by David Wishart (2015)
November, AD 40. When a wealthy consul's wife asks Corvinus to investigate the death of her uncle, killed by a block of falling masonry during renovations on his estate in the Vatican Hills, a sceptical Corvinus is inclined to agree with the general verdict of accidental death. But his investigations reveal clear evidence of foul play, as well as unearthing several skeletons among the closets of this well-to-do but highly dysfunctional family. Who could have wanted Lucius Surdinus dead? His vengeful ex-wife? His ambitious mistress? His disillusioned elder, or his estranged younger, son? Or does the key to the mystery lie in the dead man's political past? But when Corvinus's investigations draw him to the attention of the emperor, a dangerously unpredictable Caligula, his prospects of surviving long enough to solve the mystery look slim.
Mark Mills
Max Chadwick is the British officer charged with manipulating the news on Malta in 1942 to bolster the population's fragile esprit de corps. When he learns of the brutal murder of a young island woman, along with the evidence that the crime was committed by a British officer, he knows that the Maltese loyalty to the war effort could be instantly shattered unless he can solve the crime quickly.
Ėlen Gremiĭon
Argentina, konet͡s 1980-kh. Strana tolʹko-tolʹko nachala prikhoditʹ v sebi͡a posle mnogoletneĭ voennoĭ diktatury Khorkhe Videla. Odnazhdy psikhoanalitik Vittorio vli͡ubilsi͡a s pervogo vzgli͡ada v krasavit͡su Lisandru, vserʹez uvlechennui͡u tango. Proĭdet neskolʹko let, brak Vittorio i Lisandry medlenno razrushaetsi͡a, i vot odnim sirenevym vecherom pod zvuki tango Lisandra vypadaet iz okna. Sama ona reshila svesti schety s zhiznʹi͡u? A mozhet, za ee smertʹi͡u stoit kto-to iz pat͡sientov Vittorio, raskryvshikh na seansakh u psikhoanalitika vsi͡u podnogotnui͡u svoeĭ dushi? Ili Lisandra stala zhertvoĭ muzha - idealʹnogo kandidata na rolʹ ubiĭt͡sy? I lishʹ Eva Marii͡a, odna iz samykh vernykh poklonnit͡s talantlivogo vracha, ubezhdena v ego nevinovnosti i reshaet rassledovatʹ tainstvennui͡u smertʹ.
Lawrence Millman
"At the End of the World is the remarkable story of a series of murders that occurred in an extremely remote corner of the Arctic in 1941. Those murders show that senseless violence in the name of religion is not only a contemporary phenomenon, and that a people as seemingly peaceful as the Inuit can become unpeaceful at the drop of a hat or, in this instance, a meteor shower. At the same time, the book is a warning cry against the destruction of what's left of our culture's humanity, along the destruction of the natural world. Has technology deprived us of our eyes? the author asks. Has it deprived the world of birds, beasts, and flowers? Lawrence Millman's At the End of the World is a brilliant and original book by one of the boldest writers of our era"--
Martin Davies
Havana in the 1850s is a city as dangerous as it is exotic. The murder of a humble night watchman at the British Consulate seems to worry neither the Consul nor the police. But one person cared for the old man. The enigmatic courtesan Leonarda will not rest until she understands the mystery of his death. In wintry England, George Backhouse is plucked from obscurity in the Foreign Office and given an unexpected promotion. His task: to travel to Cuba and take a stand against the illegal slave trade still flourishing there. But Havana is a tinderbox of intrigue. As the great powers of the region conspire against each other with increasing ruthlessness for control of the island, Backhouse comes to see that the most innocent of actions could spark a devastating war. To protect their interests, the powers-that-be in Whitehall are prepared to turn a blind eye to many things. Leonarda will not. But what of George Backhouse?