Victorian Suspense

Wolcott Balestier, the representative of an American book publisher, arrived in London on a singular mission—to contract with English authors for their latest works. When Balestier disappears on the streets of London one day, his great friend - Rudyard Kipling—bursts into Enola's office looking for help in finding him. Brash and unwilling to hire a young woman, instead he turns to Sherlock Holmes. Convinced that evil has befallen Balestier, at the hands of rival American publishers who pirate the works of English authors, he sets the elder Holmes on the trail.

An unwanted betrothal leads to a mystery and love that nobody expected. Miss Hannah Seymour is utterly distraught. Believing that Lord Bentham cared for her, she is heartbroken to hear precisely the opposite. With her father’s threat hanging over her head, she finds herself thrust into a mystery surrounding Lord Bentham’s strange betrothal to a young lady of quality. Despite her own heartbreak, Hannah reluctantly agrees to help. Lord Bentham has never heard of his supposed bride! To find himself now expected to marry Miss Lewisham, he turns to his friends, ‘The Shadows’ for help. ...

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.

Jack the Ripper begins his reign of terror. Miss Sarah Bain, a photographer, supplements her meager income by taking illicit boudoir photographs of the town's local ladies of the night. But when two of her models are found gruesomely murdered within weeks of one another, Sarah begins to suspect it's more than mere coincidence.

London, 1866. Móirín Donnelly has spent the last five years working in the shadows for the Dread Penny Society, a secret fraternity of penny dreadful authors who use their profits, influence, and street smarts to protect the poor and vulnerable of Victorian London. But spending so much of her life in secret is taking its toll on her soul—and her heart. When members of the Dread Penny Society begin disappearing, Móirín turns to her friend Detective Constable Fitzgerald Parkington for help.

A Secret Identity and a Mystery that Unravels to Reveal Something Sinister. Miss Charlotte James despises being forced to search for a suitable husband, much preferring to use her wits rather than batting her eyelashes. Finding an injured gentleman in the park, she immediately goes to his aid, taking him back to her brother’s house. The injured gentleman will not tell Charlotte anything, not even his name. Despite her frustration, Charlotte cannot remove him from her mind. ******** Lord Glenister is extremely grateful for Charlotte’s kindness, but he must keep his identity unknown. ...

Ava Zajaczkowski is no stranger to tragedy. After being orphaned as a teenager, her marriage of ten years sadly disintegrated before her eyes. Her last remaining relative, her beloved Aunt Virginia, shockingly dies of a sudden heart attack leaving Ava devastated and alone. With Aunt Virginia’s death comes an opportunity, as her last remaining relative, Ava is gifted her aunt’s entire estate, a huge Victorian mansion in the center of Syracuse, New York. With the help of her Aunt Virginia’s best friend Amber and her daughter Fiona, Ava is given a built-in support system and a new job. ...

When the gaslit streets of London turn red with blood, Sherlock Holmes faces his most chilling case yet. A string of murders has Scotland Yard baffled—victims found exsanguinated, with twin puncture wounds on their necks. Whispers of a vampire stalking the West End spread panic through the city. Even the government enacts emergency curfews as fear grips London. But Holmes suspects the truth is both more rational—and far stranger. Summoning his loyal friend Dr. Watson, the great detective begins to hunt the killer in earnest. Their investigation leads them deep into London's seedy ...

Following a humiliating fourth season in London, Lady Elizabeth Fraser is on her way back to her ancestral country estate when her train careens off the rails and bursts into flames. Though she is injured, she manages to drag herself and her unconscious mother out of the wreckage, and amid the chaos that ensues, a brilliant young railway surgeon saves her mother's life. Elizabeth feels an immediate connection with Paul Wilcox - though society would never deem a medical man eligible for the daughter of an earl.

On a quest to distract her lifelong friend Jeremy from his recent heartbreak, Lady Emily organizes a holiday in Greece. As a lover of all things Greek, she quickly finds herself occupied with tours of ancient ruins, lively debates with Margaret, a devoted Latinist, and slightly more scandalous endeavors with her dashing husband, Colin Hargreaves. But the pleasantries are brought to an abrupt halt when a man long believed dead greets the party at their island villa. Lord Philip Ashton, Colin's childhood best friend and Emily's first husband, has returned.

Nicola Claire's captivating new Gothic romance series continues with a dark and sinister Auckland City at the end of the nineteenth century - brightened by a fearless and talented heroine and a loyal and secretive police inspector... Qualified physician? A menace to society? The next Chief Surgeon? Returning to life in the Antipodes has not gone quite as expected for Dr Anna Cassidy; an axe hangs over her head. With no sign of her nemesis in Auckland City, Anna finds herself holding her breath. But a gruesome surprise awaiting her in her home surgery one morning changes all of that. Puppet...

October 1891. A stranger is discovered hanging from a tree in the Malvern Hills. Detective Inspector Ravenscroft and Constable Crabb are called in to investigate. But how can they solve the murder if no one can identify the victim? Whoever killed the man must have really wanted him dead—they strung him up and watched as he suffocated. This may be the most dangerous case Ravenscroft has ever worked. Will the Herefordshire Hangmen ever be brought to justice?

The well-educated daughter of a lawyer, Trudy Bauer, arrives at the St. Louis based Mail-Order Brides of the West agency full of excitement for an adventure of a lifetime. She befriends the agency's maid, Evie Davenport, and the two form a strong and lasting friendship. They vow to stay in contact through letters when Evie takes hold of her destiny and arranges a marriage on the sly. Each brave young woman is ready to face whatever an unknown groom and life in Montana can throw her way.

Matilda Hayward is determined to have a career. After all, it is 1888! While reporting for the Women’s Journal newspaper, Matilda is sent to cover the visiting Freak Show and interview Mrs Anna Tufton, a giantess. During the interview, the giantess slips a note to Matilda begging for her help to escape the show she is forced to do by her husband. But when the giantess’s husband is found murdered, the giantess is a likely suspect.

Jane Black is plain and smart, a combination sure to kill any prospects found in a London season. Pretending her wallflower status is of no concern, Jane focuses on the quiet country life she’s planned even as she struggles with the vow she made to her grandfather to protect the family. But when she discovers her grandfather’s friend, Dr. Seymour, carries with him the secret to unmasking the traitor behind the attacks on the Black family, Jane knows it’s her duty to rescue the doctor from Bedlam and carry him to safety. If only the Marquess of Evanshire will allow her to do so.

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.

Lord Edmund is a man of passion and status. Will Lilian allow the earl to show her what pleasure truly means? Or will she succumb to her staid upbringing and keep him at a distance? The situation is complicated even further for Lilian when she discovers two secrets. The first is that the earl enjoys the company of both men and women, and he draws her old friend Thomas into the journey he takes Lilian on. The other secret is that Lilian is not who she has always believed herself to be, and the complications that arise threaten to sever the love they have only just found. Publisher's Note: ...

Under a bundle of mistletoe, art collector Daniel McCourt lies with his throat slit, a bloody sword next to his body. Inspector Witherspoon is determined to solve the case - preferably before the eggnog is ladled out on Christmas Eve - but of course he will require assistance from the always sharp-witted housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries, who has a few of her own theories on why McCourt had to die by the sword.

Thomas Pitt, mainstay of Her Majesty’s Special Branch, is summoned to Connaught Square mansion, where the body of a junior diplomat lies huddled in a wheelbarrow. Nearby stands the tenant of the house, the beautiful, notorious Egyptian woman Ayesha Zakhari, who falls under the shadow of suspicion. Pitt’s orders are to protect—at all costs—the good name of the third person in the garden: senior cabinet minister Saville Ryerson. The distinguished public servant, whispered to be Ayesha’s lover, insists that she is as innocent as Pitt himself.

She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone's awed by his Scotland Yard successes - but they don't know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries's polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man there's a woman - and that a crimesolver's work is never done. When the general office manager of Sutcliffe Manufacturing is murdered, no one is really surprised. Ronald Dearman was anything but a dear man. The tyrannical bully had more than enough enemies to go around.