(Paperback)

Shorter Lives' histories of notable creators drift away from conventional tellings to offer alternative facts and believable untruths. No small part of the author's research, however, has been the trawling of existing biographies for unrepresentative, yet documented, instances of the bizarre.

(Paperback)

The accidental death of MP Norman Cole precipitates a hung parliament allowing a core of extreme right-wing politicians to seize power. Telford, a high-ranking but unworldly public servant, is approached by Cole 's wife who believes her husband was murdered and asks him to investigate on her behalf.