Penguin News of the Dead Robertson James

'Are you ready to be reborn?' • The search for a missing journalist is called off as a body is found at the scene of a carefully staged murder • In a sealed chamber, deep in the heart of Gilmerton Cove, a mysterious network of caves and passages sprawling beneath Edinburgh, the victim has undergone a macabre ritual of purification • Inspector Tony McLean knew the dead man, and can't shake off the suspicion that there is far more to this case than meets the eye. The baffling lack of forensics at the crime scene seems impossible. But it is not the only thing about this case that McLean will find beyond belief • Teamed with the most unlikely and unwelcome of allies, he must track down a killer driven by the darkest compulsions, who will answer only to a higher power

The electrifying new Alex Delaware thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense • At 5am in the upscale neighbourhood of Westwood Village, two removal men are making a routine pick-up when they make a fatal hit. It's a man - who appeared from nowhere - naked and with no means of identification • Not long after, a woman is found dead in a house nearby, which neighbours suspect to be a brothel. Could the man have come from there? • When LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis calls brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware is called to the scene, the case gets even more complicated. Delaware has met the woman before. She's a psychologist too • Are the two deaths linked? Or is there a darker force at work?

An entrancing, otherworldly collection of short stories from one of Europe's most accomplished 20th century writers, new to Penguin Modern Classics • A counter-prophet attempts the impossible to prove his power; a girl sees the hideous fate of her sisters and father in a mirror bought from a gypsy; the death of a prostitute causes an unanticipated uprising; and the lives of every ordinary person since 1789 are recreated in the almighty Encyclopedia of the Dead. These stories about love and death, truth and lies, myth and reality range across many epochs and settings. Brilliantly combining fact and fiction, epic and miniature, horror and comedy, this was Danilo Kis final work, published in Serbo-Croatian in 1983

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2017 AND THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2017 • THE TIMES, BBC HISTORY and TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2016 • It was known as 'the vast prison without a roof'. From the beginning of the nineteenth century to the Russian Revolution, the tsarist regime exiled more than one million prison • SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2017 AND THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2017 • THE TIMES, BBC HISTORY and TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2016 • It was known as 'the vast prison without a roof'. From the beginning of the nineteenth century to the Russian Revolution, the tsarist regime exiled more than one million prisoners and their families beyond the Ural Mountains to Siberia • Daniel Beer's new book, The House of the Dead, brings to life both the brutal realities of an inhuman system and the tragic and inspiring fates of those who endured it

One life. One choice. One sacrifice • To save those closest to her, Simi sacrificed everything - her freedom, her life as mami wata, and the boy she loves • Now she serves a new god, watching over the Land of the Dead at the bottom of the ocean. But the tide of change is coming and when Simi discovers demons have entered the human realm bent on destruction, she must break her vow and return to the world above the water • The fate of the world lies in her hands

This is the first anthology capacious enough to celebrate the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones. The most famous authors are here, and many others, including some magnificent stories never republished since their first appearance in magazines and periodicals. The Penguin Book of the British Short Story has a permanent authority, and will be reached for year in and year out. This volume takes the story from the 1920s to the present day

The Testament of Gideon Mack is James Robertson's acclaimed novel exploring faith and belief • For Gideon Mack, faithless minister, unfaithful husband and troubled soul, the existence of God, let alone the Devil, is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies. Until the day he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself • Mack's testament - a compelling blend of memoir, legend, history, and, quite probably, madness - recounts one man's emotional crisis, disappearance, resurrection and death. It also transports you into an utterly mesmerising exploration of the very nature of belief

The first of his peerless novels of Cold War espionage and international intrigue, Call for the Dead is also the debut of John le Carre's masterful creation George Smiley • After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the man's death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan's widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined? Le Carre's first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit

'The Boy-scouts mistook my signal, and have killed the postman. I've had very little practice in this sort of thing, you see' • The British short story tradition is probably the richest, most varied and historically extensive in the world. This new anthology celebrates the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones, from the story's origins with Defoe, Swift and Fielding, to the 'golden age' of the fin de siecle and Edwardian period, ending with the First World War. Including the most famous authors as well as some magnificent, little-known stories never republished since their first appearance in magazines and periodicals, these stories are by turns topical and playful, ghostly and theatrical, rumbustious and sublime • Edited with an introduction by Philip Hensher

The seventh heart-warming, uplifting instalment in the much-loved Railway Girls series is available to pre-order now! • Manchester, 1943 • Emily is enjoying her new job as a station porter until she learns that a trusted friend at work may be involved in something underhand • Persephone's romance with Matt is blossoming - but can two people from such different walks of life really make a go of it? • All is going well with wedding planning for Mabel until someone divulges a secret about Harry, which could threaten their future • As war rages around them, the railway girls must face their own battles. With the support of one another, will they make the right decisions when it comes to matters of the heart?

A beautiful 60th anniversary special edition of the first George Smiley novel, now with a new introduction by John le Carre • After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the man's death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan's widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined? • Le Carre's debut novel, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit

An apparent suicide. A deepening mystery. A letter from a dead man • Secret agent George Smiley is in trouble. A Foreign Office civil servant, Samuel Fennan, has killed himself, and Smiley realizes that Intelligence head Maston is going to set him up to take the blame. Beginning his own investigation, Smiley is shocked to receive an urgent letter from the dead man, and slowly uncovers a network of deceit and betrayal. Le Carre's debut novel was also the first of his many books to feature the tenacious, unassuming and singular George Smiley