Book picks similar to
Mister Mottley Gets His Man by Ellen Seltz


historical
g-f-crime-homicide
g-f-humour
g-f-crime-investigation

Murder for Tea


Vered Ehsani - 2017
    But that isn’t the only thing boiling in her life. No sooner does she open her very own tea shop in the small town of Nairobi, someone with a vendetta against young brides murders one and leaves the body in The Cozy Tea Shoppe. With her best friend’s wedding only weeks away, can Miss Knight stop the murderer while babysitting a monkey and serving difficult customers? This is the first case in the “Cozy Tea Shoppe Mystery” series, where Jane Austen meets Lara Croft in colonial Africa. Tea isn’t the only thing that’s brewing in the delicious sequel to the “Society for Paranormals” series. Join supernatural detective Miss Knight as she attempts to keep the kettle hot and her customers satisfied (or at least alive) while dodging murder, mayhem and other inconveniences. Serving tea has never been more dangerous. Scroll up and Add to Cart!

The Countess of Prague


Stephen Weeks - 2017
    The assassination of the Archduke in Sarajevo that summer effectively ended the Old Europe into which she was born to a noble Czech father and an English mother. Through the lens of Trixie, whose own journey from pampered aristocrat (albeit in a polite and impoverished marriage) to a degree of emancipation has an exciting yet humorous and sympathetic dynamic, we witness stirring events and societal shifts. Trixie begins her new career at 28. She's leading a society life and growing apart from her husband although she is as yet too conventional to take a lover. When the brutalized body of an old man once under the command of her military uncle is fished from the Vltava, she takes to the role of a detective and finds solace in it, mixing with ease with kings and princes, but never losing touch with ordinary men and women with whom her new role often puts her in contact. Investigating alters the formality of her relations with her servants and with public officials as we see when she encounters her butler in an unexpected role (and place) and then goes undercover (as a young man) on a train journey to Paris and London. Eventually, liaising with various officials, she arrives at Marienbad, the famous Czech spa, where Edward VII of England and his nephew Kaiser Wilhelm have staged a surprising May meeting....and it is here that the mystery unfolds.

The Amersham Rubies


Rhys Bowen - 2011
    When heirloom rubies vanish from Lady Amersham’s neck, Molly relies on her wits to solve her first case. A short story prequel to mystery series.

Mrs. Thistlethwaite and the Magpie: A Tillamook Tillie Mystery


J.B. Hawker - 2017
    Thistlethwaite and the Magpie: "Super early review on Mrs. Thistlethwaite book from beta reader, Lisa Hudson: AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT!! I've been a fan of J.B. Hawker's fantastic writing for sometime. This book is outstanding!! Her ability to use elderly characters - Matilda Thistlewaite and Slim Bottoms - is brilliant!! These characters (as well as all the other characters) are painted so vividly that you feel as though you would recognize them if you met them in your local church, grocery store, or neighborhood. The story is set in a small town and reflects the devastation and fear brought by the disappearance of a young teenaged girl and the evidence of the return of a serial killer. The author seamlessly weaves the story and has you wanting to read the entire book in one sitting. It's about friendships, families, First Responders, and the criminal element. There are a myriad of surprises scattered all throughout this book. Read it. You'll be so glad you did!! " Fans of Miss Seeton and Mrs. Pollifax will welcome the indomitable Mrs. Thistlethwaite. Like these beloved, mature characters, at the ripe old age of eighty-five Mrs. T. is ready for whatever comes her way. When a beautiful and talented teenage ballet student disappears, rumors fly in the charming village of Tillamook, Oregon. Did she run away to the big city, or is she the latest victim of the notorious serial killer preying upon lonely young women along the coastal highways? Beguiling octogenarian, retired school teacher, Tillie Thistlethwaite, applies her exceptionally sharp mental skills and no-nonsense practicality to the mystery. Petite Mrs. T. and her tall gentleman friend, Slim, reject both theories and launch their own investigation. Will the amateur sleuthing of this unlikely and adorable pair succeed where the police fail, or will they fall victim to foul play?

Murder at the Breakers


Alyssa Maxwell - 2014
    She also has a job to do—report on the event for the society page of the Newport Observer.But Emma observes much more than glitz and gaiety when she witnesses a murder. The victim is Cornelius Vanderbilt’s financial secretary, who plunges off a balcony faster than falling stock prices. Emma’s black sheep brother Brady is found in Cornelius’s bedroom passed out next to a bottle of bourbon and stolen plans for a new railroad line. Brady has barely come to before the police have arrested him for the murder. But Emma is sure someone is trying to railroad her brother and resolves to find the real killer at any cost…

An Accidental Murder


J. New - 2015
    Many years later she returned to the Island, discovered it was for sale and bought it on a whim. Or so she thought. She had no idea at the time how much it would change her life, nor that it was yet to reveal all it’s secrets. Ones that even Ella couldn't imagine. She purchased the cottage from an old lady, but this was no ordinary old lady. And she left her cat, but this was no ordinary cat. Ella soon realises that this isn't the only gift the old lady left. Having only been in residence a few short weeks, and still unpacking boxes, she receives a telephone call from her brother, inviting her up to London for Sunday lunch. This call sets in motion a series of events that puts Ella’s life, and those of the people closest to her in danger. ‘An Accidental Murder’ is a cosy amateur sleuth novella, with a difference. Set in 1930’s England, it is the first in the series of The Yellow Cottage mysteries. *Please note this is a novella of around 25,000 words.*

A Meditation on Murder


Robert Thorogood - 2015
    Until he's murdered, that is. The case seems open and shut: when Aslan was killed he was inside a locked room with only five other people, one of whom has already confessed to the murder. Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered, and fed up with talking to witnesses who'd rather discuss his 'aura' than their whereabouts at the time of the murder. But he also knows that the facts of the case don't quite stack up. In fact, he's convinced that the person who's just confessed to the murder is the one person who couldn’t have done it. Determined to track down the real killer, DI Poole is soon on the trail, and no stone will be left unturned.

Wanna Get Lucky?


Deborah Coonts - 2010
    Almost everyone writes her off as another Vegas victim. But, Lucky O’Toole, head of customer relations at the Babylon megacasino, smells a rat, though she’s got a lot on her plate: the adult film industry’s annual awards banquet, a spouse-swapping convention, sex-toy purveyors preying on the pocket-protector crowd attending ElectroniCon… Still Lucky can’t resist turning over a few stones.When a former flame is one of the snakes she uncovers, Lucky is certain the woman’s death was no Sin City suicide. To top it all off, Lucky’s best friend, Teddie—Las Vegas’s finest female impersonator—presses to take their relationship to the next level. Leave it to Lucky to attract a man who looks better in a dress than she does.Lucky must manage the Babylon’s outrageous festivities, solve the crime, and struggle to keep her life and libido from spinning out of control.

Murder Under A Blue Moon


Abigail Keam - 2019
    She is a cartographer by trade, explorer by nature, and adventurer by heart. But there’s a problem. Miss Mona is broke. It’s during the Depression, and National Geographic has just turned down her application to join an expedition to the Amazon. What’s she to do? Perhaps get a job as a department store salesgirl. Anything to tide her over until a next assignment. There’s a knock on the door. Who could this be in the middle of the night? Holding a revolver, Mona reluctantly opens her door to a man wearing a Homburg hat and holding a briefcase. “I bring glad tidings. Your Uncle Manfred Moon has died and left you as his heir to the Moon fortune. You are now one of the richest women in the country!” he says. Mona’s response is to point her revolver in his face. If the stranger is telling the truth, she will apologize. If he is a fraud, she will shoot him. That’s how Mona does things in 1933. Murder Under A Blue Moon Murder Under A Blood Moon Murder Under A Bad Moon Murder Under A Silver Moon AWARDS 2010 Gold Medal Award from Readers’ Favorite for Death By A HoneyBee 2011 Gold Medal Award from Readers' Favorite for Death By Drowning 2011 USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011 as a Finalist for Death By Drowning 2011 USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011 as a Finalist for Death By A HoneyBee 2017 Finalist from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Design 2019 Honorable Mention from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Stalking

A Dangerous Goodbye


Fliss Chester - 2020
    While war rages in Europe, Fenella Churche is doing her bit in the green fields of England. But when she finds a letter addressed to her on the scrubbed farmhouse table, she knows the news won’t be good. She hasn’t heard from her fiancé Arthur since he was posted to France on a dangerous undercover mission, and from his very first words she knows he may not be coming back.I fear this may be my last letter to you, my darling, Arthur writes. Fen won’t give up hope and calls the war office, wanting to know if Arthur is still alive; they refuse to tell her anything. Searching for answers, she returns to his letter, but parts of it just don’t make sense. Through her tears Fen realises that her darling Arthur is giving her all the clues she needs to find out what happened to him.1945. With the war behind them and nothing left for her in England, Fen travels to the deceptively pretty French village where she thinks Arthur might be, but there’s no sign of him. She’s close to giving up when she finds his silver cigarette case and another letter full of clues. But when the local priest is killed, it’s clear someone wants to keep wartime secrets buried. If Arthur, a brilliant spy, was outwitted and betrayed, can Fen stay alive long enough to find out what happened to the man she loves?

Cursed in the Act


Raymond Buckland - 2014
    But investigating the murder of a cast member might be enough to make even him lose his head…1881. When the star and owner of the Lyceum, Mr. Henry Irving, is poisoned on Hamlet’s opening night, it’s up to stage manager Harry Rivers to make sure the show goes on. Fortunately for Harry, Mr. Irving is able to pull through and walk the boards as planned. But when his understudy is killed the very next day, Harry’s boss, Bram Stoker, becomes convinced that foul play is afoot.Mr. Irving has a list of enemies longer than a Shakespearean soliloquy, any of whom would have been happy for the curtain never to rise. It soon becomes clear that nefarious, possibly magical, methods are being employed to shut the play down. With more cast and crew members falling victim to the increasingly dangerous accidents on set, it’s up to Harry and Stoker to figure out which of Irving’s critics has a voodoo vendetta…

Chef Maurice and the Rather Fishy Tale, A Short Story Prequel


J.A. Lang - 2014
     A tale of intrigue, kidnap and the price of fish… When a mysterious carved wooden fish turns up in the morning seafood delivery, bearing a desperate—albeit badly spelt—plea for help, Chef Maurice, proprietor of Le Cochon Rouge in the Cotswold village of Beakley, has only one response: if he can’t steam it, grill it or fry it, he’s not interested. Unfortunately, friend and food critic Arthur Wordington-Smythe is more than willing to get the pair embroiled—or should that be broiled?—in what could turn out to be some seriously fishy business. Time then for a trip to the Cornish seaside in search of the fish’s owner, a parking space, and a jolly good plate of haddock and chips, not necessarily in that order...

Room with a Clue


Kate Kingsbury - 1993
    Owner Cecily Sinclair runs a smooth hotel, but the death of an offensive snob could kill her business.

Murder at the Manor


Catherine Coles - 2020
    However, it turns out to be anything but dull when his uncle, the Earl of Northmoor, is shockingly murdered!Evelyn must use all of her sleuthing knowledge, gained whilst she was a member of the Police force during the war, to find out who the murderer is before the bungling local police force decide the Earl was bumped off so Tommy could inherit his title.If you enjoy the glamour of bygone eras like 1920s Downton Abbey and gentle, cozy mysteries set in the English countryside then you will love this new series.

The Heiress of Linn Hagh


Karen Charlton - 2012
    Northumberland, 1809: A beautiful young heiress disappears from her locked bedchamber at Linn Hagh.The local constables are baffled and the townsfolk cry ‘witchcraft’.The heiress’s uncle summons help from Detective Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods, who face one of their most challenging cases: The servants and local gypsies aren’t talking; Helen’s siblings are uncooperative; and the sullen local farmers are about to take the law into their own hands.Lavender and Woods find themselves trapped in the middle of a simmering feud as they uncover a world of family secrets, intrigue and deception in their search for the missing heiress.Taut, wry and delightful, The Heiress of Linn Hagh is a rollicking tale featuring Lavender and Woods—a double act worthy of Holmes and Watson. Revised edition: This edition of The Heiress of Linn Hagh includes editorial revisions.