Can she catch the killer before her sister's beloved pays the ultimate price?London. 1923. Much to her consternation, Kitty Worthington's debut season is a resounding success, prompting marriage proposals from lords, rogues, scoundrels, and ne'er do wells. Even as she dodges them, a new intrigue arises, and at Westminster, no less. A high-ranking member of the nobility is murdered, and her sister's beau has been framed to take the fall.With her sister's happiness at stake, Kitty once more sets out to investigate, ably aided by her faithful maid, two noble lords, a titled lady, and Sir Winston, her still flatulent Basset Hound. As they dash about London from the stews of St. Giles to the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair in search of the wily killer, can she convince the maddening Inspector Crawford to aid their quest? For if she fails to find the killer, her sister’s beloved may very well hang from the wrong end of a rope.

    

    Maybe Vi has been snippy and distracted. Maybe Jack has been sharp and irritable. Maybe they panic when they realize they’re unhappy with each other.On an evening of romance, they dance, they kiss, they connect, and then they find a body. Of course, they aren’t surprised. Only this time, they realize they know the victim.

    

    Anthony, small-town editor Irene Ingram has a nose for news and an eye for clues.Irene Ingram has written for her father’s newspaper, the Progress Herald, ever since she could grasp a pencil. Now she’s editor in chief, which doesn’t sit well with the men in the newsroom. But proving her journalistic bona fides is the least of Irene’s worries when crime reporter Moe Bauer, on the heels of a hot tip, turns up dead at the foot of his cellar stairs. An accident? That’s what Police Chief Walt Turner thinks, and Irene is inclined to agree until she finds the note Moe discreetly left on her desk. He was on to a big story, he wrote. The robbery she’d assigned him to cover at Markowicz Hardware turned out to be something far more devious. A Jewish store owner in a small, provincial town, Sam Markowicz received a terrifying message from a stranger. Moe suspected that Sam is being threatened not only for who he is…but for what he knows. Tenacious Irene senses there’s more to the Markowicz story, which she is all but certain led to Moe’s murder. When she’s not filling up column inches with the usual small-town fare—locals in uniform, victory gardens, and scrap drives—she and her best friend, scrappy secretary Peggy Reardon, search for clues. If they can find the killer, it’ll be a scoop to stop the presses. But if they can’t, Irene and Peggy may face an all-too-literal deadline.

    As she digs for evidence to clear her name, Polly falls into a sinister web implicating her in a nefarious crime ring being investigated by White House Police. Polly’s life and those of her family are at stake. Narrated by Polly, her self-righteous older sister, Sarah, and Sarah’s well-meaning, but flawed husband Wesley, a Methodist minister, the story follows several twists through the landscape of the rural Midwest.

     June, 1925. Having been widowed in the First World War, Elizabeth Fairchild lives a quiet life at the home of her wealthy parents in genteel Oak Park village, Illinois. Although she does her best to avoid emotional entanglements, determined never to be hurt again, Elizabeth forms a close friendship with gentle Mr Anthony, who owns the local antiques store.But tragedy strikes when Mr Anthony is found stabbed to death in the alley behind his shop. Why would anyone murder a mild-mannered antiques dealer who simply loved beautiful things? A robbery gone wrong? A gangland execution? Or could it have something to do with the mysterious customer who bought a gold pocket watch from Mr Anthony on the day he died?When one of her father's oldest friends is accused of the crime, Elizabeth determines to expose the real killer. But her investigations soon attract unwelcome attention. With gangsters moving into the neighbourhood from nearby Chicago, Oak Park is no longer the safe haven it once was. Could Elizabeth be seriously out of her depth?

    Including Mrs Anna Tufton, the Giantess.-Brisbane Courier, 18 April, 1888.Matilda Hayward is determined to have a career, after all, it is 1888! While reporting for the Women's Journal newspaper, Matilda is sent to cover the visiting 'Freak Show' and to interview Mrs Anna Tufton, a giantess. During the interview, the giantess slips a note to Matilda begging for help to her escape the show she is forced to do by her husband. But then the giantess's husband, along with the owner of the Freak Show, Mr Alfred E. Burnham, is murdered. The giantess is a likely suspect.Matilda enlists the help of her lawyer brother, Amos, to prove the giantess is no killer and to free her from a life of exploitation. But close family friend, Detective Thomas Ashdown - who might just have feelings for Matilda despite having known her since childhood - would prefer Matilda was nowhere near his murder case. There is mystery, danger, and love afoot!

    Johnson!1806 Hertfordshire - The worst held secret in town is that shy Poppy Morton has been in love with Tom since they were children. Unfortunately, Tom has long been in love with Mary, Poppy’s vivacious best friend.When Tom proposes marriage to Mary, it breaks Poppy’s heart, But when Mary demands Poppy break his heart in return by refusing his offer for her, Poppy refuses. She won’t destroy Tom’s hopes and ruin their friendship, even if it means losing her own heart in the process.But Mary won’t take no for an answer, and when the best friends have the fight to end all fights, Poppy ends it by shoving Mary through a glass door.Shocked, heartbroken, and humiliated, Poppy flees. But the next day a handsome constable, Henry Dyngley, shows up at her door. A carriage has overturned on the road and a young woman’s body has been found. Poppy is the only suspect.Will Poppy be able to prove her innocence? Or will she lose her heart again as she and Dyngley search for a killer?

    Its windows stare down at Harkin and the sea beyond . . .January 1921. Though the Great War is over, in Ireland a new, civil war is raging. The once-grand Kilcolgan House, a crumbling bastion shrouded in sea-mist, lies half empty and filled with ghosts - both real and imagined - the Prendevilles, the noble family within, co-existing only as the balance of their secrets is kept.Then, when an IRA ambush goes terribly wrong, Maud Prendeville, eldest daughter of Lord Kilcolgan, is killed, leaving the family reeling. Yet the IRA column insist they left her alive, that someone else must have been responsible for her terrible fate. Captain Tom Harkin, an IRA intelligence officer and Maud's former fiancé, is sent to investigate, becoming an unwelcome guest in this strange, gloomy household.Working undercover, Harkin must delve into the house's secrets - and discover where, in this fractured, embattled town, each family member's allegiances truly lie. But Harkin too is haunted by the ghosts of the past and by his terrible experiences on the battlefields. Can he find out the truth about Maud's death before the past - and his strange, unnerving surroundings - overwhelm him?