Bøger af Stephen Chance

LONG-LISTED FOR THE PEGGY CHAPMAN-ANDREWS NOVEL AWARD (Bridport Prize). The prize is for an author's first novel. At the inception of the industrial era, Ana, daughter of a Spanish urine trader, complains she feels 'bartered like a Moor' to procure work for her father in a desolate and inhospitable region of northern England. Making alum, a beautiful translucent crystal, essential to the dyeing of cloth, has been a lucrative business for centuries, however, its obscure and obnoxious manufacture, burning rocks and stirring together urine and seaweed, dominates a remote part of eighteenth century Britain. Ana is put to work with the inheritor of the 'alum-makers secret', manager Robert, and witnessing the almost alchemical rituals of his work, an attachment starts to form. Shortly after her arrival a canny scientist-on-the-make arrives from London's Royal Society to investigate a disturbing discovery in a quarry rock fall. 'Alchemy, sex and palaeontology in 18th century Yorkshire.' Like Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' its language is as stark as its setting, austere and shot through with occasional ravishing beauty. This exposition of an obscure, infernal activity is, as with 'Moby Dick', the backdrop to a very human drama.

With only a handful of clues at his disposal but a great deal of canny instinct, Septimus is drawn into a revolving plot concerning political conspiracy, ancient rites and dark magic powers at work in the depths of the Welsh valleys.

Reverend Septimus Treloar, retired as Chief Inspector of the CID after thirty years service, is now country parson of the seemingly sleepy St. Mary's Danedyke. But the rural calm of his and the villagers' lives are thrown into chaos when mysterious happenings cause them to suspect the haunting of a fabled ghost within the dark recesses of their church. But can this really be a case of supernatural spirits? Or are Septimus's suspicions of thieving mischief closer to the truth? If so, what could be the object of all this criminal plotting? Septimus must use his detective know-how to find the answers on a mission that will lead him to the secret of The Danedyke Cup, a silver gilt relic supposedly once belonging to Our Lady...The first in Stephen Chance's classic series about Reverend Septimus, 'the one and only beatified bobby,' Septimus and the Danedyke Mystery (1971) has everything: treasure hunts, ancient clues, rollicking humour and quick-witted suspense. It has been described by Philip Ardagh in the Guardian as 'truly marvellous.'

The strange events begin with the breathless tale of a mysterious light shining from inside the Minster. Or will Septimus be able to use his policeman's nous once more to find the villain at the root of it all?Septimus and the Minster Ghost is the second of Stephen Chance's hugely popular Septimus detective mysteries.

In this, the fourth and final book in his Septimus Treloar series, Stephen Chance takes the reader back to the early days of the endearing policeman-turned-parson's career, to fill his fans in on the story of Septimus's life as a young man.

Out of the Ordinary is a detailed account of current work by Pollard Thomas Edwards architects (PTEa), accompanied by an overview of the career of this prominent practice.