This dark Christmas mystery follows puzzle setter Edie O'Sullivan, who receives a jigsaw puzzle revealing a crime scene and a chilling message about impending murders. Teaming up with her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan, Edie races against time to solve the clues and stop the killer, while confronting her own past.
Drawn by family. Driven by fear. Haunted by fate. Would knowing the future be a gift or a burden? Or even a curse…? The Whitney women of Salem, Massachusetts are renowned for reading the future in the patterns of lace. But the future doesn’t always bring good news – as Towner Whitney knows all too well. When she was just fifteen her gift sent her whole world crashing to pieces. She predicted – and then witnessed – something so horrific that she vowed never to read lace again, and fled her home and family for good. Salem is a place of ghosts for Towner, and she swore she would never return. Yet family is a powerful tie. So it is that fifteen years later, Towner finds herself back in Salem. Her beloved Great Aunt Eva has suddenly disappeared – and when you’ve lived a life like Eva’s, that could mean real trouble. But Salem is wreathed in sickly shadows and whispered half-memories. It’s fast becoming clear that the ghosts of Towner’s fractured past have not been brought fully into the light. And with them comes the threat of terrifying new disaster. A literary page-turner with depth, narrative power and a story that novels like ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ can only dream of, ‘The Lace Reader’ is a bewitching and tightly plotted read.
Monumentálna historická freska, ktorá rozvíja príbeh o tom, ako mali tri šachové partie spečatiť dohodu o osude Sevilly. León, mladý muž vychovaný Rádom maltézskych rytierov, prichádza do mesta, aby našiel zmluvu, ktorú v 13. storočí podpísal Alfonz Múdry a posledný moslimský vládca Sevilly. Tá určuje podmienky šachového turnaja medzi monarchami, ktorého výsledok má rozhodnúť o prítomnosti moslimov v meste ovládnutom kresťanmi. O šesť storočí neskôr je však turnaj stále otvorený, záverečná parita sa totiž neodohrala, a zmluva s pravidlami hry zásadným spôsobom ovplyvní život Leóna, jeho manželky a dvoch nasledujúcich pokolení.
Un giorno di dicembre, nel bagno dell'ufficio in cui lavora Héctor Belascoarán Shayne, detective indipendente, viene trovato il cadavere di un uomo travestito da antico ramano, con tanto di elmo, armatura e sandali (ma con i calzini). A breve distanza di tempo Héctor riceve una busta contenente la fotografia di un altro cadavere, un minaccioso invito a non immischiarsi e un biglietto aereo per New York. La malsana ossessione di Belascoarán lo spinge abuttarsi a capofitto in un caso sempre più complicato che a poco a poco assume le caratteristiche di un vero incubo coinvolgendo gli altri 3 inquilini dell'ufficio, i suoi fratelli e la sua misteriosa compagna "a intermittenza", la ragazza con la coda di cavallo.
Alejandro Ballesteros, mladý teoretik a pomocný profesor výtvarného umenia a hlavný hrdina románu, pricestuje do zasnežených a zaplavených Benátok, aby pre svoju habilitačnú prácu získal nové poznatky o talianskom renesančnom maliarovi Giorgionem a objasnil tajomstvá okolo jeho chýrneho obrazu Búrka. Za štyri dni, ktoré tvoria časový rámec románu, sa Ballestros náhodne stane svedkom vraždy vychýreného falzifikátora a priekupníka s obrazmi Fabia Valenzina.