Britannia, AD 44. The enemy is butchering their supply of convoys, their garrison town is starving and the truce with the locals is uneasy at best. Young Cato, newly promoted, and veteran centurion Macro are ordered to train the Wolves and the Boars, two cohorts of barbarian Britons, and introduce them to the brutal drills of the Roman Imperial Army. Macro is confident they'll win the natives over, but Cato worries about putting weapons into the hands of potential rebels. Ultimately only one thing matters - is there a difference between the enemy at their gates, and the Allies in their own camp? 432pp, with historical note, map and author note. Paperback.

Britannia, AD 43 and this is the second in the popular series. Bleak, rainy and full of vicious savages, Britannia is a land that Cato, solider of the Second Legion, wishes Rome didn't want to conquer. As right-hand man to Centurion Macro, Cato sees the very worst of his native Britons, battling alongside his commander in bloodier combat than he could ever have imagined. But the Britons are fighting back with Roman weapons, which means someone in their own ranks is supplying arms to the enemy. Cato and Macro are about to discover even deadlier adversaries than the British barbarians. Includes map, chart and author note. 434pp, paperback.

AD 48 and the friendship between Roman Centurions Cato and Macro is rock solid. Returning to Rome from a harrowing campaign, they are shipwrecked when an earthquake strikes the island of Crete. Struggling ashore they discover panic, devastation and a slave revolt. Led by a gladiator called Ajax, the slaves are driven by a bloodthirsty desire for revenge that renders them almost invincible. Taking control of the shaken men of the local garrison, Cato and Macro must save the province before the rebellion can threaten the Empire itself. With maps and author note, 374pp, paperback.

'A satisfyingly bloodthirsty, bawdy romp... Storming stuff.' - Good Book Guide. Egypt, AD 49. Cato, one of the youngest Prefects of the Roman army, and Centurion Macro have a tough posting - to track down and destroy a gang of former gladiators who have turned to piracy. Driven by vengeance, these hardened brutes have been defiling temples, sinking Roman ships and slaughtering men, women and children. What is worse is that they are doing it all under the name of Macro and Cato in an attempt to stir up a rebellion against the occupying forces, and it's working. If Macro and Cato don't stop the pirates in time it could be the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire. Includes map and author note. 377pp, paperback.

Curiouser and curiouser... Kristen, a researcher for the Lewis Carroll Brotherhood, discovers extraordinary pages from Carroll's diary revealing a hidden chapter of his life: the truth surrounding the writer's real relationship with Alice Liddell which could rock Oxford to its core. However, after an accident, Kristen joins forces with mathematics student G to decipher what shadows lurk behind the salacious pictures sent to the Brotherhood and to survive the murderer circling closer to anyone who delves too far into Carroll's life. No one is safe in this thriller novel by the author of The Oxford Murders, inspired by the strange stories surrounding Carroll's life. Dive into G's mind as you read his observations that take in everything from an illustration of a raven on a noticeboard to the slightest change of mood in his interviewees' expressions. Sit with him in his study as he reads a book on Carroll to try and solve the puzzle: 'To make the DEAD LIVE' which was buried among the Wonderland creator's history of participating in spiritualist gatherings, claiming he had been able to photograph ghosts. Explore G's watering holes across Oxford, from a meeting with an inspector at The Eagle and Child or greeting a professor at the Little Clarendon pub who is holding court with an eager student over a pint of beer. This cerebral and exciting novel from Guillermo Martínez, winner of the Planeta prize, will draw readers into the mystery and have them scouring every page for a clue that will stop the murderer in time. 284pp.

Bernice Rubens was the first woman to win the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1970 with this, her fifth novel. The Zweck family are a disturbing bunch, and none more so than Norman, whose brilliant career as a barrister has been curtailed by a depressive illness and an addiction to tranquillisers. His father Rabbi Zweck is at a loss to help him, and his unmarried sister Bella tries hard to help him when she's not working behind the till in the grocery shop below their flat. Norman is the clever one of this close-knit Jewish family in the East End of London. Infant prodigy, brilliant barrister, the apple of his parents' eyes, until at 41 he becomes a drug addict, confined to his bedroom, at the mercy of his hallucinations and paranoia. For Norman his committal to a mental hospital represents the ultimate act of betrayal. For his rabbi father, his son's deterioration is a bitter reminder of his own guilt and failure. Only Bella, the unmarried sister, still in her childhood white ankle socks, can reach across the abyss of pain to bring father and son the elusive peace which they both desperately crave. The novel has the Yiddish-based rhythms of the Zwecks's way of speaking. 218pp, paperback facsimile reprint of the 1969 original.

The novel is a high-intensity roller-coaster ride exploding with action and authenticity that cements Jack Carr as the new leader in political thrillers. Following his brutal quest for revenge, former Navy SEAL James Reece has fled the US, emerging deep in the wilds of Mozambique. But he can't stay hidden for long. When a string of horrific terrorist attacks plagues the Western world, the CIA tracks him down and recruits him. Now a reluctant tool of the United States government, he must travel the globe, targeting terrorist leaders and unravelling a geopolitical conspiracy that will have worldwide repercussions. Gritty, raw. An exploration of the psyche of a man who has killed for his country and broken society's most sacred bond in a quest for vengeance. Can this man, who transformed into the very insurgent he had been fighting, find peace and purpose and learn to live again? These are not unlike the questions facing veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as they prepare to leave military service with guilt born of dead friends and team mates, life-altering physical wounds, traumatic brain injury and PTSD, returning to spouses, children and leaky roofs. 486pp, paperback.

A Wolf Pack spy thriller by 'a master of spy fiction to rival le Carré' - David Young. War is coming to Europe. They must be ready. British spymaster Barnaby Allen begins recruiting a network of agents in Germany. With diplomatic relations quickly unravelling, this pack of spies soon comes into their own - the horse-loving German, the young American sports journalist, the mysterious Luftwaffe officer, the Japanese diplomat and the most unlikely one of all, the SS officer's wife. Despite constant danger and the ever-present threats of discovery and betrayal, Allen's network unearths top-secret plans for a new German fighter plane, and a truly devastating intelligence prize - an audacious Japanese plan to attack the United States. But can they prove it? The race is on. 374pp, paperback.

The long-awaited prequel to Elizabeth Chadwick's bestselling and beloved first novel 'The Wild Hunt'. The Welsh Borders, 1069. When Ashdyke Manor is attacked, Lady Christen is forced to witness her husband's murder and the pillaging of her lands at the hands of brutal Norman invaders. It seems the pain is finally over when Miles Le Gallois, Lord of Milnham-on-Wye calls off the attack, but he has Christen's brother under armed guard and a deal to offer - her brother's freedom for her hand in marriage. Christen finds herself hastily married to the enemy side, with the bride's brother swearing vengeance on her new husband. Miles and Christen's precarious union invites enemies from all sides, and when Miles is summoned for a lengthy campaign by the King, Christen is left to watch his lands. In the midst of war, two enemies must somehow learn to trust one another if they are to survive. Packed with action, emotion, politics and passion, Elizabeth Chadwick is an excellent chronicler of royal intrigue and an author who makes history come gloriously alive. 290pp, map.

New 2021 glamorous hardback dedicated to a friend of ours in the publishing trade, Sheila Crowley. Top crime writers like Lee Child and Karin Slaughter have described the book as 'Hypnotically good' and 'Propulsive'. The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in Business Class, and the world is watching the landmark journey. Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers instead of her troubled five year old daughter back at home or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage, but soon after the plane takes off, she receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination and they are demanding her cooperation - and they know exactly how to get it. It's 20 hours to landing. Anything can happen in 20 hours. You can save hundreds of lives or the one that matters most. 'Taking the locked room mystery to a new, white-knuckle extreme, this is electrifying.' 389pp.