Local historian and broadcaster Ken Pye has collected a further fifty true tales that celebrate the weird and wonderful side of Merseyside's history. From the subterranean munitions factory at New Brighton and the bird-man of Speke, to wild tigers at Tranmere and a mysterious leprechaun, you are sure to uncover some truly amazing and extraordinary stories here. Richly illustrated, this fantastic collection will delight everyone interested in finding out more about Merseyside's strange and curious heritage.

The short story should enlighten, excite and above all, entertain the reader from an early stage. It is the skill of grasping interest from the outset and retaining such that remains the aim of any writer. THE LADY IN BLACK and Other City Tales collects fourteen short stories set in a different city at a time of particular interest in each chosen destinations history. When better to visit Venice than at the time of Casanova (BECKFORDS VENETIAN AFFAIR) or Vienna in the dying days of the belle epoch of Emperor Franz Josef ? In THE LADY IN BLACK , the mystery of Gustav Klimts last missing portrait is solved in a thrilling journey through the battlefields of the second world war to the present day (and where a particularly chilling twist is revealed at the storys conclusion!). In DUPONTS REVENGE, the French Resistance is reactivated in 1970s Nice to deal with a troublesome neighbour, and in present day Liverpool, a journalist discovers to his cost the consequences of meddling in the affairs of THE TOXTETH VAMPIRE. The futility of Britains celebrity obsession is evaluated in all its puerile glory where, in FALLS ROAD DON JUAN, a Belfast lothario accepts a sexual wager which if won, will see him fifty thousand pounds better off. It is common knowledge that the invasion of Britain by the German war machine seemed inevitable in 1940, but few appreciate the even greater threat to the security of the nation which occurred twenty three years earlier when Winston Churchill ordered tanks into a major British city on the verge of Bolshevik revolution. THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN tells the story of Brennan, the charismatic anarchist who came dangerously close in bringing the worlds greatest Empire to collapse. Britain is again under threat in THE LAST TARGET. Set in a future London on the brink of civil war a young intelligence operative hunts the worlds most elusive assassin on the eve of the reopening of the House of Commons destroyed by Islamic terrorists. Join three middle aged men in a touching tale of lost youth in THE INTERESTING ACCOUNTANT as they attempt to relive old times in modern day Cuba, and in DIET, a young Calgary lawyer finds success in her endeavour to loose weight but at a terrible cost. In FRANKIE AND BENNY a young Scots entrepreneur lives the American dream at the dawn of the twentieth Century in New York and gives the Marx Brothers their first break in entertainment along the way. If the purpose of the short story is to seek a response from the reader, to make them laugh, cry, sulk, shudder, frown or wince, THE LADY IN BLACK and Other City Tales delivers.

This fantastic collection of true tales celebrates the strange and curious secrets of Merseyside's history. The fifty stories inside – from the lion in the wheelbarrow on the tightrope to the twelve young women 'smothered by the incurable malady they caught of some sailors', the true tale of the 'man in the iron coffin' and the strange and mysterious disappearance of the Everest mountaineers from Birkenhead – uncover some truly amazing and extraordinary facets of the area's history and heritage. Richly illustrated and compiled by Liverpool's own historian Ken Pye, this book will delight residents and visitors alike.

'Haywood imprints his inimitable humour on his descriptions of the people and places he meets along the way.' – BBC Countryfile magazine 'He conjures up a picture of a different world, filled with interesting and eccentric people. A cross-section of the best of middle England, in fact.' – The Oxford Times Steve Haywood has been cruising the inland waterways for fifty years, and has amassed a following of readers keen to hear about his travelling tales on Britain's beautiful canals and rivers. His previously published books – Narrowboat Dreams, One Man and a Narrowboat, Too Narrow to Swing a Cat and Narrowboat Nomads – have all been hugely enjoyed by those with a desire for a narrowboat narrative told in Steve's witty, charming style. Tales from the Tillerman is Steve's next title and is both his tribute to Britain's canals, rivers and countryside and a celebration of Britishness in all its eccentric glory. Unlike Steve's previous titles, which have each focussed on one particular journey that Steve has taken, Tales from the Tillerman is casting the net wider and drawing from his full fifty years of experience, recounting the many hair-raising escapades he's had up and down the country and reflecting on how the country and the cruising landscape has changed in those fifty years. Anecdotes and light-hearted rants aplenty, mixed with some tall tales and a smattering of the nostalgic, in Tales from the Tillerman you'll be thoroughly entertained as a middle-aged man (oh, go on then, an old one) reflects on his long love affair with boats and waterways, contemplating their importance to his life and how they've changed it.

This creepy collection of true life tales takes the reader on a tour through the streets, cemeteries, alehouses, attics and docks of Liverpool. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources and containing many tales which have never before been published, it unearths a chilling range of supernatural phenomena, from the Grey Lady of Speke Hall to the ghost of John Lennon airport. Copiously illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings, this book will delight anyone with an interest in the supernatural history of the area. It is the first complete guide to the paranormal history of the region.