas, these inexplicable parts of God's creation aroused fear, curiosity and wonder in equal measure. Powerfully captured in the illustrations of manuscripts, such as bestiaries, travel books and devotional works, they continue to delight audiences today with their vitality and humour. Medieval Monsters shows how strange creatures sparked artists' imaginations to remarkable heights. Half-human hybrids...
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(P/B) DEATH OF AN AUTHOR
Vivian Lestrange - celebrated author of the popular mystery novel The Charterhouse Case and total recluse - has apparently dropped off the face of the Earth. Reported missing by his secretary Eleanor, whom Inspector Bond suspects to be the author herself, it appears that crime and murder is afoot when Lestrange's housekeeper is also found to have disappeared. Bond and Warner of Scotland Yard set to work to investigate a murder with no body and a potentially fictional victim, as E C R Lorac spins a twisting tale full of wry humour and red h...
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(P/B) CASTLE SKULL
In Castle Skull, John Dickson Carr presents another ingenious locked-room mystery, steeped in the same haunting atmosphere as his macabre classic It Walks by Night. The great magician, Maleger, has bought Schloss Schadel (Castle Skull) on the Rhine and has transformed it into a fitting abode for his stage persona, replete with all the trappings of Gothic romance. When a man is seen atop the battlements, running aflame and then plunging to his doom, the foreboding reputation of the castle seems to have become reality. And when Maleger himse...
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(H/B) THE PHILOSOPHY OF TATTOOS
The Philosophy of Tattoos' explores tattooing as an innate human impulse throughout history, following its suppression and revival in cultures around the world. A bold and nuanced story of colonial oppression, social deviance and tattooing in the age of social media, it features original tattoo designs from London-based tattoo artist Luca Ortis, as well as illustration from the British library collections. 'History, it seems, is seldom written by the tattooed.' In this impressively broad yet personal account, John Miller explores tattooing...
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(P/B) THE MAGNIFICENT MAPS PUZZLE BOOK
The Library has one of the largest and most impressive cartographic collections in the world, including manuscript maps and atlases, administrative records and plans, large scale surveys and digital maps. From this rich resource, 100 fascinating examples have been selected as the basis for this puzzle book..(From the publisher)...
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(P/B) CRIMES OF CYMRU
Mystery and murder runs amok amidst ominous peaks and icy lakes. In hushed valleys, venom flows through villages harbouring grievances which span generations. The landscapes and locales of Wales ("Cymru", in the Welsh language) have fired the imagination of some of the greatest writers in the field of crime and mystery fiction. Presenting fourteen stories from ranging from the 1909 through to the 1980s, this new anthology celebrates a selection of beloved Welsh authors such as Cardiff's Roald Dahl and Abergavenny's Ethel Lina White, as wel...
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(P/B) THE DIVISION BELL MYSTERY
Originally published in 1932, this is the first Crime Classic novel written by an MP. And fittingly, the crime scene is within the House of Commons itself, in which a financier has been shot dead. Entreated by the financier's daughter, a young parliamentary private secretary turns sleuth to find the identity of the murderer - the world of politics proving itself to be domain not only of lies and intrigue, but also danger.Wilkinson's own political career positioned her perfectly for this accurate but also sharply satirical novel of double c...
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(P/B THE CORNISH COAST MURDER
The local police inspector is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Suspicion seems to fall on Tregarthan's niece, Ruth - but surely that young woman lacks the motive to shoot her uncle dead in cold blood? Luckily for Inspector Bigswell, the Reverend Dodd is on hand, and ready to put his keen understanding of the criminal mind to the test. This classic mystery novel of the golden age of British crime fiction is set against the vividly described backdrop of a fishing village on Cornwall's Atlantic coast. It is now republished for the fi...
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(P/B) DEATH OF MR. DODSLEY
Mr Richard Dodsley, owner of a fine second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross Road, has been found murdered in the cold hours of the morning. Shot in his own office, few clues remain besides three cigarette ends, two spent matches and a few books on the shelves which have been rearranged. In an investigation spanning the second-hand bookshops of London and the Houses of Parliament (since an MP's new crime novel Death at the Desk appears to have some bearing on the case), Ferguson's series sleuth MacNab is at hand to assist Scotland Yard in an ...
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