Esther Wane

For fans of Downton Abbey and The Crown … welcome to Hotel Portofino, where romance, revelry, and intrigue await. A heady historical drama about a British family who opens an upper-class hotel on the magical Italian Riviera during the Roaring Twenties Hotel Portofino has been open for only a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its owner Bella Ainsworth. Her high-class guests are demanding and hard to please. And she's being targeted...

Two years ago, Beth Farrow turned her back on her three-year-old niece, Jenna, for just a few seconds. She disappeared without a trace. How does a three-year-old go missing from a crowded summer fete without anyone noticing? When Beth leaves the country to try and escape her guilt, someone sends her a photograph from an anonymous number. It's a photograph of Jenna. She's older, but Beth is sure it's her niece. She is determined to do what the police...

In a beautiful Belgravia house, Dowager Countess Georgiana intends to celebrate her son's birthday-delightful festivities are planned. Lord Stokely has a different agenda for the occasion, one concerning governance, politics, and the seizing of power. Burgoyne's Agency has yet a third and very dangerous design for the evening-the toppling of Britain's foremost charismatic personality and most photogenic peer-Stokely. Outside of Belgravia, Britain...

What is animal welfare? This concise and accessible guide is for anyone who is interested in animals and who has wondered how we can assess their welfare scientifically. It defines animal welfare as "health and animals having what they want," a definition that can be easily understood by scientists and non-scientists alike, expresses in simple words what underlies many existing definitions, and shows what evidence we need to collect to improve animal...

Keepers of Earth. One hundred and fifty years ago, global warming brought humankind to the edge of extinction. In a desperate bid for survival, four thousand genetically enhanced soldiers-the last slice of humanity-were sent to eight space stations. To serve. To protect. Then the Critamal arrived, uninvited. Waves of aliens now work to break through the Orbitos' defences, the black-shelled creatures seeking to colonise the vacated and barren world....

Lust. Ambition. Murder. When a beautiful, wealthy student is found dead in her room in Oxford's most prestigious college, Detective Inspector Bridget Hart is called to investigate. The murdered girl appeared to have no enemies, yet was killed in a brutal and bloody assault. Haunted and driven by her own personal tragedy, newly promoted DI Bridget Hart has a lot to prove as she leads her first murder case. Her investigation uncovers a tangled web...

What is a maiden to do when her prince is not a prince, her hair won't stop growing, and someone has cursed her to sleep for 300 years? In Polyhymnia's case, it seems expedient to get up with the help of a kiss or two, trailing her hair behind her, and find out who did it. Nothing quite works out as planned, however, and Poly can't be sure if that's because she never seems to be able to remember things like the mysterious spindle that keeps showing...

Old friendships. Dark secrets. Deadly lies. When Detective Inspector Bridget Hart returns to her old Oxford college for a reunion dinner, she's hoping for a fun weekend catching up with old friends. But the reunion takes a macabre turn when body parts are served up at the college feast, and one of her friends is found murdered. With Bridget's arch rival Inspector Baxter leading the murder inquiry, and herself a potential suspect, Bridget is forbidden...

Christmas. Ghosts. Murder. It's nearly Christmas in Oxford and Detective Inspector Bridget Hart is enjoying a rare day off at Oxford's Christmas Market. A ghost tour seems like a fun way to round off the day. Until, that is, a brutal murder brings the evening to a tragic close. Torn between work and family commitments over the festive season, Bridget soon discovers that the ghost of Christmas past is reaching out to the present with fatal consequences. Not...

In the stratified world of ancient Rome, there are citizens and slaves, soldiers and senators, priests and priestesses-and Caesar Augustus rules them all. Yet his authority holds only as long as the people believe the gods of Rome support him, particularly the beloved goddess of the home and hearth, Vesta. As chief Vestal Virgin, Pomponia continues to devote her life to protecting her order and the eternal flame of Vesta. She has risen to a position...