'The Norwegian Chandler' Jo Nesbø 'One of my very favourite Scandinavian authors' Ian Rankin 'Staalesen's most striking novel' Independent MORE THAN FIVE MILLION BOOKS SOLD WORLDWIDE September 1995. A phone call takes Verg Veum back 25 years to a case from when he was a working as a child protection officer in the summer of 1970. A small boy was separated from his mother under tragic circumstances, but it didn't end there. In 1974, the same boy surfaced in connection with a sudden death at his new home; and once again, ten years later, after a dramatic double murder in Sunnfjord. The boy is now an adult, on the run in Oslo and determined to take revenge on those responsible for destroying his life - among them Veum, now a private investigator. A chilling series of complex motives, puzzling links and deeply dysfunctional relationships are cleverly drawn together in a stunning plot that will leave you gripped to the final page. The Consorts of Death shows Staalesen at his most thrilling, thought-provoking best. Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Consorts of the Caliphs is a seventh/thirteenth-century compilation of anecdotes about thirty-eight women who were, as the title suggests, consorts to those in power, most of them concubines of the early Abbasid caliphs and wives of latter-day caliphs and sultans. This slim but illuminating volume is one of the few surviving texts by Ibn al-Saʿi (d. 674 H/1276 AD). Ibn al-Saʿi was a prolific Baghdadi scholar who chronicled the academic and political elites of his city, and whose career straddled the final years of the Abbasid dynasty and the period following the cataclysmic Mongol invasion of 656 H/1258 AD.

The Qing Dynasty was the last of the conquest dynasties to rule China. Its rulers, Manchus from the north, held power for three centuries despite major cultural and ideological differences with the Han majority. In this book, Evelyn Rawski re-interprets the remarkable success of this dynasty, arguing that it derived not from the assimilation of the dominant Chinese culture but rather from an artful synthesis of Manchu leadership styles with Han Chinese policies.

A new translation of the long-suppressed novella of the Ming Dynasty, along with notes and a scholarly study.

The Queen's Consorts. Just laying eyes on one is a death sentence. So when Sari, who spent most of her life on the streets, ends up entangled in a steamy relationship with the two most forbidden men on the planet, she knows it can't end well. After a brutal attack, Sari's taken to the Sacred City, exposing her to the secret lives of the Rayians who rule in the long lost queen's absence. It's in this darkly sexual world where she first meets the legendary consorts. Too handsome and talented for their own good, Calder and Taryen have learned to trust only each other in order to survive. Bred to be feared warriors and exclusive companions to a queen, instead they're slaves to other Rayians desires for them. Their brutal lives make the two consorts hesitant to care for Sari when she's unexpectedly dumped in their laps, but they soon discover she's different from the cruel women they're used to serving. Drawn to Sari on a soul deep level, Calder and Taryen can't seem to stop themselves from going back for one more taste of the beautiful outsider... even when it puts the fate of the entire world in jeopardy.

"Princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact" – so said the nineteenth-century writer Walter Bagehot. In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary. This love story of the world’s most famous couple presents a thematic look at the most outstandingly successful marriage of recent times. This illustrated study explores the pressures and stresses of living life in the glare of public scrutiny. It is an early case of a married couple leading independent lives of extraordinary public service and indicating a path for others to follow. The historical experience of queens and their consorts and Elizabeth and Philip’s Canadian and Commonwealth roles add scope to this biography.