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History is just one damned thing after another - Arnold Toynbee

Behind the seemingly innocuous façade of St Mary's, a different kind of historical research is taking place. They don't do "time-travel" - they "investigate major historical events in contemporary time". Maintaining the appearance of harmless eccentrics is not always within their power - especially given their propensity for causing loud explosions when things get too quiet.

Meet the disaster-magnets of St Mary's Institute of Historical Research as they ricochet around History. Their aim is to observe and document - to try and find the answers to many of History's unanswered questions... and not to die in the process.

But one wrong move and History will fight back - to the death. And, as they soon discover, it's not just History they're fighting.

Follow the catastrophe curve from eleventh-century London to World War I, and from the Cretaceous Period to the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria. For wherever Historians go, chaos is sure to follow in their wake...

In the second book in the Chronicles of St Mary's series, Max and the team visit Victorian London in search of Jack the Ripper, witness the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and discover that dodos make a grockling noise when eating cucumber sandwiches.

But they must also confront an enemy intent on destroying St Mary's - an enemy willing, if necessary, to destroy History itself to do it.

St Mary's is back and nothing is going right for Max. Once again, it's just one damned thing after another.

The action jumps from an encounter with a mirror-stealing Isaac Newton to the bloody battlefield at Agincourt. Discover how a simple fact-finding assignment to witness the ancient and murderous cheese-rolling ceremony in Gloucester can result in CBC - concussion by cheese. The long awaited jump to Bronze Age Troy ends in personal catastrophe for Max, and just when it seems things couldn't get any worse - it's back to the Cretaceous Period again to confront an old enemy who has nothing to lose.

So, make the tea, grab the chocolate biscuits, settle back and discover exactly why the entire history department has painted itself blue...

St Mary's is back and is facing a battle to survive in this, the fourth instalment of the Chronicles.

Max and Leon are reunited, and looking forward to a peaceful lifetime together. But, sadly, they don't even make it to lunchtime.

The action races from 17th-century London to Ancient Egypt and from Pompeii to 14th-century Southwark as they're pursued up and down the timeline, playing a perilous game of hide-and-seek, until they're finally forced to take refuge at St Mary's - where new dangers await them.

As usual, there are plenty of moments of humour, but the final, desperate Battle of St Mary's is in grim earnest. Overwhelmed and outnumbered and with the building crashing down around them, how can St Mary's possibly survive?

So, make sure the tea's good and strong...

St Mary's has been rebuilt and it's business as usual for the History department.

But first, there's the little matter of a seventeenth-century ghost that only Mr Markham can see. Not to mention the minor inconvenience of being trapped in the Great Fire of London... and an unfortunately-timed comfort break at Thermopylae leaving the fate of the western world hanging in the balance.

Max is back! New husband, new job, and a training regime that cannot fail - to go wrong!

Take one interim Chief Training Officer, add five recruits, mix with Joan of Arc, a baby mammoth, a duplicitous Father of History, a bombed rat, Stone Age hunters, a couple of passing policemen who should have better things to do, and Dick the Turd.

Stir well, bring to the boil - and wait for the bang!

I've done some stupid things in my time. I've been reckless. I've broken a few rules. But never before have I ruined so many lives or left such a trail of destruction behind me.

As Max would be the first to admit, she's never been one for rules. They tend to happen to other people. But this time she's gone too far and everyone is paying the price.

Grounded until the end of time, how can she ever put things right?

"Because, my dear Max, you dance on the edge of darkness... and I don't think it would take very much for you to dance my way."

When an old enemy appears out of nowhere with an astonishing proposition for Max -- a proposition that could change everything -- Max is tempted. Very tempted.

With an end to an old conflict finally in sight, it looks as if St Mary's problems are over with. Can they all finally live happily ever after?

As everything hangs in the balance, Max and St Mary's find themselves engulfed in tragedies worse than they could ever imagine.

Is this the end?