2008 PUBLICATIONS

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (Edward Marston, Allison and Busby, January 2008, hardcover) - This is the first in an exciting new adventure series, set at the start of the eighteenth century and featuring Captain Daniel Rawson, soldier, spy, linguist and ladies' man. Whether he is extracting valuable intelligence from the wife of a French general or leading his men in a Forlorn Hope, Rawson is a man on whom the Duke of Marlborough can always rely. Seething with intrigue and packed with swashbuckling heroics, the novel follows the Confederate army on the long, perilous trek across Europe to meet the French and their allies at the ferocious battle of Blenheim.

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THE PAINTED LADY (Edward Marston, Allison and Busby, January 2008, paperback) - Araminta Jewell is a beautiful young woman with many admirers. Four of them are so desperate to seek her favours that they have formed a Society for the Capture of Araminta’s Maidenhood, with a cash prize for the winner. Henry Redmayne is one of the rakes involved and, like his friends, he is dismayed to learn that Araminta has married in secret. Undeterred, they continue their pursuit of her even when her husband, Sir Martin Culthorpe, is murdered in his garden. The chief suspect is Jean-Paul Villemot, the French artist who has been engaged to paint Araminta’s portrait.

Because he has designed a house for the Frenchman, Christopher Redmayne has a keen interest in the fate of his client. With the aid of his friend, Jonathan Bale, the dour constable, Christopher sets out to solve the crime. He is horrified to discover that his brother, Henry, has been harassing Araminta and he exposes vice and corruption on all sides. When Bale is brutally attacked, Christopher realises how dangerous their pursuit of the killer has become but the two of them persist in the face of repeated setbacks as they track the villain through the dark recesses of Restoration London.

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MURDER ON THE BRIGHTON EXPRESS (Edward Marston, June 2008, hardcover) - 1854. The fifth novel in the Railway Detective series confronts Robert Colbeck with his most difficult assignment to date. Travelling at top speed, the Brighton express comes off the line and collides with an oncoming ballast train. The official view is that the disaster is a result of driver error but Colbeck believes that the crash was deliberately engineered. In the course of his investigations, he encounters a whole range of problems. One of the survivors of the crash is being stalked by a killer. In order to solve the accumulating crimes, Colbeck has to protect the victim and put his own life - quite literally - on the line.

THE IRON HORSE (Edward Marston, June 2008, paperback) - The fourth outing of the Railway Detective is based around the Derby of 1854. When a porter unloads luggage from the roof of a train in Crewe, he drops a trunk on to a lady’s hatbox and breaks the strap. As the hatbox opens, a human head rolls out. It is the beginning of a case that takes Inspector Robert Colbeck to Ireland, where one of the favourites for the Derby is being trained, and sets him off on a trawl through the nobility, crooks and undesirables who live off horseracing.

PRISON (Edward Marston, September 2008) - Drawing on files at the National Archives, this is a compelling history of that most feared institution - the prison. It begins in medieval times when gaols were often located in castles or gatehouses and when their function was simply to detain prisoners until their trial. It was only centuries later that imprisonment was itself the punishment. Prison reformers like John Howard and Elizabeth Fry are reassessed. The shocking story of the prison hulks is investigated and the suffering endured by women prisoners throughout the ages is also highlighted. Wartime prisoners - whether enemies or conscientious objectors - are examined and so is the long saga of execution.