Victorian Thriller

Ten years ago, Penelope Paiget promised she’d wait for Samuel Black. But she was only a genteel, impoverished paid companion, forced into service after her father’s death revealed his insurmountable debts. Now she’s a successful novelist, posing as secretary to the Earl of Wickshire to hide her identity. Ten years ago, Samuel Black chose his own path instead of upholding his family’s legacy as spies. But having fought for the formation of the Metropolitan Police Force, echoes of his past and his true origins remind him how unworthy he is to call himself detective inspector.

During the last part of the nineteenth century, the detective story took off as a popular genre as literary magazines vied with each other to draw in readers with gripping page-turners by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Guy Boothby and Wilkie Collins. This collection brings together some of the great detectives of the Victorian era, from the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes, to the mild mannered Father Brown, to the feisty J. G. Reeder.

England, 1866: Die 18-jährige Felicia kann es kaum erwarten, nach zwei ereignislosen Jahren endlich ihre Mädchenschule zu verlassen und die Reise zur Hochzeit ihres Bruders anzutreten. Statt gemütlich im Zug nach Gloucester zu reisen, findet sie sich jedoch plötzlich in einer Kutsche eingepfercht durch einen verlassenen Wald polternd. Ein unerwarteter Zwischenstopp endet in einer Katastrophe: Ein Mitreisender wird tot aufgefunden. Schnell wird klar, dass es sich nicht um einen harmlosen Unfall handelt. Ein Mord ist geschehen und nur einer von Felicias Mitreisenden kann der Täter gewesen sein.

It's the summer of 1880, and once again the lovely and inquisitive businesswoman Annie Fuller is helping San Francisco lawyer and beau Nate Dawson with a troublesome case. Nate's client, a female typesetter accused of murdering her boss, refuses to help in her own defense. Complicating matters, Nate's sister, Laura, insists on getting involved in the potentially dangerous investigation, while Laura's friend, Seth Timmons, troubled Civil War veteran, finds himself a witness for the prosecution. Will Nate be able to win his first big case?

Autumn, 1888. While the city is horrified by Jack the Ripper's murder spree another, less publicized killer is at large. Each murder takes place right after the Ripper killings, as the murderer appears to be taking advantage of the lack of police resources to tackle two major investigations at the same time. Inspector Albert Norris is charged with bringing the railway killer to justice, but clues are few and the killer's motive unclear.

In Bloody Lessons, it's the winter of 1880, and the teachers of San Francisco are under attack: their salaries slashed and their competency and morals questioned in a series of poison pen letters. Annie Fuller, the reluctant clairvoyant, has been called in to investigate by Nate Dawson, her lawyer beau. The case becomes personal when they discover that Laura, Nate's sister, may be one of the teachers targeted for attack.

After the last shots of World War II were fired and the process of rebuilding Germany and Europe began, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union each tried to obtain the services of the Third Reich's leading scientists, especially those involved in rocketry, missile technology, and aerospace research. Naturally, this was a delicate affair due to the fact many of the German scientists were not only active Nazis but had helped the Nazi war machine terrorize the world. At the same time, near the end of the war, the Anglo-American Allies formed a clear picture of the Soviet state.

Dandy’s Daring Deeds is a collection of already published stories featuring the Boston Terrier, Dandy, a recurring character in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. This collection consists of the short story, "Dandy Detects", an excerpt from the novel, Uneasy Spirits, the novella, Dandy Delivers, and the short story, "Dandy’s Discovery".

It is the winter of 1880, and the future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate's law practice is taking off. Annie has made the transition from pretend clairvoyant to a successful financial consultant. And they are looking forward to spending their first Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together. For Robert Livingston, the owner of San Francisco's newest grand emporium, the holidays don't look so promising. Not if he can't figure out how to stop whoever is stealing from his department store, the Silver Strike Bazaar.

Bath, England, 1892. Celebrated mystery author Lady Amy Lovell is set to tie the knot with Lord William Wethington, a fellow member of the Mystery Book Club of Bath. Amy's great-aunt, Lady Priscilla Granville, has offered to host their wedding at her stately Derby Manor House.

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….

While a door that just won’t stay closed may not seem like the most terrifying of hauntings, being alone in a silent manor for days on end certainly adds to the atmosphere. A request to discover the reason for the obstinate door includes a cash motivation and newly unemployed Theophilus Edlyd readily accepts the challenge.

Annie has a problem: She has a beautiful child, a loving husband, a well-run boardinghouse with a supportive circle of friends and family, but she’s feeling restless and unhappy. Dr. Charlotte Brown, the doctor who delivered Annie’s baby, has a different problem. The Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children, the clinic and hospital she co-founded, is being threatened by financial and legal difficulties caused by the mysterious illness of a former patient.

When not performing two sold-out shows every night, Music Hall Steampunk illusionists and consultants to Scotland Yard, slick-talking Michael Magister and the feisty Phoebe Le Breton, must solve the crime of the century, while saving the nation from a conclave of fiendish psychopaths led by the crazed renegade Jesuit known only as "The Black Bishop".

A village in Cornwall is thrown into turmoil after a young girl falls from a train to her death. Was this an accident? Or murder? The mystery deepens when clues link the girl to a double homicide committed ten years earlier. Braddon's sensational novel takes us to the estates of aristocrats, the haunts of tabloid writers, the homes of Bohemian artists, and the dark alleyways of Paris. Braddon, one of Victorian England's best-selling novelists, is at the height of her powers in Wyllard's Weird.

When Muriel Carew attends a lavish society party, the last person she expects to bump into is her ex-fiancee Henry Jekyll, a man she's not seen for many years. When Jekyll turns out to be investigating a series of missing persons in London, Muriel is intrigued. But Jekyll is not working alone, and if Muriel wants to aid in the investigation, she must work with both Henry and his partner, the monstrous and uncouth Mr Hyde.

After almost a year of marriage, amateur sleuths Lord William and Lady Amy have put aside their investigating skills to prepare for their first child. It would be an easy thing, except dead bodies are once again popping up.

In Scholarly Pursuits, the sixth full-length book in the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco mystery series, Locke explores life in University of California, Berkeley campus, in 1881. Laura and her friends face the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics.

It’s the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie’s husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt. Annie Fuller also possesses a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco’s most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl’s clients, Matthew Voss, has died.

Although Ophelia Garrett loved Cade Scott first, it was her sister he married and took home to his plantation. When Ophelia receives word of her sister's murder and Cade's arrest, she travels there on a mission to learn the truth. She soon finds the halls of Almenara are haunted by secrets, peril, and quite possibly her sister's ghost. Despite the cold, angry man Cade has become, Ophelia's heart refuses to believe he is a murderer. Vowing to do everything she can to prove his innocence, Ophelia must open wounds she'd hoped were long healed.