Allison & Busby

Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns, only to find herself in a dangerous place...

In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs's career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the Secret Service. Posing as a junior lecturer, she is sent to a private college in Cambridge to monitor any activities, "not in the interests of His Majesty's Government."

When Dorothy Ruskin, an archeologist, visits the Russell Holmes estate, she leaves in their protection an ancient manuscript. It hints at the possibility that Mary Magdalene was an apostle--an artifact certain to stir up a storm in the Christian establishment. When Ruskin is killed, Russell and Holmes find themselves on the trail of a murderer.

Russell's attentions turn to the New Temple of God and its leader, a suffragette and mystic. When four bluestockings from the Temple die after changing their wills, could sins of a capital nature be afoot? What's more, Russel's most baffling mystery may now involve the burgeoning of a deeper affection between herself and the retired Holmes.

February 1933. Receiving a mysterious summons from her cousin Laurel, Amory Ames and her playboy husband Milo, set off for the Lyonsgate estate post-haste. Mystery lingers and Amory is sure that the notorious Isobel Van Allen stands at the centre of it.

After the Great War, Nell is grateful to marry Stan, but becomes just another housewife. When she discovers he is leading a double-life, she runs away to make a fresh start and carves a new life in Manchester as a respectable widow. But the past is hard to run from, and Nell must fight to protect the life she has made for herself and her children.

Late September, 1942. Jo Hardy, a 22-year-old ferry pilot, is delivering a Spitfire to Biggin Hill Aerodrome when she realizes someone is shooting at her aircraft. When she returns to the location on foot, she finds an American serviceman in a barn, tied up and gagged. Jo hurries away, but can't shake the image of the serviceman from her mind.

Three years on from her fairy-tale wedding, Bella's life is far from how she imagined. How can she be happy over her best friend's pregnancy when Bella's own husband has barely touched her for months? Then they meet Rufus, who might just have the answer to their business problems - for a price. How far will Bella go to preserve her dreams?