Victorian English Mystery

Ghost stories date back centuries, but those written in the Victorian era have a unique atmosphere and dark beauty. Michael Sims, whose previous Victorian collections Dracula’s Guest (vampires) and The Dead Witness (detectives) have been widely praised, has gathered twelve of the best stories about humanity’s oldest supernatural obsession. The Phantom Coach includes tales by a surprising and often legendary cast, including Charles Dickens, Margaret Oliphant, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as lost gems by forgotten masters such as Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and W. F. Harvey. Amelia B. Edwards’s chilling story gives the collection its title, while Ambrose Bierce ("The Moonlit Road"), Elizabeth Gaskell ("The Old Nurse’s Story"), and W. W. Jacobs ("The Monkey’s Paw") will turn you white as a sheet. With a skillful introduction to the genre and notes on each story by Sims, The Phantom Coach is a spectacular collection of ghostly Victorian thrills.

Dark Trade by Harper Stanwick, Sr.is a gripping mystery thriller set in Victorian London. This historical fiction novel plunges readers into a world of intrigue, dark secrets, and psychological suspense. Follow Larry Myrick, a city alderman and potential future Mayor of London, as he navigates a labyrinth of deceit and murder in the fog-laden streets of London. Experience the chilling atmosphere of Victorian society, from opulent mansions to shadowy alleyways. Uncover a web of secrets involving high-ranking officials, mysterious women, and enigmatic characters that will keep you guessing ...

Dorothea Wilcox is employed as governess for the Earl of Cumberwell's six-year-old daughter. But when the earl first sees Dorothea, her sylph-like winsomeness convinces him that she has come to disrupt the tranquility of his life. Her innocent blue eyes hide a deep secret. Not only do the earl and Dorothea need to overcome the social difficulties of love between the classes; they also need to find out if their love is strong enough to weather the ravages of the past. Publisher’s Note: This steamy historical romance contains elements of power exchange.

This "rediscovered" Sherlock Holmes adventure recounts the unique collaboration of Holmes and Sigmund Freud in the solution of a mystery on which the lives of millions may depend.

The utterly charming Emily Leverton has a dark past and is determined to leave it behind in her respectable new role as a governess. But when she is recruited by a secret network of governesses who spy on the ton, it may just be a way to redeem the dark secrets of her past. An ex-solider turned railroad magnate, Zach hunts killers for the Metropolitan Police by day and dutifully attends balls at night. In neither world has he met a woman with the brazenness to mock him.

England, 1867: Miss Poppy Delamare is living a lie. To escape an odious betrothal, she fled to London where she’s been hiding as the unassuming secretary Flora Deaver. However, when her beloved sister is accused of murder, Poppy cannot leave her to the wolves. Only a most unexpected—and unwelcome—collision interrupts her journey home.

Calista Langley operates an exclusive "introduction" agency in Victorian London, catering to respectable ladies and gentlemen who find themselves alone in the world. But now a dangerously obsessed individual has begun sending her trinkets and gifts suitable only for those in deepest mourning - a black mirror, a funeral wreath, a ring set with black jet stone. Each is engraved with her initials.

Haunted Montague by Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a gripping mystery fiction novel set in the eerie, fog-shrouded valleys of the English countryside during the early 20th century. This chilling story of secrets, shadows, and psychological suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Explore the haunting mystery surrounding Montague Hall, a sprawling estate with a dark past. Follow Major Sauer and his friends as they uncover secrets buried deep within the ancient walls of the house. Encounter eerie apparitions, unsettling whispers, and chilling discoveries that will leave ...

Pembrokeshire, Wales, 2020. Serious illness has forced Eleanor Wilder to leave her life in London, close her antique shop and return to the family farm in Pembrokeshire. Her instinct is to hide from the world but when her parents bring her to a family reunion at the nearby house, Cliffside, she is transfixed by a set of old family photographs. One of the images is of a woman in theatrical dress, labelled ‘Esme Blood'—a name that is familiar to Eleanor through a set of Victorian tarot cards and diaries that she found through her shop.

A betrayal...a secret baby….an unknown imposter…will Tess survive the wagon train journey to Sunset Hills, Oregon after her life is threatened? And if so, what will she do once she gets there? 1855. Tess Findlay can’t wait to be reunited with her beau who went out west three months ago to mine for gold, saying he’d send for her soon. Even though she hasn’t heard from him, she’s discovered she’s with child and decides to join a wagon train to travel to Oregon to surprise him with the news. When a band of robbers holds up the caravan, Tess is shocked to recognize her beau as one...

Five years after the infamous events of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes again finds Sir Henry Baskerville his client, as the baronet comes to 221B Baker Street with a report of renewed preternatural goings-on at his home on the Devon moors, which, as in the previous case, seems to be connected to yet another long-buried legend within family history, this time concerning the strikingly beautiful first Lady Baskerville two centuries earlier, and the dark and fatal history which surrounded her. Telling of a terrifying menace which appears only in the nighttime, and which seems ...

Inspector Witherspoon has been assigned another tough case. The latest murder victim has possibly swindled his shareholders out of a huge sum of money. When the businessman is found with a bullet through is chest, all of them are suspects - but no one is telling the truth. It is up to Mrs. Jeffries and the household staff at Upper Edmonton Gardens to crack the case.

In Ruler of the Night, listeners feel they're actually on the harrowing fogbound streets of 1855 London as the brilliant opium-eater Thomas De Quincey and his irrepressible daughter, Emily, confront their most ruthless adversary. The stakes couldn't be greater: both the heart of Victorian society and De Quincey's tormented soul.

Twenty-seven -year-old Abigail Gifford, a writer, raised in a London orphanage, travels to Big Bend Texas to meet her biological aunt, Miss Hannah Comstock, her only living relative for the first-time, to learn more about her mother’s family. However, it turns out that Auntie Hannah, an outspoken Texas native battle-ax, who has invited Abigail to stay at her house for the summer, had, in fact, left for Mexico before her arrival to pursue an old lover of hers, leaving Abigail on her own to do, or to discover her surroundings with only Maggie, her aunt’s feisty Irish housekeeper to keep ...

The year is 1862 and murderous desires are simmering in England. Nineteen-year-old Sarah Bonetta Forbes (Sally), once a princess of the Egbado Clan, desires one thing above all else: revenge against the British Crown and its system of colonial "humanitarianism," which stole her dignity and transformed her into royal property. From military men to political leaders, she’s vowed to ruin all who’ve had a hand in her afflictions. The top of her list? Her godmother, Britain’s mighty monarch, Queen Victoria herself.

A stranger who appears on Kat's doorstep turns out to be one Charlotte Bristow, legal wife of Joe Bristow, the man Kat once believed herself married to—who she thought died at sea twelve years ago. Kat is jolted by Charlotte’s claims that Joe was not only murdered but that he also had amassed a small fortune before he died. Charlotte makes the cook an offer she cannot refuse—if Kat can discover the identity of Joe's murderer, Charlotte will give her a share of the fortune Joe left behind. Kat must race to catch the real killer before she loses her job and possibly her life.

Crime-scene photographers Sarah, Hugh, and Mick are summoned to the goriest crime scene they've ever encountered. A pub owner named Harry Warbrick has been found hanged. His murder becomes a sensation because he was England's top hangman. Sir Gerald, owner of the Daily World, announces that they‚ meaning Sarah and her friends‚ will investigate and solve Warbrick's murder before the police do. She and her friends discover a connection between Warbrick's murder and the most notorious criminal he ever executed: Amelia Carlisle.

Lady Martha and Lord Weston set out to deceive London society, but when the plan goes awry, they must turn to each other. Lady Martha has had to live in the shadows of her older sister, Lady Edith, her entire life. However, that has never stopped Martha from wanting what is best for Edith. When Edith is determined to wed Lord Hobart, Martha is distraught. Something is not right about that man, and Martha believes he is hiding something sinister. Lord Weston has been dreaming of courting Edith, and when he returns to London after an extended stay at his father’s estate, he is finally ready...

A gothic mystery set in Victorian London during the late 19th century. Submerge yourself in the chillingly atmospheric streets of fog-shrouded Victorian London, where *Ghosts of River Hall* weaves a captivating tale of intrigue, love, and spectral whispers. This suspense-laden narrative follows the Craven & Son law firm, gripped by the haunting mystery of "The Cursed House," a property overshadowed by unsettling events and spectral presences. Embrace the relentless tension of a house torn between worlds—a beloved residence and an ominous ghost dwelling by the River Thames. The tale ...

An espionage thriller that has been called the first great spy novel, it has sustained its popularity, being embraced by each new generation. The first in a series of five novels it features the spy Richard Hannay, an action hero with a stiff upper lip who gets caught up in a dangerous race against a plot by German spies to destroy the British war effort. When Richard Hannay offers sanctuary to an American agent seeking his help in stopping a political assassination, he takes the first step on a trail of peril and espionage.