Cozy Historical Fiction

Sarah Brandt is shattered when she learns that a woman has inquired at Hope’s Daughters Mission for Catherine, the abandoned child she has taken as her daughter. The woman claims she was Catherine’s nursemaid, now acting on behalf of the girl’s mother to reunite them. Unwilling to simply hand Catherine over to a complete stranger, Sarah asks Malloy to investigate. But when he goes to interview the woman at her tenement in Chelsea, he finds she has been murdered. Though her death leaves Sarah’s claim to Catherine unchallenged, her sense of justice compels her to work with Malloy to find the killer.

The recently rediscovered short story 'The Lost One', perfect for fans of Daphne du Maurier, Santa Montefiore and Anya Seton. First published in Woman's Journal in 1960, and set against the backdrop of unfenced country and dark winding valleys at night, the aptly named 'The Lost One' features The Wind off the Small Isles heroine Perdita West, who brings her characteristic pluck and courage to this classic Mary Stewart tale of suspense and intrigue....

Lady Woodridge and Tom Winchester offer the new Lady Evans their support during her first foray into local society. To their surprise, Evie's reputation as a lady detective has preceded her, and she is engaged to solve the mystery of a theft.

Tommy and Evelyn Christie are looking forward to a quiet Christmas holiday at the home of Hugh Norton-Cavendish, the 9th Earl of Clifford, who recently married Tommy's cousin, Elise. However, the suspicious death of Albert Lewis, a businessman hoping to buy land from Hugh, means the Christmas festivities are quickly over. Tommy is distracted by his sister's new relationship with a man he distrusts. Evelyn is busy with her pack of dogs, brought for the traditional Boxing Day shoot.

Amory Ames is traveling to New York City to be a bridesmaid, but when a man is found dead on the bride's doorsteps, she must catch the culprit before it's too late.

1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming. The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it. She can’t do it alone though.

Victoria Thompson is the Edgar Award-nominated author of the Gaslight Mysteries and numerous historical romance novels. Set in 19th-century New York, Murder on Fifth Avenue follows midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy as they investigate the murder of a Knickerbocker club member.

After the final curtain of Swan Lake, an animated crowd exits the Mariinsky theatre brimming with excitement from the night's performance. But outside, the scene is somber. A ballerina's body lies face down in the snow, blood splattered like rose petals over the costume of the Swan Queen. The crowd is silenced by a single cry - "Nemetseva is dead!" When the dead ballerina's aristocratic lover comes begging for justice, Emily must apply her own set of skills to discover the rising star's murderer.

Gloucestershire, 1925. A week-long house party in the country - why not? Lady Adelaide has nothing else to do, now that her year of mourning for her unfaithful husband is up and her plans to rekindle her romantic life have backfired. But when her hostess is found dead on the conservatory floor, Addie knows just who to call - Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter of Scotland Yard. Addie and Dev must work together to stop another murder, and they have some help thanks to Rupert, Addie's late and unlamented husband. Rupert needs to make amends for his louche life on earth.

August 1856. The Dickinson family is comfortably settled in their homestead on Main Street. Emily’s brother, Austin Dickinson, and his new wife are delighted when famous thinker and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson comes to Amherst to speak at a local literary society and decides he and his young secretary, Luther Howard, will stay with the newlyweds. Emily has been a longtime admirer of Emerson’s writing and is thrilled at the chance to meet her idol. She is determined to impress him with her quick wit, and if she can gather the courage, a poem.

As quirky as McGill's residents can be, they usually welcome society's oddballs and outcasts into the community with open arms. But the three members of the Lone White Wolf Pack are a different story. The ignorant gang is widely believed to have orchestrated several hate crimes in the area. When the small group's irredeemable leader, Billy Ray Sonner, is found dead in an abandoned motel, most assume it was the result of an accidental overdose. Only Stella and the sheriff have witnessed the crime scene in person, and the smell of cyanide means something more disturbing.

When new bride Kaveri Murthy reluctantly agrees to investigate a minor crime during the blood moon eclipse to please her domineering mother-in-law, she doesn't expect to stumble upon a murder - again. With anti-British sentiments on the rise, a charismatic religious leader growing in influence, and the fight for women's suffrage gaining steam, Bangalore is turning out to be a far more dangerous place than Kaveri ever imagined, and everyone's motives are suspect.

1903. Bookish, bespectacled Vita Carew longs to be left to her scientific studies. But, to her chagrin, she cannot avoid the event of the season, a gala at Pemberton Hall. This glamorous concert and sumptuous dinner will mark the Pemberton household’s return to society after a run of misfortune. But disaster strikes as soon as the seafood is served. Vita can only offer first aid as elegant guests fall suddenly ill on all sides. Worse still, she suspects a death has been covered up to avoid interrupting the carefully planned soirée.

Having chosen to go to a women's institution rather than live under her brother's oppressive thumb, Emmeline is second-guessing her decision. Her ulterior motive was to learn under what circumstances her sister died there six years ago, but the conditions are dismal, the treatment is harsh, and the women are restricted on all sides. When one of the women is murdered, Emmeline resolves to solve the crime despite the powerful owner's hostile insistence that the death was a suicide.

As Mrs. Ginger Reed~also known as Lady Gold~waits impatiently for the coming of her baby, new neighbors move onto Mallowan Court. The Foote family is very much like Ginger’s own, if not the mirror opposite.

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peters and Saint Paul, in September of the year of our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive 19-year-old novice. Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname the Devil's Novice. Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priest's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

1926: The murderer Gerald Ponsonby has been caught, thanks to Boots, and is facing trial. He hates Boots and the whole Adams clan and is hungry for revenge. When a dapper, quiet, but rather odd lodger turns up at Doreen Paterson's house, nobody thinks anything is amiss. Certainly not Doreen - who works for Boots in Adams Enterprises and thinks him just wonderful. Could the strange lodger be plotting the downfall of the irrepressible, outrageous, and larger-than-life Adams clan?

Thomas Mundy checks in to London's Wrexley Hotel, but he never checks out. The maid finds him on the floor of his room, bludgeoned to death by his own walking stick. Inspector Witherspoon is soon on the case and learns Mundy was an unlikely victim for such a violent crime. But Mrs. Jeffries and the household staff uncover that Mundy was less an amiable businessman and more a duplicitous con man with enemies on both sides of the Atlantic. Now Witherspoon and his staff must determine who on their lengthy list of suspects had the motive to put Mundy in the red.

While in Bath preparing for her upcoming marriage to Lord Darkefell, Lady Anne learns of a profoundly accurate mystic working in town whose uncanny predictions have stunned the gullible and the skeptical alike. Certain there's a harmless rational explanation for the medium's supposed otherworldly abilities, Anne's tolerance turns to defiance when the seer's dark pronouncements begin having a decidedly harmful affect on her friends - and a troubled local vicar takes his own life.

The ladies of the Mayfair Orchid and Exotic Plant Society are known for a bit of friendly rivalry, but the backstabbing has never been literal - until now. When Hiram Filmore, an orchid hunter and supplier, is found dead in Mrs. Helena Rayburn's conservatory, Inspector Witherspoon is called in to weed out a murderer. When it comes out that Mrs. Rayburn and her flowery friends knew each other from long ago, Mrs. Jeffries begins to suspect that there's more to unearth about this case than meets the eye.