Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Continuing the addictive saga of the Morland family, now with its many branches spread across the Empire and the new world.

SHALLOW GRAVE: The Old Rectory is the kind of house Detective Inspector Bill Slider would give anything to own. But the dead body of Jennifer Andrews, found in a hole on the terrace, rather spoils the view. It looks like a straightforward case: Jennifer was a congenital flirt, and the hole was dug by her builder husband Eddie, who was violent and jealous. But questions remain unanswered. Why was Jennifer's body so unmarked? And how did she reach her shallow grave unnoticed?BLOOD SINISTER: Award-winning ex-Guardian hack Phoebe Agnew had a name for championing the underdog - and for attacking the police in print. When her trussed and strangled body is found in her chaotic flat, Detective Inspector Slider must demonstrate the impartiality of the law and find her killer. Unidentified fingerprints, a missing ligature, alibis offered when none is required - Slider is on a race against time to untangle the web of lies and hidden relationships.

August 1914: the whole country is thrilled by the declaration of war. The British Experditionary Force goes off toe France to defend gallant little Belgium, and thousands more young men rush to volunteer, hoping to see action before the war ends at Christmas. At home everyone competes to be doing the most for the war effort. The Morlands have their share of volunteers, and no-one can say they aren't at the very heart of things. But when Christmas comes the war is far from over, and nine in ten of the men who marched, singing, down the white road to Mons have fallen ...

England in 1912 still bears itself with Edwardian confidence, but strikes, protests and public violence reveal the fault lines as society evolves under the spur of new ideas and technology. Among the many branches of the Morland family, Jessie and Violet, childhood friends, learn to cope with the surprises of marriage and motherhood and their different strata of society. Jack, disappointed in love, loses himself in designing aircraft and training airmen for the newly formed flying corps. And Anne exhausted by the Suffragette struggle, seeks comfort in her friendship with an unconventional young woman. The Titanic tragedy shakes the confidence of a people used to conquering nature with engineering; and all the while, the troubled nations of Europe edge closer to a war no-one wants, but which seems inevitable.

DEAD END: A call-out to a murder saves D.I Bill Slider from having to finish his canteen lunch, but presents him with the problem of a dead conductor. In life Sir Stefan Radek was seriously famous and terminally unpleasant, but neither of these facts seem reason enough to gun him down in a neo-Byzantine church in Shepherd's Bush.BLOOD LINES: A celebrated music critic seems to have committed suicide just before appearing on a live television show, but Slider suspects it is murder when it is shown that the body had been interfered with and when he learns that the victim had quarreled violently with his fellow panelists.KILLING TIME: Only half-recovered from an assault from the last villain he encountered, Slider is forced to investigate the murder of an erotic dancer, finding himself having to question lap-dancers, prostitutes, pimps and cabinet ministers, and discovering one of his fellow officers has dubious links with all of them.

Edwardian England is a country at the peak of its power; a kingdom of peace, prosperity and progress. As Jessie and Violet enjoy their coming-out in the glittering Season of 1908, their thoughts are of pleasure, dancing and falling in love.For the Morlands things seem set fair: new business ventures expand their influence and wealth; there are weddings, babies in the nursery, careers for the boys now reaching manhood. It is an exciting age, with new technologies - motor cars, telephones, radio, aeroplanes - extending man's control over the natural world.But under the appearance of permanence, a different reality is stirring. Socialism, the suffrage movement, the constitutional crisis, all call forth ever more dissent and anger. Increasingly violent protests and strikes disturb the peace; war with Germany looms ever closer. With the King's death, it begins to seem that the safe Edwardian world was only a dream, from which the wakening will be hard indeed.

In the last years of the 19th century the Morlands' fortunes are changing for the better, as Henrietta and Jerome find a true home at Morland Place, and Teddy ploughs his profits into restoring it. But the cruelties of the Boer War and the Queen's death shake the foundations of a confident nation.

Continuing the history of the Morland family, this episode introduces a period of peace and reconciliation for the scattered Morlands. Henrietta is at last able to marry Jerome, but must settle away from Yorkshire. She also contacts her cousin, Lady Venetia, now a qualified doctor.

The upcoming marriage of Venetia, eldest daughter of the Duke of Southport, is the talk of London society. But with just weeks to go, Venetia cries off - unable to accept that her husband will forbid her to study medicine. Meanwhile at Morland Place, George's new wife is whittling away his fortune.

George Morland, newly master of Morland Place, embarks on a grand improvement of the estate. Henrietta marries the rector and their cousin, Venetia, sets out to become a doctor. But the agricultural slump threatens Morland Place with ruin and each Morland must come to terms with harsh reality.

Benedict Morland's comfortable life is upset when an old enemy's dying wish leaves him the guardian of an orphaned boy. No-one, including his wife Sibella, can understand why Benedict accepts Lennox into his household. Amidst growing hostility, he takes the boy to America.

An omnibus edition of the first three novels ("Orchestrated Death", "Death Watch" and "Necrochip") featuring Detective Inspector Bill Slider - middle-class, middle-aged and, according to his partner Atherton, menopausal.

In 1851 the fortunes of the Morland family are more buoyant than they have been for years. Morland Place is recovering under Benjamin's steady hands - happy at last with Sibella. Charlotte, now Duchess of Southport, is shortly to give birth to hersecond child and on the point of opening her modern hospital for the poor. Cavendish's engagement to the ethereally beautiful but slightly silly Miss Phipps causes a stir in the drawing rooms of Mayfair and his wedding causes his family some misgivings. Then the storms in Europe spill in to Britain when the army is forced to defend Turkey against the Tsar. Within weeks Cavendish is in the Crimea and disappears in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Another moving and beautifully portrayed episode in the riveting Morland saga.

1843: the early years of Queen Victoria's reign witness much high-level debate at the Palace of Westminster, but nothing can interfere with Society's enjoyment of the Season.When Charlotte Meldon's father dies, she believes herself to be destitute, but a lawyer's letter reveals that she is not only part of the great Morland family, but wealthy and a countess in her own right. She is expected to make a great marriage, and with her vivacious cousin Fanny by her side, she is launched into her first Season. But it is Fanny, the hardened flint, who loses her heart first, while Charlotte catches the eye of Oliver Fleetwood, the most eligible man in London.Then the Season ends in disillusion, and Charlotte rebels against a life of idle amusement. With calm courage she flouts convention and embarks on a new journey which will change her life in very unexpected ways.

1833: the industrial age is sweeping through England and the Stephensons are planning the greatest engineering scheme ever undertaken- a railway line from Liverpool to London.At Morland Place, Nicholas had hoped that his brother Benedict, had been banished forever, but railway fever has brought Benedict back to Yorkshire as an engineer on the Leeds & Selby line. It is a lonely life and he fears he will never be wealthy enough to marry his new love, Miss Fleetham. Nicholas fears that Benedict is not only a threat to his inheritance but to Morland Place itself, as plans to bring the railway to York will desecrate the estate.The conflict between the brothers mirrors the nation's battle between the old and new, but the Morland feud seems certain to end in tragedy and no-one the victor.

The 14th volume in the DYNASTY series continues the story of the Morland family, the tragedies as well as the humour of the winter season in the fashionable city of Brussels, as tension mounts between England and France after Napoleon's escape from Elba until tragedy looms on the eve of Waterloo.

1831: as England emerges from the post war depression, the country is changing, and the birth pains of the Reform Act bring it to the brink of revolution.The violent times breed violent acts, both outside and inside the Morland family. Sophie's life is shattered by a hideous crime. Rosamund learns that achieving her dreams brings as much pain as pleasure. Heloise, mourning her beloved James, lets control of Morland Place fall into chaos- Benedict has to flee his home and makes a life amongst the railway pioneers, while Nicholas now has the freedom to indulge the dark side of his nature.And amongst them all stalks the deadly, invisible threat of cholera.

The saga of the Morland family continues as Charles II dies and is succeeded by James II. The family's world of peace and prosperity give way to rebellion and discord. Jealousy, betrayal and violent death threaten Annunciata's children, and the executioner's axe is turned towards the Morlands.

The "Dynasty" series continues with 1820s England pioneering the machine age - gas-lighting, power-looms, and there's even talk of a steam locomotive. For the wealthy Morland family, too, it is a time of progress and change.

As the 19th century unfolds, the bloody war against Napoleon continues. For the Morland family, private problems mirror the turmoil around them. The happiness of James and Heloise is threatened by his rebellious daughter Fanny, who is determined to marry the unscrupulous Lieutenant Hawker.