Historical Women Detectives

It's the summer of 1894, and an infidelity case has brought PI Mary Handley to a far corner of Brooklyn: Coney Island. In the midst of her investigation, Mary is contacted by a convicted man's brother to reopen a murder case. A prostitute was killed by a Jack the Ripper copycat years ago in her New York hotel room, but her true killer was never found. Once again it's up to Mary to make right the city's wrongs. New York City's untouchable head of detectives, Thomas Byrnes, swears he put the right man behind bars, but as Mary digs deeper, she finds corruption.

Lady Dunbridge was not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s come to New York City, ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. The social events of the summer have been amusing, but Lady Phil is searching for more excitement - and she finds it, when an early morning visitor arrives begging for her help. After all, Lady Phil has been known to be useful in a crisis. Especially when the crisis involves the untimely death of a handsome, young business tycoon.

When Bradon Riggston decides to write his family history, he is shocked to find that many of his relatives and their friends have died by unfortunate accidents. Are Riggston family members and their close associates just unlucky, or is there some sinister power working behind the scenes? Holmes and Watson are called in to investigate, only to uncover a deadly saga of revenge for long-hidden crimes.

When Sidney Grice journeys to Yorkshire to solve a mysterious death, March Middleton, his ward, is left to her own devices in a London swarming with danger and vice. Curiosity, as we know, has a dark edge. So when an intriguing letter leads March to the gates of the palatial Saturn Villa and into the nightmarish world of her long-lost uncle, it could be the beginning of an end for all.

Året är 1824. Karna Nilsdotter, en flicka från Uddevallas fattigaste kvarter, hittas brutalt skändad och mördad på kyrkogården. Vem är mördaren? Aurora Ekblad, grosshandlarfamiljen Winborgs unga släkting, är den som finner Karna. Motvilligt dras hon in i efterforskningarna. Det är bara första mordet i en rad på unga kvinnor och flickor under denna sommar. Frågorna hopar sig. Finns det något samband mellan morden och de mystiska breven utan text? Och vart har Auroras ärvda fingerborg tagit vägen?

First published in 1864, decades before there were official female detectives or female police officers in Britain, The Female Detective features the original lady detective: the determined and resourceful Miss Gladden, known as “G”. She examines crime scenes incognito, tracks down killers, and solves mysteries employing all manner of skill, subterfuge, and charm to achieve her ends while attempting to conceal her own identity from others..

Using a premise pulled from the headlines - the very real vulnerability of students and teachers - the best-selling author of the Mary Russell mysteries delivers a contemporary novel of psychological suspense. The various presenters at a local school career day prepare for a day in class, not knowing that someone with a thirst for revenge is in their midst.

On his death bed, Lord Pembroke took great care to try to ensure the future of his beautiful, unconventional niece, Lady Jane. Her debutante ball featured the most eligible bachelors of London society. But when the night of the dance arrives, things do not go as planned.

After serving as a nurse in the Crimea, British-born Celia Davies left her privileged family for an impulsive marriage to a handsome Irishman. Patrick brought her to San Francisco's bustling shores but then disappeared and is now presumed dead. Determined to carry on, Celia partners with her half-Chinese cousin, Barbara, and her opinionated housekeeper, Addie, to open a free medical clinic for women who have nowhere else to turn.

Stoke Newington, 1863: Little Margaret Lovejoy is found brutally murdered in the outhouse at her family’s estate. A few days later, a man is cut down in a similar manner on the doorstep of courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey’s prestigious address. At the same time, Heloise’s maid, Amah Li Leen, must confront events from her past that appear to have erupted into the present day. Once again Heloise is caught up in a maelstrom of murder and deceit that threatens to reach into the very heart of her existence.

This mystery is part of the famous "Had-I-But-Known School" of mysteries founded by Mary Roberts Rinehart with the 1908 publication of her first work, The Circular Staircase. The story deals with civic corruption, a popular theme of early American mysteries. Stories like this anticipate the hard-boiled school to come. So does Rinehart's realistic style, which does not gloss over life's problems.

It's early 1957, and Rosa Reed and her new beau Detective Miguel Belmonte fly from California to London to follow up on a cold case: the murder of Rosa's good friend Lady Vivien Everleigh. The investigation is complicated, if not awkward, as the deceased is the sister of Rosa's former fiancé. Thankfully, Rosa's parents, Ginger (aka Ginger Gold of Lady Gold Investigations) and Basil Reed are there to help. Rosa stumbles onto a dangerous truth. Can she find her friend's killer and save her own life too?

With her husband, Emrys, still missing in action, Ann Morgan faces the prospect of spending her first wedding anniversary, and Christmas, alone. However, a phone call from Alistair Blythe, a young man she briefly walked out with before her marriage to Emrys, sets Ann on a trail that leads to murder, encounters with black market spivs, and threats to her life. With assistance from spymaster Charles Montagu and Detective Inspector Max Deveraux, Ann uncovers a major secret of the war. And, with the snow falling at Christmas, she receives a present she will never forget.

A struggling young Persian artist sends Flynn, one of Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars, out to buy provisions for a celebratory dinner. But when he brings the requested groceries to the artist’s wife, her joy quickly turns to fear. Then Flynn returns to the artist’s studio, only to find that disaster has struck. Meanwhile, the National Portrait Gallery enlists the help of Sherlock Homes to investigate the mysterious theft of The Pink Lady. As Holmes sets out to recover the precious painting, he uncovers a dark web of deceit far more complex than he imagined.