Historical Cozy

It's 1934. When Miss Pongleton is found murdered on the stairs of Belsize Park station, her fellow boarders in the Frampton Hotel are not overwhelmed with grief at the death of a tiresome old woman. But they all have their theories about the identity of the murderer and help to unravel the mystery of who killed the wealthy 'Pongle'. Several of her fellow residents - even Tuppy the terrier - have parts to play in the events that lead to a dramatic arrest.

Lord William has finally gained his desire to move his family from Bath to his country estate, Wethington Manor, west of Reading, not too far from either Bath or London. Lady Amy is a happy, contented mother to their son, and has taken up her writing once again. Their family members are close by, and all is well. Well, maybe not. The new village vicar is charming, polite, and serves inspiring sermons. The villagers adore him, and many young women have their eye on the handsome cleric. However, it appears someone doesn’t love him….

London 1922. The Summer Ball is all arranged. Camille Divine has received her invitation to Antonella Toignton’s home in Chelsea, the one she inherited from her father, where the Summer Ball will be held.

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.

Young sleuth Lottie Sprigg accompanies her employer to Cairo-a city flushed with excitement after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. But a shadow looms after the untimely death of Lord Carnarvon—could the Pharaoh's Curse be real?

Flora has trodden the path of amateur sleuth before, but with so much at stake, this time it's personal. 1905 London is a heady mix of unimaginable wealth and simmering political tensions, and with war looming Flora Maguire wants to keep her family safe. So when her beloved charge Viscount Edward Trent is accused of murder, she's determined not to leave the investigation to the police. Slowly the body of the victim found stabbed on a train bound for Paddington starts giving up its secrets, and Flora and her husband Bunny become mired in a murky world of spies, communists and fraudsters.

As a thank you for her previous brilliant crime solving, amateur sleuth, Martha Miller is guest of honour at the Winteringham Country Fair. However, this time she is looking forward to simply judging dog shows and eating cream teas rather than apprehending a killer! And Martha is just beginning to enjoy spending quality time with Vicar Luke Walker away from the prying eyes and gossips of her own village, when disaster strikes, and the local teenage femme fatale is found stabbed to death behind the tea tent by Martha’s trusted red setter Lizzie!

Tommy and Evelyn Christie have reluctantly agreed to host the wedding of Tommy's mother to Andrew Parsons, the Marquess of York, at their home Hessleham Hall. None of the happy couple's adult children support the marriage, but when Andrew is found dead outside the wedding chapel on the morning of his wedding, it seems one of them has taken their anger a step too far. To make matters worse, Tommy's younger brother, Harry, is missing and quickly becomes the police's primary suspect. Can Tommy and Evelyn uncover the murderer before the teenage Harry is found and arrested for the crime

Nothing ruins a night at the opera faster than a duchess falling to her death. Mrs. Ginger Reed, known by some as Lady Gold, is at the Royal Albert Hall with her husband, Basil Reed, a chief inspector at Scotland Yard, and the two of them are immediately at the scene. Was the duchess of Worthington’s fall accidental? Where was the duke? And what does Ginger’s grandmother-in-law, Ambrosia, the Dowager Lady Gold, have to do with the sordid affair? Something went terribly wrong with the dowager’s "sisterhood" of friends back in the 1860s, and it's all coming home to roost.

Shaken from sleep during the night and bundled off to the Highlands by a burly Scot, Riona is at first terrified then livid. Hugh McCallum insists they were promised to each other as children to ensure peace between their clans. The stubborn laird refuses to believe he's kidnapped the wrong Catriona Duff. Instead he embarks on a campaign of slow-burning seduction....

When the body of Isolde Newley's long lost husband is found in the grounds of St. Augustus churchyard, suspicion falls on Isolde and everyone close to her - especially her new love interest, the dashing Dr. Mainwaring. The mystery is exacerbated by the largest snowfall seen in North Yorkshire for years. No one can get in - or out - of the village.

A modern woman in 1907, Lady Dunbridge is not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She's ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. From the decadence of high society balls to the underbelly of Belmont horse racing, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige.

England 1912. Danby Hall is the only home Lady Cecilia Bates has ever known. Despite the rigid rules of etiquette and her mother's fervent desire to see her married off, Cecilia can't imagine life anywhere else. But now, with an agricultural depression sweeping the countryside, the Bates family's possession of the hall is suddenly in peril. A possible solution arrives in the form of the imperious American heiress Annabel Clarke. The Bates and their staff arrange a grand house party upon the heiress's arrival. Then a guest dies after sipping from a glass meant for Annabel....

Weihnachtlicher Cosy Crime aus der Kaiserzeit. Wien, 1910. Wenige Tage vor Heiligabend wird Tabakfabrikant Steinhäusel in seinem luxuriösen Stadtpalais tot aufgefunden. Die Todesursache bleibt ein Rätsel – sowohl für den Leibarzt der Industriellenfamilie als auch für diese selbst, die noch am Vorabend mit Steinhäusel zusammengekommen war. Kommissar Felix Zack übernimmt die Ermittlungen und stellt schnell fest, dass in dieser Familie beinahe jeder ein Motiv hat – zu seinem Leidwesen auch die böhmische Köchin Mila, die ihn nicht nur mit ihren Köstlichkeiten verzaubert.

Charlie James is chasing her first big scoop as correspondent for British-based newspaper The Times, and she needs to prove to her boss that she can do this job as well, if not better, than her male counterparts. The best way to forge the necessary contacts quickly is to make well-connected British expats, Lord and Lady Ashworth, her business. Lady Eleanor knows everyone in Parisian high society, and at her sumptuously extravagant annual party, a Circus Ball, Charlie will meet them all.

A large group of people enters the Rutledge Historical Society to see the new and much anticipated 1950s murder exhibit. After viewing the display, the group exits the building leaving two people behind. A few minutes later, one of the two is shot dead in front of the exhibit and the other one rushes out the back door and escapes. Was the perpetrator one of the group or was it the old woman’s daughter who has only a very weak (and stinky) alibi? Or could it have been someone else?

When Lorry Lockharte’s cousin, Kasey, is accused of murder, Lorry feels like once again she must work to find the murderer. Did Kasey do it, or is she truly innocent as she claims? Lorry isn’t so sure about this one. Not only did Kasey have the opportunity and the motive, but she picked up the murder weapon. Will Lorry find the murderer only to discover that it really is Kasey?

When a dead man that she knows falls out of Lorry Lockharte’s new car right in front of the sheriff, it doesn’t look good. Still, being hauled into the sheriff’s station isn’t what Lorry had expected. After a lawyer comes out of nowhere to get her released, Lorry struggles to prove her innocence and find the real killer.

After one final insult, Lorry Lockharte leaves her abusive husband stranded at the Grand Canyon. Returning home, she finds their house repossessed and her elderly employer deceased. Her cousin gets her a job at the Rutledge Historical Society after the previous employee had a fatal accident with a steep set of stairs. On her first day of work, Lorry finds a dead body at the foot of those same stairs. When she learns the dead woman is the sister of the previous victim, Lorry suspects the two deaths are related. Will she discover the killer in time or will she be the next victim?

If you love early rock & roll, poodle skirts, clever who-dun-its, a charming cat, and an even more charming detective, you're going to love this series. Enjoy books 3 and 4 of the 1950s Cozy Mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Lee Strauss!