Cozy Historical Fiction

Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax's plan to reunite her friend, Prue, with her estranged - and allegedly wealthy - mother, Henrietta, is met with a grim surprise. Not only is the marquise's Paris mansion a mouse-infested ruin, but Henrietta has inexplicably vanished, leaving behind an evasive husband, two sinister stepsisters, and a bullet-riddled corpse in the pumpkin patch decked out in a ball gown and one glass slipper - a corpse that also happens to be a dead ringer for Prue.

Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax knows how to win over an audience. That's why she's accepted the marriage proposal of the brutish Comte de Griffe to nettle her occasional investigative partner - and romantic sparring partner - the pompous if dashing Professor Penrose. But with his boorish table manners, wild mane of hair, and habit of prowling away the wee hours, the comte has shredded Ophelia's last nerve. She intends to disengage from her feral fiancé at his winter hunting party.

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!

It's the time of the Great Dionysia, the largest arts festival of the ancient world, held each year in honor of Dionysos, the god of wine. But there's a problem: A ghost is haunting Athens's grand theater. Nicolaos and his clever partner in sleuthing (and now in matrimony), the priestess Diotima, are hired to rid the theater of the ghost so that the festival can begin. With the help of Theokritos, the high priest of Dionysos, they exorcise the ghost publicly while secretly suspecting that a human saboteur is the actual culprit.

Egypt, 1914. It is the beginning of the war and Gareth Owen, Mamur Zapt and Head of Cairo’s Secret Police, is given the unhappy task of rounding up enemy aliens. But, in a land where adoption of foreign nationality is a popular means of avoiding trial by an Egyptian court, determining who counts as German proves contentious. And then there’s the face in the cemetery.

The August bank holiday is approaching, and after two extremely high-profile murder cases, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But then they find the bodies - and the milk bottles. Three seemingly unconnected victims - a hard-working AA patrolman, a would-be beauty queen, a catty BBC radio personality - have all been killed with the same highly unusual murder weapon.

Kim is not your average member of Her Majesty's palace staff – but then he shouldn't be on the staff at all. He's in fact a Sun staff reporter who's wormed his way into Buckingham Palace to pick up every bit of dirt and gossip that he can lay his hands on. Along the way, Kim is faced with many surprising aspects of Palace life that even he didn't see coming. Based on the true story of the tabloid hack who became a Queen's footman, Palace Rogue is a charming, uplifting and utterly outrageous story of love and secrets – all of it set in the heart of one of the world's most famous houses.

England, Anfang der 1930er Jahre: Im ersten Band von "SCHWARZTEE, SCONES & EINE LEICHE" ermittelt Myrna nicht nur am Theater in York und versucht das Geheimnis um eine verschwundene Näherin und einen toten Schauspieler aufzudecken, nein, auch ihre Jugendliebe Horatio, mittlerweile ein durchaus bekannter Schauspieler, darf sich nützlich machen. Und dummerweise kann Myrna ihm einfach nicht entkommen.

When one of her favorite people goes missing, aka Alfred, Ava goes into mama-bear mode. Nobody is going to get away with stealing her friend and butler. The immortal Vikings are the first names on her suspect list, but was it really them? The truth stone aids in the search, but Ava begins to doubt even that as everyone who has ever met Alfred becomes a suspect.

Costumer Joey Jessop is working on a movie set in 1930s Hollywood and starring two of the world’s biggest stars. The male lead is also a dedicated social activist, and the female lead, Gillian Best, is known for her lifestyle brand. After a hit-and-run near the set, Joey realizes that the car involved belongs to Gillian, and she begins to wonder if the actress has more to hide than her Botox appointments. Her suspicions deepen when Gillian’s personal assistant, Rita, vows to get revenge for Gillian replacing her and is found dead shortly after.

With the help of old associates Chief Inspector Jellicoe, the newly promoted Detective Inspector Wellbeloved, and Rufus Watts, Kit and Mary soon find themselves in the middle of a race against time before the murderer strikes again in a case where revenge is the motive and everyone is putting on an act. After the Indiana Jones-like adventure in The Tangier Tajine, Kit and Mary Aston return to a more traditional murder mystery set in the world of post-war variety theatre just before the arrival of moving pictures and radio sounded the death knell to this wonderful realm of entertainment.

Chief Inspector Richard Owen dresses carefully at his house in Chiswick. He is due to meet Lady Camille Divine at Café Bonbon, a well-known nightclub, after a six-week separation when he decided to visit his late wife’s relatives in the South of France. He is due to go back to work at Scotland Yard after a two-month sabbatical, but he and Camille have some unfinished business.

In 1920s England, private detective Henry Fleming is invited to spend the weekend at Watermead Manor to celebrate the marriage of Gerald and Ida Langley. The handsome millionaire had been instantly smitten with the glamorous Ida and, after a whirlwind romance, they had married in secret. Upon returning to England, however, it soon becomes apparent that not everyone is pleased or excited about the marriage and very soon accusations begin to fly about Ida's motives: Does she really love him, or is she just an opportunistic gold-digger?

If one wedding is good, a double wedding is better! Rosa and Miguel agree that walking down the aisle with Bill and Carlotta solves a lot of social and familial problems, but the drama is notched up when a dead body arrives with dessert.

Ein feinsinniger Wohlfühlkrimi aus dem Wien der goldenen 20er Jahre. Wien, 1925: Im Schönbrunner Schlosstheater wird "Der Rosenkavalier" gedreht. Die Filmmusik stammt von Richard Strauss, das Libretto von Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Für die aufwendige Produktion werden Tausende Statisten benötigt – auch Ernestine und Anton sind mit von der Partie. Als am zweiten Drehtag die Hauptdarstellerin mit einem Seidenschal erdrosselt in ihrer Garderobe aufgefunden wird, machen sich die beiden am Set auf Spurensuche – und kommen dem Täter dabei näher, als ihnen lieb ist.

Chicago in the 1890s is the fastest growing metropolis in America. It rivals New York as the City of the Century and the epitome of the Gilded Age. This melting pot of thieves and corrupt politicians, and robber barons and immigrants, is rife with scandal and social injustice. An eccentric heiress and a cub reporter find themselves repeatedly drawn into the hidden world of intrigue and murder that lurks within the shadows of the White City.

Everyone in Meryton is excited about the upcoming Netherfield ball, but Lizzy is preoccupied, for the thief, though his identity is known, is still at-large. When Mr. Darcy’s sister arrives, she and Lizzy become fast friends, but Lizzy’s acrimony with Darcy threatens everything, especially when she overhears him condemning Jane as a grasping social climber without true regard for Bingley. They are at odds, but when an abduction occurs the very night of the ball, it brings the two of them together to find the kidnapper and rescue his victim.

A heart-warming Victorian Christmas mystery with a touch of peril, this story is performed by award-winning narrators Simon Prebble and Wendy Tremont King. When Sir Henry Baskerville, now happily married, invites Sherlock Holmes to Baskerville Hall, that infamous baronial mansion in darkest Devonshire, the entire Baker Street team accepts his invitation for a family holiday. But Sir Henry has an ulterior motive and the powers of evil are at work.

It is the dawn of the Second World War, but life in the small town of Fielding carries on in its uncomplicated way. For young Eva, life is about to change, as her dearest friend Annie vanishes and people claim to have never known her at all. Desperate to find her, Eva befriends two strangers: the eccentric Lola, and tender but distant Gabe. The two open her eyes to a hidden world, in which people can disappear and all memory of them be forgotten.

In the seaside town of Temple Regis, seagulls are wheeling overhead and the holidays are getting close. And then the body of political candidate Odile Clifford is discovered on the balcony of the lighthouse. Fearless Riviera Express reporter Judy Dimont goes in search of the killer - but who is it? And where will they strike next?