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Jessica Mann

This page lists novels and non-fiction by Jessica Mann.

Cover images, when possible, are for the first UK edition and a more recent paperback or digital edition.



This page is divided into two sections.

By Jessica Mann
- novels
- non-fiction

 

Jessica Mann: Novels

A Charitable End

Jessica Mann

Collins

1971

"Not all crimes are reported to the police. The comfortable Edinburgh citizens who received poison-pen letters thought it more politic to say nothing about them. But when the French-born wife of the city’s most distinguished judge receives one, she angrily blurts out the details of her husband’s not so innocent love life. The matter is discreetly silenced, but there is a subtle and disturbing change of atmosphere. Someone in this elite and snobbish professional circle, with its social concern, altruism, and exclusive occasions is undoubtedly not above suspicion."
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Mrs Knox's Profession

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1972

"Sarah Foster has a steady husband, although a trifle dull, two lively children and a comfortable home in London. Gossiping with friends compensates for the dull routine of housework and there are always fantasies to keep her company. When her husband insists on moving to the country thought, it seems the end. Her entire world will sink into a deeper rut of complacency. But to her surprise there are parties – wife-swapping parties – and she meets the attractive local MP, Victor Nightingale. And then there is lonely Mrs Knox, always so sympathetic and harmless, who earns a living looking after babies. But when a baby is kidnapped, Sarah’s involvement with these people draws her into a nightmare web of intrigue, violence and terror. Too late she realises the virtues of family and home; for her, life can never be the same again."
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The Only Security

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1973

Published in the US as Troublecross.

"Thea Crawford is the newly-appointed Professor of Archaeology at the University of Buriton. Her husband is abroad, leaving her to pursue her career with liberated enthusiasm, but as soon as she arrives she is faced with immediate difficulties in her own department and is drawn into a series of bizarre and sinister events. Mediaeval skeletons and twentieth-century corpses, the discovery of a rare and precious object, conflicting archaeological attitudes and some sharply observed characters add up to a fascinating novel of subtlety, wit and intrigue."
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The Sticking Place

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1974

"Gus Seaton is a television don, his wife Rachel a singer of classical music. They live a comfortable provincial life until Gus is accused of being involved in a Scottish nationalist terrorist group. Rachel finds evidence that the accusations might be true. Then their teenager daughter’s gesture of rebellion adds another turn to the screw.  In the midst of all these concerns, Rachel is forced to play the heroine in a desperate adventure by complexities of fate and conspiracy far beyond her imaginings. It is Rachel who ultimately confronts her own true self at that moment of deadly peril – at the sticking place."
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Captive Audience

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1975

"Trouble is brewing at Buriton University. A peaceful demonstration ends when a bomb is thrown at the administration building. In the ensuing fire, a student dies. Was it accident or murder? Whilst Professor Thea Crawford gets caught up in the protest, her husband Sylvester observes from his window. A reporter, injured in action, whose intellectual curiosity leads him to become embroiled in events, starts to ask questions. As he and Thea become involved with charismatic Toby Norman, and the beautiful Jenny Pascoe, it appears that the truth may soon be in sight."
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The Eighth Deadly Sin

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1976

"A man meets a woman at a publisher’s party; he takes her out to dinner, the evening finishes in bed in his office and afterwards they return to their respective homes and partners. A situation that is commonplace enough, but they meet again, and the casual affair becomes more serious, at least for the man involved. Then one day the woman doesn’t turn up. Jane has disappeared. His experience of missing persons should have made it simple for him to track her down but somehow she has contrived to cover her tracks completely. She is determined not to be found out: 'That’s the eighth deadly sin, didn’t you know?'."
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The Sting of Death

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1978

"Two worlds collide: one is the tranquil landscape of Grebe Bay in South Cornwall. The other belongs to international terrorist killers. Grebe has disagreements of its own. These range from rival claims to inheritance to the protection of the Large Blue Butterfly. A clash is in progress between ‘simple-life’ preservationists and some casual exploiters. But when an unidentified body is found drowned in the bay, international conflict becomes a local issue. "
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Funeral Sites

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1981

A Tamara Hoyland novel.

"Everywhere Rosamund Sholto turns, people praise her brother-in-law’s charisma, power, and his impeccable personal life, married to the daughter of the legendary Sholto. And now the whole country grieves with the tragic widower. Only Rosamund realises how dangerous and ruthless Aidan is. She knows he would stop at nothing to prevent her exposing his past. From Switzerland to England, helped by the redoubtable Tamara Hoyland, Rosamund flees for her life in a chilling, thrilling chase-and-pursuit novel."
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No Man's Island

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1983

A Tamara Hoyland novel.

"Recently discovered oil on the barren and isolated island of Forway has caused a plan for evacuation so that the entire island can be used for an oil rig. The islanders, however, intend to declare their independence from England. Tasked to spy on the potential revolt, Tamara Hoyland soon realizes that her services as a detective will be more needed then her services as a spy. In addition to the politically volatile situation, bodies start to be uncovered."
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Grave Goods

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1985

A Tamara Hoyland novel.

"The coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas day in the year 800 was the central event of the middle ages and altered the history of the world. Now an exhibition is to come to London from Prussia, its centrepiece Charlemagne’s regalia lent by the family of the Princes of Horn. The English wife of the mid-nineteenth century Prince is the subject of a biography being written by Margot Ellice, whose main material is correspondence between her, and her sister. But someone is trying to kill Margot Ellice and Tamara Hoyland finds that her research seems to have aroused murderous passions. She will not be the only person to die as desperate attempts are made to discover what really happened to those ancient treasures ."
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A Kind of Healthy Grave

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1986

A Tamara Hoyland novel.

"In 1929 a man called Rex disappeared when his caravan was destroyed by fire. Rex had been a pornographic painter, imprisoned for obscenity. In the present day Tamara Hoyland infiltrates a new movement called ‘Watchwomen’ which claims that feminism has been hi-jacked by socialists or lesbians. What is the connection between Rex and Watchwomen? And are the individual watchwomen as innocent as they seem? Hoyland follows a serpentine trail through an investigation that proves her as subtle and ruthless as her quarry ."
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Death Beyond the Nile

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1988

A Tamara Hoyland novel.

"Tamara Hoyland, archaeologist and undercover agent, becomes the guide on a cultural tour of Egypt, in order to keep an eye on a government scientist. Her party includes the suspected scientist herself, plus a television star, a failed poet, a brother and sister who run an arts centre and a businessman. The highlight of their tour is a visit to an excavation on a remote island in Lake Nasser. By the time the party reaches the site tensions have built up between its members. By the time they leave there have been two murders. Are the deaths related? Is there more than one killer present? Is it possible that there has been a Christie-like conspiracy? "
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Faith Hope and Homicide

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1991

A Tamara Hoyland novel.

"Former undercover agent Tamara Hoyland thinks she’s left murder and mayhem behind when she retires from the British government’s secret department E to return full time to archaeological work. When a botanist Louise Dench, is found dead, apparently by suicide, Tamara wants to believe that her boy-friend, Louise’s colleague, isn’t involved. But he had a motive; he and Louise were fighting over the publication of ground-breaking discoveries made during the Brazilian expedition where Waugh mysteriously met his death. It had been funded by the Grail Foundation, and it is in its fortress on the north Cornish coast that the dangerous truth is revealed ."
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Telling Only Lies

Jessica Mann

Hutchinson

1992

"An accidental remark on a television programme, about Nazi sympathisers in England during WW2, lands crime novelist Anne Medlicott in a potentially very damaging libel suit. She discovers the truth of the matter in the process of researching a new book, a book that will be a radical departure from the safe world of crime fiction where Anne has remained successfully insulated for many years. From Berlin of the 1936 Olympics to the present day, this is a narrative of many layers, where betrayal, subterfuge and deception must be stripped away before Anne Medlicott can come to terms with her own life and her family’s past ."
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A Private Inquiry

Jessica Mann

Constable

1996

"Barbara Pomeroy led a busy life as a Planning Inspector but when an anonymous caller threatens the life of her son, Toby, her world is thrown into disarray. With his mother often away from their home in St. Ives, Cornwall, Toby is cared for by his retired father and his glamorous new friend,  Clarissa Trelawny, who  soon becomes Toby’s surrogate mum. When  Clarissa is murdered, the shocked little community must find the killer. Could Barbara have killed Clarissa in a jealous rage? Who was the fancily named Clarissa Trelawny anyway? And is there a link between the murder and the sinister telephone threat? "
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Hanging Fire

Jessica Mann

Constable

1997

"Tess Redpath has been with The Argus nearly all her working life. But within minutes of meeting the paper’s new proprietor, she is out of a job. Tess had been working on the anniversary coverage of a horrific cult massacre in the USA, and on the tragic suicide of a feminist icon. Trying to drag herself back from despair Tess decides to work as a freelance on the stories she has already started. Some strange connections begin to appear, particularly in Cornwall where Tess comes from. When her flat is ransacked and set on fire Tess  begins to realise she has stumbled on something dangerous, sinister and huge ."
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The Survivor’s Revenge

Jessica Mann

Constable

1998

"War correspondent Nina Gillespie, though physically recovered from wounds sustained in Dubrovnik, is haunted by her memories and steps sideways into a job on local radio. There she begins to uncover a cruel money-making scam which seems to be connected her boyfriend's sister-in-law Claudia. When Claudia disappears after driving a consignment of relief supplies to Bosnia Nina is drawn back to Eastern Europe to unearth information about Claudia’s fate. There she encounters murder, terror, hatred and deceit."
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Under a Dark Sun

Jessica Mann

Constable

2000

"When Victoria agreed to be the executor of her Aunt Elena’s will she thought it would be a simple task. But as she gradually uncovers the truth about a long hidden act of vengeance, Victoria is led to question the rights and wrongs of retribution, as well as her own relationship with the family whose influence has overshadowed her life. A compelling novel of secrets and betrayal, it reaches a thrilling climax on August 11th, 1999, as the total eclipse of the sun darkens the Cornish sky."
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The Voice from the Grave

Jessica Mann

Constable

2002

"A woman called Lesley Cameron has left everything she owns to a complete stranger, the psychiatrist Dr Fidelis Berlin - but why? And what did Ms Cameron have to do with Murdo, now a high court judge, who is the son of Fidelis's oldest friend and mentor? Investigating the mysterious legacy, Fidelis finds herself questioning not only Lesley's life and violent death, but also her own emotions as she slowly comes to terms with illness and mortality."
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The Mystery Writer

Jessica Mann

Allison & Busby

2006

"In 1940, two boys from Cornwall, one the heir to an estate called Goonzoyle, the other the gardener’s son, are on board a ship full of evacuees travelling to safety in America. When their ship is torpedoed, only one survives. Six decades later, a rich widow who was the sister of one the boys, buys the estate and begins to investigate what actually happened when SS The City of Benares was sunk – and why human bones have been found buried at Goonzoyle ."
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Dead Woman Walking

Jessica Mann

The Cornovia Press

2013

"Gillian Butler moved away from Edinburgh fifty years ago, or so her friends thought. When her murdered body is found, they must try to remember who last saw her alive. Perhaps it was Isabel, now a novelist and people tracer, or the twice-widowed Hannah, or the psychiatrist Dr Fidelis Berlin, an expert on child abuse, abandonment, abduction and adoption, who had herself been an unidentified infant rescued from Nazi Germany and now hopes to discover her real name at last. Fidelis Berlin and other characters from Mann's earlier books reappear in this tense, gripping tale of vengeance, family ties and the mystery of identity."
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Jessica Mann: Non-fiction

Deadlier Than The Male: Why Are Respectable English Women So Good At Murder?

Jessica Mann

Macmillan

1981

"Why are respectable English women so good at murder? The intriguing phenomenon of the female crime writer is explored with an account of the Grandes Dames of the traditional detective novel. There are chapters on D.L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey and consideration of many others. These women’s lives were ostensibly peaceful, conventional, conformist and respectable. So what was it in their experience which gave them such violent imaginations and made them excel in what might seem a most unlikely field? This book attempts to answer that question."
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Out of Harm's Way

Jessica Mann

Headline

2005

"In this revealing new book, Jessica Mann, herself a wartime evacuee, looks at the experiences of those who were sent away to a foreign land including their dangerous journeys across U-boat-ridden oceans, and asks how they coped with being away, and also how they found life back in the UK on their return. Drawing extensive original research and on memories of many former evacuees Jessica Mann builds up a moving portrait of a lost generation."
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Godrevy Light

Jessica Mann with Charles Thomas

Twelveheads Press

2009

"The jagged reef of rocks off Godrevy Point, on the north eastern headland of St Ives Bay, lay right across the natural navigation course for the harbours of Hayle and St Ives. The reef claimed a succession of victims culminating with the loss of steamship Nile with all souls in 1854. This tragic incident caused a national outcry and prompted Trinity House to build a light at Godrevy. The resulting lighthouse is a beautiful and iconic structure, the inspiration of artists, photographers, poets and writers, including Virginia Woolf. Charles Thomas and Jessica Mann met at an archaeological dig at Godrevy over fifty years ago and the Golden Anniversary of their marriage coincides with the 150th anniversary of the first lighting of Godrevy Lighthouse. To mark both anniversaries Charles and Jessica have recorded its history, and representation in art and literature, illustrated in works of art from their collection."
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The Fifties Mystique

Jessica Mann

Quartet Books

2012

"Many young women 'long to put the clock back to the post-war years when life seemed prettier and nicer.' In this book Jessica Mann demolishes such preconceptions about their mothers' or grandmothers' young days, showing that in reality life was uglier and nastier. Born just before WW2, she grew up in the post-war era of austerity, restrictions and hypocrisy, before anyone even dreamed of Women's Lib. The Fifties Mystique is both a personal memoir and a polemic. In explaining the lives of pre-feminists to the post-feminists of today, Mann discusses the period's very different attitudes to sex, childbirth, motherhood and work, describes how she and other young women lived in that distant world with its forgotten restrictions and warns against taking hard-won rights for granted."
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Last updated September 2018