Abandoned Bookshop imprint: 24 books

A lost classic of crime fiction, introducing detective Clay Harrison When respectable London landlady Mrs Humbleby visits the chambers of barrister and part-time private detective, Clay Harrison, with her account of the apparent suicide of a secretive lodger, she hopes he can help her solve the mystery...

‘The founder of the modern Norwegian crime novel’ – Jo Nesbo On a blazing hot summer’s day, holidaymakers at a guesthouse on a Norwegian island are shocked to discover a fellow guest has been found murdered out on a desolate plain. The nameless narrator, an author, was the last person to see...

The original Danish crime novel available for the first time in English. Detective Sergeant Eigil Holst is on holiday in the countryside when the body of a baby is washed up on the banks of a nearby lake. The local magistrate orders the lake to be drained and the body of a young woman is discovered,...

Detective Clay Harrison is called upon to solve a mystery at a stately home Barrister-turned-detective Clay Harrison finds himself summoned to the West Country by a Mrs. William Marston, to ‘keep an eye on things’ while the Marstons stage a pageant to celebrate the birthday of their daughter Livia....

An epic novel of love and revolution. Russia, 1907. The revolution has failed. Leon Trotsky is one of a group of political prisoners being escorted by armed police, in a convoy of horse-drawn sleighs, to a secret location in the icy north of the country. Here they will be exiled as political prisoners....

A classic portrait of an unforgettable country from one of Britain’s best loved writers Following a period of illness, Rudyard Kipling followed his doctor’s advice and took off, with his wife, on a long sea voyage from Southampton to Brazil. While in South America he wrote seven gripping travelogues,...

Before Elena Ferrante there was Grazia Deledda. When Giovanna’s husband, Costantino, is convicted of a murder he claims he did not commit, she comes under pressure from her family to divorce him and marry a wealthy landowner who has always admired her. This she does, but the new marriage is an unhappy...

The final work of fiction from a legendary writer and translator. In a series of short stories, some no more than a couple of pages long, di Giovanni captures the lives of the Italian American community in Newton, a suburb of Boston, in the middle of the 20th century. These are the workers,...

The steady growth of Clay Harrison’s reputation as a private investigator has led to a crop of invitations to speak at groups and societies across the country. After one such function, in the church hall of a Surrey village, a tramp is found murdered by the side of the road and Harrison is compelled...

When a jewellery heist goes wrong, and a member of the public who pursues the thieves is killed, it arouses the attention of up-and-coming detective, Clay Harrison, who suspects there is more to this bungled smash and grab than meets the eye. Sure enough, his investigations, assisted as always...

When a promising young actress commits suicide there is a whiff of blackmail in the air and Clay Harrison, now England's most famous detective, is enlisted to investigate. The tangled web of sex, drugs and further blackmail he uncovers will reveal suspects much closer to home than he ever imagined. But...

The novella that inspired Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night A worthy and brave duke, Apolonius, is blown off course when sailing to Constantinople and takes shelter on the isle of Cyprus, where he is made welcome by the governor of the island. The governor has two children, a son, Silvio, who is away...

A bittersweet novel about friendship, being a teenager, and the redemption to be found in rock music. Chris is learning guitar at school in an attempt to emulate his rock god hero, Joe Satriani, if only he can get the hang of ‘Streets of London’ first. But there’s another boy in his guitar class...

A comic novel about the meaning of life and the end of the world. And dogs. When Charlie wakes in the middle of the night to discover an alien in his house, he is more than a little alarmed. But that fades into insignificance when the alien tells him that a) it is the end of the world, and b) he has...