Ajay Chowdhury, the inaugural winner of the Harvill Secker-Bloody Scotland prize, is a tech entrepreneur and theatre director. His children’s book – Ayesha and the Firefish, was published in 2016 and adapted into a musical which premiered in San Francisco. 
 
 
The Waiter (Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month), was published in 2021, and is the first in his critically-acclaimed crime series about Detective Kamil Rahman, an ex-policeman from Kolkata who has moved to Brick Lane in London. It is being adapted for television by Moonage Pictures.The Cook (Guardian Top Crime Books of the Year) was published in May 2022 to excellent reviews and deals with the issue of homelessness. The third book in the series – The Detective (Sunday Times Top Crime Books of the Year) – is about government surveillance and AI. The Spy (Longlisted Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing), the fourth book, sees Kamil infiltrate a terrorist cell. The Shadow (A Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month) is the latest book in the series.

Ajay Chowdhury

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W E Johns

'You're out last hope, Bigglesworth,' said the Air Commodore, with something like despair in his voice. 
 
The war supply route between Calcutta and China is a vital one but something is attacking the planes that fly it. Again and again pilots set off, only to disappear somewhere along the line, never to be seen again. When Biggles and his team are called in to investigatem, flying the route is close to a suicide mission . . .

Biggles in the Orient

Joan Aiken

King Richard, son of James III lies gravely ill and there are rumours that the king's enemy, the Duchess of Burgundy, is preparing an imminent invasion. The ancient crown of Alfred must be found so King Richard can pass it on to his successor. Is Simon, Duke of Battersea and friend of the king, next in line to the throne or will the evil werewolf Baron Magnus Rudh succeed in his plot to make his son, Lot, king? To add further complications, Dido Twite, held prisoner by the Baron and the Duchess, does not know the whereabouts of either Simon or the dying king: can she escape in time to find and warn them of the treachery afoot? This adventure with a truly galloping plot and breath-taking situations will delight all fans of Joan Aiken's books

Midwinter Nightingale

Bonnie Bryant

When Lisa, Carole and Stevie head west to the Bar None Ranch, they have a great time planning a Halloween party with their friends Kate and John, a Native American boy who works on the ranch. The Saddle Club is also thrilled when they get the chance to see a herd of wild horses, including the beautiful grey stallion that Kate wants to adopt. Then John tells the girls a mysterious Indian legend about a grey stallion, and warns Kate to keep her distance from the one in the herd. Is John just playing a Halloween trick or is Kate about to ride into danger? The Saddle Club is about to find out!

Saddle Club Book 24: Ghost Rider

Richard Kidd

Jimmy's dad has to get rid of his fishing boat and the whole family - Mam, Dad, Jimmy and his tealeaf-reading Gran - are forced to move away from their coastal village home. At first, Jimmy thinks none of them will never get used to living inland and it will be a disaster, but Gran's tea leaves tell a stranger story than that... 
 
Jimmy's continued fascination with all things aquatic leads him to meet the local retired Major, whose hobby is keeping a pond full of valuable koi carp. When Jimmy inadvertently overhears of a plot to steal the fish, he doesn't mean to tackle the burglars single-handedly. But neither does he really intend to do it with the help of the awful school bully... or of several hundred alarm clocks...! 
 
A truly entertaining, pacy adventure story, which boys will especially love.

The Giant Goldfish Robbery

Rob Childs

Who is the mysterious player turning up to practise with the Bradgate School football squad? Flying down the wing, ghosting past defenders, the red-headed newcomer seems to have the magic touch that can win games. But why can't the team's shooting star play away from home? 
 
A gripping tale of soccer and the supernatural from football maestro, Rob Childs

Phantom Football: Team Spirit

Rosemary Sutcliff

Set more than a thousand years ago in the soft green hills of Ireland, in a shifting time when enchanted creatures and the Fairy Kind still flickered in and out of the lives of men, the ancient stories of Finn MacCool and the brotherhood of the Fianna shimmer with magic. Here Rosemary Sutcliff breathes new life into adventures of these Irish heroes and their battles with strange and supernatural beings.

The High Deeds Of Finn MacCool

Bonnie Bryant-Hiller

A riding team from Italy is coming to Pine Hollow, and Stevie volunteers to entertain them during their visit. It’s a job that stuck-up Veronica diAngelo wanted for herself, and now Veronica is determined that Stevie will pay! 
 
Suddenly, with the big weekend approaching, Stevie finds out that someone has “volunteered” her to organize the annual school fair, to run the Children’s Hospital Festival, and to debate for election as class president. They all take place on the same day- just when her Bar None Ranch friends, Kate and Christine, and the Italian riding team are due to visit! Can one person do four things at once? With the help of her Saddle Club friends and a lot of imagination, Stevie is determined to try. The result will be the greatest event ever… or the biggest disaster of all time!

Saddle Club Book 15: Team Play

Phil Marsten, Stevie’s boyfriend and an out-of-town member of The Saddle Club, is boarding an Arab mare at his family’s stable. When Phil offers to let Stevie ride the horse, she eagerly accepts. In exchange, Stevie has promised to give the horse all the care and exercise she needs. As Stevie begins working with the horse and preparing her for a forthcoming dressage exhibition, she quickly comes to love and respect her beautiful new mount. But the mare also has a mysterious allergy that won’t go away. Can Stevie find the cause, and live up to her side of the bargain to take the very best care of the horse?

Saddle Club 38: Horse Trade

J. P. Martin

Quentin Blake

It begins with the arrival not of a detective, but of disaster: Badfort is for sale, but when Uncle decides to buy it, demolish it, and build a pleasantly appointed park on the site, he is forestalled. Beaver Hateman has sold it cheaply to someone on the condition that he, Hateman, is allowed to stay on as a paying guest. Forgetting that the man who has bought Badfort is certain to regret the "bargain", Uncle tries to console himself by continuing his never-ending exploration of Homeward. 
 
He soon discovers the mysterious Crack House - lair of a vicious and horribly squawking creature, half-bat, half-bird, called Batty - where there are rumours of buried treasure. Uncle is in need of a detective . . .

Uncle And His Detective

Brian Jacques

When Jonathan joins a new school, he is an easy target for R.S.B. Limited, three bullies who demand money in exchange for 'protection.' Unable to afford the rates, he is subjected to a humiliating daily ritual. However, a pale anonymous boy who looks eerily similar to Jonathan has been glimpsed around the school - and he's not going to let R.S.B. Limited get away with their bullying any more. 
 
Part of the Stroycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.

RSB Limited (Storycuts)

Thomas P Kanne is the Phantom Snake, an elusive graffiti artist who has made many enemies in his attempts to vandalise his home city of Middlechester. Mr Bausin, the caretaker of the local museum is a seemingly harmless old man with a dark secret, but more importantly, a vendetta against the Phantom Snake. When Mr Bausin finally gets to confront his nemesis in the dark, abandoned corridors of the Egyptian exhibit, Thomas faces a terrifying game of cat and mouse. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.

The Fate of Thomas P Kanne (Storycuts)

When Carole Hanson and her father travel to Minnesota to visit relatives, Carole has the perfect opportunity to work on a school assignment to create a family tree. Ever since her mother died, Carole has been curious about that side of the family, especially about an ancestor who journeyed North along the Underground Railroad. 
Then Carole discovers a secret lurking in her family tree, and she begins to question where she’s come from. Do bloodlines matter as much with people as they do with horses? Carole discovers the answer when a dangerous horseback ride threatens the life of one of her relatives.

Saddle Club 39: Pure Bred

Leon Garfield

In 1847, an orphaned baby is rescued as the sole survivor of a massacre in a Polish village. Many years later a mysterious and disturbed Russian lady turns up unexpectedly at one of Mr Dolly’s regular Friday night dinner parties. So begins a search for identity and lost inheritance in the seedy and crowded streets of nineteenth century London.

The House of Cards

HORSE CRAZY: Twelve-year-olds Carole Hanson and Stevie Lake have been best friends ever since they met at Pine Hollow stables. So when thirteen-year-old Lisa Atwood shows up for her first lesson dressed in fancy riding gear - and acting chummy with the snobbiest girl in town - the girls aren't sure she'll fit in. But Lisa soon shows herself to be a quick learner, and Carole and Stevie can't help but admire her natural riding talents. Soon the three girls are fast friends. They begin to make plans for the MTO, the long-awaited Mountain Trail Overnight campout for the students of Pine Hollow. There's just one problem: Stevie's parents won't pay for it unless she improves her grades . . . 
 
HORSE SHY: The three members of the Saddle Club are together on the long-awaited Mountain Trail Overnight. They are having such a perfect time that nothing - not even Veronica, the richest and snobbiest girl at the stables - can spoil their fun. But the impossible does happen. A tragic accident, caused by Veronica's carelessness, makes Carole lose the one thing she loved most in the world. Is her grief enough to make her give up riding forever?

The Saddle Club: Horse Crazy & Horse Shy

Siobhan Dowd

When Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim get on board the London Eye, he turned and waved before getting on. After half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off - but no Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? 
 
Since the police are having no luck finding him, Ted and Kat become sleuthing partners. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. 
 
This is an unputdownable spine-tingling thriller!

The London Eye Mystery

Tony Bradman

A cloned boy looking for his 'father'; the dramatic rescue of a captive tiger; the submersion of the Scottish isles in a flood; a girl who finds out why cyber-pets will never be as good as the real thing - these are among the fascinating scenarios conjured up in this world-shattering collection of original stories.  Published for the new Millenium, contributing authors include such well-respected names as Jan Mark and Mary Hoffman.

Phenomenal Future Stories

T H White

Ten-year-old orphan Maria lives in her ancestors' crumbling mansion, with warm-hearted Cook and the eccentric Professor as her only friends. Exploring the grounds one day, Maria discovers a wild, half-forgotten island in the middle of a neglected lake - and an extraordinary secret. For the island is home to a community of tiny people - the Lilliputians that Gulliver first met on his famous travels. 
 
But as Maria grows closer to her new friends, her own life is in grave danger. Her wicked governess and the cruel vicar are plotting to steal her rightful inheritance - and they will stop at nothing. How can Maria keep the Lilliputians safe, while protecting herself? 
 
A timeless classic from the author of The Sword in the Stone, with an introduction by Anne Fine.

Mistress Masham's Repose

The Horse Wise Pony Club riders have been working hard on a precision horseback drill. They’ll perform it on Founders’ Day to raise money for the needy animals at a nearby shelter. But Lisa, Stevie and Carole want to do even more. 
Then Lisa gets the bright idea to set up a tent and read people’s fortunes before the drill. The Saddle Club’s wildest dreams are fulfilled when nasty Veronica diAngelo enters the tent to learn whether there’s romance in her cards. But someone else wants to know the future too. What can the girls predict for a lonely junior rider?

Saddle Club 44 - Horse Shoe

Paul Stewart

Chris Riddell

A digital exclusive short story starring Quint, from Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell's bestselling Edge Chronicles. 
Quint is in urgent need to money to repair his skyship, the Stormchaser. So when Multinius Gobtrax offers him a job creating a sky chart of the Deepwoods, he eagerly accepts - on the condition that his wife Maris can go with him. But Maris has a secret that she must keep hidden from their superstitious new captain at any cost. After all, it is considered very bad luck to give birth onboard a skyship . . .

The Edge Chronicles: The Sky Chart

A Book of Quint

In this third St Boan mystery, Ned is summoned once again by his Aunt Lal to help the famous but cantankerous poet, Sir Thomas Menhenitt. In confronting the poet's problems, Ned rescues Sir Tom's granddaughter, Jonquil from a bizarre and highly dangerous situation.

Bone And Dream : A St. Boan Mystery

Susan Sallis

Two disabled children love their new bungalow by the sea. It even has its own spectral steam-train which only they can hear each night. The train holds many mysteries which will change their lives.

No Time At All

A corrupt official is after more than money – he’s after the Saddle Club! 
Stevie Lake, Carole Hanson and Lisa Atwood are at the racetrack, helping to cool off their friend’s sleek Thoroughbred racehorses by walking them. What could be better? Then the girls spot an official somewhere he shouldn’t be, taking money from someone he shouldn’t be talking to. Worse, the official sees the girls and knows they’re on to him. Now the girls are in danger. More than one race is going to run – The Saddle Club girls must race for their lives!

Saddle Club 70: Horse Race

A spooky footballing tale! 
 
Tom is bored on the family holiday by the seaside - until he meets Leo, a mysterious barefoot boy who invites Tom to take part in a six-a-side soccer tournament on the beach. 
 
The rest of the team are dead weird too. Even stranger, not one of them has a shadow in the sun!

Phantom Football: Soccer Shadows

Terry Pratchett

From a computer game in which the aliens want Johnny to negotiate a peace treaty for them, to the inhabitants of a cemetery who are just discovering how much fun being alive can be, to the time of the Blitz, join Johnny Maxwell and his friends in these three terrific tales from the master of comic fantasy. 
 
ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND - Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 
JHNNY AND THE DEAD - Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal;A Writers' Guild Award Winner; Also televised by LWT for ITV 
JOHNNY AND THE BOMB - Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal; Shortlisted for the Children's Book Award; Smarties Prize Silver Medal Winner

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy

The girls of The Saddle Clun have headed West to the Bar None Ranch. This time they’ve brought their friend Emily, who has cerebral palsy. Emily is going to help the ranch’s owner make it accessible to riders with special needs. Then the four girls meet a guest their own age. She’s a former rider who has lost part of one leg in a motorbike accident. She doesn’t plan to get on a horse ever again. In the meantime, The Saddle Club and Emily are riding so much, they’re saddle sore!

Saddle Club 66: Saddle Sore

The Saddle Club’s number one practical joker, Stevie Lake, has decided to reform. The only problem is, no one believes her. Maybe that’s why no one in the cast of the video Stevie is making for school will cooperate. Cinderella on Horseback? Puh-leease! It has to be a setup to make them look stupid and give Stevie the last laugh. 
That’s when the stars of the film – Stevie’s best friends, Carole Hanson and Lisa Atwood, and Stevie’s boyfriend, Phil – plan a few tricks of their own. The only problem is, the jokes are having a ripple effect. Everyone at Pine Hollow Stables is about to get a taste of practical joking, Saddle Club style.

Saddle Club 64: Horse Capades

Carole, Stevie and Lisa are thrilled when they get a call from their friend Kate from The Bar None Ranch. Kate has an offer for them: would the girls like to go on a pack trip in the mountains? The answer is an enthusiastic yes! When they meet the other riders, they couldn’t be happier. Lisa feels instantly drawn to Seth, while his fun-loving sister Amy seems to be a perfect pal for Stevie. Another boy, John, is as serious and horse wise as Carole. The group hits it off immediately. 
 
But first impressions can be deceiving. Amy isn’t just high spirited and impulsive; she’s downright reckless. As her behaviour gets more outrageous and dangerous Seth tries to cover for her, which puts Lisa in the middle. Can the girls work out what to do about Amy before her next wild stunt threatens all their lives?

Saddle Club Book 18: Pack Trip

Teen star Skye Ransom is on location at the Bar None Ranch out West. And he’s hired the girls of The Saddle Club to be his technical advisers! Skye’s character has to ride a cutting and roping horse, but the Hollywood-style steed he’s been given doesn’t know a cow from a camera. Carole, Stevie and Lisa get a brilliant idea. But to pull it off they need help from their friend John Brightstar, who works at the ranch – and John doesn’t want to help. He’s had it up to his ten-gallon hat with the California movie crew! It looks as if The Saddle Club is in a fix that will have the movie director looking their way and shouting, “Cut!”

Saddle Club 56: Cutting Horse

R N Currey

It is a time of rejoicing at Homeward, the Labyrinthine castle-city that is as magical as Oz and as full of wonders as Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Uncle, the wise, kind, generous, and fabulously rich elephant who rules over Homeward, has joined with his many friends to celebrate their triumph over the ruffians in neighbouring Badfort. 
 
Still, there's plenty of cleaning up to do in Homeward: the waterworks are tainted with vinegar, housing is scarce, and the Dwarftown Railway is terribly overcrowded - meanwhile the Badfort crowd has devised its most diabolical plan yet. Uncle will need all the help he can get from his faithful assistant Old Monkey and from Goodman the literate cat-and possibly a wizard's spell - to get through this mess.

Uncle Cleans Up

Kate Devine, an out-of-town member of The Saddle Club, has invited Carole, Lisa, and Stevie out West to visit her family’s dude ranch. This time the girls’ parents are coming along, and The Saddle Club is looking forward to showing them how much fun riding can be. 
But out West, the family vacation doesn’t go exactly as planned, and soon the girls are wishing that their parents – or the “Saddlebag” – had stayed home where they belong. 
Then, during an overnight cattle drive, a terrible rainstorm breaks out while the parents are off exploring an arroyo. The Saddle Club knows the “Saddlebags” are in grave danger – but can they rescue them in time?

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