Shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2016. 'Fast paced, humorous, and just plain fun.' - Library Journal It is 1920. Twenty-two year old Poppy Denby moves from Northumberland to live with her paraplegic aunt in London.  Aunt Dot, a suffragette, was injured in battles with the police in 1910. Her contacts prove invaluable. Poppy lands a position as an editorial assistant at the Daily Globe. Poppy has always wanted to be a journalist and laps up the atmosphere of the news room. Then one of the paper's hacks dies suddenly and dramatically. His story was going to be the morning lead, but he hasn't finished writing it. Poppy finds his notes and completes the story, which is a sensation. The editor, realising her valuable suffragette contacts, invites her to dig deeper. Poppy starts sifting through the dead man's files and unearths a major mystery which takes her to France - and into danger. By the end of the story Poppy is a fixture on the paper, and is being courted by a photographer. Further mysteries lie ahead. 'A delightful period romp, neatly sprinkled with the choicest historical detail.' D.J. Taylor Author of Bright Young People 'What a delight to escape into the world of the irrepressible Poppy Denby in this cleverly-plotted debut.' Ruth Downie Author of the Medicus series 'An intriguing mystery, fizzing with energy.' C.F. Dunn Author of Mortal Fire

'Manhattan, beware! Formidable reporter Poppy Danby enjoys a luxury voyage across the Atlantic. Her indefatigable and entertaining search for truth reveals the seediness and glamour of 1920s New York.' Frances Brody, author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries When London Daily Globe editor Rollo Rolandson has to return to New York for three months, he takes his star reporter, Poppy Denby, with him. Poppy is very excited to be working on the world-famous New York Times and looks forward to immersing herself in the arts and entertainment of Manhattan. Instead, she is allocated the death beat--journalese for obituaries--and tied to her desk. But the young reporter has a nose for a story, and when a European prince dies in a luxury penthouse apartment, she starts to investigate. She follows a sordid trail involving illegal immigrants, forced labor, eugenics, sexual scandals . . . and an unexpected ghost from her past. Poppy is determined to help the victims, but can she find the evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice without putting her own life in danger…

This book explores the words, forms, and styles Shakespeare used to interact with the verbal marketplace of early modern England.

A woman from Scotland recounts her travels in the U.S., focusing particularly issues relating to women (education, employment, etc.), also discussing more general cultural matters.

The nautanki performances of northern India entertain their audiences with often ribald and profane stories. Rooted in the peasant society of pre-modern India, this theater vibrates with lively dancing, pulsating drumbeats, and full-throated singing. In Grounds for Play, Kathryn Hansen draws on field research to describe the different elements of nautanki performance: music, dance, poetry, popular story lines, and written texts. She traces the social history of the form and explores the play of meanings within nautanki narratives, focusing on the ways important social issues such as political authority, community identity, and gender differences are represented in these narratives. Unlike other styles of Indian theater, the nautanki does not draw on the pan-Indian religious epics such as the Ramayana or the Mahabharata for its subjects. Indeed, their storylines tend to center on the vicissitudes of stranded heroines in the throes of melodramatic romance. Whereas nautanki performers were once much in demand, live performances now are rare and nautanki increasingly reaches its audiences through electronic media—records, cassettes, films, television. In spite of this change, the theater form still functions as an effective conduit in the cultural flow that connects urban centers and the hinterland in an ongoing process of exchange.