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MARCH NEW TITLES FROM ALLISON & BUSBY
Reviews, where relevant, appear on the appropriate page...
JACK LUDLOW: REPUBLIC ~ THE PILLARS OF ROME. ‘One shall tame a mighty foe, the other strike to save
Rome’s fame, neither will achieve their aim. Look aloft if you dare, though what
you fear cannot fly, both will face it before you die’
This is the first book in a captvating new Roman trilogy set in the sixty
years just preceding the advent of the Caesars (hence just preceding Conn
Iggulden’s Emperor series), it is the fascinating era of the Social Wars – a
time of political turmoil, when there was no one source of power in Rome, but
many. It is a Kane and Able tale on a massive historical canvas – two boys born on
the same day - one unwanted and raised in poverty, the other in wealth – who
grow up to contest for the soul of the Roman Empire. Born into a world full of
intrigue, murder, they need to fight numerous enemies in the Senate, in the
field and at sea, to the east, the west, the north and in Africa But most of
all, they must fight each other. Youths Lucius and Allus appeal to the Sybil, Roman oracle and mystic, for a
glimpse into their future. But all she offers are ominous words and a small
metal charm of an eagle… Over twenty years later and the men are still friends. Allus, a former
governor and a respected soldier, must face his toughest battle yet when his
wife Claudia is captured by Celtic invaders. Although the couple are reunited,
what ignoble shame now threatens to fall upon Allus’ family? Lucius, a Patrician politician, lives by strict Roman codes. His social
position gives him an advantage over others which he uses and abuses. All Lucius
lacks is an heir, a problem to which he must find a permanent and sinister
solution… And meanwhile a peasant boy, Aquilla, is rising through the ranks and it
becomes clear that he has a destiny to fulfil. As Aquilla gains in strength,
could the old Sybil’s words prove more powerful than Allus and Lucius ever
imagined?
MARGARET IRWIN: THE GALLIARD> Queen of Scotland at six days
old. Queen of France at
seventeen years old. A widow at eighteen.
The young and trusting Mary, Queen of Scots, is sailing home to her kingdom after years in exile. The danger from her cousin, the English Queen, has not lessened since then. Religious divides threaten to tear the nation apart and, across the border, Elizabethkeenly watches this new threat to her throne. Amid the furious turmoil and uncertainty in her Scottish kingdom, Mary finds she has one loyal servant – James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, a ‘glorious, rash and hazardous young man’ known to all as the Galliard. In Bothwell’s courage and love for her, Mary finds serenity, and though fate works against them, no force can conquer their spirit.
ED O'CONNOR: PRIMAL CUT. Eight years ago, the national tabloids had a feeding frenzy
over the ‘Primal Cut’ killings. The Garrod brothers, East
End butchers, had turned their expertise to rendering human flesh.
The case made DS Alison Dexter notorious. She identified the
murderers and ended their orgy of killing, but in the process took what
Bartholomew Garrod most valued: his brother’s life. With her career in ruins and
her personal safety in jeopardy, Dexter was transferred to Cambridgeshire. Now Dexter finds herself drawn into an investigation probing
the underbelly of the area’s crime scene – bare-knuckle boxing, dog fights and
murder. As she gets closer to the truth, it’s clear Garrod hasn’t forgotten the
debt she owes him – he wants his pound of flesh and will do whatever it takes to
get it.
JUDITH CUTLER: STILL WATERS. One cold, wet evening in an otherwise unusually dry April, a
man falls from the fifth floor window of a hotel in Hythe. Did he jump or was
he pushed? Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is already
struggling to juggle her work and private life: she is having difficulties
finding a company willing to restore her and her boyfriend’s new home and has to
put Mark up in her own cottage whilst the work is completed. And now, why did this man jump from a hotel balcony when he
had a perfectly good balcony at home? A glitch with the water system and her boyfriend’s
troublesome daughter add more problems to Fran’s lot. Can she find
the time to discover what it is that appears not quite right about Alec Minton’s
death?
M J TROW: MAXWELL'S CHAIN. Peter ‘Mad Max’ Maxwell is a very busy man; as Head of Sixth
Form at Leighford High he does his best to resist Ofsted imperatives and mark
GCSE coursework, whilst trying to cram as much History as possible into the
reluctant heads of Nine Eff Gee and their like. Despite this, Max still finds time for some amateur
sleuthing, even though his policewoman ‘Significant Other’, DS Jacquie
Carpenter, has decided that this time he’s leaving any murder investigations
to her. But how can he refuse when the terminally nervous school photographer
asks for his help after accidentally photographing a murder on the beach? Their discovery of a body buried in the sand dunes sets in
motion a chain of events that only the redoubtable Mad Max can break, but one
thing is certain; life in Leighford will never be the same again.
M J TROW: MAXWELL'S POINT. With girlfriend DS Jacquie Carpenter back at work and little
baby Nolan rapidly growing into a feisty toddler, Peter ‘Mad Max’ Maxwell, Head
of Sixth Form at Leighford High, decides to hire an au pair. The exotic Juanita
Reyes hails from the sun-drenched isle of Menorca, and whilst the good old British weather can’t
hold a candle to the Menorcan sun, Juanita doesn’t appear to mind a bit. She
seems perfectly happy in the sleepy little seaside town, doting on baby Nolan
and working hard to improve her English. Then one afternoon Max returns home to find Nolan gurgling
happily in his cot, but sees no sign of his au pair; the lovely Juanita has
disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, two ramblers are surprised and more than a
little disturbed when Patches the border Collie digs up an arm, which presumably
belongs to a body, on Dead Man’s Point – the lonely cliff top rising high over
the sea.
JOHN MALCOLM: THE CHIPPENDALE FACTOR (A&B HB) Justin Harrington, controversial television presenter of the
antique show How Old Is It? is found dead in his car in Yorkshire, in suspicious circumstances. Old school friend and antiques
dealer Bill Franklin is bemused by Harrington’s death, wondering if his shady
past is to blame. When another mutual school friend, also in the antiques
business, is shot dead Bill finds himself caught up in a mystery in which he is
prime suspect. Dragged into a dangerous world of murder, intrigue and
forgery, Bill takes it upon himself to turn sleuth and get to the bottom of
Justin’s death, before he becomes the next victim. Why does his investigation
always seem to return to his former friend’s dealings in France and Yorkshire, and his obsession with Chippendale
furniture? Using Justin’s former position on a national antiques fund,
he is able to involve himself more and more in Justin’s world, and discover the
truth about his dealings, his death and Chippendale.
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Gateway is published by Paul Edmund Norman on the first day of each month. Hosting is by Flying Porcupine at www.flyingporcupine.com - and web design by Gateway. Submitting to Gateway: Basically, all you need do is e-mail it along and I'll consider it - it can be any length, if it's very long I'll serialise it, if it's medium-length I'll put it in as a novella, if it's a short story or a feature article it will go in as it comes. Payment is zero, I'm afraid, as I don't make any money from Gateway, I do it all for fun! For Advertising rates in Gateway please contact me at paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk Should you be kind enough to want to send me books to review, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward you my home address. Meanwhile, here's how to contact me: paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk