Abacus The Half-Drowned King Hartsuyker Linnea

On the Sussex Downs in 1066, the psychotic William and his gang of European mercenaries began the process which fragmented a civilisation. Walt, the last of King Harold's bodyguard, the one who survived Hastings, wanders across Asia Minor in the company of Quint, an intellectual renegade monk. On the way he unfolds the events that led up to the battle which affected the destinies of every English man and woman. With rare skill, Rathbone vividly recreates a civilisation that stubbornly remains alive in the collective memory to this day, and so identifies the roots of the still-held belief that every English person is born free and should stay free. Tender romance, savage war, courtly intrigue and some wry humour combine to make The Last English King an exhilarating roller-coaster ride into our past

The Secret Purposes, David Baddiel's third novel, takes us into a little-known and still somewhat submerged area of British history: the internment of German Jewish refugees on the Isle of Man during the Second World War. Isaac Fabian, on the run with his young family from Nazism in East Prussia, comes to Britain assuming he has found asylum, but instead finds himself drowning in the morass of ignorance, half-truth, prejudice, and suspicion that makes up government attitudes to German Jews in 1940. One woman, June Murray, a translator from the Ministry of Information, stands out - and when she comes to the island on a personal mission to uncover solid evidence of Nazi atrocities, her meeting with Isaac will have far-reaching consequences for both of them

The Athenian Murders is a brilliant, very entertaining and absolutely original literary mystery, revolving round two intertwined riddles. In classical Athens, one of the pupils of Plato's Academy is found dead. His idealistic teacher suspects that this wasn't an accident and asks Herakles, known as the 'Decipherer of Enigmas', to investigate the death and ultimately a dark, irrational and subversive cult. The second plot unfolds in parallel through the footnotes of the translator of the text. As he proceeds with his work, he becomes increasingly convinced that the original author has hidden a second meaning, which can be brought to light by interpreting certain repeated words and images. As the main plot and also the translation of the manuscript advances, there are certain sinister coincidences, and it seems that the text is addressing him personally and in an increasingly menacing manner

The barren, beautiful Cumbrian fells provide the bewitching setting for the adventures of Bill and Harry, two children who find wonder at every turn as they experience the Hollow Land. Everyday challenges give a daring edge to this rural work and play. There are mysteries to explore and uncover , like the case of the Egg Witch, and everyone is curious about the Household Name, a visitor from London, moving into the jewel of the territory, Light Farm • Gardam is at her best with this novel, which won the Whitbread award in 1981

The one with the election • When Ramotswe enters politics to oppose the construction of the dubious-sounding 'Big Fun Hotel', her opponent turns out to be local troublemaker, Violet Sephotho. But the general air of excitement cannot eclipse important matters of detection. Charlie, assigned a mysterious hit-and-run case, strives to prove his worth to his superiors as well as Queenie-Queenie, the woman who has captured his heart • Mma Makutsi is meanwhile in danger of being outwitted by a local bigwig property developer • Twists and turns abound in the latest adventures from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

The novel that became a huge bestseller in Iran, before it was banned by the government • A teenager in pre-revolutionary Tehran, Massoumeh is an ordinary girl, passionate about learning. On her way to school she meets a local man and falls in love - but when her family discover his letters they accuse her of bringing them into dishonour. She is badly beaten by her brother, and her parents hastily arrange a marriage to a man she's never met. Facing a life without love, and the prospect of no education, Massoumeh is distraught - but a female neighbour urges her to comply: 'We each have a destiny, and you can't fight yours.' • The years that follow Massoumeh's wedding prove transformative for Iran. Hamid, Massoumeh's husband, is a political dissident and a threat to the Shah's oppressive regime and when the secret service arrive to arrest him, it is the start of a terrifying period for Massoumeh

The one with the other Mma Ramotswe • The dismissal of an employee at a thriving local business leads to an investigation by Precious Ramotswe and self-appointed Principal Investigating Officer Grace Makutsi. But Mma Ramotswe also has to contend with the re-appearance of her ex-husband, and the arrival of a long-lost relation: another Mma Ramotswe. Can Precious draw on her strength, compassion and powers of detection to manage these surprises from the past?

The wonderful new Isabel Dalhousie • As the editor of an applied ethics journal, Isabel Dalhousie is usually tucked away in her editorial office, in the comfortable Edinburgh house she shares with her fiance and their young son, and does not often meet many fellow philosophers. But while helping in the delicatessen owned by her niece, Cat, she meets Jane Cooper, an Australian philosopher who is spending a sabbatical in Scotland. Isabel learns that Jane needs to find out something about her past. Jane was born in Scotland but taken to Australia as a baby by her adoptive parents. She knows who her mother is, but her father's identity is still a mystery. Can Isabel help Jane unconver this important and potentially unsettling information? And in Isabel's own life, there is the ever-present question of marriage, and also the perennially difficult issue of her relationship with Cat, whose choice of men is as dubious as ever

The one with Mma Ramotswe's summer holiday • Mma Ramotswe is taking a break, leaving important tasks in the capable hands of Mma Makutsi, co-director of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. But Mma Ramotswe soon finds herself interfering in cases (secretly, or so she intends) • While on 'holiday', she delves into the past of a man whose reputation is brought into question, she is called upon to rescue a small boy - and discovers Violet Sephotho's latest underhand business endeavour: the No. 1 Ladies' Secretarial College • Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi hires a part-time science teacher as an assistant, and suspects that her authority is being undermined • Will Mma Ramotswe be caught out?

The one with the poison pen letter • For the first time in her career as Botswana's no. 1 lady detective, Mma Ramotswe suffers a blow to her faith in the goodness of humanity (and of her neighbours in particular) when she receives a threatening letter. But she does not let this swerve her from the sad plight of an orphan who hopes to find her true family • Meanwhile, at Zebra Drive, Mma Ramotswe's beloved husband Mr J. L. B. Matekoni is also searching for an expensive miracle for their own foster daughter Motholeli

The one with the difficult aunt • The no. 1 lady detectives of Botswana travel to a safari lodge in the Okavango Delta to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest. It is a beautiful place full of dangerous, untamed creatures - some of them human • As Mma Ramotswe investigates, it becomes clearer that there is another mystery right under her nose that needs solving: Mma Makutsi is troubled by her fiance Phuti Radiphuti's reluctance to set a date for their wedding • In such matters at least Mma Ramotswe is on familiar terrain

Marian Sutro is an outsider: the daughter of a diplomat, brought up on the shores of Lake Geneva and in England, half French, half British, naive yet too clever for her own good. But when she is recruited from her desk job by SOE to go undercover in wartime France, it seems her hybrid status - and fluent French - will be of service to a greater, more dangerous cause • Trained in sabotage, dead-drops, how to perform under interrogation and how to kill, Marian parachutes into south-west France, her official mission to act as a Resistance courier. But her real destination is Paris, where she must seek out family friend Clement Pelletier, once the focus of her adolescent desires. A nuclear physicist engaged in the race for a new and terrifying weapon, he is of urgent significance to her superiors