Historical Detective

Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister, Ophelia, is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. “A church is a wonderful place for a wedding”, muses Flavia, “surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar.”

The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection. Suspicion naturally falls on the old man's young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire's granddaughter.

When a routine flight takes an unexpected turn, TJ O'Connell finds himself plunged into a perilous game of corrupt politicians, and the ominous shadows cast by the Chicago mob. In the midst of economic hardship, TJ takes on what seems like a straightforward job—flying someone to the state capital for a quick $100. Little does he know, this seemingly innocent task will propel him into a treacherous web of mystery involving murder and ruthless mobsters. As the police struggle to untangle the threads of guilt and innocence, TJ is left to navigate the dangerous labyrinth alone. With each ...

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford have just become the proud owners of an old house in an English village. Along with the property, they have inherited some worthless bric-a-brac, including a collection of antique books. While rustling through a copy of The Black Arrow, Tuppence comes upon a series of apparently random underlinings. However, when she writes down the letters, they spell out a very disturbing message: "Mary Jordan did not die naturally." And 60 years later, Mary's enemies are still ready to kill....

When junior barrister Daniel Pitt is summoned to the scene of a murder in the slum area known as Mile End, he knows only that the victim is a senior barrister from his firm. To Daniel's relief, it is not his close friend Toby Kitteridge, but the question remains: What was this respected colleague doing in Mile End? The firm's head, Marcus fford Croft, may know more than he admits, but fford Croft's memory is not what it used to be. And so Daniel and Kitteridge must investigate on their own, lest the police uncover something they should not.

Los Angeles, August 4, 1962. The city broils through a midsummer heat wave. Marilyn Monroe ODs. A B-movie starlet is kidnapped. The overhyped LAPD overreacts. Chief Bill Parker’s looking for some getback. The Monroe deal looks like a moneymaker. He calls in Freddy Otash. The freewheeling Freddy O: tainted ex-cop, defrocked private eye, dope fiend, and freelance extortionist. A man who lives by the maxim “Opportunity is love.” Freddy gets to work. He dimly perceives Marilyn Monroe’s death and the kidnapped starlet to be a poisonous riddle that only he has the guts and the brains to untangle

In the remote cattle country of Western Australia's Kimberley, where seasonal flooding transforms the landscape into a vast inland sea, Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is summoned when rising waters uncover human remains near Warrigal Creek Station. What begins as the discovery of decades-old bones evolves into something far more sinister, revealing connections between historical water rights manipulation and powerful interests still operating today. When a station hand researching the same water dispute goes missing in suspiciously similar circumstances, Odie must navigate ...

Some secrets refuse to stay buried... When Liv returns to her grandmother Eleanor's Victorian mansion in Heartwood Haven, she expects to find solace among the herb gardens and faded memories. Instead, she discovers a body among the rosemary—Walter Pembroke, head of the Historical Society, clutching a mysterious document that could change everything. As Liv reluctantly steps into her inheritance, she finds herself at the center of a town divided between preservation and progress. The suspicious Detective Marcus Rivera considers her the prime suspect, while the Knitting Circle's whispers ...

Cabballero. Patriot. Vigilante. Follow the swashbuckling adventures of Zorro, as he metes out his own brand of justice against the tyrannical opressors of young California. This charismatic reading is sure to please young and old alike!

Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, but just like the nursery rhyme, there were five other "little pigs" who could have done it: Philip Blake (the stockbroker), who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist), who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcee), who had her roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess), who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister), who cried all the way home.

Sixteen years later, Caroline's daughter is determined to prove her mother's innocence.

October 1942. Jo Hardy, a 22-year-old ferry pilot, is delivering a Supermarine Spitfire—the fastest fighter aircraft in the world—to Biggin Hill Aerodrome, when she realizes someone is shooting at her aircraft from the ground. Returning to the location on foot, she finds an American serviceman in a barn, bound and gagged. She rescues the man, who is handed over to the American military police; it quickly emerges that he is considered a suspect in the disappearance of a fellow soldier who is missing.

Welcome to Wilde City, 1924—a crane on top of every skyscraper, a party in every club, a romance on every dance floor, a shooting every night, a broken heart on every street corner and a dirty secret behind every window with the curtain drawn. It’s the kinda town that keeps Buck Baxter, private detective, in business. For despite his fondness for a cold gin and a pipe stuffed with cannabis, Buck is the best gumshoe in Wilde City. Why? Because he has rules: never make friends, never make enemies, and never ever fall in love.

Someone is killing the de Brescou racehorses with a “bolt” gun, shooting them silently, leaving no clues. Before the noble family, which includes his fiancée, is torn apart, jockey Kit Fielding must find the assassin.

Victorian Countess Amelia Amesbury’s secret hobby, writing an advice column for a London penny paper, has gotten her into hot water before. After all, Amelia will do whatever it takes to help a reader in need. But now, handsome marquis Simon Bainbridge desperately requires her assistance. His beloved younger sister, Marielle, has written Amelia's Lady Agony column seeking advice on her plans to elope with a man her family does not approve of. Determined to save his sister from a scoundrel and the family from scandal, Simon asks Amelia to dissuade Marielle from the ill-advised gambit.

An eclectic mix of eight stories drawn from the annals of the MX Series of New Sherlock Holmes stories and the many Holmes anthologies of Belanger Books, all from the pen of emerging pastiche author Stephen Herczeg.

Solving their own murders is the least of their problems… The Golden Age of Hollywood, 1938. Vivian Steele moved to California to start a new life. She opened a fashion boutique in Beverly Hills, befriended Carole Lombard, the actress, and married a successful banker. But when her husband is murdered, Vivian discovers she isn't the only one hiding a few secrets. An anonymous phone call lures Vivian to a plush hotel room where she stumbles upon the dead body of a beautiful young actress – her husband’s mistress. To add fuel to the fire, she's not alone. Preston Stone, her adversary and...

In one of his most puzzling cases, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge must delve deep into a dead man’s life and his past to find a killer determined to keep dark secrets buried.

Hannah James thought she was amazingly fortunate to land a job as a maid in the house of one of the most wealthy, powerful men in the state, until she witnesses him have a man killed. Knowing she is likely next to die, she flees. With little money and hope for suitable employment she jump at the chance to go to Colorado as a waitress at a train-line restaurant. Unfortunately, her former employer has a long reach. Sheriff Cal Steadman is mighty proud of his town and the place he’s made for himself in it. He thought his life was pretty complete until Miss Hannah James arrived and he knew he...

New York Rainby Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a mystery novel set in 1920s New York City. The story follows Dennis Lament, a young man who seeks solitude and freedom but finds himself drawn into a web of intrigue and danger. Dennis Lament boards the S.S. Faraway with a firm resolve to avoid all human connections. His journey to New York, however, takes an unexpected turn when he receives a mysterious note from a supposed cousin, Amy Lament Riley. Desperate and in serious trouble, Amy begs for his help. Driven by curiosity and a sense of duty, Dennis decides to investigate. Upon arriving in New ...

Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her - and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails. The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind?