Book picks similar to
Serpent's Eye by Dolores Gordon-Smith


historical
historical-mystery
myst
mystery-amateur

Wild Wyoming Wind


Margery Scott - 2011
    Dedicating his life to bringing criminals to justice, he's on the trail of Tyler Boone, an escaped outlaw and killer.Jake and Maddie lock horns when Jake shows up at Maddie's homestead and announces he's staying until he captures Tyler. But living in close quarters exposes emotions and feelings they had both thought long dead, and brings danger, sorrow and love, forcing them both to question the past, and eventually, to trust in the future.

Footprints in the Sand (The Lucy Lawrence Mysteries Book 2)


Pam Lecky - 2020
    Who will pay the ultimate price? Lucy Lawrence throws caution to the wind and embarks on a journey of self-discovery to the land of the pharaohs. Travelling to Cairo as the patron of the charming French Egyptologist, Armand Moreau, Lucy discovers an archaeological community plagued by professional rivalries and intrigue. It is soon apparent that the thriving black market in antiquities threatens Egypt’s precious heritage. When the Egyptian Museum is burgled, Lucy is determined to solve the case, much to the annoyance of the local inspector of police, and the alarm of Mary, her maid. But when an archaeologist is found murdered in the Great Pyramid, Lucy is catapulted into the resulting maelstrom. Can she keep her wits about her to avoid meeting a similar fate?

Beyond Malice


Rebecca Forster - 1994
    But the tables turn when the evidence in the grisly murder of a partner's wife at a prestigious law firm points to Nora. Abandoned by the legal community, Nora reluctantly turns to her sister for help. Armed with a tenacious spirit, no leads, no experience in defending a murder charge, Amanda has to free her sister from what the D.A. claims is an open-and shut case. With the help of a handsome assistant-for-hire with a chip on his shoulder, this outgunned lawyer peels away the protective layers surrounding some very upright types to reveal intentions that seem to be beyond reproach, but are, in fact, beyond malice.

EO-N


Dave Mason - 2020
    On the heels of her mother’s illness and crushing death, she's pulled into a seventy-four year old mystery by a chance discovery on a Norwegian glacier. 1945: RCAF Squadron Leader Jack Barton flies combat missions over occupied Europe. Major Günther Graf, a war-weary and disillusioned Luftwaffe pilot, is trapped in the unspeakable horrors of Nazi Germany. Their paths, so different yet so similar, are connected by a young victim of appalling cruelty.A story of love and loss, cruelty and kindness, guilt and redemption, EO-N's sweeping narrative takes readers on a riveting journey—from the destruction and cruelty of war to the relentless pressures of contemporary corporate greed—weaving together five seemingly separate lives to remind us that individual actions matter and that courage comes in many forms.

A Mysterious Season


Deanna Raybourn - 2020
    Nevertheless, Julia looks forward to a lively family gathering—but amongst the celebrations, a mystery stirs… Midsummer Night Midsummer in Victorian England—an auspicious time for a wedding. Brisbane has taken charge of the music. Julia has, perhaps mistakenly, allowed her sisters to choose the dress. And Belmont Abbey is overflowing with guests awaiting the blessed day. Add in a dangerous past nemesis who has come to wish them not-so-well, and their day to remember just might take a fatal turn… Twelfth Night To mark the passing of another decade, the March family have assembled at Belmont Abbey to perform the Twelfth Night Revels. But before Lady Julia and Brisbane can take to the stage, an abandoned infant is found nestled in the helm of St. George. When the pair take up the challenge to investigate, they’ll be faced with an impossible choice—one that will alter the course of their lives…forever. Bonfire Night During the autumn of 1890, a solicitor arrives with a strange bequest: Nicholas, it seems, has inherited a country house—but only if he and his family are in residence from All Hallows’ Eve through Bonfire Night. Neither Lady Julia nor Nicholas is likely to be put off by local legends of ghosts and witches, until a new lady’s maid disappears, igniting a caper that will have explosive results…Previously published

The Dark Before Dawn


Jaima Fixsen - 2018
    A thrilling new series by the Amazon best-selling author of Fairchild. Vienna, 1814. As the powers of Europe gather to negotiate peace, there’s little to be found for Kasper Stark, working for the chief of Austria’s secret police. In a city rife with schemes and double dealing, every prince and every lady’s maid is spying or party to some plot. When a Prussian count is found dead on the eve of the peace conference, Kasper falls into into a deadly game of revenge and conspiracy. Faced with virtuoso liars, quicksand allegiances, and his own unscrupulous commander, Kasper races to unmask the killer, before the investigation reveals his own impossible secrets. "Kasper Stark will surprise and delight you like no other character you’ve encountered before. 1814 Vienna roars to life in Jaima Fixsen’s deft hands. Wonderfully original and beautifully written, The Dark Before Dawn is a book to savor, a perfect read." —Tasha Alexander, New York Times bestselling author "An engrossing blend of mystery, espionage, and romance that beautifully evokes the deceit, double crosses, and romantic intrigues of the Congress of Vienna." —Tracy Grant, author of The Duke's Gambit "[an] atmospheric page-turner" —Emily Organ, author of the Penny Green Victorian mystery series

Crow Hollow


Michael Wallace - 2015
    She’s convinced her daughter is alive but cannot track her into the wilderness alone. Help arrives in the form of James Bailey, an agent of the crown sent to Boston to investigate the murder of Prudence’s husband and to covertly cause a disturbance that would give the king just cause to install royal governors. After his partner is murdered, James needs help too. He strikes a deal with Prudence, and together they traverse the forbidding New England landscape looking for clues. What they confront in the wilderness—and what they discover about each other—could forever change their allegiances and alter their destinies.

The River: A Christopher Radcliff Short Story


A.D. Swanston - 2018
    . . Cambridge on the morning of a day in April, the year of Our Lord 1569.And Christopher Radcliff, Doctor of Civil Laws at Pembroke Hall and recruiter of clever young men to the service of the Earl of Leicester, is amongst a crowd of excited townsfolk and university scholars gathered on a field to watch a game of foot ball. It is to be played between the apprentices of the town and pupils of the colleges and it is hoped it will reconcile differences between town and gown. Bets are placed, wagers made. On the field long-standing animosities surface and violence breaks out but not before the college team is victorious, thanks to the skill of a Pembroke Hall man, John Groom.Later that day, Radcliff is summoned to the senior tutor’s rooms. It transpires that John Groom has been locked up on a serious charge of assault – he’d nearly caused a cobbler’s apprentice to drown. If found guilty, Groom would be expelled from college and face imprisonment. But Christopher smells a rat. He believes the charge to be the fabrication of someone with a serious grudge against the young man, and yet it does seem as if Groom is hiding something. Enlisting the help of his friend Edward Allington and his wife Katherine, Dr Radcliff knows the truth lies somewhere within the infamous den that is Slegge’s gaming house…

In the Midst of Shadows


Nicola Italia - 2021
    Costing a penny, readers purchased the stories and entered the fantastic world of superhuman men and damsels in distress.The stories have been popular for over fifty years and Lavinia Howard is a young woman who dreams of being such a writer. Having recently lost her father, she turns to a family friend who puts her in touch with Jasper Courtenay, owner of Courtenay Publishing.Writing under the pen name G. R. Howard, Lavinia creates a character who becomes a huge success as her penny dreadful stories are the most popular ever printed. Her character is brash and obnoxious and has no respect for authority as he solves London murders and the working classes adore him!But strange things begin to happen as the stories Lavinia writes start to come true. Two very similar deaths mirror those she writes about, and Detective Chief Inspector Harrison Bryce is assigned to investigate. Inspector Bryce soon discovers that Lavinia has become so popular that she has also made enemies along with her legion of fans.He realizes that everyone surrounding Lavinia has a motive to have committed the crimes. He must work fast to determine who wants to harm her as he suspects Lavinia may be the next target on the killer’s list.

Murder in Aspen Notch


Kathleen McKee - 2019
    Now newlyweds, they’d decided to relocate to Aspen Notch, a small town in the Poconos, where they could enjoy the mountain vistas and a restful retirement. Out of the blue, Alan was offered an interim position as chief of police, Aspen Notch’s only cop. Thinking it would be an easy gig in a quiet town, Sue encouraged Alan to accept the job while she focused on the renovations to the home they bought. They were barely settled before Sue found a dead body, inherited an unruly puppy, and was sent a death threat. Would Sue be able to help Alan solve the crime before the killer made good on the warning? Murder in Aspen Notch, an engaging whodunit, is the first book of the Aspen Notch Mystery series.

Beyond the Dream Catcher


Rita Hestand - 2010
    She thought she was white. But Chase Rivers, a half breed had been chosen to bring her back to her people. Fighting the Comanche, the U.S. Army and a theif, Chase had to overcome all these odds to get to Katherine. And then he had to convince her that she was the only one that could save her people.

HIDDEN


Linda Gillard - 2020
    A death. Hidden for a hundred years. The new novel from the author of Kindle bestseller THE MEMORY TREE “Lady, fiancé killed, will gladly marry officer totally blinded or otherwise incapacitated by the war.” In 1917 a sense of duty and a desire for a child lead celebrated artist Esme Howard to share her life and home – 16th-century Myddleton Mote – with Captain Guy Carlyle, an officer whose face and body have been ravaged by war. But Esme knows nothing of the ugliness that lurks within Guy’s tortured mind, as he re-lives the horrors of the trenches. As a child grows within her, Esme fears Guy’s wrath will be turned on them both. A prisoner in her own home, she paints like one possessed, trusting that one day someone will hear her silent cries for help. A century later, Miranda Norton inherits Myddleton Mote and its art collection from a father she never knew and decides to move on after the end of an unhappy marriage. Inviting her extended family to join her, Miranda sets about restoring the house and turning it into a thriving business. When the moat is drained for repairs, a skeleton emerges. Then someone from Miranda’s past returns to torment her and an appalling act of vandalism reveals the Mote’s dark secrets, hidden for a hundred years. Praise for HIDDEN "An ancient moated house, a shell-shocked war hero, a female artist caught between the desire to honour her husband's sacrifice and her own free spirit - the ingredients for a page-turning read. Linda Gillard always delivers." CLARE FLYNN, author of The Gamekeeper’s Wife and The Pearl of Penang. “A powerful and atmospheric dual-time story. The way the secrets of the past and the central mystery are resolved had me breathless. So original, quite unexpected, the pages turning faster and faster, the ending wholly satisfying… HIDDEN is story-telling at its very best. I loved every moment.” ANNE WILLIAMS, Being Anne book blog ~ Praise for Linda Gillard's other novels "The emotional power in these novels makes this reviewer reflect on how Charlotte and Emily Brontë might have written if they were living and writing now." NORTHWORDS NOW "STAR GAZING was a joy to read from the first page to the last... Romantic and quirky and beautifully written." www.lovereading.co.uk "HOUSE OF SILENCE is one of those books you'll put everything else on hold for." CORNFLOWER BOOKS blog EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY - "A love story filled with passion and paint-stripping honesty." HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS ARTS JOURNAL

Khu: A Tale of Ancient Egypt


Jocelyn Murray - 2014
    Fate paves a strange and mystical path through dark and uncertain times, when the split powers of Upper and Lower Egypt compete for sovereignty over a realm plagued by instability, rebellion and fear. Two kings and their kingdoms battle over one dream—-a dream threatened by shifting allegiances and foreign invasion. Khu is a story of a boy who becomes a warrior amid tragedy and triumph. It is a tale of virtue vice and valor, where the destiny of a divided nation is inextricably linked to that of the boy Khu, in the struggle to restore Egypt to a unified and glorious kingdom.

The Seventh Season


Cathy Peper - 2015
    But the one thing this wealthy Earl’s daughter is lacking is the very thing she’s never considered to be a priority: finding a husband. When she overhears a jealous matron refer to her as being “on the shelf”, she fears she’s postponed marriage for far too long. Brash American Derek Lang has arrived in England, determined to complete two tasks on his growing list of priorities: purchase inventory for his family’s business and clear his grandfather’s name. What he hadn’t anticipated is abandoning his crusade to help a damsel in distress with a charade intended to make Beau jealous. Will their scheme work, or will it lead to something far too real?

Black Magic


Russell James - 2013
    Stranger Lyle Miller’s magic shop seems to only stock what its select customers desire. When four outcast boys buy common party tricks, only Lyle knows what those tricks can really do. As subtle changes occur around town, a few residents realize that something is amiss…and getting worse. But it may already be too late. Lyle’s black magic has empowered more townspeople to help him execute his Grand Adventure, a plan that will reduce the town, and half the state, to rubble.