The discovery of an old scrapbook in a Warsaw library leads researcher Phineas Fox to uncover evidence of a devastating wartime atrocity. "We had no choice. But it was a bad way for them to die." When music researcher Phineas Fox is asked to verify the contents of an old scrapbook, rescued from the site of the historic Chopin Library in Warsaw, he is initially sceptical. But he soon discovers an intriguing link between the Library and an infamous piece of music known as the Dark Cadence. Legend has it that the Dark Cadence was only performed at a traitor's execution - and it has never been written down. It is believed to have last been played on the night the Chopin Library was destroyed during the Nazi occupation of World War II. What really happened that terrible night in October, 1944? What is the connection with an equally dreadful night in Russia in 1918, the night the Tsar and his family were executed? And what are the repercussions for the...

A macabre liturgy. A mysterious carving. An intriguing 200-year-old mystery for music researcher Phineas Fox to solve.The headmistress of Cresacre Abbey School has asked Phineas Fox to establish whether an opera, to be performed as part of the school's bicentenary celebrations, plagiarises an earlier work. During the course of his investigations, Phin discovers that curious legends about the school's past still linger, including the fate of a group of nuns who disappeared without trace more than 200 years before. What exactly happened to them? And who is the mysterious Ginevra, the shadowy figure whose true identity has never been known ...?As he delves further, Phin begins to unravel a series of interlocking secrets, each one more puzzling – and sinister – than the last.

Introducing the Fitzglens and their theatre of thieves in this spellbinding gothic mystery!"Superb . . . Lovers of British historical mysteries with a dash of romance and gothic atmosphere will clamor for more" - Publishers Weekly Starred ReviewLondon, 1908. The Fitzglens are proud of their reputation as one of London's leading theatre families. They are, however, equally proud of another profession which they pursue very discreetly . . . When not on stage, they are thieves.Jack Fitzglen's latest plan is to seek out the infamous Talisman Chalice, steal it and create a dazzling piece of theatre around it. He travels to Vallow Hall in Northumberland to find the mysterious Maude – the last known link to the Chalice – but uncovers something far darker. Scandal, secrets and danger lurk in every shady corner. Perhaps the legend of the Chalice has come true: that in the wrong hands, the Chalice...

Researching the history of a dilapidated Elizabeth manor house, Phineas Fox uncovers the shocking truth behind a mysterious - and deadly - dance. Having unexpectedly inherited an Elizabethan manor house in rural Norfolk, the new owner Quentin Rivers has asked Phineas Fox to investigate the house's history. Phin soon becomes immersed in The Tabor's dark and mysterious past, and in the course of his research uncovers tales of a curious dance, the Cwellan Daunsen: a dance that has not been performed for centuries but whose strange legend still lingers. The dance has a dark side; whenever it took place, children were told to stay indoors - and on no account to look through their windows . . . As Phin delves further, the terrible secrets of The Tabor and the Rivers family ancestors begin to reveal themselves, secrets stretching back more than six hundred years. But as the past gradually creeps up on the present, is history destined to repeat itself . . . ?

Researching a biography of the composer Franz Liszt, Phineas Fox uncovers evidence of a brutal murder - and finds his own life in danger. Music researcher Phineas Fox has been enjoying his latest commission, gathering background material for a biography of Franz Liszt. But although he has - as anticipated - uncovered plenty of scandal in the 19th century composer's past, matters take a decidedly unexpected turn when his investigations lead to Linklighters, a newly-opened Soho restaurant built on the site of an old Victorian music hall, and unearth evidence of a possible murder involving the notorious music hall performer known as Scaramel. Just what was Liszt's connection to Scaramel ... and, through her, to the infamous Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper? As he delves further, Phin's enquiries uncover clues to a fascinating and extraordinary story - and plunge his own life into jeopardy.

Another day, another grand scheme! The thieving Fitzglen family are back in this second instalment of the spellbinding Theatre of Thieves gothic mystery series set in Victorian England.London, 1908. The Fitzglens, one of London's leading theatre families and part-time thieves, are plotting their next scheme when they receive terrible news about Great Uncle Montague. He's been killed in a tragic accident at his Notting Hill home. Montague will be much missed, not just for his talent in art forgery, but his death provides an unlooked-for opportunity: the chance to search for his infamous iron box. No one knows what it contains - if, that is, it even exists - but Jack Fitzglen is certain it has to be something highly valuable . . . or extremely dangerous. Why else would the grand master of storytelling have refused to even drop a hint?Jack is amazed when he finds the box - and even more amazed by its contents. An unknown play by one of Ireland's...

Secretly aware of his own shortcomings as a writer, Tod Miller appeals to his daughter, Fael, to help him construct a full stage musical. One evening Fael is accosted by a mysterious young man who claims he can help her write the show. However, there's a sinister condition attached to his offer.

A mysterious 1940s' portrait leads researcher Phineas Fox to uncover a devastating wartime secret in this chilling novel of suspense. Phineas Fox finds it impossible to refuse when his sport-loving neighbour Toby begs for his help in finding out what's happened to his cousin Arabella, who seems to have disappeared without trace. The only clue to her whereabouts is an obscure 1940s' portrait left in her flat, a gift from her godfather, Stefan. The painting depicts the mysterious Christa Klein, Stefan's sister - and an alleged murderess. Was Christa Klein really guilty of a monstrous crime? What exactly happened within brooding Wewelsburg Castle back in 1941? And what does it have to do with Arabella's disappearance? As Phin delves further, he uncovers evidence of a lost piece of music and a devastating wartime secret: an atrocity whose repercussions reach to the present day.

When Benedict Doyle finds himself the owner of his great-grandfather's north London house, he is dismayed. For it was in that house, as a frightened eight-year-old, that the strange glimpses into his great-grandfather's life began: eerie shutter-flash images that have gradually revealed sinister darkness in his family's past. Through that darkness runs the grisly thread of an old legend about a chess set - 32 carved figures believed to possess a dark power, but shut away in the forgotten library of a tumbledown Irish castle for many decades. When Michael Flint, meeting Benedict in Oxford, starts to research his story, chilling facts begin to emerge - facts that suggest the old legend contains a disturbing reality. And when Nell West, no stranger to the eeriness of old properties, begins to compile an inventory of Holly Lodge's contents for her antique business, it seems that the chess set's malevolence might be reaching out to the present . . .

On inheriting his grandfather's tumbledown Irish cottage, adjoining the grounds of an old monastery, Isarel West discovers some old sheet music composed by his grandfather entitled the Devil's Piper Suite, and starts to play it. But little can he realize the evil that the music conjures up.

A house with a sinister past - and a grisly power - When Michael Flint is asked by American friends to look over an old Shropshire house they have unexpectedly inherited, he is reluctant to leave the quiet of his Oxford study. But when he sees Charect House, its uncanny echoes from the past fascinate him - even though it has such a sinister reputation that no one has lived there for almost a century. But it's not until Michael meets the young widow, Nell West, that the menace within the house wakes . . .

"The dangerous thing about spider light is that it hides things - things you never knew existed. But once you have seen those things, you can never afterwards forget them ..." Antonia Weston has come to the sleepy market town of Amberwood in search of peace and anonymity after a shattering and all-too-public tragedy in her life. But shortly after her arrival, a series of disturbing incidents occur - incidents that eerily echo a past she is trying to forget. As Antonia struggles to re-build her life, she becomes increasingly fascinated by the macabre history surrounding her: the disused watermill, Twygrist, with its brooding darkness, and the now-vanished Latchkill Asylum. Memories of Latchkill still linger: memories of how, when the autumn dusk - the 'spider-light' - fell, no one would dare walk past its gates. Because a hundred years ago, people lost their identities inside Latchkill's walls. People such as the innocent Maud Lincoln, jolted out of that innocence by a brutal plot. But Antonia's fascination with the linked histories of Latchkill and Twygrist has alerted someone from her own past. Someone who knows all about Twygrist's darkness. Someone prepared to use that knowledge in the most horrific way ...