Historical Romance Women Sleuths

Heart on Her Sleeve is the story of a patriotic American college girl who steps up to run her father’s war plant when he is hospitalized by saboteurs. Not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and US entry into the Second World War, the government realized the draft would seriously deplete the country’s entire workforce, including entry-level labor, skilled trades, office staff, and management. The only possible replacement was to be found in the ranks of the nation’s women. But for women to join the workforce, major changes would have to occur.

Stolen Goods is mystery, comedy, and romance, and spotlights more of the signature geek characters at which Clarence Budington Kelland so thoroughly excelled - because it takes one to know one. “Shenanigans!” - the word often chosen by loquacious Sherry Madigan, this time to describe what was going on in the Linen Department at Prothero’s, the colossal metropolitan department store where she worked.

Catherine, wife of one-handed Edgar, daughter of a Jewish merchant, and mother of two small children, is a Christian convert. Agnes, her estranged sister, has returned to Paris with the news that she is to marry a German lord. She wants no part of her Jewish family, except the sizable dowry her father can provide.

Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to folks with more money than sense, can scarcely believe that her best client wants her to get her spiritual control, Rolly, to appear at a séance in a speakeasy. Bad enough that Daisy made up Rolly when she was ten, but now Rolly has to perform at a séance for a bunch of murdering gangsters?

It's 1962. Judy Cooper, the Black Stiletto, is devastated at the betrayal by her nemesis and former lover, mobster Leo Kelly. Additionally, Leo and his psychotically dangerous sister, Christina, have set out to ruin the Stiletto's reputation in L.A. with a series of crimes that are made to appear as if the crime-fighter is responsible. The very pregnant Judy must fight back only with her wits and cunning - until disaster strikes and she is forced to flee to her old home town in Texas for the final showdown with destiny.

Orphaned as a child, Hortense has had to fight her way to becoming the ton’s favorite private investigator. But for a woman who lives on the edge, the past is never dead. When her former spymaster asks her to find his wastrel brother Jamie, the Marquess of Clare, she thinks it’s just one more job uncovering the ton’s dirty secrets. She has no idea that she’s about to find her future…

It’s never easy keeping secrets...Only her desire to crush the Crown’s enemies could induce Lady Lucille Stanford to endure another Season. For years she has worked secretly for the Home Office, and she has come to London with one purpose: Foil the attempted kidnapping of a highly valuable target, identity unknown. Inconveniently, Lord Harrington - Lucy’s brother and guardian - has other plans. He won’t be satisfied until she is at long last married.

Laura Fleming, savvy sleuth of Dead Ringer and Down Home Murder, returns to her North Carolina home town to attend her aunt's second wedding to her third husband - but murder and mayhem soon disrupt the plans.

Siblings Lily and Robert Brewster have agreed to help out at a nursing home next door to their own cottage. The convalescent home is full of colorful characters, including a cantankerous old man named Sean Connor. The day the Brewsters arrive, he slips into a coma and dies. No one is surprised at his passing - until it's revealed that he's been murdered. And Mr. Connor isn't the only victim in town.

Set in Pasadena, California, in the 1920s, this fresh, funny romance follows the exploits and adventures of a medium who caters to the rich and famous... and puts the “con” in conjurer!

In The Lantern: A Renaissance Mystery, a 21st century American woman searches to learn the truth about the 15th century mysterious Italian girl who dared to compete with the most famous artists of the Renaissance. Across time and space, their lives collide as they battle abuse, disease, fear and prejudice in pursuit of their dreams. Along the way, they intersect with some of the most famous figures of the Renaissance.

Just out of the hospital and totally out of funds, Ralph Leslie jumped at the chance to sign aboard millionaire Marshall Turner's luxurious super-yacht as steward to the passengers lodged in its after house. His job was easy sailing until one sultry summer night the dream voyage suddenly became a nightmare of blood and terror.

The legacy of literary icon Sherlock Holmes is alive and well in 1912 Canada, where best friends Merinda Herringford and Jem Watts continue to develop their skills as consulting detectives. The city of Toronto has been thrown into upheaval by the arrival of radical anarchist Emma Goldman. Amid this political chaos, Benny Citrone of the Royal North-West Mounted Police arrives at Merinda and Jem's flat, requesting assistance in locating his runaway cousin - a man with a deadly talent.

Stella Hart has less than a month to finish her latest picture and sail home to England to marry her darling George. If she postpones the wedding again, her mother will disown her, and even the groom is getting restless. When her swashbuckling co-star smashes into a wall and breaks his nose, putting production on indefinite hold, she and George make plans to slip away and leave the movie unfinished. But studio head Nathan Stanley has other ideas. As a free agent and the future wife of a baronet, she can afford to let him do his worst. But when Stanley turns up stabbed to death...

It's 1959, and Judy Cooper, the Black Stiletto, sets out to confront a dangerous gangster known as the heroin king of Harlem, when the teenage daughter of her beloved martial arts instructor ends up a prisoner in an uptown narcotics den. The Stiletto has troubles of her own - a shady filmmaker is threatening to reveal her identity to the world - a close friend of her landlord and substitute father may be in cahoots with the Harlem criminals - she's fighting for racial equality - and she has fallen in love again....

Only a few months earlier, the young woman now known as Jane Smith had lived a life of luxury and privilege as the ruler of a small Balkan kingdom. She lived a life of glittering balls, the finest furnishings, the most handsome men, the most exquisite of foods. Her only friends were four bearded old men who served as her cabinet, and worshiped the ground she walked on. Then the Germans had marched in, and she and her four councilors barely escaped with their lives.

May 1942 - Regan O'Reilly comes from a long line of police officers. She would have followed her father and brother into the Force, but women officers are rare and usually relegated to the status of social workers. Now she's a private investigator with her own agency and the freedom to live her life the way she wants. That is, until she meets widower Mark Harris and his delightful son, Patrick, who have plans of their own for Regan.

Poppy Townsend is forced to close the doors of her dress shop. Mysteriously, on that same day, she receives a ticket to board a riverboat from her estranged maternal grandfather. At her arrival, Poppy is determined to search for answers to the scandalous rumor told about her father...and the sudden death of her mother from a visit two years before.

May, 1942 - Regan O'Reilly comes from a long line of police officers. She would have followed her father and brother into the force but women officers are rare and usually relegated to the status of social workers. Now she's a private investigator with her own agency and the freedom to live her life the way she wants. That is until she meets widower Mark Harris and his delightful son, Patrick, who have plans of their own for Regan.

Lady Mary Montagu Douglas Scott has a secret. Overlooked and underestimated by all who meet her, the wallflower daughter of Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch has a sharp intelligence and keen powers of observation. Traits that make her perfect to uncover society crimes – those whose wealthy victims have their pride and reputation at stake. Unnoticed amongst the ballrooms of grand houses, Mary uncovers stolen jewellery, missing money, and saves reputations. When Mary meets Colonel Walter Trefusis, an unlikely alliance is formed as the two work together.