A sumptuous historical novel of passion, betrayal, scheming and incest, set in the Vatican during the 15th century.

'This sweeping historical novel tells the dramatic tale of that most intriguing of Renaissance women', - Lucrezia Borgia. Incest. Poison. Betrayal. Three wedding presents for the Borgia bride! Italy 1492 Pope Alexander VI is elected. And so begins the Borgia reign of terror. Alexander murders, bribes and betrays to establish his dynasty. No one is immune. Rome is a hotbed of accusation and conspiracy. Every day, the River Tiber is full of new bodies. Sancha de Aragon, daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples, arrives in Rome newly wed to Alexander's youngest son, Jofre. Their marriage protects Naples against the ambitions of the French King Louis and gains Spanish support for the Borgias. But Rome is very different to her beloved Naples. The debauchery of the Borgia inner-circle is notorious: every lust is indulged and every indiscretion overlooked. Sancha is no innocent: she possesses an indomitable spirit which allows her to survive in the snake-pit, but her ancestors once rivalled the Borgias in cruelty and Sancha's greatest fear is that blood will out. Lucrezia Borgia's vicious jealously stings Sancha at first, but gradually the two young women develop a cautious friendship. Lucrezia, adored by her father but used ruthlessly as a political tool, seems deceptively innocent and sympathetic, and their bond strengthens when Lucrezia is married to Sancha's treasured brother, Alfonso. But when Sancha falls in love with Cesare Borgia, her husband's enigmatic older brother, she has no idea of how bizarre and internecine are the family's true ties. Alexander is rather more than an indulgent father; Lucrezia not the innocent she appears; and Cesare's ambition burns wildly. The only safe relationship with the Borgias is none at all: as Sancha, her brother and Naples are soon to discover!

Gold Dagger Award winning psychological suspense exploring the twisted world of a serial killer from:
'Manchester's answer to Thomas Harris' Guardian

'Ye gods, she 's good!' Colin Dexter
'Compelling and atmospheric...A tour de force ' Minette Walters

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community, then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for 16 years starting out in the south-west on the Plymouth and South Devon Times and Sunday Independent, where she was a prize-winning Trainee Journalist. She was a regular broadcaster for the local Plymouth radio stations and Hospital Radio. From 1977 to 1979 she was a news reporter on the Scottish Daily Record and worked for Gay News on a freelance basis as feature writer and theatre critic. Journalism then took her to Manchester, to The People. From 1988 until 1991 she was Northern Bureau Chief. Val has also held several posts in the National Union of Journalists at local and national level.
Val has written for the stage and radio and contributed to a short story anthology. She currently reviews for The Manchester Evening News and the internet site, Tangled Web. Her first foray into the crime world was with the publication of Report for Murder in 1987, followed by Common Murder, Final Edition and in 1993 Union Jack. These four crime books were all published by the Women's Press.

Kate Brannigan made her debut in 1992, in Dead Beat, followed by Kick Back (both Gollancz), and Kate has subsequently been published in the USA, Germany, Holland, Sweden and France. Crack Down was published in 1994, and was subsequently shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers' Association (C.W.A) Gold Dagger Award; Star Struck, the sixth novel to feature the Manchester private eye, was awarded the French Grand Prix des Romans D'Aventure in 1998.

A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.
Professor Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who uses computer technology to help police forces track serial offenders. She used to help the Met, but vowed never to work for them again when they went against her advice and badly screwed up an investigation as a consequence. Still. smarting from the experience, she's working on a case in Toledo when her lover, thriller writer Kit Martin, tells her a fellow crime novelist has been murdered. It's not her case, but Fiona can't help taking an interest. Which is just as well, because before too long the killer strikes again. And again. And Fiona finds herself caught in a race against time, not only to save a life but to bring herself redemption, both personal and professional.
Rich in atmosphere, Killing the Shadows uses the backdrops of city and country to create an air of threatening menace, culminating in a tense confrontation between hunter and hunted, a confrontation that can have only one outcome.