A failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player - is there a connection? At the seaside home of an elderly widow, events come to a head and a murder plan unfolds - can Superindendent Battle foil it?

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It is Egypt, 2000 BC, where death gives meaning to life. At the foot of a cliff lies the broken, twisted body of Nofret, concubine to a Ka-priest. Young, beautiful and venomous, most agree that she deserved to die like a snake. Yet Renisenb, the priest's daughter, believes that the woman's death was not fate, but murder. Increasingly, she becomes convinced that the source of evil lurks within her own father's household. As the wife of an eminent archaeologist, Agatha Christie took part in several expeditions to the Middle East. Drawing upon this experience and exhaustive research, she wrote this serial killer mystery laid in Egypt 4000 years ago.

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A new 'signature edition' of Agatha Christie's thriller, featuring the recurring character of Colonel Race from Death on the Nile, Cards on the Table and The Man in the Brown Suit

Six people sit down to dinner at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary -- in solemn memory of Rosemary Barton who died at the same table exactly one year previously. No one present on that fateful night would ever forget the woman's face, contorted beyond recognition -- or what they remembered about her astonishing life.

A Shadow of Myself is the new, hugely ambitious novel from one of our leading black writers. Both thriller and love story, it is set against the backdrop of post-Cold War Europe and explores the impact of the Third World on its future.

Mike Phillips has fascinating stories to tell about the countries that he visited whilst researching his new novel. The day he arrived in Moscow he went out for dinner in a Georgian restaurant with some friends. After they'd finished the first course the waiter came up and told them that the rouble had gone into free fall and the prices on the menu had doubled since they had sat down. The rapid decline in the value of the rouble resulted in an atmosphere of tension in the city. Friends insisted on accompanying Mike when he wanted to go out at night; the day he arrived in the city saw the opening of the trial of a skinhead who had assaulted an African American marine who worked at The American Embassy. Mike was fortunate, and the excitement of the place more than made up for the sense of danger he often felt.

A unique element of the novel is that its characters are described with reference to their social and political environment. The people Mike met always talked about themselves in terms of the climactic events through which they had lived; the siege of the White House in Moscow or how their future was shaped by some arbitrary government. After the midpoint of the century the Soviets had set out to compete with the West for dominance in Africa, Asia and South America. Mike was already aware, through his own experience, of the extent to which these policies had influenced Europe's former colonies throughout the 20"' Centurv. Talking to some of the Africans and Caribbeans whose political beliefs had taken them to Eastern Europe during that time, Mike was struck by how much their politics had shaped their personal lives - what they did, who they married, what they felt about themselves.