Historical Women Detectives

Frances Wynn, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, enjoys more freedom as a widow than she did as a wife. After an obligatory year spent mourning her philandering husband, Reggie, she puts aside her drab black gowns, leaving the countryside and her money-grubbing in-laws behind. With her young daughter in tow, Frances rents a home in Belgravia and prepares to welcome her sister, Lily, arriving from New York - for her first London season. But no sooner has Frances begun her new life than the ghosts of her old one make an unwelcome appearance....

Everything has changed for Dr Ruth Galloway. She has a new job, home and partner and is no longer North Norfolk police's resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Amyas March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March confirms this and offers to show Nelson where the other bodies are buried - but only if Ruth will do the digging.

New York, 1958. Even though Evelyn Murphy has made progress conquering her agoraphobia by leaving the Pinnacle, she still feels most comfortable in her father's hotel. With Malcolm Cooper, her new boyfriend and fellow employee at the hotel, Evelyn feels prepared for whatever happens next. In this case, it’s throwing a big fundraiser with the who’s who of New York City. The night is a success, and Evelyn finally takes up Malcolm’s offer to visit his apartment in Yonkers. As the party ends, they sneak away to the garage to get Evelyn's car. But Evelyn's always been good at finding things.

Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead. The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny's murderer to justice - if he doesn't track her down first.

When Carson Chance first laid eyes on run-a-way Amy Warren five years ago, he had no idea that she would open his eyes to life and love again. Carson’s history of PTSD and a gunshot wound broke them apart, but now she is back in his life and attending law school. Carson, desperate to hang on to what they had, struggles with Amy’s new life. When Carson and a rival male law student clash at a local bar, Amy has doubts that Carson didn’t start the fight, and tension between them escalates. Unable to put their dysfunctional past behind them, Amy pushes Carson away.Picking up the pieces of...

As Christmas of 1804 approaches, Jane Austen finds herself "[I]nsupportably bored with Bath, and the littleness of a town". It is with relief that she accepts a peculiar commission from her Gentleman Rogue, Lord Harold Trowbridge - to shadow his niece, Lady Desdemona, who has fled to Bath to avoid the attentions of the unsavory earl of Swithin. But Jane's idle diversion turns deadly when a man is discovered stabbed to death in the Theatre Royal. Adding to the mystery is an unusual object found on the victim's body - a pendant that contains a portrait of an eye!

It is the crowning day of twenty-five-year-old Bess Tudor's life as she returns from exile to become England's queen. But even as her magnificent procession wends its way to Westminster Palace, a shot rings out, muffled by the jostling crowd. Within moments of becoming England's ruler, Elizabeth learns of the brutal murder of a highborn lady of the court, the sister of one of her dearest friends.

Detective Helen Carter is called to a crime scene: a barmaid, Tina French, has been strangled. Murdered on her way home from work to look after her sick son. Meanwhile, Moira McKenzie leaves her lover's townhouse and gets home to find her abusive husband, Reggie, washing blood from his hands. Later, in their garden shed, she finds incriminating photos, keepsakes and newspaper cuttings about old murder cases. When the police are called to their home, they find a pool of blood and a shattered glass table, but no sign of Moira.

Never underestimate the power of a good hat... or a sharp hatpin. 9-Book Series! Paris 1917. Sent by the War Office to follow the notorious Fredrick Fredricks, file clerk turned secret agent Fiona Figg is under strict orders not to get too close and not to wear any of her usual "get-ups." But what self-respecting British spy can resist a good disguise? Within hours of her arrival in Paris, Fiona is up to her fake eyebrows in missing maids, jewel thieves, double agents, and high treason. When Fiona is found dressed as a bellboy holding a bloody paperknife over the body of a dead countess, ...

Broke, unemployed barista Halley Greer is shocked when she inherits an Art Deco movie palace from the great uncle she remembers meeting once as a child. She moves to the charming tourist town of Utopia Springs, Arkansas to claim her legacy. In addition to the timeworn theater, she discovers she’s also inherited a trash-heaped apartment, family secrets, her uncle’s friends, a stealthy calico kitty—and an adversary. With a whole latte help from her new friends, the feisty barista fixes up and re-opens the theater as a coffee and wine bar, showing classic films. She generates some steam ...

After her bruising encounter with the law, Angela Marchmont has vowed to give up detecting and is doing her best to forget the events of last winter and the terrible lie she told to save herself. So, when a letter arrives from beyond the grave requesting her help and reminding her of the past, she is anything but pleased. Drawn reluctantly into one final case and spurred on by her guilty conscience, Angela soon discovers a viper's nest of family betrayals and hidden enmities that have lain undisturbed for years and that may have led to the deaths of more than one person.

Plagued with guilt, Freda Simonson, the only witness to the murder of the landlord of Langcliffe's tavern, believes that her testimony may have convicted the wrong man, but when she passes, the case seems closed. It just so happens, though, that Freda's nephew is courting the renowned amateur sleuth Kate Shackleton, who has decided to holiday in Langcliffe with her teenage niece, Harriet.

CHAPPELL AND LILY WHITE LIE ARE RECIPIENTS OF COMMENDATION FROM OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS "Simply brilliant. Descriptiveness around every turn." --The Baltimore Sun In Lily White Lie, engravings on a pocketwatch, cryptic messages, Easter lilies, and sidelined spy Bret Kilmore combine to thrust historian Wrenn Grayson into the mysterious world of symbolism. A worried Wrenn connects the messages to her longtime love Gideon and his father. Contact is impossible. Gideon deer hunts deep in the West Virginia wilderness. His father, a prominent banker, vanished ...

Sent by the War Office to follow the notorious Black Panther, file clerk turned secret agent Fiona Figg is under strict orders not to get too close and not to wear any of her usual “get-ups”. But what self-respecting British spy can resist a good disguise? Within hours of her arrival in Paris, Fiona is up to her fake eyebrows in missing maids, jewel thieves, double agents, and high treason.

Penrose and Pyke’s wedding dream turns to ashes when the local women’s refuge goes up in flames. Grace Penrose is used to protesters at Lavender House, but she never expected them to set the refuge on fire, especially not on her wedding day. And her mother’s carefully orchestrated wedding plan definitely did not include Charlie Pyke disappearing into an inferno. The discovery of a woman’s body in the smouldering ruins rouses Grace and Charlie’s detective instincts. With marital bliss on their minds, an investigation is the last thing they need. But how can they ignore a murder, ...

1957 - A young woman is found dead in a mews house a mile from Buckingham Palace, wearing only silk underwear and a a diamond tiara. An older man is discovered nearby, garrotted and pierced through the eye with a long, sharp implement. According to the police, a high society card game was going on downstairs that night. One of the players surely committed the murders, but each of them can give the others an alibi.

Flavia Albia is a private investigator, always drawn to an intriguing puzzle - even if it is put to her by her new husband's hostile ex-wife. On the Quirinal Hill, Clodia Volumnia, a very young girl with stars in her eyes, has died, amid suggestions that she was poisoned by a love potion. It will have been supplied by a local witch, who goes by the name of Pandora, though Albia learns that Pandora carries on a trade in herbal beauty products while hiding much more dangerous connections.

Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her master of the horse, Robin Dudley. As gossip would have it, only his ailing wife, Amy, prevents marriage between Dudley and the Queen. To quell the idle tongues at court, the Queen dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick woman's needs. But not even Ursula can prevent the "accident" that takes Amy's life. Did she fall or was she pushed? Was Ursula a pawn of Dudley and the Queen?

Charming, sleepy, Wallingford Heights. Shattered by a chilling triple homicide. Eastern Massachusetts, 1893 Everyday life, disrupted. A town's secrets exposed. Wallingford Heights shattered by a chilling triple homicide. One of America's first salons - The Vine, a hub of activity, with falling hair and flowing information. Estelle, Chasity, Marilou and Clara—known for their impeccable hairstyling and listening skills. Four spirited women, unravel the town's dark mysteries. From gossip at the salon to pillow-talk whispers in the night. Amateur sleuths who uncover chicken thieves, window ...

Penrose & Pyke have until Christmas Eve to save the orphans’ home, by unravelling a tangle of tinsel and trickery. Private detective Charlie Pyke was looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas with his fiancée, Grace Penrose. Instead, Charlie and Grace must stop a dubious deal, find a sneak thief and foil a mischievous brother, with the help of a pair of inquisitive orphans and the spirit of a dear departed grandmother. If they can decipher the clues and make it through the dessert course, they just might survive their first family Christmas together. Tinsel and Trickery is a half-...