Domestic service had never been an intended career for Dory, but a plea from family could never be ignored, even, as it turns out, when her predecessor had been murdered in the very house Dory now worked. A stranger was blamed for the death, and Lord and Lady Wallisford and their grown children were not giving Detective Inspector Ridley from the Met an easy time to investigate alternative theories. No strangers had been seen in the district and Dory, with her position in the house, is increasingly drawn in the help.

    Oxford is hosting the English Parliament under the ‘merry monarch’, King Charles II. As politicians and their hangers-on converge on the divided city, an MP is found murdered, triggering tensions that threaten mayhem on the streets. Luke Sandys, Chief Officer of the Oxford Bailiffs, must solve the crime and thwart the plot. On his side is the respect for evidence and logic he absorbed in his student days, as a follower of the new science. On the other, a group of political conspirators are stirring up sectarian hatreds in their scheme to overthrow the Crown.Struggling to protect all he holds dear, Luke leans heavily on his cavalry officer brother, his friends, and his faithful deputy, Robshaw. But he has a secret, which may be clouding his judgement. At the moment of truth, will he choose love or duty?

     Julia turns from murder suspect to England’s first crime scene photographer… 1895, London Taking risqué photographs is the only way Julia McAllister can retain her independence as a young widow in London. But one by one, her models are dying — and now she is being framed for their murders. The relentless Inspector Collingwood is on the case and Julia knows he’s watching her every move. With young women still dying, and her own life on the line, Julia must unmask the real killer before it is too late… Can Julia clear her name? Will Collingwood believe her? Or will the dark secrets of her past come back to haunt her…? SNAP SHOT is the first book in the Julia McAllister Victorian Mystery series: historical romance murder mysteries with a courageous woman sleuth embarking on a traditional British, private investigation in nineteenth-century London. Praise for Marilyn Todd: ‘wry and entertaining’ - Mystery Scene ‘delectably enjoyable’ - Daily Mail ‘Skilfully tangled plot’ - Booklist ‘never boring’ – Kirkus Reviews ‘thoroughly entertaining’ - The Bookseller JULIA MCALLISTER VICTORIAN MYSTERY SERIES BOOK ONE: Snap Shot BOOK TWO: Cast Iron

    Avery was tried for the murder of a twenty-nine-year-old mill worker, Sarah Marie Cornell. It was the first time a clergyman had ever been tried for murder in the United States and the first time an American murder trial became headline news. From this factual base, Mary Cable weaves a chilling novel of gothic desires and conflicting classes. She creates a rich atmosphere to show New England as it was then - simple, puritanical, superstitious, and unsentimental - on the brink of emerging from the eighteenth century into an industrial and far-more-complicated age. This dramatic, compelling story is as much about a time and place as it is about a notorious murder trial. A work of poetic intensity, Avery’s Knot is finally a classic, tragic tale of a woman caught between passion and puritanism.

    As soon as they exit the train they hear news of a grisly murder making its way around the murmuring commuters. A local aristocrat, Mr. Darcy, has been found missing his head! And that very night, the wealthy widow finds a stranger in her home who, upon seeing her, abandons his plans and quickly leaves. She believes the intruder to be the murderer of her husband who is now after a large sum of cash she keeps in the house safe. Unsure if the would-be thief is the murderer or an opportunistic burglar, Holmes devises a plan to catch the burglar, all the while investigating the murder of Mr. Darcy. Follow Holmes, Watson, and the local constable, Mr. Wickham, as they untangle the mystery surrounding a Murder in Keswick.

    When the biographer Russell Graves, who Daniel is helping defend, is sentenced to execution for the murder of his wife, Daniel's Pitt-family investigative instincts kick in, and he sets out to find the real killer. With only twenty-one days before Graves is to be executed, Daniel learns that Graves is writing a biography of Victor Narraway, the former head of Special Branch and a close friend of the Pitts. And the stories don't shed a positive light. Is it possible someone is framing Graves to keep him from writing the biography--maybe even someone Daniel knows in Special Branch? The only answer, it seems, lies in the dead woman's corpse. And so, with the help of some eccentric new acquaintances who don't mind bending the rules, Daniel delves into an underground world of dead bodies and double lives, unearthing scores of lies and conspiracies. As he struggles to balance his duty to the law with his duty to his family, the equal forces of justice and loyalty pull this lawyer-turned-detective in more directions than he imagined possible. And amidst it all, his client's twenty-one days are ticking away.

    Even if that means marrying his daughter off to a rich American.Unfortunately for him, she is already in love with a penniless nobody named Alan Lavender — to the glee of Alan’s greedy uncle Guy.He’s been nosing into the Renfields’ murky past, and he says he’s uncovered a secret. Something so shocking it casts a shadow over Frank’s entire legacy.Tensions run high at the hall, until Guy Lavender turns up dead.A convenient coincidence for Frank?Detectives French and Edwards are on the case. But in a town full of secrets, the truth can be hard to find.And Guy’s won’t be the only body to fall before their work is done . . .Who will be next to die under the Renfields’ roof?

    Warwickshire, England, 1938While Hitler and Chamberlain are preparing to sign the Munich agreement, the murderer of a Jewish shopkeeper is being hanged in Birmingham.After witnessing the execution, Inspector James Given, who brought the killer to justice, is surprised to find he has been taken off the investigation to pursue something completely different.Grovestock House, owned by the wealthy Barleigh family has witnessed a triple death.With the terrible events neatly written off as a murder and a double suicide, Given is supposed to tidy up a few loose ends with the help of local constable, John Sawyer.But Given is sure there is more to the case than meets the eye.What dark secrets were the Barleigh family hiding? Could there be another killer involved?And how will Given react when he is forced to confront the ghosts of his past…?

    When the dowdy reporter is sent to interview a famous fashion designer she wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake. But Abby finds herself in the middle of a hard news story when her despised stepmother is murdered in the couture house. Even worse, Inspector Henri Deschamps believes she’s the prime suspect.With only high school French to defend herself, Abby’s in despair until a chance meeting with young reporter Ernest Hemingway convinces her to use her skills and clear her name by finding the real murderer.With help from new friends like Hemingway and Coco Chanel, Abby is transformed into a Parisian sensation. Can she enjoy her new bobbed hairstyle before losing her head? Because the French still punish murderers with the guillotine…

    They served together in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men.Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls. Changing times mean that variety is not what it once was, yet Max is reluctant to leave this world to help Edgar investigate. But when the dead girl turns out to be known to him, Max changes his mind.Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max become convinced that the answer to the murders lies in their army days. When Edgar receives a letter warning of another ‘trick’, the Wolf Trap, he knows that they are all in danger…

    Includes Satan in St Mary's, Crown in Darkness and Spy in Chancery. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters, Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks and Robin Hobb.Satan in St Mary's: 1284: Edward I is battling a traitorous movement founded by the late Simon de Montfort, the rebel who lost his life at the Battle of Evesham in 1258. The Pentangle, the movement's underground society whose members are known to practice the black arts, is thought to be behind the apparent suicide of Lawrence Duket, one of the King's loyal subjects. The King, deeply suspicious of the affair, orders his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chooses a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench, Hugh Corbett, to conduct the investigation. Corbett - together with his manservant, Ranulf - is swiftly drawn into the tangled politics and dark and dangerous underworld of medieval London.Crown in Darkness: 1286: on a storm-ridden night, King Alexander III of Scotland is riding across the Firth of Forth to meet his beautiful French bride Yolande. He never reaches his final destination as his horse mysteriously slips, sending them both crashing to their death on the rocks. The Scottish throne is left vacant of any real heir and immediately the great European princes and the powerful nobles of Alexander's kingdom start fighting for the glittering prize. The Chancellor of England, Burnell, ever mindful of the interest his king, Edward I, has in Scotland, sends his faithful clerk, Hugh Corbett, to report on the chaotic situation at the Scottish court. Concerned that a connection exists between the king's death and those now desirous of taking the Scottish throne, Corbett is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, conspiracy and danger.Spy in Chancery: Edward I of England and Philip IV of France are at war. Philip, by devious means, has managed to seize control of the English duchy of Aquitaine in France, and is now determined to crush Edward. King Edward suspects that his enemy is being aided by a spy in the English court and commissions his chancery clerk, Hugh Corbett, to trace and, if possible, destroy the traitor. Corbett's mission brings him into danger on both land and at sea, and takes him to Paris, and its dangerous underworld, and then to hostile Wales. Unwillingly he is drawn into the murky undercurrents of international politics in the last decade of the thirteenth century.

    Sophia Thompson wants nothing more than to be one of the famed Bow Street Runners, London's most elite corps of detectives. Never mind that a woman has never before joined their ranks--and certainly never mind that her reclusive family has forbidden her from pursuing such an unladylike goal.She gets the chance to prove her capabilities when an urgent letter arrives from her frantic cousin Daphne, begging Sophia to come look into the suspicious death of Daphne's brother.As Sophia begins to unravel the tangled threads of the case--with the help of a charming young policeman--she soon realizes that the murderer may be even closer to her family than she ever suspected.

    Slumped in a first-class car at Paddington Station is the body of a young, handsome gentleman. He has no luggage, empty pockets, and no sign of violence upon his person - yet Lenox knows instantly that it's not a natural death.Pursuing the investigation against the wishes of Scotland Yard, the detective encounters every obstacle London in 1855 has to offer, from obstinate royalty to class prejudice to the intense grief of his closest friend. Written in Charles Finch's unmistakably warm, witty, and winning voice, The Last Passenger is a cunning and deeply satisfying conclusion to the journey begun in The Woman in the Water and The Vanishing Man.

    One mission. Enemies everywhere.May 1944. When spy Elisabeth de Mornay, code name Cécile, notices a coded transmission from an agent in the field does not bear his usual signature, she suspects his cover has been blown– something that is happening with increasing frequency. With the situation in Occupied France worsening and growing fears that the Resistance has been compromised, Cécile is ordered behind enemy lines.Having rendezvoused with her fellow agents, Léonie and Dominique, together they have one mission: help the Resistance destabilise German operations to pave the way for the Normandy landings.But the life of a spy is never straightforward, and the in-fighting within the Resistance makes knowing who to trust ever more difficult. With their lives on the line, all three women will have to make decisions that could cost them everything - for not all their enemies are German.

    The girl protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her;at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating Shirley Brown begin to add up.In an English country house murder mystery with a twist, it's the butler who's the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, in ferreting out a desperate killer, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant, but this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth...