Victorian Suspense

It's the summer of 1880, and once again the lovely and inquisitive businesswoman Annie Fuller is helping San Francisco lawyer and beau Nate Dawson with a troublesome case. Nate's client, a female typesetter accused of murdering her boss, refuses to help in her own defense. Complicating matters, Nate's sister, Laura, insists on getting involved in the potentially dangerous investigation, while Laura's friend, Seth Timmons, troubled Civil War veteran, finds himself a witness for the prosecution. Will Nate be able to win his first big case?

On the night of a fierce storm, Reilly seeks refuge from the elements in the imposing abode of Manor Lannigan. There, over dinner, the current Lord recounts the tale of his ancestors Alice and Edward. When Lannigan's story ends and bedtime beckons, will it all end well for Reilly? With Five Stars from Readers' Favorite, The Cries of Manor Lannigan is a marvelous and haunting tale of the supernatural that will linger in the imagination long after you've finished reading.

Severine de Cabrillac, orphan of the French Revolution and sometime British intelligence agent, has tried to leave spying behind her. Now she devotes herself to investigating crimes in London and finding justice for the wrongly accused. Raoul Deverney, an enigmatic half-Spaniard with enough secrets to earn even a spy's respect, is at her door demanding help. She's the only one who can find the killer of his long-estranged wife and rescue her missing 12-year-old daughter.

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.

In this short story it is the fall of 1879 and San Francisco swelters under a heat wave while Barbara Hewitt, a reserved school-teacher, uncovers a mystery with the help of her son's Boston Terrier, Dandy. This story is set in the gas-lit world created by Locke in her Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, which includes Maids of Misfortune, Uneasy Spirits, Bloody Lessons, and the short story "The Misses Moffet Mend a Marriage".

When a letter from Salisbury reaches Baker Street one morning in 1887, its writer telling of his fears relating to a matter he will only discuss in person, Holmes is intrigued. Yet when that would-be client turns up dead less than a day before he was to have made the journey up to London, Holmes’ interest in the case becomes, in his words, “a matter of personal honour.” So begins A Slaying in Salisbury, the latest volume in The Continuing Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes, a murder mystery in which nearly everyone within an entire town not far from Stonehenge, could be regarded as ...

In the shadow of Blackmoor Manor, secrets fester, love ignites, and danger lurks at every turn. Charlotte Waverly never imagined her simple life as a debutante would lead her into the heart of a storm. Sent to the enigmatic Blackmoor Manor to unravel the mysteries surrounding the tragic death of Isabella Ashton, Charlotte finds herself drawn to the manor’s brooding and haunted master, Gabriel Ashton, the Duke of Blackmoor. Gabriel carries the weight of a shattered past—a legacy tarnished by betrayal, loss, and whispers of a sinister plot. As enemies close in, threatening his title, his ...

London, April 1891. When the severed torso of a woman washes up on the bank of the river Thames, London believes a serial killer from the past has struck again. Crime photographer and investigator Sarah Bain Barrett is on the scene with her friends Mick O’Reilly and Lord Hugh Staunton. This is their chance to solve a cold case and deliver a monster to justice, with help from Sarah’s husband Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett; her sister Sally Albert, an intrepid newspaper reporter; and Hugh’s psychologist, Dr. Joshua Lewes, a pioneer in the new science of criminal profiling.

After almost a year of marriage, amateur sleuths Lord William and Lady Amy have put aside their investigating skills to prepare for their first child. It would be an easy thing, except dead bodies are once again popping up.

In 1899, the dead rule the night. Juniper St. James, a witch ensnared in the grasp of the alluring vampire Lucas Crawford, finds herself entwined in a sinister game of power and destiny. She is Lucas's courtesan, forced to serve his infamous vampire family. Ordered to recruit their latest victims, she is drawn deeper into their world of ancient rivalries and insatiable bloodlust. Prague's cobblestone alleys conceal secrets darker than the abyss, and the dead's thirst for dominion grows stronger with every heartbeat. A forbidden connection blooms with Kristoff Novak, a captivating butler ...

Living in Victorian London is difficult at the best of times. So, instead of following in his father’s footsteps, Albert decides on adventure. However, fate has other plans. One drunken night on his way home, he responds to the blood-curdling scream of a woman. He rushes her attacker and in the ensuing fight, he is bitten. Albert's world is changed forever. With that one savage bite, he is turned into a monster that people had believed was just a creation of an author's mind.

Lord Ackley's grand estate is on the brink of collapse, burdened by debts that imperil his family's legacy. In a last-ditch effort to save his home, he makes a Faustian bargain with the formidable Duke Manchester, trading his daughter's hand in marriage for a lifeline to solvency. Aislinn, Lord Ackley's beautiful daughter, is oblivious to the dark forces driving her family's fate. She's swept off her feet by the charming Duke Manchester, but their love is forbidden, and the consequences of discovery are deadly. As the Ackley family's secrets begin to unravel, a sinister presence lurking ...

Venturing into the bustling city was her family's last hope to save their struggling farm. Little did she know that fate had other plans. In New York, Lillian Guilford loses her job at a textile mill and takes on a daring disguise to secure a new position as an author of Penny Bloods. Her gripping tales provide both escape and livelihood, but her success comes at a cost. Lillian must navigate a precarious balancing act, concealing her true identity while being drawn to the handsome owner of the publishing house, Apollo Donovan. Shadows lurk on the edges of her life, threatening to unravel ...

Juniper has escaped her past, can she protect her future? Its the dawn of a new century and a vampire war threatens England. Juniper has finally made it to London but old dangers await her. With the help of the demon hunter Tom Constantine, she creates a new identity. She used to help vampires, but now she hunts them. It isn't her only mission. She has until summer to fulfill a prophecy that will change the world. Every demon in London would kill to stop her. Juniper crafts an intricate scheme to succeed with a team of allies including a brilliant detective, brave scholars, and even Harry ...

A promise of love he won’t forget. Lord Stephen Larchmont has been waiting for the day he can return to society, desperate to reclaim the attention of Miss Sarah Kingston. An angelic beauty, she made him a promise some years ago that he has never allowed himself to forget. He is horrified to discover that the lady he is in love with is already betrothed. Miss Grace Kingston is the sister of Miss Sarah Kingston and knows all too well that the persona her sister presents to society is not who she really is. When Lord Stephen Larchmont approaches her with a proposition that could both save ...

The road to true love is made rocky with horse thieves, highwaymen, former fiances, and a very determined Bow Street Runner. "Melanie Jackson is a talent to watch." —WritersWrite.com With the letter breaking his engagement, Stephan Kirton's hopes for respectability and happiness went up in smoke. It was inevitable that his travels abroad and "interaction with the lower classes" would put him beyond the scope of polite society. That and he was born a bastard. Ormstead Park was a place for dancing and flirting, for drinking and gambling, and for less innocent sports. It was a place where he...

In Bloody Lessons, it's the winter of 1880, and the teachers of San Francisco are under attack: their salaries slashed and their competency and morals questioned in a series of poison pen letters. Annie Fuller, the reluctant clairvoyant, has been called in to investigate by Nate Dawson, her lawyer beau. The case becomes personal when they discover that Laura, Nate's sister, may be one of the teachers targeted for attack.

An entertaining story full of romance and intrigue, A Lady's Dream follows along as our heroine attempts to solve the mystery of the stranger whom she rescued from certain death with twin four-year-olds in tow. Miss Eva Smith is enjoying a holiday in the countryside with her twin nieces while their parents are out of the country and what should be a relaxing time together turns into something quite different, indeed. Within the first week, they witness a crime and Eva is forced to involve herself in a rescue attempt she wouldn’t prefer, rescuing a man who can’t remember anything about ...

West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there's something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby is forced to confront her own demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself.

Emily and Colin Hargreaves make it a rule to spend as little time as possible with her parents in Kent, but are unable to refuse Lady Catherine Bromley’s invitation to join them for a pre-Christmas party that includes the family of Ala Kapur Singh, a powerful Punjabi maharaja who has come to England after receiving the Order of the Star of India.