Leo Drake, the “Mad Monk of Monkcrest,” is notoriously eccentric and unquestionably reclusive.  But he is also a noted antiquities expert, which is why Beatrice Poole has demanded his reluctant assistance.
The freethinking authoress of “horrid novels,” Beatrice is searching for the Forbidden Rings of Aphrodite, a mythic treasure she suspects played a role in her uncle's death.  Beatrice finds Leo every...

Barbara Bunde is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara's bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel ... if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out.

Biographer Rona Parish has a new project, contributing a series for the local glossy magazine, Chiltern Life, documenting life changing experiences from those who have lived through them. When her father suggests she speaks to his friend Frank Hathaway, who was in Iraq during the invasion of Kuwait, Rona decides to pay him a visit. But Frank was also badly injured in a failed rescue attempt following a car crash the previous year, and has been tormented...

After the death of her siblings, Charlotte has few people she can trust, and feels more alone than ever. While visiting London, Charlotte goes on a tour of Bedlam, where she is sure she recognizes a struggling Mr. Slade, her long-missing ex-lover, strapped to one of the stretchers. Of course, she starts digging, and soon finds herself trying to reveal a secret that high-powered men would, and do, kill to protect.

From established literary heavyweights to emerging spoken word artists, the writers in this ground-breaking collection blow away the narrow image of the 'Muslim Woman'. Hear from users of Islamic Tinder, a disenchanted Maulana working as a TV chat-show host, and a plastic surgeon blackmailed by MI6. Follow the career of an actress with Middle-Eastern heritage whose dreams of starring in Ghostbusters spiral down into repeat castings as a jihadi bride....