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It is 1896. In an alternative history where Babbage’s difference engines have become commonplace, Captain Charles Maddox, wrongly convicted of a murder and newly arrested for treason, is rescued from execution by a covert agency called the Map Room. Maddox is given the choice of taking his chances with the authorities or joining the Map Room as an agent and helping them uncover a possible conspiracy surrounding the 1888 Ripper murders. Seeing little choice, Maddox accepts the offer and joins the team of fellow agents Church and Green.

Books That Changed History is a unique encyclopedia spanning the history of the written word, from 3000 BCE to the modern-day, chronologically showing the evolution of human knowledge and the changing ways in which books are made. Discover incredible coverage of history's most influential books including the Mahabharata, Shakespeare's First Folio, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Penguin's first ever paperbacks.

The English novelist Patrick O’Brian is much admired for his best-selling Aubrey-Maturin series of sea novels - the unexpected success of the series secured his place in literary history. Far less is known about O’Brian’s personal life, largely because he preferred to keep it that way. In A Very Private Life, O’Brian’s stepson Nikolai Tolstoy draws upon his stepfather’s archives and papers to faithfully capture a life dedicated to the written word.

The unloading of a consignment of French wine from the steamship Bullfinch is interrupted by a gruesome discovery in a broken cask leaking sawdust and gold sovereigns. But when the shipping clerk returns with the police, the cask and its macabre contents have gone. Following the clues to Paris, Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard enlists the help of the genial French detective M. Lefarge to check motives and alibis in their hunt for evidence of a particularly fiendish murder.

At the age of 90, Stanley Underhill ended years of secrecy and silence with the publication of his extraordinary memoir, Coming Out of The Black Country. Cathartic and courageous, the book vividly recounts Underhill’s lifelong struggle to reconcile his faith and sexuality – a struggle that began in extreme poverty in the industrial Midlands and continued with ever-increasing drama through his time as a naval nurse in the Royal Navy, as an accountant, as a Franciscan Brother and nearly 40 years as a priest in the Church of England.

Shrewsbury, 1866. Julian Lockyer is an imposing gentleman in his late fifties. Having reserved a room for the night at the Station Hotel, he asks to be called early in the morning because he has a train to catch. Repeated attempts are made to wake him but there is no response. After forcing the door, the horrified hotel staff discover the bloodied corpse but with the knife still in his hand ... could he have killed himself in such a brutal manner?

Keith Floyd started out in a hotel kitchen in Bristol. He made and lost fortunes, was married four times, and dealt with a level of fame that bemused him. Now, in this revealing memoir, he reflects upon his colourful career. As irrepressible, funny and charming as the man himself, this is a must-read for anyone who loves life, food, women... and a quick slurp.

In April 1917, as Tsar Nicholas II's abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution, Vladimir Lenin, was far away, exiled in Zurich. To lead the revolt, Lenin needed to return to Petrograd immediately. But to get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help from the deadliest of Russia's adversaries and betraying his homeland.

When Mike Wakefield's business partner absconded with all the firm's money, Mike and his wife Stephanie feared bankruptcy. Detective Inspector Sloan is at first tasked with solving what appears to be a cut-and-dry case of embezzlement, but that is before unsettling events - tyres slashed, bricks through windows - make it clear that someone is gunning for the printing firm. Mike Wakefield is determined to finish a job that had been in hand for a while in time for a launch party at the grand surroundings of Ornum House. All is going according to plan until one of Mike's employees is found dead.

180 AD. North of the Wall, Sarmatian warrior Kai and his adopted tribe, the Votadini, struggle for survival, cast into unfamiliar lands by Roman reprisals. When news arrives that an old enemy is in charge of the Votadini's hated foes, a confederation of tribes known as the Painted People, and has roused them to action, Kai heads south towards the Wall, hoping to ally with the Romans against this resurgent threat. Meanwhile, the Romans have heard tales of butchery and mayhem beyond the Wall.

In the winter of 1939 in the cold snow of no-man's-land, two loners met and began an extraordinary journey together, one that would bind them for the rest of their lives. One was an orphaned puppy, abandoned by his owners as they fled the approaching Nazi forces. The other, a lost soul of a different sort - a Czech airman, flying for the French Air Force but soon to be bound for the RAF and the country that he would call home.

Taking a short cut home beneath the ruined abbey in the Yorkshire city of Eborby, a teenage girl reports stumbling across a body. But with the body nowhere to be found, her inebriated state and troubled history leaves the police sceptical of her story. Only Detective Joe Plantagenet is inclined to believe her. Meanwhile, Joe finds himself caught in the midst of an investigation into a production of The Devils at the local Playhouse when a young girl is reported missing.

Thirteen Torland Place was the scene of five terrible murders in the nineteenth century, and also related to the disappearances of two teenage girls. When a student living in the house is found to be brutally murdered, Detective Inspector Joe Plantagenet is left wondering whether her death has anything to do with the house's grim history. As other similar deaths come to light, Joe fears a ruthless killer may be on the prowl - a killer who deprives each victim of one of their five senses.

Boothgate House is a recently converted apartment building with a sinister past. Once an asylum for the insane, known as Havenby Hall, it was where serial killer Peter Brockmeister was sent on his release from prison. Detective Inspector Joe Plantagenet is drawn into the house's history when the daughter of a solicitor, who was investigating Havenby Hall's closure, is kidnapped. Joe wonders whether there may be a connection between the case and the building's disturbing past.

Homo Sapiens tells the story of the species from its earliest evolutions through the development of the first civilizations up to the industrial and information revolutions that have shaped the modern age. William Potter's thrilling new account asks us to reconsider our traditional notions of history by examining the power of the environment, the influence of language, the ideas that have transformed society, the power of transformative technology, and much, much more.

February 1918. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy are pulled from their beds to attend a sinister siege involving three burglars where one policeman has already been shot dead. Attempts at talking the men in the house into surrender are met with stony silence so the police proceed to batter down the door and Keedy bravely leads the way. A gunshot is heard. Keedy is hit. As Keedy is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the men who fled the scene and startling revelations emerge.

Having coffee with a famous footballer would be the highlight of the year for many people. Not so for private eye Billy Rucker. Just hours after meeting Jack Draper - 'Super Jack' to his adoring fans - Billy is standing over the brutalised body of a girl. A girl who was Jack Draper's mistress. Jack had wanted Billy to catch the person who had been stalking him. But now all the evidence points to Super Jack being a cold-blooded killer.

As the shadows lengthen over the June grass, all England is heading for Epsom Downs - high life and low life, society beauties and Whitechapel street girls, bookmakers and gypsies, hawkers and acrobats, punters and thieves. Whole families stream along the Surrey back-roads, towards the greatest race of the year. Hopes are high, nerves are taut, hats are tossed in the air - this is Derby Day.

At the height of World War II the people of Leningrad endured a bitter 900-day siege. Prit Buttar tells the story of how the siege was finally broken. The Red Army had suffered multiple setbacks in the preceding two years but achieved a partial success by breaking the blockage in early 1943. However, this was followed by further failed attempts to lift the siege completely. This compelling history uses original Russian source material to vividly describe the deprivations visited upon those trapped. But it also details the tactical successes and strategic failures of both sides.

Jayne is quiet. She keeps to herself and has no grand expectations for her days. But after a chance encounter with her elderly neighbour, Meredith, Jayne is forced to reevaluate her determination to keep the world at a distance. Meredith's dust-covered home is chaotic and neglected. And slowly, Jayne starts to grasp that Meredith herself is quite lost. She can't seem to remember anything: what she last ate, when she last went out or saw her daughter, or even Jayne's name, despite what are becoming frequent visits. But most alarmingly, Meredith can't remember where her husband is.