Historical

A seemingly idyllic picnic ends in a macabre murder that echoes a pair of slayings fourteen years earlier in this riveting new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Who Cries for the Lost.

Lady Woodridge and Tom Winchester offer the new Lady Evans their support during her first foray into local society. To their surprise, Evie's reputation as a lady detective has preceded her, and she is engaged to solve the mystery of a theft.

Private Enquiry agent Cyrus Barker, along with his partner Thomas Llewelyn, has a long, accomplished history—he's taken on cases for Scotland Yard, the Foreign Office, and even the crown itself, fulfilling them all with great skill and discretion. None of those cases, however, are as delicate and complicated as the one laid before him by a delegation of men who, thirty years before, fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

At birth, Violet and Rose Flowers were identical, save for a tiny bluish-purple mark gracing Violet’s slender neck. By nineteen, their temperaments distinguish them, as different as the flowers their mother named them for—Violet, wild and outgoing, and Rose, solitary and reserved. Still, they are each other’s world. Then, on a sweltering, terrible August night in 1928, an explosion rocks Lamb’s Dance Hall in Possum Flats, Missouri, engulfing it in flames, leaving one twin among the dozens dead, and her sister’s life forever changed.

Sarah Malloy has just helped with the delivery of a bouncing baby girl at her women's clinic, when she receives a visit from an engaging and determined young woman writing an article for New Century Magazine. Louisa Rodgers explains that she is researching the dangers of patent remedies. Sarah is only too happy to tell Louisa exactly what she thinks of the so-called medicines. A few days later, Sarah receives a visit from a bereft Bernard Rodgers, who explains that his daughter, Louisa, has been found strangled in the lobby of the building where New Century has its offices.

It's 1942, and as far as her father knows, Evelyn Bishop, heiress to an aeronautics fortune, is working as a translator in London. In truth, Evelyn—daring, beautiful, and as adept with a rifle as she is in five languages—has joined the Office of Strategic Services as a spy. Her goal is personal: to find her brother, who is being held as a POW in a Nazi labor camp. Through one high-risk mission after another, she is paired with the reckless and rebellious Nick Gallagher, growing ever close to him until the war's end brings with it an act of deep betrayal.

London, 1894. Albertine Honeycombe never wanted a husband and certainly not the one with fifteen children that her cousin, Aubrey, is trying to marry her off to. She reinvents herself as Countess Von Dagga, a private detective aiding the upper echelons of women in society. As the Countess, she is a married woman, with a conveniently absent husband who doesn’t exist, which allows her far more freedom than being single. When Lord Grendel, from whom she has recovered blackmail letters, is murdered, Albertine is suspect number one—having been the last person to see him.

Anthea Halliwell's once-bright future is cruelly taken from her the moment she is accused of stealing a necklace dripping with rubies and diamonds and attempting to sell it. Her beloved Captain Crispin breaks off their engagement at the first hint of scandal and marries her friend instead. Then to make matters worse, her father gambles away their fortune. Heartbroken and penniless, Anthea is forced to beg handsome Gideon Rodrigo for help. But she never expects him to propose.

Nancy Morris, a shopkeeper's daughter from Sandwich, becomes a governess with the help of a benefactor, Sir Gervase Damian. One day she helps a stranger whose advances she gently rebuffs, only to meet him again when she takes a new position in the North.

The horrors have only just begun... When Lady Violet Thorn's unbearable Aunt Igitha unexpectedly arrives at her doorstep and disrupts her peaceful existence, it sets off unsettling events eerily reminiscent of the infamous Montford Maniac’s reign. Violet must unravel the connection between her unwelcome guest and the brutal incidents – from savage beasts at her doorstep to horrifying public executions.

A series of grave robberies in the 1920s go unsolved until reporter Michael Jacobs follows a new thread. His investigation leads him to a small town in the suburbs of Chicago named Elk Hills. While there, he finds out more haunting information than the police ever discovered. But with each interview bringing him closer to the truth, he finds himself becoming a part of the story he was looking to write.

A letter arrives for Camille at her sumptuous hotel in Manhattan. She is surprised anyone knows of her presence in New York, so opens it with wonder. The envelope is closed with a seal she recognizes; a family of some note within New York society. She frowns, speculating on its contents. The letter is a request to attend a gala at New York's famous Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. Her help has been entreated to solve a matter of national importance, with the letter's writer asking Camille for her utmost discretion.

Wallace, a master British storyteller, creates a fascinating tale. It tells of the fictional mystery author, John Lexdale, who is caught in a plot concocted by an unscrupulous millionaire. The fictional author is entrapped in the strange circumstances, becomes charged with murder and sentenced to prison. At one point he is told his wife has been killed and pledges revenge.

American Sara Whately came to England with a single goal: recover a long-lost family treasure. Her father had long ago renounced his title and abandoned his country, but desperate financial straits call for desperate measures. Gaining access won’t be easy. The jewels are hidden on an estate Sara’s grandfather lost long ago in an unlucky turn of the cards. And then there’s the vexing, villainous, valiant Viscount Reath…

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer? As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?