Taking you through the year day by day, The Lichfield Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, shocking, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the cathedral city. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Lichfield's archives and covering the social, political, religious, agricultural, criminal, industrial and sporting history of the region, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

Historical true crime comes to life with this fictionalized account of a nineteenth-century murder that changed the course of British legal history. England, 1817. In the small hours of May 27th, a young servant girl from the village of Erdington left a party in the company of a man with a bad reputation. A few hours later, Mary Ashford’s lifeless body was found drowned in a pond. Despite a seemingly solid alibi, Abraham Thornton is soon on trial for his life—only to be acquitted at the direction of the judge. Public opinion across the country is outraged, with everyone convinced that a murderer has evaded the gallows. In a last-ditch effort to find justice, Mary’s brother uses an archaic legal process to prosecute Thornton again, only to find himself confronted with an extraordinary challenge. In court, Thornton throws down a gauntlet and demands his legal right to trial by combat . . . and the outcome will alter the course of English legal history. A many-layered fictionalized account, The Murder of Mary Ashford examines the particulars of this famous case while exploring the birth of forensic investigation, the meaning of sexual consent, and the struggle of a modern state to emerge from its medieval heritage.

Every good city deserves a good murder...and Lichfield is no exception. When Henry Taylor of Lichfield comes to 221B Baker Street with the news that his young wife has been murdered, apparently by his son from his first marriage, Sherlock Holmes takes the train from Euston to investigate. What he discovers comes as a surprise to everyone except (of course) Sherlock Holmes himself.

Fergus Hume (1859-1932) was a prolific English novelist. His self-published novel, "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab", became a great success. Hume based his descriptions of poor urban life on his knowledge of Little Bourke Street. It eventually became the best selling mystery novel of the Victorian era, author John Sutherland terming it the "most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the century". This edition includes: The Mystery of a Hansom Cab Professor Brankel's Secret Madame Midas The Harlequin Opal The Expedition of Captain Flick Hagar of the Pawn-Shop The Silent House The Bishop's Secret A Woman's Burden The Pagan's Cup A Coin of Edward VII The Mandarin's Fan The Red Window The Secret Passage The Opal Serpent The Green Mummy The Crowned Skull The Solitary Farm The Mystery Queen Red Money A Son of Perdition The Caravan Mystery

In the Summer of 1972, 14-year-old Judith Roberts took off for a bike ride within the vicinity of her Staffordshire home. Her body was discovered after a three-day manhunt, concealed from view in a thick privet having been brutally attacked. The community of Tamworth was rocked by the news of her death and an outcry for justice ensued. Within weeks of her murder, an impressionable and troubled soldier, based in the nearby barracks, 17-year-old Andrew Evans, walked into a police station and confessed to the killing. Relentlessly interviewed for hours on end without representation or an appropriate adult present, Andrew was swiftly charged with Judith's murder. Despite attempting to recount his statement and a legal defense at trial that defied the prosecution's arguments that Andrew Evans was guilty, a judge sentenced him to life behind bars. He was eventually acquitted in 1997 in what was, at the time, Britain's longest miscarriage of justice. While Andrew Evans fought for his freedom, another man drove up and down England undetected: Peter William Sutcliffe. Eventually proven capable of inflicting unimaginable horror at any given opportunity, an independent inquiry dubbed him likely responsible for more murders than the 13 he was convicted of and the seven others he attempted between 1975 and 1980. In The Murder of Judith Roberts, Chris Clark and Tanita Matthews examine evidence that concludes that Sutcliffe, whose violent criminal history dates back as far as 1969, was the real culprit responsible for Judith's murder. With never before-published dialogue from Andrew Evans' police interviews showing the grave miscarriage of justice, the case file of the five-decade cold case is examined under a new light.

In 2015, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene, featuring over sixty new traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures, all set within the correct time period, and written by many of today's leading Sherlockian authors from around the world. This first anthology, spread over three huge volumes, was the largest collection of its kind ever assembled in one place. Response was immediately and overwhelmingly positive, and there were soon calls for additional volumes. The result is this new collection, the next in an ongoing series, featuring twenty-two more Holmes investigations. Since his first appearance in print in 1887, the popularity of Sherlock Holmes has only increased. Although originally chronicled in just sixty exploits, the number of additional Holmes tales discovered since then is literally in the tens of thousands. Along with those original narratives published by Dr. Watson's first literary agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, countless other people have managed to find their way to Watson’s Tin Dispatch Box in order to reveal more exciting cases featuring the Great Detective. These accounts stretch from one of Holmes’s earliest cases, later recounted to Watson as they sit by the fire in the Baker Street sitting room, to an adventure just before Holmes’s retirement that affects both the ancient history and the very future of England. These and all the other excellent tales contained in this volume represent some of the finest new Holmesian storytelling to be found, and honor the man described by Watson as “the best and wisest ... whom I have ever known.” This anthology features contributions by: Derrick Belanger, Deanna Baran, Daniel D. Victor, Mark Mower, Craig Janacek, Jayantika Ganguly, Denis O. Smith, Matthew Booth, J.R. Campbell, Bonnie MacBird, Arthur Hall, Bob Byrne, Andrew Lane, Roger Johnson, Hugh Ashton, David Stuart Davies, Vincent W. Wright, Daniel McGachey, Nicholas Utechin, Jeremy Holstein, David Marcum, and Marcia Wilson, as well as a poem by Andrea Mantin Levy, and forewords by David Marcum, Steven Rothman, Richard Doyle, Steve Emecz, and Melissa Farnham. “This fourth volume continues the tradition set by the first three books in the series. The twenty-three items in this book include twice as many that I rate as excellent as the few I rate only as good. All the rest I rate as very good and that gives the entire volume a rating of 'excellent' as compared to any other Anthology.” - Philip K Jones

2017 is the 130th anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet, the first recorded adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. What an amazing journey it's been! In addition to the pitifully few sixty tales originally presented in The Canon, published between 1887 and 1927, there have been literally thousands of additional Holmes adventures in the form of books, short stories, radio and television episodes, movies, manuscripts, comics, and fan fiction. And yet, for those who are true friends and admirers of the Master Detective of Baker Street, where it is always 1895 (or a few decades on either side of that!) these stories are not enough. Give us more! In 2015, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene, featuring stories set within the correct time period, and written by many of today's leading Sherlockian authors from around the world. Those first three volumes were overwhelmingly received, and there were soon calls for additional collections. Since then, the popularity has only continued to grow. Two more volumes were released in 2016, and this the first of two planned for 2017 - with no end in sight! The thirty-five stories in this volume – now bringing the total number of narratives and participating authors in this series to well over one-hundred! – represent some of the finest new Holmesian storytelling to be found, and honor the man described by Watson as "the best and wisest ... whom I have ever known." All royalties from this collection are being donated by the writers for the benefit of the preservation of Undershaw, one of the former homes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Part VI: 2017 Annual features contributions by: Bob Byrne, Julie McKuras, Derrick Belanger, Robert Perret, Deanna Baran, G.C. Rosenquist, Hugh Ashton, David Timson, Shane Simmons, Stephen Wade, Mark Mower, David Friend, Nick Cardillo, Roger Riccard, S. Subramanian, Carl L. Heifetz, Geri Schear, S.F. Bennett, Jennifer Copping, Jim French, Carla Coupe, Narrelle Harris, Arthur Hall, Craig Janacek, Marcia Wilson, Tracy Revels, Molly Carr, Keith Hann, David Ruffle, David Marcum, Thomas A. Turley, Jan Edwards, C. Edward Davis, Tim Symonds, and Daniel D. Victor, with a poem by Bonnie MacBird, and forewords by David Marcum, Nicholas Utechin, Roger Johnson, Steve Emecz, and Melissa Farnham.