Terrence Hardiman

Ten days before Christmas, wealthy James Wentworth feels not joy but grief. His reckless son, Lucien, has been lured into a deadly world of drugs and wild passion. Wentworth's only hope, he believes, is his old friend Henry Rathbone, who volunteers to search for the prodigal son. Rathbone knows nothing of the sensation-obsessed underworld where Lucien now dwells, but he acquires two unexpected companions who do.

Charlotte Pitt's mother, Caroline, has traveled with husband Joshua Fielding and his theatrical troupe to Whitby, the Yorkshire fishing village where Dracula first touched English soil in the sensational novel. Joshua has arranged to produce a stage adaptation of the book, but the project is a disaster. Then a black-cloaked stranger emerges from a snowstorm who turns out to be a theatrical genius. But at the same time, a brooding evil makes itself...

The freshly dead body sprawled on the Bedford Square doorstep of General Brandon Balantyne is an affront to every respectable sensibility. The general denies all knowledge of the shabbily dressed victim who has so rudely come to death outside his home, but Superintendent Thomas Pitt cannot believe him—for in the dead man’s pocket, Pitt finds a rare snuffbox that recently graced the general’s study. The superintendent must tread lightly,...

Superintendent Runcorn—who Anne Perry fans will remember as William Monk's ex-boss—is feeling rather lonely during his holiday on the remote, snowy island of Anglesey, off the north coast of Wales. However, he is suddenly called into action when the sister of the local vicar is discovered murdered and draped over a gravestone in her brother's churchyard. Investigating this tragic crime with the assistance of the beautiful Melisande gives...

Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London's East End, thirteen-year-old Gracie Phipps and eight-year-old Minnie Maude Mudway join together in a search for Charlie, the donkey who belonged to Minnie Maude's Uncle Alf. Gracie is shocked to learn that only the day before, someone brutally murdered Uncle Alf and made off with his rag-and-bones cart and the beloved beast who pulled it.

Heading for a rural village to replace the local vicar who is away on holiday, Dominic and Clarice Corde are stunned when they discover the corpse of the murdered vicar stashed in the cellar and launch an investigation to find a killer.

Brothers from Ramsey come to Shrewsbury looking for money to rebuild their monastery, which has been ransacked by rebel soldiers. They claim that a loan of Saint Winifred's Holy Relics, which are housed at Shrewsbury, would be suitable generosity. Cadfael and the Abbot opt to provide the men with a gift of precious gems instead. Then, during a cataclysmic night of violent storms, the Holy Relics disappear. Cadfael is dispatched to recover them and...

A woman's skeleton is discovered in a local potter's field. Since the potter, Ruald, left his family to answer a calling from God, everyone concludes that the body belongs to his wife, and that Ruald murdered her when she tried to prevent him from taking the tonsure. Cadfael is puzzled by this conjecture since the corpse shows no signs of foul play. His journeys to give pain relief to members of the community lead him to a twisted turn of events that...

When a party of monks treks to Wales to dig up the remains of St. Winifred, the main opponent to their excavation efforts is found dead.

Cadfael suspects the motives of the young man wanting to join Shrewsbury Abbey as a novice not entirley selfless. A senior cleric sent to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a collegue forms the same impression. Suspicions increase when the half-burnt body of the cleric is found and a wild man from the woods is falsely accused.