The Library Paradox

by Catherine Shaw

Published 23 March 2006
March, 1896. Motherhood and work as a private detective don't easily go hand-in-hand, but Vanessa is determined to give it a try. Being a wife and mother has meant that she's had to give up her beloved teaching job, but Vanessa has been kept busy by a string of requests asking for her help in solving troubling cases. It is not often, though, that her investigations involve violent death...When three sombre professors knock on her door, Vanessa knows they have come in search of her help. But when they explain the circumstances surrounding their colleague's murder, she begins to doubt whether her modest capabilities will be enough to solve the mystery. Leaving the comforts and pleasures of her home in Cambridge behind for the duration of the enquiry, Vanessa embarks on a journey to London where the grim realities of life threaten to overwhelm her. An exquisitely written and devilishly clever murder mystery by the author of "The Three Body-Problem" and "Flowers Stained with Moonlight".

Cambridge, 1892. Four years have passed since Vanessa Duncan's memorable introduction to detective work, and her success at proving the innocence of the wrongly accused has not gone unnoticed. With the arrival of the formidable Mrs Bryce-Fortescue, Vanessa is once again called on to help solve a perplexing mystery.
Mr George Burton Granger has been found shot dead at the edge of his manor estate. His wife Sylvia, daughter to Mrs Bryce-Fortescue, appears to be the police's main suspect. But could the fragile Sylvia really be capable of such an act? And who is the mysterious young man sighted on the day of the killing? Vanessa must delve into the innermost secrets of the suspects if she is to find the hidden solution.

The Three-body Problem

by Catherine Shaw

Published 1 January 2004
Teaching young girls at Cambridge University in 1888, young schoolmistress Vanessa Duncan finds her blossoming relationship with Arthur Weatherburn threatened when he is arrested for the murders of a series of mathematicians who had been working to win a prestigious prize for solving a baffling math