In this novella, Annie and Nate Dawson, the amateur sleuths from M. Louisa Locke's cozy Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, are visiting Nate's family at their ranch near San Jose, California. What was supposed to be a pleasant romantic interlude for the two of them, plus a chance for Annie to get to know Nate's family better, turns serious when a crime is uncovered. And, as in Locke's short stories from this series, Annie gets help in resolving...

Intrepid 19th-century private investigators American Matthew Grand and Englishman James Batchelor return in their second mystery. July, 1868. On receiving a commission from Matthew's cousin Luther to look into the suspicious death of Lafayette Baker, Head of the US National Detective Police, private investigators Matthew Grand and his business partner James Batchelor leave London for Washington DC. They find a country still scarred by the bitter legacy...

"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 San Francisco's newest grand emporium, the holidays don't look so promising. Not if he can't figure out...

December, 1853. Having found fame as the inspiration behind Inspector Bucket in Charles Dickens' recent bestselling serialization, Bleak House, former Detective Inspector Charley Field has set himself up as a private enquiry agent - so far without success. Matters become personal however when the body of a local prostitute is found floating in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Having often enjoyed Rosa's company, Charley is disinclined to believe the official...

Jacob Silver's wrought iron garden gate disappears, and two lovers vanish into the night with a stolen horse and cart. There appears to be no connection between the events, until the gate reappears, along with a corpse and a terrified girl. Although Jacob and his housemaid Sarah Simm are both viewed with suspicion in their Cotswold market town, the local police inspector enlists their help in discovering what happened that fateful night. With the...

As 1880 comes to a close, the O'Farrell Street boardinghouse servant, Kathleen Hennessey, expects to spend a quiet week while her employers, amateur sleuths Annie and Nate Dawson, are off spending the Christmas holidays with Nate's family. However, when she agrees to help out one of her friends, Kathleen discovers that a simple case of a servant being dismissed without notice has turned into a complicated and dangerous puzzle that she is determined...

"Mrs. Jeffries is back in the New York Times bestselling Victorian Mystery series, perfect for fans of Downton Abbey. 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 had a reputation for being polite, charming, and diligent--an unlikely victim for such a violent crime. But...

French dressmaker Lucille DuBois brought a touch of glamour to the provincial Cotswold market town — at least until a corpse was discovered in her elegant establishment. Now she insists she's being framed for murder, but the townspeople are saying they knew all along a Frenchwoman couldn't be trusted. It falls to two other outsiders, clock repairer Jacob Silver and housemaid Sarah Simm, to find if Lucille is as innocent as she claims to be and help...

Luke Alden had everything to live for — a good job, a loving wife and a child on the way — until the events of one stormy night destroyed it all. Some people said it was an act of God, but police in the Cotswold market town suspect it was a very human hand that started a fire and left Alden to die inside a burning building. Did someone resent Alden's good fortune enough to kill him, or was there another motive? Clock repairer Jacob Silver and...

Strange things are said to happen on Twelfth Night, although few as strange as the ghost of a man believed drowned years earlier appearing in the midst of the town's celebration, vowing revenge on his killers. The sighting might have been blamed on the potent punch being served, but after two bodies are found, the ghost's threat has to be taken seriously. Old secrets come back to haunt more than one person as clock repairer Jacob Silver and housemaid...