Victorian Suspense

This time, Jack the Ripper messed with the wrong woman. London, England November 1888 It’s the height of the Ripper murders, and Katherine Kelly’s older sister has gone missing. Defying her controlling family, she takes off to the slums of London’s East End in search of Mary. On the hunt for the violent predator that is terrorizing his beat, Police Constable Edward Stanhope feels compelled to help her. Together, Katherine and Edward discover the closer they come to finding Mary, the closer they come to finding Jack, and their undeniable passion.

Venturing into the bustling city was her family's last hope to save their struggling farm. Little did she know that fate had other plans. In New York, Lillian Guilford loses her job at a textile mill and takes on a daring disguise to secure a new position as an author of Penny Bloods. Her gripping tales provide both escape and livelihood, but her success comes at a cost. Lillian must navigate a precarious balancing act, concealing her true identity while being drawn to the handsome owner of the publishing house, Apollo Donovan. Shadows lurk on the edges of her life, threatening to unravel ...

"Winds of Fortune" is a historical fiction book set in New York during the early 20th century. Alluring with its layered narrative, it presents readers with an intricate mixture of personal rebellion, societal critique, and nail-biting adventure.The protagonist, Clement J. Restivo, is a resilient copyreader whose life witnesses a 180-degree turn, thanks to an unexpected inheritance of $500,000. Liberated from the stifling chains of his routine work, Restivo steps into a turbulent world, dominated by his determination and the whispers of his budding adventurous spirit. Setting & ContextThe ...

In 1899, the dead rule the night. Juniper St. James, a witch ensnared in the grasp of the alluring vampire Lucas Crawford, finds herself entwined in a sinister game of power and destiny. She is Lucas's courtesan, forced to serve his infamous vampire family. Ordered to recruit their latest victims, she is drawn deeper into their world of ancient rivalries and insatiable bloodlust. Prague's cobblestone alleys conceal secrets darker than the abyss, and the dead's thirst for dominion grows stronger with every heartbeat. A forbidden connection blooms with Kristoff Novak, a captivating butler ...

Miss Penelope Monckton, just returned from nursing with Florence Nightingale's in Crimea, has come to the country estate of one of the most scandalous men in England, Lord Rickarby—nicknamed Rakerby—to collect a bequest from his late wife, her childhood friend Millie. But something about Millie's death doesn't sit right with Penny. A celebrated painter, Joss, Lord Rickarby, knows Miss Penelope Monckton only from the letters she sent to his late wife during her time nursing in a war zone.

A betrayal...a secret baby….an unknown imposter…will Tess survive the wagon train journey to Sunset Hills, Oregon after her life is threatened? And if so, what will she do once she gets there? 1855. Tess Findlay can’t wait to be reunited with her beau who went out west three months ago to mine for gold, saying he’d send for her soon. Even though she hasn’t heard from him, she’s discovered she’s with child and decides to join a wagon train to travel to Oregon to surprise him with the news. When a band of robbers holds up the caravan, Tess is shocked to recognize her beau as one...

This collection brings together three novellas by USA Today best-selling author M. Louisa Locke: Violet Vanquishes a Villain, Katherine Catches a Killer, and Dandy Delivers. These shorter works contain the light romance, humor, and suspense of the novels in her cozy Victorian San Francisco mystery series and are an excellent introduction to the gas-lit world of late 19th-century San Francisco.

Lilah Holcutt dislikes Constantine Moreland from the moment she meets him. He may be handsome, but he's frivolous, rash, impulsive and, worst of all, a flirt. Now that Con's twin brother has married Lilah's best friend, she's seeing way more of Con than she'd like. And when Con's sisters are inexplicably kidnapped, Lilah's own curiosity and stubbornness get the better of her, and she finds herself swept into Con's investigation.

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.

Lord Hector Guthrie has a troubled past. A past that forced him to leave London, to hide his disgrace from everyone but himself. Finally, years later, he has returned, only to find himself saddled with a friend’s ward, promising to find her a suitable match. Determined to keep his past a secret, he tries to push his growing feelings for her aside. Miss Sophia Newton is perturbed by her sudden change in circumstances but soon finds Lord Guthrie to be more than amiable. However, one thing she did not expect is to find herself desperate for Lord Guthrie’s heart, battling against her sudden...

When Indian Princess Alexandrina is left penniless by the sudden death of her father, the Maharaja of Brindor, Queen Victoria grants her a grace-and-favor home in Hampton Court Palace. Though rumored to be haunted, Alexandrina and her lady's maid, Pooki, have no choice but to take the Queen up on her offer. Aside from the ghost sightings, Hampton Court doesn't seem so bad. The princess is soon befriended by three eccentric widows who invite her to a picnic with all the palace's inhabitants, for which Pooki bakes a pigeon pie. But General-Major Bagshot dies after eating said pie....

A well-to-do gentleman arrives in the seaside town of Badington. It's winter and out of season for tourists, but he has business to attend to with a peculiar old man and his beautiful daughter. However, to shocking results, for this out-of-towner everything is not as it seems. With his wonderful way with words, incredible description and beautiful literary style, award winning author, Robert E. Kearns is sure to captivate with this sensational short story. Now with a four star editorial review from Readers' Favorite

When a letter from Salisbury reaches Baker Street one morning in 1887, its writer telling of his fears relating to a matter he will only discuss in person, Holmes is intrigued. Yet when that would-be client turns up dead less than a day before he was to have made the journey up to London, Holmes’ interest in the case becomes, in his words, “a matter of personal honour.” So begins A Slaying in Salisbury, the latest volume in The Continuing Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes, a murder mystery in which nearly everyone within an entire town not far from Stonehenge, could be regarded as ...

Crime-scene photographers Sarah, Hugh, and Mick are summoned to the goriest crime scene they've ever encountered. A pub owner named Harry Warbrick has been found hanged. His murder becomes a sensation because he was England's top hangman. Sir Gerald, owner of the Daily World, announces that they‚ meaning Sarah and her friends‚ will investigate and solve Warbrick's murder before the police do. She and her friends discover a connection between Warbrick's murder and the most notorious criminal he ever executed: Amelia Carlisle.

Violet Veil wants nothing more than to prove her worth and become her father’s apprentice at Veil & Sons Undertakers. And one rain-soaked night she gets her chance when she meets a boy, Oliver, who is wandering around the graveyard. Only, the last time Violet saw Oliver, he was indoors and very much dead, waiting to be buried. Violet has just found her first case and it doesn’t get bigger than this: can she, with the help of her dog, Bones, help Oliver solve his own ‘murder’.

Young Imogen Burnhope and her maid Rhoda board a non-stop train to Oxford to visit her Aunt Cassandra, who waits on the platform at Oxford station where the train terminates, to greet them. Only they never arrive. All the passengers alight but the two women are nowhere to be seen. The train is searched and the coachman swears he saw them board onto first class, but they seem to have vanished into thin air. The Railway Detective must unravel the mystifying web of their disappearance before Imogen and Rhoda vanish into oblivion for good.

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.

Something odd is happening at the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse, and Annie is worried that her new baby might be in danger. But never fear! Dandy, the Boston terrier, will discover the culprit, and all will be well. Dandy’s Discovery is a short story in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, and it comes right after Beatrice Bests the Burglars.

Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens’s unfinished novel. But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer.

Matilda Hayward is determined to have a career. After all, it is 1888! While reporting for the Women’s Journal newspaper, Matilda is sent to cover the visiting Freak Show and interview Mrs Anna Tufton, a giantess. During the interview, the giantess slips a note to Matilda begging for her help to escape the show she is forced to do by her husband. But when the giantess’s husband is found murdered, the giantess is a likely suspect.