This is a book for everyone who has ever wondered why pubs should be called The Cross Keys, The Dew Drop Inn or The Hope and Anchor. You'll be glad to know that there are very good - strange and memorable - reasons behind them all. After much research about (and in) pubs, Albert Jack brings together the stories behind pub names to reveal how they offer fascinating and subversive insights on our history, customs, attitudes and jokes in just the same way that nursery rhymes do. The Royal Oak, for instance, commemorates the tree that hid Charles II from Cromwell's forces after his defeat at Worcester; The Bag of Nails is a corruption of the Bacchanals, the crazed followers of Bacchus, the god of wine and drunkenness; The Cat and the Fiddle a mangling of Catherine La Fidele and a guarded gesture of support for Henry VIII's first, Catholic, wife Catherine of Aragon; plus many, many more. Here too are even more facts about everything from ghosts to drinking songs to the rules of cribbage and shove hapenny, showing that, ultimately, the story of pub history is really the story of our own popular history

A must-have collection of British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and “most ingenious” author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These entertaining puzzlers offer “the very best in British mystery” (The New Yorker). The Body Politic: A British-based mineral company finds itself in hot water when one of its engineers kills a pedestrian while driving in a foreign country. The engineer is whisked back to Calleshire, but the foreign government is threatening to strip the mining company of its most valuable contract. When the engineer dies suddenly in a war reenactment, it seems a little too convenient a solution. Enter Detective Inspector Sloan. A Going Concern: In this “intricate, witty and thoroughly delightful” mystery, a bizarre clause in an elderly woman’s will that the police must be present at her funeral and the coroner should be exceptionally thorough exposes a dirty secret—and a murder for Sloan to solve (Publishers Weekly). After Effects: Dozens of elderly patients suffering from heart disease have been “gently pushed” toward taking part in a double-blind drug trial from a powerful pharmaceutical company. Now there’s been a string of eerily similar deaths. Malpractice or foul play? When the doctor in charge is found dead as well, it’s up to Sloan to see who really needs to be brought to trial. Injury Time: These sixteen “clever” short stories feature mysteries solved by Detective Inspector Sloan as well as Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, and “serve as an excellent introduction to new readers and . . . a sure delight to fans” (Publishers Weekly).

It is the Spring of 1924 in New York City, where John Crackstone, a detective, specializes in missing person cases. On the surface a man of his time, John enjoys the good life, but can't quite afford it. However, he is not who he thinks he is. While solving the disappearance of a wealthy client, John uncovers clues that point to his own lost identity. Sometimes life is like a Monty Python episode; 'now, for something completely different'. John discovers he has been on the wrong journey for almost two years. The three novels of the Crackstone Chronicles, Extinction, Connections and Extraordinary Solution carry the reader through time and space, exploring the question: why would extraterrestrials visit Earth, let alone conceal themselves here? The three parts to the Crackstone Chronicles, Extinction, Connections, andMagical Solution will provide an adventurous ride through time and space, ending up with answers to the question: are other civilizations here on Earth, and why are they here?