Two holiday novels provide the perfect combination of mystery and murder mixed with a generous helping of Yuletide cheer.

A CHRISTMAS GUEST

When her daughter and son-in-law plan a Christmas vacation to Paris sans hers truly, Grandmama Mariah Ellison travels to the chilly, windswept Romney Marshes to spend the holiday with old friends. But when the body of a fellow guest is found lifeless in bed, Grandmama senses foul play and takes it upon herself to assume the role of amateur detective-uncovering startling truths about the victim… and herself as well.

A CHRISTMAS SECRET

Dominic Corde is thrilled to 'fill the robe' as substitute vicar in the village of Cottisham while the Reverend Wynter is away on a Christmas holiday. Upon arrival, Dominic and his wife, Clarice, wonder how they will be received by the congregation. But the Cordes soon discover that they have more dire matters to worry about. It turns out that the Reverend Wynter isn't on holiday at all-and that something very sinister has transpired.

En las decadentes ciudades-estado de Corinthia, Conan se arroja a un mar de mortíferas conjuras y terrible brujería. Sovartus, mago asesino del Cuadrilátero Negro, precisa de un único ingrediente para poder elaborar el hechizo con que hará frente a los propios dioses, una niña llamada Eldia, que controla los Elementales del Fuego, una niña a quien Conan ha jurado proteger. La lujuriosa Djuvula, bruja y hermana de un demonio desea las caricias de Conan, pero también su muerte. Y Lemparius, senador y hombre-pantera, Djavul, vengativo demonio, y Longanaro, leal únicamente al oro, acechan también al cimmerio.

Vista a varios años luz de distancia, la Vía Láctea no era más que una entre varios millones de espirales galácticas, globos y conjuntos de estrellas...Desde los confínes del universo se podía observarla curva de un globo de un azul intenso...Y desde un lugar más allá del tiempo y del espacio, a una distancia inconmensurable, el universo no era más que un esfera de un azul intenso situada sobre una extensión de polvo rojo, cuando un gigante de tamaño infinito cogió la esfera y la hizo rodar sobre el polvo rojo, y fue cada vez más despacio... hasta que se detuvo...... entre otras muchas esferas de colores...

Nunca se había visto envuelto en el escándalo el aristocrático clan de los Moidore, una de las mejores familias de Londres, a cuya mansión de Queen Anne Street acuden los más encumbrados personajes. Ahora, sin embargo, la bella hija de sir Basil ha aparecido apuñalada en su propia cama y la noticia corre de boca en boca por la ciudad. El inspector William Monk recibe la orden de encontrar al asesino sin demora, aunque evitando causarle mayores trastornos a una familia ya abrumada por la tragedia. Monk se halla aún bajo los efectos de la amnesia que le dejó como secuela un grave accidente, pero sus facultades continúan intactas y, con la ayuda de Hester Latterly, se aproxima paso a paso a un asombroso descubrimiento.

Su nombre es William Monk, su profesión, detective de la policía. Eso, al menos, es lo que le dicen cuando despierta en un hospital londinense, ya que él no recuerda nada. Al parecer, el carruaje en que viajaba volcó y como consecuencia de este accidente el cochero murió y él quedó malherido. Tras pasar tres semanas inconsciente y otras tantas de convalecencia, Monk recupera la salud, pero no la memoria. Su primer caso cuando se reincorpora en el cuerpo de policía es el brutal asesinato de Joscelin Grey, un héroe de la guerra de Crimea que fue golpeado hasta morir en sus aposentos. Se trata de un asunto delicado, pues la familia de la víctima no está dispuesta a que un simple plebeyo hurgue en sus intimidades. Sin embargo, Monk no se deja amilanar y, mientras busca una clave que ilumine su propio pasado, empieza a investigar entre las amistades de Grey.

Another Perry mystery that highlights the frustrating status of women in Victorian England. The story hinges on society's low opinion of nurses and of both single and married women who seek abortions. A talented nurse is found strangled, and Inspector Monk and his friends, a nurse and a lawyer, follow the clues to see that the murderer will hang. It is difficult to decide which element is the author's true forte-the details of everyday life or the suspenseful courtroom dialogues. The plot has many twists and turns. Readers may suspect some of the answers, but surprises continue right until the last page. The opening chapters place readers in a subplot that provides background on different characters. The shift in the action is slightly confusing as these people are rarely mentioned again. However, Perry fans will not be disappointed, and newcomers will be entertained by a good mystery as they enter the world of Victorian high society.

1895: Politischer Aufruhr erschüttert ganz Europa. Inspektor Thomas Pitt will einen wichtigen Informanten treffen, doch dieser wird im letzten Moment ermordet. Pitt verfolgt gemeinsam mit einem Kollegen den mutmaßlichen Täter. Als dieser über den Kanal flieht, observiert Pitt ihn in Frankreich weiter.

Kaum ist er aus London fort, wird sein Vorgesetzter Narraway wegen angeblicher Veruntreuung von Geldern von seinem Amt suspendiert. Um die dahintersteckende Intrige aufzudecken und sich zu rehabilitieren, bricht er nach Irland auf. Pitts Ehefrau Charlotte begleitet ihn, da sie weiß, dass die Karriere ihres Mannes von Narraway abhängt. Die Recherchen in Dublin sind mühselig und gefährlich. Und auch Pitt wird immer tiefer in seinen Fall in Frankreich verstrickt. Zu spät merken die beiden, dass es ihre wahren Gegner genau darauf angelegt haben, sie aus England fortzulocken. Denn dort planen sie einen fürchterlichen Coup, der das ganze Empire erschüttern soll.

»Anne Perry konfrontiert uns mit moralischen und politischen Fragen, die unseren modernen nur allzu nahe kommen.

Anne Perry, 1938 in London geboren und in Neuseeland aufgewachsen, lebt und schreibt in Schottland. Ihre historischen Kriminalromane zeichnen ein lebendiges Bild des spätviktorianischen London. Weltweit haben sich die Bücher von Anne Perry bereits über zehn Millionen Mal verkauft. Zuletzt bei Heyne erschienen: .

Die Originalausgabe

BETRAYAL AT LISSON GROVE

erschien 2010 bei Headline Publishing Group, London

General Carlyon is killed in what first appears to be a freak accident. But the general's wife readily confesses that she did it. With the trial only days away the counsel for defence work feverishly to break down the wall of silence.

No breath of scandal has ever touched the aristocratic Moidore family, but then Sir Basil Moidore's beautiful widowed daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed. Inspector Monk is ordered to find the killer, and as he gropes through the shadows, he approaches an astonishing solution.

Hester Monk's voluntary work in Coldbath Square is increasingly demanding. Every night she tends to a stream of women of the streets who have been injured or become ill as a result of their trade. But the injuries are becoming more serious, and now a body has been discovered in one of the area's brothels. The dead man is none other than the wealthy and respectable Nolan Baltimore, head of Baltimore and Sons, a successful railway company. With calls for the police to clean up the streets, Hester decides she must intervene to protect these women who stand to lose everything. Meanwhile her husband, William Monk, has been approached by Katrina Harcus, who suspects that the company her fiance works for may be guilty of fraud. That company is Baltimore and Sons. As Monk endeavours to prevent a serious crime, possibly even a tragedy, taking place, he faces some staggering revelations. And with the link between the two cases becoming ever clearer, Monk finds that the time has come to confront his own demons – even if it means losing all that he now holds dear…

It is spring, 1892. Queen Victoria persists in her life of self-absorbed seclusion. The Prince of Wales outrages decent people with his mistresses and profligate ways. The grisly killings of Whitechapel prostitutes by a man dubbed Jack the Ripper remain a frightening enigma. And in a packed Old Bailey courtroom, distinguished soldier John Adinett is sentenced to hang for the inexplicable murder of his friend, Martin Fetters.

Though Thomas Pitt should receive praise for providing key testimony in the Fetters investigation, Adinett’s powerful friends of the secretive Inner Circle make sure he is vilified instead. Thus Pitt is suddenly relieved of his Bow Street command and reassigned to the clandestine Special Branch in the dangerous East End. There he must investigate alleged anarchist plots, working undercover and living, far from his family, in Whitechapel, one of the area’s worst slums. His allies are few-among them clever Charlotte and intrepid Gracie, the maid who knows the neighborhood and can maneuver it without raising eyebrows. But neither of them anticipates the horrors soon to be revealed.

The Whitechapel Conspiracy resonates from the degraded depths of the East End to the seats of the mighty. Anne Perry weaves history into a rich and seamless tapestry of suspense.

Perry's new hero is William Monk, a Victorian London police detective whose memory has vanished because of an accident. Trying to hide that fact, Monk returns to work and is assigned to the murder case of an exalted war hero. Slowly, the darkness fades as each new revelation leads Monk to a terrifying conclusion.

Deep in London's dangerous slums, Victorians transacted their most secret and shameful business. For a price, a man could procure whatever he wanted, but it happened now and then that the price he paid was his life.

Now, in sunless Water Lane, respected solicitor Leighton Duff lies dead, kicked and beaten to death. Beside him lies the barely living body of his son, Rhys. The police cannot fathom these brutal assaults until shrewd investigator William Monk uncovers a connection between them and a series of rapes and beatings of local prostitutes. Then, shockingly, it begins to appear that young Rhys may have killed his own father…

A superintendent in the Thames River Police, William Monk is on a patrol boat near Waterloo Bridge when he and his men notice a young couple standing at the railing, apparently engaged in an intense discussion. The woman places her hands on the man's shoulders. Is it a caress or a push? He grasps her. To save her or kill her? Seconds later, the pair plunges to death in the icy waters. Has Monk witnessed an accident, a suicide, or a murder? The ensuing investigation leads him toward a conspiracy that reverberates into the highest levels of Her Majesty's government.

1864 and, once again, Inspector William Monk, now of the Thames River Police, must face a dangerous foe. After a game of cat and mouse, Monk has finally captured Jericho Philipps, main suspect in the brutal slaying of mudlark Water 'Fig' Figgis. In doing so he believes that he has taken the first step in bringing to justice the man responsible for running an evil child prostitution ring and avenged the memory of Durban, his old commander, who was convinced of Philipps' guilt. When Philipps comes to trial however all does not run smoothly. Oliver Rathbone, Monk's friend, is hired anonymously to represent Philipps and he immediately casts doubts over the police case. The result is that Philipps is swiftly freed. Monk, determined to prove Philipps' guilt, begins the investigation again. But as he ventures deeper into London's murky underworld, he realises that Durban may have had another reason for pursuing Philipps and, even more worryingly, that Philipps' depraved tastes reach further into civilised society than anyone could have ever imagined!