Margaret Murphy

Bringing together fiction from some of the city’s most celebrated writers, The Book of Liverpool traces the unique contours that decades of social and economic change can impress on a city. Set against key historical moments from the Second World War to the Capital of Culture year, these stories question what ‘belonging’ and ‘home’ mean in the Liverpudlian context, from the regenerated city centre to satellite suburbs, from the sparring cathedrals to the no-go concrete housing estates. Liverpool emerges in these short stories as a city in constant flux: haunted by ghosts, buoyed up by myths, and shifting with an ebb and flow like the Mersey itself.

A body swinging in the trees. A mysterious hit and run. Detective Cassie Rowan tackles the most disturbing case of her career.Just before dawn on a clear October morning. Detective Cassie Rowan is driving home, exhausted, after a gruelling night on duty. Her headlights catch a sudden flash of movement by the side of the road, a streak of bright, metallic blue. Cassie pulls over to take a look. For a moment, she thinks she imagined it: a body swaying among the trees - hanging from a branch.Cassie scrambles up the slope, already dialling emergency services. And stops short. The macabre sight that greets her is not what she expected at all . . .A week later, there's a fatal accident on the same stretch of road. Seventeen-year-old Damian Novak mown down in a hit-and-run. No witnesses.Something about Damian's death doesn't add up. Cassie is convinced that the hit-and-run and her mysterious swinging body are connected.Cassie discovers that Damian isn't the first local teenager to have died in strange circumstances . . . and he won't be the last.In each case, a sinister effigy of the victim appears a week before their death.Cassie is in a race against time to track down a brutal killer before they kill again.

Murder Squad, a group of award-winning crime and mystery writers, celebrate their twenty-first birthday with a bang in this criminally good collection of short stories.A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope . . . Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results . . . A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive' . . . A train traveller teaches a valuable lesson in reading labels . . . A day at the seaside turns stormy for a woman who doesn't care for foreigners . . . A wealthy retiree makes a new friend who connects her to the Other Side . . . and much much more.Short, sharp and packed with twists, these 21 unputdownable tales showcase Murder Squad's range and talent throughout the years. So why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad 'Many Deadly Returns'.With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

A powerful collection of chilling crime with new, modern stories and classic tales reaching back into ancient, medieval, Elizabethan and Victorian fiction: from Oedipus Rex and Thomas More's story of the Princes in the Tower to Scheherazade's 'The Three Apples' and the chilling crime fiction of Dickens, Poe, Henry James, Baroness Orczy, Wilkie Collins and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The new, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Jeremy Bates, Jesse Bethea, Allan Burd, Laura J. Campbell, Ramsey Campbell, D.R. Cartwright, Robert Ford, Tyler Jones, Theresa Konwinski, Alexes Lester, Robert Lopresti, Tom Mead, Marshall J. Moore, Jane Nightshade, Christi Nogle, Michael Penncavage, Zandra Renwick, Dan Stout, and Steve Toase. The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Murder Squad, a group of award-winning crime and mystery writers, celebrate their twenty-first birthday with a bang in this criminally good collection of short stories.A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope . . . Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results . . . A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive' . . . A train traveller teaches a valuable lesson in reading labels . . . A day at the seaside turns stormy for a woman who doesn't care for foreigners . . . A wealthy retiree makes a new friend who connects her to the Other Side . . . and much much more.Short, sharp and packed with twists, these 21 unputdownable tales showcase Murder Squad's range and talent throughout the years. So why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad 'Many Deadly Returns'.With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

A beautiful African princess is kidnapped and sold into slavery. With the spirits of her homeland beside her, she makes the best of life in the New World.A handsome French plantation-owner's son is sent away from France in disgrace. With innocent curiosity and an open mind, he finds a new home and true love.An anxious Parisian schoolgirl tastes freedom for the first time. With wide-eyed trust and gratitude, she treads the certain road to doom.The king of the estate believes he can free his people from the scars of slavery. With the fire of vengeance in his heart, he obeys the dictates of fear.Met Kalfou watches over them, satisfied that everything is going according to plan.Life Without The Liar celebrates everything that unites us and eliminates anything that sets us apart.Life Without The Liar dreams now of healing.