Something is amiss in the village of Badley Compton... Binoculars at the ready, Flappy Scott-Booth is set to investigate. Newcomers have moved in, a young couple from London, delightful no doubt but they do need to know their place. Who better to teach them the ways of this close-knit community than Flappy herself? But Flappy has other distractions. An ardent admirer, a New Year's Ball to organize and manifold appearances to be kept up. How much time and effort it all takes! Add to the mix the sudden arrival of her son Jasper with his utterly charming persona and total lack of ambition and drive, accompanied by his pretentious wife and their two highly-strung children - and Flappy is on ultra-high alert. Endlessly entertaining, fabulously fun and gorgeously gossipy, Flappy Investigates is the pitch-perfect follow-up to the bestselling Flappy Entertains.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of An Italian Girl in Brooklyn comes a captivating new novel of enduring love and devastating secrets, based on a true story. 'Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore' JOJO MOYES Rupert promised he was going to come back. All Florence had to do was wait. Cornwall, 1944 When Rupert Dash is declared missing, presumed dead during the Battle of Arnhem, his wife, Florence, is devastated. She can’t accept that he has gone from her life forever, and so when she finds a poem called ‘Wait for Me’ hidden in an old book, she believes it’s a sign from her husband. A promise that he will return to her. London, 1988 Since childhood Max has suffered from a recurring nightmare. Surrounded by the horrific chaos of World War Two, he has an urgent mission he knows he must complete. But time after time, the dream ends with him awaking in terror, his heart pounding from the horror of the battlefield. Desperate to understand why he is haunted by such terrible visions, Max embarks on a journey that leads him to Cornwall and a man named Rupert Dash. Australia, 1995 Florence receives a letter from someone she has never met, who lives on the other side of the world. This stranger says he remembers a life that belonged to another before him. Could this be the one person Florence has waited over fifty years to meet again? 'Based on a true story this gorgeous sweeping romance crossing time and continents is completely captivating as Florence epitomises the enduring power of love' My Weekly

FROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR The irresistible new novel set between 1960s Tuscany and present-day Devon... Ten-year-old Floriana is captivated by the beauty of the magnificent Tuscan villa just outside her small village, and dreams of living there someday. When Dante, the son of the villa's owner, invites her inside, she knows that her destiny is there, with him. But as they grow up they cross an unseen line, jeopardizing the very thing they hold most dear… Decades later and hundreds of miles away, a beautiful old country house hotel on England's Devon coast has fallen on hard times. Its owner, Marina, hires an artist-in-residence to stay the summer and teach the guests how to paint. The man she finds is charismatic and wise and begins to pacify the discord in her family and transform the fortunes of the hotel. However, it soon becomes clear that he is not who he seems… From the Italian countryside to the English coast, The House by the Sea is a moving and mysterious tale of love, forgiveness and the past revealed. This book has been published in the US under the title The Mermaid Garden. ***PRAISE FOR SANTA MONTEFIORE*** ‘Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore’ JOJO MOYES ‘An enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments’ DINAH JEFFERIES on Songs of Love and War ‘Santa Montefiore hits the spot for my like few other writers’ SARRA MANNING ‘One of our personal favourites’ THE TIMES on The Last Secret of the Deverills ‘Accomplished and poetic’ Daily Mail ‘Santa Montefiore is a marvel’ Sunday Express

FIVE full-length standalone light historical mysteries in one volume! Join Cordelia, Lady Cornbrook and her eclectic household as she fights crime, unearths secrets, and fends off the advances of unsuitable men. These Victorian murder mysteries are set in Britain in the 1840s, and take a light, frothy look at the fun side of history. It's not quite Dickens. Maybe Dickens at a party after a few too many brandies. They are rooted in accuracy, though (there are author's notes at the back and everything, which makes it legit). In An Unmourned Man, we meet Cordelia for the first time. She's widowed, titled, entitled, and plunged into an exciting adventure which features a country doctor wearing only his shirt and breeches. There's callisthenics, a surly coachman, a cad with copious facial hair, laudanum and society balls. Riots and Revelations takes us to the grim north, which is all mills and rain and working class uprisings. There's a dashing cavalry officer and a passionate rabble-rousing Chartist, trouble at t'mill, wayward servants, night-time escapades with weaponry, and a large pig. In The House of Secrets and Lies returns Cordelia to London, and to the heart of British politics, which is actually more interesting than it sounds. Cordelia vows to stop a miscarriage of justice. But she is too rich to go into the lowest parts of Victorian London, too female to go into the clubs and coffee houses, and too scandalous to go to the parties and balls. The fourth book, Daughters of Disguise, leaves England and takes Cordelia and her household to Wales. It's a different country, with its own language, its own traditions, and its own history of justice. Cordelia has joined forces with the local constable, and together they are up against not only the murderer, but the local council ... and even the local people. And finally, in The Continental Gentleman, she confronts her past. It's not pleasant, but luckily she's armed with a short, stabby sword. It's late summer and Cordelia is rattling around her Surrey estate, annoying the servants and causing the gardeners to hide in the bushes. Her old friend – or nemesis – Hugo Hawke turns up, and he's closely followed by his own past. It's good news … at first. These novels contain innuendo but no graphic scenes or language, and may be considered clean and suitable for all readers.

Inspector Singh is irate. He's been instructed to attend a Commonwealth conference on policing in London: a job for paper pushers, not real cops, as far as he is concerned. And as if that isn't bad enough, his wife is determined to come along to shop for souvenirs and visit previously unknown relatives. But it isn't long before the cold case that lands on Singh's ample lap turns into a hot potato and he has to outwit Scotland Yard, his wife and London's finest criminals to prevent more frightful executions from occurring on his watch - or indeed, from being added to their number.

From the beloved bestselling author Santa Montefiore comes a new novel filled with humour and heart. For fans of The Temptation of Gracie, Flappy now takes centre stage, more charismatic and competitive than ever. ‘Fresh, fun and fabulous! Flappy certainly kept me entertained!’ Heidi Swain, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Winter Garden Underneath her graceful exterior lies a passion nobody knew about, least of all Flappy herself… Flappy Scott-Booth is the self-appointed queen bee of Badley Compton, a picturesque Devon village. While her husband Kenneth spends his days on the golf course, she is busy overseeing her beautiful house and gardens, and organising unforgettable events, surrounded by friends who hang on to her every word. Her life is a reflection of herself – impossibly perfect. Until the day that Hedda Harvey-Smith and her husband Charles move into the village. Into an even grander home than hers. Taking the front seat on the social scene, quite literally. That simply will not do. Flappy is determined to show Hedda how things are done here in Badley Compton. But then she looks into Charles’s beautiful green eyes. And suddenly, her focus is elsewhere. She is only human, after all… Praise for Flappy Entertains: ‘Santa Montefiore is a born storyteller’ Woman’s Weekly ‘A friendly, undemanding read in unfriendly, demanding times’ Daily Mail ‘A keeping up with the Joneses tale that will life your spirits in no time’ New! ‘Another winner from the author who writes about relationships so astutely’ Belfast Telegraph 'Packed with wickedly funny insights and throwaway lines and written with an extra-large helping of heart, this is the perfect escape for anyone in need of of a book hug!' Lancashire Post ‘With its air of nostalgia, gentle humour and snobbery, this is a super but also surprising read’ NFOP magazine Praise for Santa Montefiore: 'Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore' JOJO MOYES 'An enchanting read, overflowing with deliciously poignant moments' DINAH JEFFRIES 'Santa Montefiore hits the spot for me like few other writers' SARRA MANNING 'One of our personal favourites' The Times ‘Accomplished and poetic’ Daily Mail ‘Santa Montefiore is a marvel’ Sunday Express

A spellbinding novel about marriage, passion, loss, renewal, and the healing power of love from the number one bestselling author of Songs of Love and War. Married couple, Miranda and David, move out of London into a beautiful country house with an idyllic garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their bucolic dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness. Then a mysterious Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda discovers his secret in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season, but generation after generation. Wise and winsome, poignant and powerfully moving, The French Gardener combines the savvy of contemporary women's fiction with an old fashioned sensibility steeped in the importance of family and the magical power of love.