Benjamin's Ghosts, An Enid Gilchrist Mystery


Sylvia A. Nash - 2014
    His housekeeper guarded his secrets with her life. Now Enid Gilchrist must draw on her experience as a genealogist to replicate that search and protect those secrets while she unravels the clues that have crossed the years to spawn a new criminal and threaten those she loves. She also must draw on her strength of will to prevent her feelings for Chief of Police Patrick Mulhaney from hindering their mutual efforts to solve the mystery, bring peace to the dead, and protect the living.

File Under Fidelity


Geraldine wall - 2015
    Distraction comes in the form a wealthy young American who wants to trace his Shropshire family. One question leads to another and the final revelations shock and almost overwhelm him. Meanwhile, Anna faces tragedy in her own family and struggles to come to terms with the chaos of her emotions, plunging deeper and deeper into flight and denial. In the process she almost loses the people she loves most. This is a tale of the deep story of the heart told with humour and compassion and relentless honesty. This is the last novel in the trilogy of Anna Ames books.

The Cost of Silence (A Madeleine Porter mystery)


John Nixon - 2015
    The murderer is caught quickly, confesses and is convicted. He dies in prison shortly afterwards, having never disclosed the reasons behind his actions. Twenty-three years later, a recently retired crime reporter decides to write a book about the murder, hoping to uncover the motive. He establishes that the murdered man was a genealogist researching parish records held in the church, and he suspects that therein lies the answer. Being unfamiliar with the ins and outs of family history research, he calls on the expertise of local genealogists Madeleine Porter and her husband Ian Clay. However, their investigations are soon thrown off track when Ian receives a surprising letter.

Simon Said


Sarah R. Shaber - 1997
    Martin's Press Best First Traditional Mystery Award Forensic historian Simon Shaw likes his murders old and cold, and his first case fits the bill. An archeologist friend has found a skeleton with a bullet hole in its skull under historic Bloodworth House, and Simon investigates with his usual doggedness until he discovers that the corpse is Anne Bloodworth, an heiress who disappeared in 1926. Shaw feels compelled to find out who killed her. But this turns out to be more than an academic exercise when someone who wants to hide past secrets tries to murder him!"Shaber charms us with her personable prof and her warm, vibrant portrait of small-town Southern life." --"New York Times Book Review"

Murder at Markham


Patricia Sprinkle - 1988
    When another body turns up, Sheila knows something has to be done. Will she be able to handle the academic infighting in time to prevent another murder?

Flowerbed of State


Dorothy St. James - 2011
    But when she finds a dead body in a trash can, Casey has to root out a killer before she ends up planted herself.

Still Life with Murder


P.B. Ryan - 2003
    Born into dismal poverty, young Nell Sweeney scratches by on her wits and little else until fortune blesses her with a position as nursery governess to the fabulously wealthy Hewitts. But she soon learns that ugly secrets lurk beneath the surface of their gold-plated world.The Hewitts’ eldest son, William, a former Union Army battle surgeon and the black sheep of the family, was reported to have died three years before in a notorious Confederate prison camp. But one snowy February afternoon, his parents learn that he is, in fact, still alive—and in jail for having murdered a man while intoxicated on opium. Infuriated by his son’s deception and convinced of his guilt, August Hewitt forbids his wife from coming to Will’s aid, so she begs Nell to help exonerate him. Nell finds that she must delve into the kind of dark and treacherous underworld she thought she’d left far behind if she is to unearth the truth before the hangman’s noose tightens around William Hewitt’s throat.

He Needed Killing


Bill Fitts - 2012
    What was I doing here? Last week I was just a university employee who had taken early retirement. Now a man was dead and I was in the thick of it. People were counting on me to figure out what had happened—and why. What kind of retirement was this?

Cankered Roots


G.G. Vandagriff - 1994
    Something went wrong in her family during her adolescence, changing her mother from a Chicago North Shore matron into an alcoholic and a doting father into a workaholic. The moment she graduated from High School, she was sent to the Sorbonne in Paris with a generous bank account and instructions not to return.It is now fifteen years since she has seen her parents, and she intends to lay the ghost that has separated her family for good. However, as usual in Alex’s unpredictable life, things do not go as planned. After an acrimonious fight with her once beloved father, she leaves with only a wallet-sized photograph of a woman she knows nothing about.That night, Alex’s father is killed. Bewildered and grieved that her family can never be whole again, she soon finds out that she is the chief suspect in the murder. With the unflappable Briggie at her side, she uses all her new genealogical skills, and (with the help of Briggie’s deer rifle) discovers a secret so bizarre that she finally understands why her parents wanted her far away and safe.Join Alex and Briggie in the first of their hair-raising adventures!

The Indelible Stain (Esme Quentin Mystery #2)


Wendy Percival - 2014
    Esme is troubled by the woman’s final words and curious about the old photograph clutched in her hand. The police, however, dismiss Bella Shaw’s death as accidental. But Bella’s daughter, Neave, has her own questions and approaches Esme for help. The subsequent trail leads Esme back to the brutal penal history of 19th century England and the mystery of a Devon convict girl transported to Australia for her crime. As evidence of betrayal and duplicity are revealed, Esme discovers Bella’s link to events in the past – a link which now endangers Neave and, by association, Esme. A legacy of hatred which has festered for generations in the 'land beyond the seas' now threatens to spill over on to Devon soil with devastating consequences.

The Darkness Knows


Cheryl Honigford - 2013
    Big city. Brutal murder. Chicago, 1938. Late one night before the ten o’clock show, the body of a prominent radio actress is found dead in the station’s lounge. All the evidence points to murder…and one young, up-and-coming radio actress, Vivian Witchell, as the next victim. But Viv isn’t the type to leave her fate in the hands of others—she’s used to stealing the show. Alongside charming private detective Charlie Haverman, Vivian is thrust into a world of clues and motives, suspects and secrets. And with so much on the line, Viv finds her detective work doesn’t end when the “On-Air” lights go out…The gripping first novel in a new series from debut author Cheryl Honigford, The Darkness Knows is a thrilling mystery that evokes the drama and scandal of radio stardom in prewar Chicago.

It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder


Rosemary Martin - 2005
    Getting in on the British invasion, her boss at Rip City Records has signed up Philip Royal and the Beefeaters. But when Bebe and her stewardess roommate Darlene go to meet two members of the band for a fab night out, they find Philip dead, electrocuted with his own guitar. Even worse, the fuzz suspect Darlene. So, it's up to Bebe to abandon her Jackie Kennedy-inspired suits and venture into the smoky nightclubs of Greenwich Village, delving into the dark side of the swinging city to expose a killer.

Above the Bridge


Deborah Garner - 2012
    However, it's not long before her instincts tell her there's more than a basic story to be found in the popular, northwestern Wyoming mountain area. A chance encounter with attractive cowboy Jake Norris soon has Paige chasing a legend of buried treasure, passed down through generations.From the torn edge of a water-damaged map to the mysterious glow of an antler arch, Paige will follow clues high into the mountainous terrain and deep into Jackson's history. Side-stepping a few shady characters who are also searching for the same hidden reward, she will have to decide who is trustworthy and who is not.

In the Blood


Steve Robinson - 2011
    American genealogist Jefferson Tayte is hired to find out what happened, but it soon becomes apparent that a calculated killer is out to stop him.In the Blood combines a centuries-old mystery with a present-day thriller that brings two people from opposite sides of the Atlantic together to uncover a series of carefully hidden crimes. Tayte's research centres around the tragic life of a young Cornish girl, a writing box, and the discovery of a dark secret that he believes will lead him to the family he is looking for. Trouble is, someone else is looking for the same answers and will stop at nothing to find them.In the Blood is the first in the Jefferson Tayte mystery series.

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…