Recommendations based on "The Evil Seed"

“Read this in about two sittings—absolutely loved it. Dazzlingly clever and beautifully twisty. Don’t miss it!!”—Emilia Hart, author of Weyward The gripping follow up to the “smart, stylish, and savage” (People) New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick The Club—a twisty mystery involving a cursed wealthy family and a Surrealist painting which holds the key to three suspicious deaths over the course of a century. Some women won't be painted out of history . . . Everybody knows that in 1938, runaway heiress artist Juliette Willoughby perished in an accidental studio fire in Paris, alongside her masterpiece Self Portrait As Sphinx. Fifty years later, two Cambridge art history students are confounded when they stumble across proof that the fire was no accident but something more sinister. What they uncover threatens the very foundation of Juliette’s aristocratic family and revives rumors of the infamous curse that has haunted the Willoughbys for generations. But what does their discovery mean? And how is it connected to a brutal murder in present-day Dubai? A tale of love and madness, obsession and revenge, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby unravels the riddle posed by a Sphinx who refuses to reveal her secrets . . .

An alluring literary mystery full of secrets and lies, when an art teacher at a psychiatric hospital in 1960s England finds her life turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious patient who has spent decades living in complete isolation with his elderly aunts in a decrepit Victorian house. Perfect for fans of Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tessa Hadley.In all failed relationships there is a tipping point. It goes unnoticed at the time but can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park…The London suburb of Croydon,1964: Helen Hansford is unmarried and in her thirties. Something of a disappointment to her middle-class parents, she’s an art therapist at the Westbury Park psychiatric hospital, where she has been having a rebellious love affair with her colleague Gil, a dashing but married doctor.One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance at a derelict, vine-covered Victorian house a few miles up the road. There the police find a mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, his hair and beard down to his waist. It appears he lives in the old house with his elderly, frail aunt, who expires as soon as she’s admitted to the hospital. No one knows why William has been shut away for decades, unseen by neighbors, with only his two now-deceased aunts for company. Westbury Park becomes his refuge.When it emerges that William is not only sane but a talented artist, Helen comes to see him as something of a personal project. But as she tries to solve the puzzle of the Hidden Man’s past, Helen’s own carefully constructed life of secrets begins to unravel...A gorgeously written and life-affirming novel about life’s delicate layers of experience and connection, Shy Creatures reveals all the different ways we can be confined...and liberated.

The start of a thrilling new Second World War mystery series from the number-one-bestselling and multi-award-winning author of Murder Most Unladylike .'Superb' Observer'Meticulous and sharp' Guardian'Engaging . . . You will make the journey with a spring in your step' The Times'Robin Stevens is Agatha Christie for children' Katherine Rundell on the Murder Most Unladylike series1940. Britain is at war, and a secret arm of the British government called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up spies.Enter May Wong : courageous, stubborn, and desperate to help end the war so that she can go home to Hong Kong (and leave her annoying school, Deepdean, behind forever). May knows that she would make the perfect spy. After all, grown-ups always underestimate children like her.When May and her friend Eric are turned away by the Ministry, they take matters into their own hands. Masquerading as evacuees, they travel to Elysium Hall, home to the wealthy Verey family - including snobby, dramatic Nuala . They suspect that one of the Vereys is passing information to Germany. If they can prove it, the Ministry will have to take them on.But there are more secrets at Elysium Hall than May or Eric could ever have imagined.And then someone is murdered...'Spirited and fun . . . A must for young murder mystery fans' Bookseller

“Delightful….[An] engrossing plot and writing of the highest caliber.”—Washington TimesA globe-trotting archeologist with more grit, wit, and fortitude than Indian Jones himself, the intrepid Amelia Peabody confronts danger and dark mystery in the desert sands of Egypt in The Ape Who Guards the Balance—a breathtaking adventure from New York Times bestselling Grandmaster Elizabeth Peters that encompasses treachery, villainy, bloodthirsty cults, the Book of the Dead…and murder most foul. The Charleston Post and Courier proclaims Elizabeth Peters “a mistress of plot,” while the New York Times Book Review declares, “Amelia remains an irrepressible delight.”

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As Europe buckles under Nazi occupation, Maisie Dobbs investigates a possible murder that threatens devastating repercussions for Britain's war efforts in this latest installment in the New York Times bestselling mystery series. October 1941. While on a delivery, young Freddie Hackett, a message runner for a government office, witnesses an argument that ends in murder. Crouching in the doorway of a bombed-out house, Freddie waits until the coast is clear. But when he arrives at the delivery address, he’s shocked to come face to face with the killer. Dismissed by the police when he attempts to report the crime, Freddie goes in search of a woman he once met when delivering a message: Maisie Dobbs. While Maisie believes the boy and wants to help, she must maintain extreme caution: she’s working secretly for the Special Operations Executive, assessing candidates for crucial work with the French resistance. Her two worlds collide when she spots the killer in a place she least expects. She soon realizes she’s been pulled into the orbit of a man who has his own reasons to kill—reasons that go back to the last war. As Maisie becomes entangled in a power struggle between Britain’s intelligence efforts in France and the work of Free French agents operating across Europe, she must also contend with the lingering question of Freddie Hackett’s state of mind. What she uncovers could hold disastrous consequences for all involved in this compelling chapter of the “series that seems to get better with every entry” (Wall Street Journal).

The pleasant old brown shingle house was similar to many in Berkeley's Elmwood district, a home away from home for serious university students. There seemed to be no reason for the unnerving anonymous phone calls or the vicious mutilation of plants in the front yard. Mere random vandalism, perhaps. But what about the pipe bomb thrown through the window? Private investigator Jeri Howard, who for a brief while had been stepmother to one of the residents, is alarmed by the escalating violence directed at the house. Especially when she learns that any one of the five women who live there could be innocently attracting it. Marisol works at a counseling center for battered women. Rachel does escort duty at an abortion clinic. Vicki and Emily have both been harassed by a man who won't take no for an answer. And Sasha, who owns the house, is the outspoken president of the African American law students' organization. Intuition warns Jeri that there's more involved than simple hostility. On the cool bay breezes she catches a whiff of mortal danger. And from her own not-so-distant past, she remembers the pattern of a chilling madness, the approach of an evil that knows no limit and feels no remorse.

Anne Perry’s magnificent Victorian mysteries established her as one of the world’s best known and loved historical novelists. Now, in her vividly imagined World War I novels, Perry’s talents “have taken a quantum leap” (The Star-Ledger), and so has the number of her devoted readers. We Shall Not Sleep, the final book in this epic series featuring the dedicated Reavley family, is perhaps the most memorably enthralling of all Perry’s novels. After four long years, peace is finally in sight. But chaplain Joseph Reavley and his sister Judith, an ambulance driver on the Western Front, are more hard pressed than ever. Behind the lines, violence is increasing: soldiers are abusing German prisoners, a nurse has been raped and murdered, and the sinister ideologue called the Peacemaker now threatens to undermine the peace just as he did the war. Then Matthew, the third Reavley sibling and an intelligence expert, suddenly arrives at the front with startling news. The Peacemaker’s German counterpart has offered to go to England and expose his co-conspirator as a traitor. But with war still raging and prejudices inflamed, such a journey would be fraught with hazards, especially since the Peacemaker has secret informers everywhere, even on the battlefield. For richness of plot, character, and feeling, We Shall Not Sleep is unmatched. Anne Perry’s brilliantly orchestrated finale is a heartstopping tour de force, mesmerizing and totally satisfying.

'A beguiling author who interweaves past and present' The Times __________________ On a summer evening, Robert and Greta Gerdner are shot dead at their home in the Devon countryside. DI Wesley Peterson suspects the execution-style murders might be linked to Robert's past police career - until Robert's name is found on a list of people who've been sent tickets anonymously for a tour of Darkhole Grange, a former asylum on Dartmoor. Wesley discovers that other names on the list have also died in mysterious circumstances and, as he is drawn into the chilling history of the asylum, he becomes convinced that it holds the key to the case. When his friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, finds the skeleton of a woman buried in a sealed chamber dating back to the fifteenth century at his nearby dig, Wesley wonders whether there might be a connection between the ancient cell and the tragic events at Darkhole Grange. With the clock ticking, Wesley must solve the puzzle, before the next person on the list meets a terrible end . . . Whether you've read the whole series, or are discovering Kate Ellis's DI Wesley Peterson novels for the first time, this is the perfect page-turner if you love reading Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths. Praise for Kate Ellis . . . 'Clever plotting hides a powerful story of loss, malice and deception' Ann Cleeves 'Haunting' Independent 'The chilling plot will keep you spooked and thrilled to the end' Closer 'Unputdownable' Bookseller 'A fine storyteller, weaving the past and present in a way that makes you want to read on' Peterborough Evening Telegraph

Get swept up in a Victorian world of intrigue in these Lady Julia Grey mystery novellas from New York Times bestselling author of Killers of a Certain Age, Deanna Raybourn. Silent Night After a year of marriage—and numerous adventures—Lady Julia and Brisbane hope for a quiet, intimate Christmas together—until they find themselves at her father’s ancestral estate, Belmont Abbey, with her eccentric family and a menagerie of animals. Nevertheless, Julia looks forward to a lively family gathering—but amongst the celebrations, a mystery stirs… Midsummer Night Midsummer in Victorian England—an auspicious time for a wedding. Brisbane has taken charge of the music. Julia has, perhaps mistakenly, allowed her sisters to choose the dress. And Belmont Abbey is overflowing with guests awaiting the blessed day. Add in a dangerous past nemesis who has come to wish them not-so-well, and their day to remember just might take a fatal turn… Twelfth Night To mark the passing of another decade, the March family have assembled at Belmont Abbey to perform the Twelfth Night Revels. But before Lady Julia and Brisbane can take to the stage, an abandoned infant is found nestled in the helm of St. George. When the pair take up the challenge to investigate, they’ll be faced with an impossible choice—one that will alter the course of their lives…forever. Bonfire NightDuring the autumn of 1890, a solicitor arrives with a strange bequest: Nicholas, it seems, has inherited a country house—but only if he and his family are in residence from All Hallows’ Eve through Bonfire Night. Neither Lady Julia nor Nicholas is likely to be put off by local legends of ghosts and witches, until a new lady’s maid disappears, igniting a caper that will have explosive results… Previously published

DARK CORRUPTION AND THE PENITENCE OF DEATH...Under the harsh hand of its newly elected prioress, St. Frideswide's has become a place of deadly sin. The corruption has grown subtly and slowly, but it has found fertile soil in the rage and greed of Domina Alys, who has turned the priory into a boarding house for her relatives, the Godfreys. Dame Frevisse is horrified to discover that the modest stores of the priory - desperately needed if the nuns are to survive the coming winter - are being completely consumed by the rapacious Godfrey clan.But the Godfreys bring with them more immediate terrors: Torture. Madness. Kidnapping. Murder. The sanctuary of the cloister has been violated and even the holy rites of the nuns have been ripped apart.Despite the growing crisis, Frevisse's best efforts to save the nunnery from itself are met with scorn and torment as bitter hatreds and old rivalries turn nun against nun. Suspicion, paranoia, and despair clutch the cloister's heart. If Frevisse cannot unlock the riddles of penitence for her prioress and for herself, then St. Frideswide's may be no more...NOMINATED FOR THE 1998 EDGAR AWARDPRAISE FOR THE PRIORESS' TALE"When this series debuted, its publisher hailed Frazer as the logical successor to Ellis Peters... With a number of strong books already under her belt, Frazer may actually make her publisher's dream come true." - Star Tribune"Often chastised for her disobedience and made to do penance, Sister Frevisse's curious nature still wins out as she uses logic and her intelligence to sleuth with the best of them." - Rendezvous"Frazer is writing one of the most consistently excellent historical series in print today." - Murder Ink"Clearly, the setting is the star here, and Frazer is generous with her details of abbey life." - Publishers Weekly"Margaret Frazer continues her splendid series of medieval mysteries... She has a sure grasp of the realities of medieval life: Its careless cruelty, effortless hypocrisy - particularly in matters of religion - and its disregard for women who could wield influence only in the most indirect ways." - MLB NewsPRAISE FOR THE SISTER FREVISSE MEDIEVAL MYSTERY SERIES"A smooth and absorbing saga of conspiracy and treachery in 15th-century England..." - Publishers Weekly"Margaret Frazer has quietly claimed her place as one of the preeminent writers of historical crime fiction, delivering the whole package - a good mystery, wonderful characters, and a fascinating period of history... Her novels are a dream to read." - Aunt Agatha's Newsletter"Exciting writing, colorful characters, and historical accuracy." - St. Paul Pioneer Press"The setting brims with historical details... A brilliant study of human nature... Ms. Frazer reveals her genius... Highly recommended." - Historical Novels Review"Mystery... Suspense... Frazer executes with audacity and ingenuity." - Kirkus ReviewsA Romantic Times Top Pick.Twice nominated for the Minnesota Book Award.Twice nominated for the Edgar Award.