MARTIN DAVIES

A bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club title, THE CONJURORS BIRD is a dazzling debut novel, spanning three centuries of secrets and surprises.

An old Englishman sits by a harbour in Spain, hoping each day to hear what might have happened to the son he last saw as a child, many years before. He cannot die in peace until he knows. Dominic was sent to the royal court of Sicily, as page to the great scholar Antioch, and travelled with him on an expedition to the East, from which they never returned. Gradually, through meetings with travellers, the old man puts together most of the story and now the narrative of the expedition alternates with his own. The mission to the East is shrouded in secret motives and mysterious encounters. The boy is befriended by the party''s interpreter, Venn, and embroiled in an exotic, dangerous adventure involving lost Cathar treasure, capture by the unimaginably cruel Emperor of China and a plan to bring the Mongol hordes of the Great Khan west to destroy the culture of Christendom. And at the heart of the web of politics and deceit, Venn falls in love with a woman whose sad story he has deciphered from the secret women''s language which really existed in China for hundreds of years. As magically evocative as an ancient silk painting, this is a novel of the medieval world which illuminates our own

Estamos en Londres a mediados del siglo XIX, y la señora Hudson, un ama de llaves entrada en años, astuta y muy competente, busca una casa donde ella misma y su ayudante Flottie puedan encontrar cobijo y trabajo. Finalmente llega la oportunidad que tanto esperaba: dos solterones un tanto excéntricos buscan a una persona discreta que se haga cargo de su nueva casa en Baker Street. Así es cómo Mrs. Hudson y Flottie entran en la vida de Sherlock Holmes y el doctor Watson, y aunque lo hagan por la puerta de serivicio, muy pronto la inteligencia de la ancina y la sagacidad de la joven las convierten en la mano derecha de los dos investigadores, hasta el punto de que son ellas quienes finalmente resuelven los casos más difíciles. 

This is the story of the British Armys endeavours during the Great War to deceive the enemy and trick him into weakening his defences and redeploying his reserves. In this year-by-year account, Martin Davies shows how Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig actively encouraged their Army commanders to employ trickery so that all attacks should come as a complete surprise to the enemy. The methods of concealment of real military artefacts and the creation of dummy ones were ingenious enough but the real art lay in the development of geographically dispersed deception plans which disguised the real time and place of attack and forced the enemy to defend areas threatened by fake operations. Some of these plans, such as disguising mules as tanks and creating dummy airfields bordered on the farcical but were often amazingly effective. The driving force behind the deception plans was GHQ and the Army commanders, further dispelling the myth of Lions led by Donkeys. Evidence shows that the British Army employed deception to advantage in all their theatres of operation.

Its summer in London, and things are quiet. But while Holmes and Watson chafe at their inactivity, a train, carrying a vital encoded communication, is entering a tunnel in an obscure region of the Balkans - never to be seen again.The case of the disappearing train is only the beginning of the nations difficulties. The missing message must be found and decoded, and a diplomats wife must be rescued from the clutches of a pernicious blackmailer.The nation is in danger, and if a diplomatic scandal of disastrous proportions is to be avoided, Sherlock Holmes brilliance may not be enough.

It is spring in Baker Street, and London is preparing itself for the wedding of the year. It will be an international spectacle in which the young and popular Count Rudolph Absberg, a political exile from his native land, will take the hand of the beautiful and accomplished Princess Sophia Kubinova. A lot depends on the marriage, for it is hoped that the union will ensure the security and independence of their homeland.When the princess subsequently disappears in dramatic circumstances, members of the British establishment are quick to call on Mr Sherlock Holmes. He, in turn, needs the gifts of long-standing housekeeper Mrs Hudson and her able assistant, housemaid Flotsam, to solve this puzzling case on which rests the fate of nations.The continuation of the intricately crafted Holmes & Hudson series is a treat for fans of the great detectives original cases while they offer an inspired take on the rest of the famous Baker Street household.

When a priceless ruby known as the Malabar Rose vanishes while being guarded by Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson, the formidable Mrs. Hudson sets out to give a lesson in criminal deduction for her most famous and logical of tenants, the master sleuth himself.

A dark mystery for Sherlock Holmes. and of course Mrs Hudson!A man is accidentally knocked down outside 221B Baker Street by a carriage. His dying words are he has seen a man rise from the grave. At the same time a visitor arrives with a mystery of unparalleled international importance. The Viscount Wrexham is missing, presumed dead, in strange circumstances. In the North, rumours stir of a dead man haunting the moors. Broomheath Hall is, apparently, beset by ghostly lights and spectres. What does it all mean? Can arcane knowledge bring people back from the dead? And what is the connection with the Cumberland town of Alston? The redoubtable Mrs Hudson - Sherlock Holmes housekeeper and the Great Detectives best kept secret - and her assistant Flotsam are once again thrown into dark adventure full of gripping twists and murderous intrigue. Together with Holmes and Dr. Watson they must race against the forces of darkness to uncover the truth behind the mysterious document known as the Lazarus Testament. As mystery after mystery is slowly uncovered, everyones future hangs in the balance. The puzzle must be solved. But not before a slice of Dundee cake...

Old lies, new threats. The chickens have come home to roost.December in London, and Maximilian Cortado, the world famous violinist, has disappeared, the only clue being the unexpected delivery to his townhouse of a basket containing a live hen.When it emerges that a number of other notable members of society have been receiving similarly unexplained fowl, the deliveries begin to appear more sinister.Sherlock Holmes, however, seems more intrigued by a trivial incident in Sussex, where someone has been damaging Christmas trees intended for a local stately home. So when he is asked by the wife of a famous artist to investigate a robbery carried out twenty-three years before, Mrs Hudson sees an opportunity to assist.At the centre of that mystery is the Christmas Canary, a solid gold decoration of mesmerising beauty, hand-crafted for the fifth Lord Empingham. For years it had graced the top of the Christmas tree at Frawling Hall - until its mystifying disappearance broke the seventh Lords heart. Fowl deeds are afoot, but can Mrs Hudson restore the canary to its perch before its too late?

A bloodstained room, a missing woman, a passionate affair gone wrong.September in London, and the city basks in a glorious Indian summer. Sherlock Holmes has more work than he can handle, and when the Home Office asks him to sniff out a plot by Russian assassins on radical politician George Dashing, Holmes and Watson find themselves distracted by more pressing cases.Meanwhile, there is scandal at the home of Dashings great political rival, Sir Henry Catanache. When Sir Henrys housemaid goes missing, leaving only a pool of blood behind, his son is the prime suspect. Can Sherlock discover the truth? Or will the Catanache family be rescued by Laurence Martin, a detective newly arrived in London who is dazzling society with some remarkable triumphs?

London is sweltering and housemaid Flotsam longs for a break from the oppressive heat, although housekeeper Mrs Hudson remains unruffled. However, Baker Street is about to be consumed by an extremely weighty matter: the last Will and Testament of armaments tycoon Charles Belladonna.Belladonna left his considerable fortune to an only son who went missing, stolen from his cot, years before. Now not one but seven young men appear, each claiming to be the long-lost heir. The tangled case draws the War Offices attention, and a demand for Mr Sherlock Holmess assistance. Only the razor-sharp minds above and below stairs at Baker Street stand a chance of uncovering the truth and foiling the sinister forces at work.For readers who treasure Conan Doyle, the Holmes & Hudson series offers a loving homage, enriched by fresh voices in the Holmes and Watson household.

An evil stalks London, blown in from the tropics. Stories of cursed giant rats and malign spirits haunt the garrets of the East London neighborhood of Limehouse. A group of merchants are dying one by one. The elementary choice to investigate these mysterious deaths is, of course, the team of Holmes and Dr. Watson. But the unique gifts of their housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, and her orphaned assistant Flotsam, will also be needed to solve the case. Can she do it all under the nose of Sherlock himself?