A witty and perceptive take on modern life with a focus on technology and the supernatural, the title story is a nice take on reality TV like Love Island. Another story is a parody of complacent academia and the dissent of the English language. There is a Kafka-esque 'Which of these would you like' story, 'Signal' is a clever look at the mobile phone, and Cold Call a realistic treatment of adult social care with a great twist, and Charity a great take on the curse of taking selfies with your camera. Brilliant observations of contemporary life, these are quick, old-fashioned scary stories updated with new technology, Tales of the Unexpected for the digital age, and vinegar-sharp satires that horrify and amuse in equal measure. 215pp, Faber paperback.

Iconic, tough-but-tender Boston PI Spenser delves into the black-market art scene to investigate a decades-long unsolved crime of dangerous proportions. The heist was legendary, still talked about 20 years after the priceless paintings disappeared from one of Boston's premier art museums. Most thought the art was lost forever, buried deep, sold off overseas or worse, destroyed as incriminating evidence. But when paint chips from the valuable piece stolen, Gentlemen in Black, by a Spanish master arrive at the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum finds hope, and enlists Spenser's help. Soon the cold art case thrusts him into the shady world of black-market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses, and old vendettas. A five million dollar reward by the museum's top benefactor, and an unlikable Boston socialite set Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions, murder, and double crosses. Atkins's gift for mimicking the late Robert B. Parker delights devotees. 255pp, paperback.

What to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more with pre-departure practical information, this is a superb in-depth guide to the area of Devon and Cornwall with highlights and full colour maps throughout, history, wildlife, the arts and recommended books. Windswept moors, golden sands and craggy castles, Devon and Cornwall's shifting landscapes are truly captivating. Go puffin-spotting on Lundy or island-hopping in the Scillies, get messy eating fresh crabs, take in stately homes and modern art galleries, scenic walks, prime surfing spots, colourful local regattas, cosy country pubs, Piper's Hole and other caves, beaches like the sandy crescent sheltered Rushy Bay, the Lizard with Penwith peninsulas with its prehistoric sites all the way down to Lands End, St. Ives, Newlyn, Mousehole and Helston. And don't miss of course the Eden Project, Caerhayes Castle which leads down to a lovely coastline, the Lost Gardens of Heligan, or the Oyster Festival at Falmouth. With details on accommodation, eating, biking and other outdoor activities and with beautiful colour photographs and colour coded pages. From the excellent series we can highly recommend, first time discounted 360 page paperback. Colour illus.

Sub-titled 'How a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark Can Improve Your Writing, Enrich Your Reading and Even Change Your Life', here is the story of a small mark that can carry big ideas. Some people love it, others hate it, but most people just ignore it, often because they cannot remember the rules on how to use the semicolon. This warm, funny and enlightening and thoroughly original book takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the history of the semicolon and asks whether they are for snobs, whether they are sexy, the science of semicolons and English grammar wars, loose women and liquor laws, semicolons carved in stone, and how novelists from George Orwell to Kurt Vonnegut hold forth on its ugliness or omit them entirely accusing them of 'representing absolutely nothing.' Feared, pretentious, or downright trendy in the late 1800s, the frequency of the semicolon far outstrips that of one of its relatives, the colon. But there are rules as to whether to use a comma or a semicolon and in the new books of the 1700s, grammarians didn't hesitate to impugn the grammar of writers traditionally considered superb stylists: Milton and Shakespeare were chastised for 'gross mistakes'. The book follows a chronological path and follows the semicolon's place where our anxieties and aspirations about language, class and education are concentrated, and it is also a story about grammar and language more generally. The book shows how the semicolon is essential to the aesthetic appeal of passages from Herman Melville, Raymond Chandler, Henry James, Irvine Welsh, and other masters of English fiction and non-fiction. For all fans of Lynne Truss and the beauty of language and its rules. 212pp, paperback with facsimile examples and interesting graphics.

By the author of The Joy Luck Club, this novel reaffirms Amy Tan's reputation as a master storyteller in this, her New York Times bestseller. It is an evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity, from the lavish parlours of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village. The year is 1912 and Violet Minturn is the daughter of an American madam in the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother and forced to become a 'virgin courtesan'. Spanning more than 40 years and two continents, the novel maps the lives of three generations of women, and the mystery of an evocative painting known as 'The Valley of Amazement'. Moving from the collapse of China's last empirical dynasty to the growth of anti-foreign sentiment and the inner workings of courtesan houses, the novel interweaves the story of violet on a quest for both love and identity and her mother, Lucia, an American whose search for penance leads them to an unexpected reunion. A deeply moving narrative of family secrets, legacies and the relationship between mothers and daughters. 589pp, paperback, remainder mark.

In a similar vein to 'Cold Mountain', this award-winning novel transcends the straight-and-narrow Western in a rich melodrama of gun-slinging, hidden identities, conflicted loyalties and high-stakes emotion. In the spring of 1885, 17 year old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbours, she cuts her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains. Her goal is to find her gun-slinging fugitive brother Noah and bring him home. A talented sharpshooter herself, her quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah - dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother's outlaw identity, and haunted by questions of her own, Jess must outmanoeuvre those who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right. The story is told in her wholly original and unforgettable voice, touching on issues of family, identity, gender and sexuality. 430pp, paperback.

Among the many beautiful books that have landed on Bibliophile's shelves, none can have been more gorgeous than this big volume from the Victoria and Albert Museum's costume collection. With a close-up colour photo on each double spread, and meticulously detailed sketches showing the garment's construction on the page opposite, this is a sumptuous pictorial history of costume from the 17th century to the end of the 20th. Each century has a slightly different theme. In the 17th and 18th centuries the focus was on quilting, pleats, looped drapery, collars, cuffs and applied decoration. The stomacher was the panel down the front of a bodice that allowed the bodice itself to be laced to fit a woman's figure. Chronological examples here are mostly English and are lavishly embroidered, with a particularly beautiful pale turquoise stomacher donated to the collection by Harrods. The shoe section shows that pointed toes and kitten heels were the rage in the 17th century. The 19th century transformed a woman's silhouette with whalebone corsets, cage crinolines and bustles, while artificial dyes started to take over from embroidery as a source of colour. This section opens with men's tailoring, showing a preponderance of stand-up collars and frogging. A cycling suit of the late century is made with machine-knitted green jersey and trimmed with mohair braid. A woman's riding jacket is also frogged but fastened with practical hooks and eyes beneath the buttons. A cream pelisse of Jane Austen's era has an empire line and stunning sleeve panels of pleated silk, while mid-19th century day dresses have huge skirts, often using roller-printed wool and decorated with a peplum or large bow. A Liberty's frock from the 1890s has a looser fit, smocked at the waist, and trimmed with machine lace. The 20th century covers both mass-produced clothes and also high end couture. The section opens with the wedding dress worn by Miss "Baba" Beaton in 1934, its stunning simplicity the result of clever seaming, while a Galliano wedding dress of 1987 is a riot of silk and organza sculpted flowers. A Chanel suit of red wool from 1960 is plain and elegant, catering to the working woman, and a tweedy wartime suit from Digby Morton reflects the same practical trend. Underwear ranges from mass-produced polyester to boned and embroidered corsets by Dior. 598pp, high-quality close up colour photos hundreds of drawings, text and glossary in eight languages. New full price V&A publication nearly 12" square, heavyweight and a stunning coffee table book.
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Softbound musical scores of favourites and standards of George Gershwin (1889-1937) including Clap Yo Hand Do It Again, Fascinating Rhythm, I Got Rhythm, I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise, Liza, Nobody But You, Oh Lady Be Good, 'S Wonderful, Strike Up the Band, Swanee, That Certain Feeling, and Who Cares? among them. 104 pages.

Notorious for his booming voice and unprintable language, Brian Blessed is a classical actor with major Shakespearean roles to his credit as well as being a superb entertainer and famous all-round good bloke. The son of a coal-heaver, Brian worked his way up from the bottom, attending Bristol Old Vic theatre school where he commenced his lifelong love-hate friendship with Peter O'Toole. Apart from Lawrence of Arabia, O'Toole's most famous role was his disastrous Macbeth at London's Old Vic. On the first night Blessed, who was playing Banquo, had to get the plastered O'Toole into something like a costume and propel him onstage. Blessed had become a household name with his first big role as the young PC Fancy Smith in Z-Cars. In those days he was still aiming to be a Shakespearean actor and was devastated to receive a call from Orson Welles asking him to play Hotspur in Henry IV just after he had started Z-Cars. A major film role was playing Talthybius opposite Katharine Hepburn's Hecuba in Cacoyannis's Trojan Women. As an aficionado of Hepburn's films he managed to give as good as he got, surprising her with his analysis of where her leading man and partner Spencer Tracy had been ad-libbing, and he finally told her he was bored sick of hearing about Spencer all the time. Hepburn took it well. Although she stridently claimed to be an atheist, saying her farewells Hepburn showed Brian her religious side. Kenneth Branagh's Henry V took Blessed to Tokyo, where he was asked to escort Princess Anne on a state visit to meet the emperor and other dignitaries. Neither of them knew which was the emperor and Blessed's tale of their collusion in trial and error is a great royal story. Brian's dad was spotted taking illegal photos but was forgiven because of his vintage Japanese camera. 376pp, photos.

The best loved children's author of 'War Horse' and 'Private Peaceful' presents a lyrical, life affirming novel for ages ten and up. 'There were dozens of us on the ship, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye...' When orphaned, Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after WWII. He loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. The coming years will test him to his limits as he endures mistreatment, neglect and forced labour in the Australian outback. But Arthur is also saved, again and again, by his love of the sea. Arthur and his friend Marty survive brutal captivity on the working farm, find a new family with the eccentric Aunty Meg and her animals, and discover their talent for designing yachts. 60 years later and now at the end of his life, Arthur has built a special boat for his daughter Allie. She sets sail single handed determined to find his long-lost sister in England and sets off across the world's roughest seas. Will the threads of Arthur's life finally come together? With map. 313pp, paperback.