Historic Mysteries South

Among the workhouses and pudding shops of South London, Private Detective William Arrowood is presented with far grittier, more violent, and considerably less well-paid cases than Sherlock Holmes. Arrowood has no doubt who is the better detective, and when Mr. and Mrs. Barclay engage him to find their estranged daughter, Birdie, he’s sure it won’t be long before he and his assistant, Barnett, have tracked her down.

Still haunted by memories of his last case, in which an innocent woman was accidentally killed, Bow Street Runner John Pickett welcomes the challenge of a new assignment in the West Country. Unfortunately, this time he’ll have to leave his beloved wife, Julia, behind, as he’ll be traveling in company with Harry Carson, a member of the Foot Patrol whose swaggering self-confidence is an uneasy fit with Pickett’s reserve.

"A Coming of age tale set in the antebellum South" When a young prodigy in 1850s Virginia begins to question the morality of slavery, will he have the fortitude to take action? Gideon Covington is embroiled in the bloody siege at Vicksburg during the Civil War and is not confident that he will survive the battle. He has therefore decided to reveal the extraordinary events that brought him here. Gideon’s tale begins when he is twelve years old. The boy is considered to be a genius and although he longs for a university education, he seems destined to remain in rural Virginia as he is heir ...

When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone. Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before.

Judith Kratt inherited all the Kratt family had to offer - the pie safe, the copper clock, the murder that no one talks about - and she knows in her old bones that it's time to make an inventory of her household and its valuables. But she finds that cataloging the family belongings - as well as their misfortunes - won't contain her family's secrets, not when her wayward sister suddenly returns, determined to expose skeletons that the Kratts had hoped to take to their grave.

One sunny Spring morning, EJ's simple life is turned upside down when the town's master gardener unceremoniously hands her a stack of handwritten letters that have all been addressed to a nonexistent person at the garden. This simple act sets in motion a chain of events that will lead EJ on a life-altering quest to uncover the identity of the mysterious letter writer―and into a surprising head-on confrontation with the harsh realities of the racial injustice that is as deeply rooted in the life of her community as the ancient herbs cultivated in the Moravian garden.

No one can talk to the dead...can they? Free man of color Benjamin January gets caught up in a strange, spiritual world that might lead to his own demise, as he hunts for a missing teenager in this gripping, atmospheric historical mystery. New Orleans, 1840. Freshly home from a dangerous journey, the last thing Benjamin January wants to do is leave his wife and young sons again. But when old friends Henri and Chloë Viellard ask for his help tracking down a missing girl in distant New York, he can’t say no.

The dark-eyed woman in the long, black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events.

SOPHIE O’DAY IS TERRIFIED. A budding young nurse in Post Depression Southeast Missouri, Sophie fears repeating a tragic mistake—at the expense of another life. Sy Hawkins has given up all hope of a career in radio and moved to rural Missouri to care for his aging uncle and tend to the old fellow’s goat farm. Sy’s only focus is on this man to whom he feels he owes everything. When an accident occurs, and Uncle Joe’s life is in jeopardy, the elderly man makes a decision that will affect both Sophie and Sy. Can they pull together in a common quest to make his wish come true before ...

After losing her family to a Nazi bomb attack back home in Ireland, Sarah Gillespie joins the British Secret Services to bring them justice. Partnered with an American undercover agent, Lieutenant Tony Anderson, Sarah embarks on a dangerous mission that takes her from war-torn London into the black mountains of Wales. But when one of her team is revealed to be a German mole, and enemies begin to close in, what price will Sarah have to pay to save her country, and to save herself?

Siblings Bert, Willet, and Pansy know better than to go swimming at the old rock quarry. According to their father, it's the Devil's place, a place that's been cursed and forgotten. But Mississippi Delta summer days are scorching hot, and they can't resist cooling off in the dark, bottomless water - until the day six-year-old Pansy vanishes...not drowned, not lost, simply gone. When their father disappears as well, Bert and Willet leave their childhoods behind to try and hold their broken family together.

When Atlanta homicide detectives are called in to investigate the murder of a nineteen-year-old girl found dumped in historic Oakland Cemetery, they immediately begin working the case. But with no leads to follow, and their case log growing larger by the day, the murder quickly grows cold. Desperate to keep the investigation of her deceased sister going, Ginger Baines hires two novice sleuths to solve the case. Widowed, well into their seventies are new to the world of private investigating, Clara Samples and Iris Hadley aren’t your average private eyes. When a second body is found in a ...

Scandal, Bigamy and Murder Enter the captivating world of scandal, bigamy, and murder in this gripping box set featuring three tales of love, betrayal, and redemption. Wronged Marian Cuvier's world shatters when she discovers her murdered husband's shocking secrets. As one of three Cuvier widows suspected of murder, she must navigate trust and temptation. Louis Fournet, her late husband's partner, faces a choice between business dreams and an irresistible widow. Can Marian trust again, or will ambition shatter her heart? Betrayed Nicole Cuvier's joyful news turns to horror as she finds her ...

Benjamin Church came to the Grange Hall expecting to meet someone else, but then the girl in the red dress looked across the dance floor and smiled.... Passing Through Perfect is a heart-wrenching Southern family saga that starts on the night Benjamin falls madly in love with Delia. Once he tastes the sweetness of her kiss, he envisions them spending the rest of their life together. He doesn't stop to consider that her daddy is a learned Pastor, and her mama a woman with a college degree; he knows only that she sets his heart to racing.

After nearly being murdered last year, Rose battles anxiety as she uses her investigative skills to find her son's best friend, a famous violinist who is missing along with his priceless violin. As floodwaters rise, Rose uncovers secrets and lies among the missing man's fellow musicians, as well as their patron and her enigmatic psychologist husband. But when a body is found, can Rose shield her son from suspicion?

The Phantom of the Pavilion by K. A. Wijeratne In the crumbling cricket ground of Maduwila, whispers from the past refuse to fade. When jaded sports journalist Laki Perera stumbles upon a half-forgotten scandal buried beneath the lush spin of Sri Lankan cricket, he finds himself haunted—literally—by the ghost of Ranjith "Rana" Abeysekera, a prodigious spinner whose mysterious death decades ago was written off as disgrace. As Laki joins forces with his estranged daughter Madhavi and fiery investigative reporter Shyamali Peiris, the trio uncover a tangled web of match-fixing, political ...

Having resigned his position at Bow Street, John Pickett waits in vain for someone - anyone! - to engage his services as a private inquiry agent. As weeks go by with no responses to his newspaper advertisement, he has taken to spending his days wandering idly about London rather than admit his failure to his wife.

Sunset Jones has just killed her husband. Never mind that he was raping her. Pete Jones was constable of a small sawmill settlement called Camp Rapture where no woman refuses her husband. So everyone is angrily surprised when Sunset becomes the new constable and investigates murders in which her late husband might be implicated. Yet, no one is more surprised than Sunset when the murders lead her, not only to the conclusion of the case, but to a well of inner strength she never knew she had.

As the 1980s draw to a close, South Africa is a maelstrom of political violence with the apartheid regime in its death throes. Young Martin Helger is the struggling odd duck at an elite private boys school in Johannesburg, with his father, a rough-handed scrap dealer, and his brother, a mysterious legend. When a beautiful and manipulative American arrives at the family home, Martin soon finds himself wrenched out of his isolated bubble and thrust into the raw heart of the struggle.

Scandal, Bigamy and Murder Marian Cuvier's world unravels when she discovers her husband's shocking murder. The detective's revelation that she is one of three Cuvier widows suspected of the crime adds a sinister layer to the already devastating truth. As Louis Fournet, Jean's business partner, grapples with the desire to sell Cuvier Shipping, Marian, fueled by determination, insists on stepping into her late husband's shoes. Louis finds himself drawn to the enigmatic widow, despite knowing the complications she brings to his plans. In a web of intrigue and passion, Louis uses his influence...