The Last Juror

When Danny Padgitt, part of a family of bootleggers who are effectively a large criminal conspiracy, is convicted of rape and murder, the jury cannot agree on the death penalty. Padgitt threatened the jury and when, once he is out, the jurors who heard his case start being executed, conclusions are there to be jumped to.

The Da Vinci Code

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci.

Leap of Faith

Born in America in 1951 as Lisa Halaby, Noor came from a wealthy, well-connected family and was part of Princeton’s first co-ed class. Her father’s aviation business produced a chance meeting with King Hussein in 1976, and a year or two later Noor realised the king was courting her. He was 41, she was 26. The rumor mills buzzed: was she the next Grace Kelly?

Warfighting

Over the past 200 years, the Marines have developed a reputation for getting the job done-fearlessly, and taking no prisoners. Written in 1989 as a philosophical and strategic guide-book for the US Marine Corps, it describes the basic forces at work in every competitive situation.

The Mountains of My Life

A collection of classic writings of world-famous mountaineer Walter Bonatti, and tells the real story of the 1954 controversy over the events on K2 that changed his life. Bonatti is one of the greatest mountaineers, a man who continually reset the benchmark of human possibility.

A Journey in Ladakh

High up in the remote mountain passes on the Indian border with Tibet, China and Pakistan, Ladakh has been a centre for Buddhist meditation for three centuries before Christ. Arriving by rickety bus, Harvey was unprepared for the breathtaking splendour, colour and silence of the landscape.

Someone to Watch Over Me

Leigh Kendall revelled in her Broadway acting career, and her marriage to Logan Manning. Following a Sunday night performance, Leigh heads north to join him, but is run off the road fighting the elements of a blinding blizzard. When she awakes in the local hospital, seriously injured, the police inform her that Logan has disappeared.

A Conspiracy of Paper

Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in 18th-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy trader, he lives estranged from his family, until asked to investigate his father’s death.

Salt

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here, salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind. Kurlansky has produced a multilayered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.