'Those lips! Those eyes! Oh behave!' New York Times

A stunning, deeply compelling novel in the vein of Elizabeth George and. Barbara Vine

D. S. Duncan Kincaid is torn away from a bitter family custody battle when he is called to an arson scene at a vacant warehouse. Inside, an unidentifiable corpse is uncovered.
Meanwhile Kincaid's lover and former partner, D. I. Comma James, must investigate the disappearance of a hospital administrator - a beautiful, emotionally fragile young woman who has vanished without a trace.
Across the city, within an old, dark, rambling house, ten-year-old Harriet is being held hostage by a woman she knows only as She. Fearful of her rigidly controlling captor, Harriet tries to escape ...
As sinister truths unfurl and innocent lives hang in the balance, Duncan and Comma must tackle their most chilling investigation yet . . Deborah Crombie Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James novels have been nominated for the Agatha Christie, Macavity and Edgar Awards. Deborah lives with her family in a small north Texas town.

It's 1540, three years after Shardlake's mission to Scarnsea. It is the hottest summer of the sixteenth century. Shardlake is trying to keep a low profile, believing himself to be out of favour with Thomas Cromwell but trying to maintain his London-based legal practice. He has been pulled, against his better judgement, into defending Elizabeth Wentworth, charged with murdering her cousin. But Elizabeth refuses to plead either guilty or not guilty. As a result she will be crushed under weights until she pleads or dies. Shardlake is powerless to help the girl yet she is suddenly granted a reprieve - courtesy of Cromwell. The cost of the reprieve to Shardlake is two weeks once again in the service of Cromwell. Cromwell, however, is no longer the triumphant, irresistible force he once was, not least because of the ill-fated marriage he arranged for the King with Anne of Cleves. Cromwell is running out of options, but he has one more card to play: Greek Fire, an ancient weapon considered lost long ago, which has turned up again in the hands of two alchemist brothers. This is the kind of gift to guarantee the King's favour, it is also the kind of gift that people kill for...

Following the success of The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes, six new unpublished tales are presented by Dr Watson from the documents of the Great Detective.