No time like the past

Summary: "Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don't call it "time travel"--These historians "investigate major historical events in contemporary time." And they aren't your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets. The Chronicles of St. Mary's tells the chaotic adventures of Madeleine Maxwell and her compatriots--Director Bairstow, Leon "Chief" Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more--as they travel through time, saving St. Mary's (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea. In No Time Like the Past, St. Mary's has been rebuilt, and it's nearly back to business as usual for the history department. Except for the visit to St. Paul's Cathedral with a seventeenth-century ghost that only Mr. Markham can see. And getting trapped in the Great Fire of London. And an unfortunately-timed vacation at Thermopylae that leaves the fate of the western world hanging in the balance. Actually, that sounds quite like business as usual for Max and the gang"--