Recommendations based on "The Miniaturist"

Elena Weaver, in her skimpy dresses and bright jewellery, exuded intelligence and sexuality. A student at St Stephen's College, Cambridge, she lived a life of casual but intense physical and emotional relationships, with scores to settle and targets to achieve. Until someone, lying in wait on the bank of the River Cam, where Elena went running every morning, bludgeoned the young woman to death. Called into the rarefied world of academia, Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner Barbara Havers find a tangled skein of love, obsession and desire -- a maelstrom of emotion that has claimed Elena Weaver's life.

When Joss, an adopted child, discovers that her real mother has left the beautiful family home, Belheddon Hall, to her, she is thrilled, until she discovers that the Hall is haunted by a presence which will not tolerate husbands or sons living in the house. When Joss Grant inherits the beautiful old house on the East Anglian coast, it is a dream come true. Eager to begin a new life there with her husband and son, she is also impatient to find out about her newly discovered family who lived there for generations. But Joss begins to hears echoing voices and senses an invisible presence, watching her from the shadows. Are they spirits from the past? Or is it her imagination? As she learns, with mounting horror, of the house's tragic history, her fears intensify, for she realizes that both her family and her own sanity are at the mercy of a violent and powerful energy which seems beyond anyone's control. Despite the threat to her own husband and son, Joss is unable to break free, and, in a last desperate attempt, conjures up the presence to deal with 'it' once and for all.

Product Description In her second volume of short stories, which follows the hugely successful Encounters, Barbara Erskine has created a wide and vivid range of worlds and emotions, From love, romance, loneliness, grief, to betrayal, passion, adventure and compelling suspense. A biographer investigating a tragic death hears voices from the past drawing her towards the truth... A nineteenth-century parson's daughter is caught tip in the excitement and romance of a smuggling intrigue... A young boy from a deprived background finds his own haven in the wastelands of the inner city... A young woman, struggling to choose between love or her career, finds help from an unexpected source... Contemporary, historical, spooky, humorous, there are over thirty delightful stories, each one guaranteed to capture the reader's imagination, and all demonstrating Barbara Erskine's unique powers its a storyteller. From the Publisher Bestselling author of Lady of Hay'Vivid, romantic, and deliciously scary' - Living 'Barbara Erskine's storytelling talent is undeniable.' - The Times About the Author Barbara Erskine is the author of the internationally bestselling novel Lady of Hay, which was translated into seventeen languages and has sold over a million copies worldwide. This was followed by another bestseller, Kingdom of Shadows. Her third novel, Child of the Phoenix, was based on the story of one of her own ancestors, and provides a link between some of the characters from Lady of Hay and Kingdom of Shadows, again encapsulating the author's dual themes of the supernatural and of history. Midnight is a Lonely Place enjoyed the same international bestselling success of Lady of Hay and was shortlisted for the WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award of 1995, and was followed by her most recent bestselling novel, House of Echoes, which was shortlisted for the WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award of 1996. She has also published a second volume of short stones, Distant Voices. Barbara Erskine has a degree in mediaeval Scottish history from Edinburgh University. She and her family divide their time between the Welsh borders and their ancient, crumbling manor house, near the unspoiled coast of North Essex.

A young writer, struggling for success, employs an elderly woman called Emerence to be her housekeeper.From their first encounter it is clear that Emerence is no ordinary maid.Although everyone in the neighbourhood knows and respects her, no one knows anything about her private life or has ever crossed her threshold. Only a great drama in the writer's life prompts Emerence to unveil glimpses of her traumatic past - a past which sheds light on her peculiar behaviour.The Door brilliantly evokes the development of the bond between these two very different women, and the tragic ending to their relationship.

DISCOVER DU MAURIER AT HER DARKEST A stunning collection of thirteen chilling stories from the Godmother of Fear, introduced by international bestseller Stephen King. *** 'Her talent is a bright light that will guide you. These remarkable stories await' STEPHEN KING 'A marvellously dark, unsettling collection. I loved it' SARAH WATERS 'Unputdownable . . . After Midnight promises to never let you sleep again' LUCY ROSE 'Daphne du Maurier is the Godmother of Fear' ALICE SLATER 'This superb collection is menacing, moody and mendacious on every page . . . Roll on autumn evenings to curl up with this' DAILY MAIL *** On a sharp December day, the wind changes - and the birds begin to gather. In the twisting alleyways of Venice, a grieving couple catch a glimpse of their lost child. A woman returns home to find no trace of her existence. From the inimitable imagination of Daphne du Maurier, these thirteen stories pierce to the dark heart of our relationships: between men and women, humanity and nature, love and obsession, the future and the past. Uncanny, provocative and spine-crawlingly terrifying, these tales will keep you up long after midnight. Whatever you do, don't look now . . . PRAISE FOR DAPHNE DU MAURIER: 'Masterful, troubling and wickedly seductive' Sarah Perry 'Du Maurier is mistress of the sleight of hand in fiction' Maggie O'Farrell 'She was able to make worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable, not as they seem' Olivia Laing 'The master of slow-burning menace' Stacey Halls 'Daphne du Maurier remains the indisputable queen of the sophisticated literary thriller . . . often imitated and never, ever surpassed' Laura Shepperson 'A glittering collection of dark gems . . . Du Maurier was the queen of creepiness, and a writer of extraordinary talent. These stories will introduce you to her dark imaginings and keep you up well into the night. Do have nightmares. They'll be good ones' Anna Mazzola

Valerie Wilson Wesley’s Tamara Hayle mystery series featuring Newark, New Jersey’s number one private investigator are loved for their smart, sexy protagonist who “has a way with a wisecrack that is positively lethal” (Washington Post). Now in Dying in the Dark, Hayle is entrenched in a sinister investigation that will demand her best detective work yet.Tamara Hayle’s past has come back to haunt her–literally. She’s been plagued by terrifying dreams about Celia Jones, an old friend whose walk on the wild side led her to a horrible death. Celia’s teenage son, Cecil, begs Tamara to find his mother’s killer . . . only to end up dead himself, stabbed through the heart.The search for Celia and her son’s killer pulls Tamara deep into her friend’s troubled love life, where everyone adored her but somebody held a murderous  grudge. There’s her bullying thug of an ex-husband; a handsome ex-lover who woos Tamara with charm and lies; and an angry, jealous woman who claims that Celia broke her heart. And those were just the obvious people with axes to grind.Despite her better judgment and the admonitions of the police department, Tamara refuses to back away from the mystery surrounding her old friend’s death and the tragedy that met her son. All clues lead to the past Tamara shared with Celia Jones, and Tamara fears that that past will threaten her own son. But she uncovers more than she bargained for–and unearths secrets someone would kill to keep in the shadows.

The first book in the series, this bestselling novel introduces Margaret of Ashbury, a fourteenth-century Englishwoman with mystical abilities Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

Three gripping tales from No.1 Sunday Times bestseller S. J. Parris. The Secret DeadSummer 1556. A girl’s body is found in a Neapolitan monastery. Novice monk Giordano Bruno is determined to uncover what happened, but his investigation could deliver him into the hands of the Inquisition. The Academy of SecretsAutumn 1568. An invitation arrives for Giordano Bruno from a secret society of philosophers. Bruno is delighted, but keeping their heretical secrets soon becomes a matter of life or death. A Christmas RequiemWinter 1569. Giordano Bruno is summoned by the Pope, who is intrigued by his talent for memory games. But Rome is a den of iniquity, and Bruno will be lucky to escape the Eternal City alive. *Please note these three novellas are also published as individual stories in ebook.* ‘S. J. Parris gives us a glimpse into the younger years of Giordano Bruno, her 16th-century heretic and spy, in this collection of three beguiling novellas’ Observer What readers are saying about The Dead of Winter ‘Superb story-telling’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Such a treat’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Beautifully written’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Gripping’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Compulsive reading’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Full of energy and excitement’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Superb’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

An island of secrets. A runaway. And a promise...A rebellious daughter1925. Among the ancient honey-coloured walls of the tiny island of Malta, strangers slip into the shadows and anyone can buy a new name. Rosalie Delacroix flees Paris for a dancer's job in the bohemian clubs deep in its winding streets.A sister with a secret1944. Running from the brutality of war in France, Florence Baudin faces a new life. But her estranged mother makes a desperate request: to find her vanished sister, who went missing years before.A rift over generationsBetrayals and secrets, lies and silence hang between the sisters. A faded last letter from Rosalie is Florence's only clue, the war an immovable barrier - and time is running out...Praise for The Hidden Palace"Completely swept me away to another place and time. Dinah is the queen of sumptuous settings, transporting the reader effortlessly from chocolate-box Devonshire to the cabaret clubs of 1920s Paris and war-torn Malta. A marvellous, multi-layered story, populated with characters to really care for"--HAZEL GAYNOR"Dinah Jefferies wields her storytelling magic on the island of Malta . . . It's engrossing and sensual, full of the heat of the Mediterranean sun"--GILL PAUL"Powerful, passionate and profoundly moving . . . this compelling mix of love and tragedy vibrates with warmth and pain, and captures the intense dislocation of war"--KATE FURNIVALL"Sweeping and sumptuous with a gorgeously described sense of place. A marvellous adventure"--TRACY REESPraise for Daughters of War"A wonderfully evocative and sensual writer"--SANTA MONTEFIORE"A warm and engrossing tale of passion and courage. I loved it"--RACHEL HORE"Love, grief, abandonment, betrayal and secrets ... I adored it"--LIZ NUGENT

* THE ELEVENTH NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING MODESTY BLAISE SERIES * 'The finest escapist thrillers ever written' THE TIMES 'Before Buffy, before Charlie's Angels, before Purdy and Emma Peel, there was Modesty Blaise' OBSERVERModesty Blaise is about to retire from her criminal empire, the Network, a crime syndicate specialising in art theft and industrial espionage. But there is one final, astounding mission before she can leave and the Network is disbanded. Years later, she faces the consequences of this final mission when she and her faithful lieutenant Willie Garvin find themselves drawn into conflict with the mysterious group known as The Watchmen. The Watchmen have big plans, not least to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge. Modesty and Willie will need all their cunning to foil a fiendish plot to bring down western civilisation and save their own lives.