Cozy Historical Fiction

Having come to the realisation that the life of a spinster is only glamorous when one is rich and doesn't live with one's mother, Miss Jane Mifford decides that it is high time she finds herself a man. Fortuitously one — quite literally — lands at her feet in the shape of Mr Ivo Bonville. Handsome, charming, and rich, Mr Bonville is not the usual bachelor one finds in the Cotswolds. Unfortunately, Mr Bonville is soon accused of murdering the local viscount, Lord Crabb, in order to inherit his title.

On a long-delayed errand to remote Wycliffe Manor, ex-Lieutenant Jack de Sackville stumbles across the murdered body of London dandy, Basil Culpepper, in the hedgerow, a long way from his usual haunts. To Jack's dismay, he discovers the earl's daughter Culpepper hiding in Wycliffe's kitchen. Disguised as a lowly cook, Lady Elspeth Villiers may have liked to shoot Culpepper for ruining her life, but she dropped out of sight for more immediate reasons than an old scandal-her wealth has become the focus of greedy men.

On the set of The Suffolk Seagull nobody really knows what is going on - least of all Felix Smythe, whose bit part is constantly changing, much to Felix’s chagrin. But the unambiguous death by gunshot of a female cast member brings a drama to proceedings lacking in the film itself, and Lady Fawcett, Rosy, Felix and even Cedric Dillworthy are once again at the centre of a murder mystery in which further victims may face the cut.

When novice detective Atalanta Ashford is whisked away to Italy by her friend, race car driver Raoul Lemont, she anticipates a happy holiday under the Tuscan sun. But a chance meeting on the Orient Express with Italian heiress Catharina Lanetti leads to a party invitation…and front row seats for a mysterious murder! With their new friend under suspicion Atalanta and Raoul set to work trying to discover who really murdered Catharina’s father. But with more than half a dozen suspects – all with compelling motive – Atalanta may just be facing her toughest case yet!

Can Vita Carew expose the truth behind a ruthless doctor and his lethal assistant, save an injured man, and escape unscathed with time to resume her vacation studying?

When Kat Holloway approaches Lady Bobby Perry and Judith Townsend to help her discover what a young aristo is getting up to in a gentleman’s club, Bobby quickly accepts, coaxing a promise of Mrs. Holloway’s stupendous lemon cake in return. But the investigation quickly turns into more than a simple spy mission, forcing Judith to confront a painful part her past. Both Judith and Bobby must bring their own unique skills to help Kat solve the tricky and dangerous problem.

It is every mama's dearest wish that her daughter marries well. But how to ensure that a seemingly earnest suitor is not merely a fortune hunter? Rosalind is involved in just such a case, discreetly investigating a client's prospective son-in-law, when she is drawn into another predicament shockingly close to home.

She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone's awed by his Scotland Yard successes - but they don't know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries's polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man there's a woman - and that a crimesolver's work is never done. When the general office manager of Sutcliffe Manufacturing is murdered, no one is really surprised. Ronald Dearman was anything but a dear man. The tyrannical bully had more than enough enemies to go around.

1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after acting governor Palin's daughter dies suddenly - and in mysterious circumstances - mission school-educated local girl Su Lin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - is invited to take her place. But then another murder at the residence occurs and it seems very likely that a killer is stalking the corridors of Government House.

Inspector de Silva's back with a new case to solve when the arrival in the hill town of Nuala of the heir to an English earldom leads to a mysterious death. Throw in a mega-rich Romanian count, his glamorous countess and an enigmatic British army officer and the scene is set for another colourful and entertaining mystery.

"The horror on the train, great though it may turn out to be, will not compare with the horror that exists here, in this house." On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea - but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.

When a local publican is murdered, Inspector Witherspoon takes Mrs. Jeffries' advice to heart. He is going to trust his own instincts - but that keeps Mrs. Jeffries in the dark. She must rouse the household staff to action and hope the Inspector doesn't arrest the wrong person before they can solve the crime.

1793, England. After a not-so-relaxing holiday in Tunbridge Wells, Lady Ottilia and Lord Francis Fanshawe have returned to their home with a young orphaned girl, Pertesia "Pretty" Brockhurst. After losing both her parents in tragic circumstances, Pretty had been abandoned by the rest of her family and the childless Fanshawes have delighted in having her around. But when her estranged grandfather turns up on their doorstep, Ottilia is worried she will lose the child she is growing so close to.

On Dr. Benjamin Bones’s first night in the quaint Cornish village of Birdswing, a shocking hit-and-run leaves him seriously injured and his unfaithful wife dead. As he recuperates, Lady Juliet, a fiery aristocrat who won’t take no for an answer, pulls him into a sleuthing partnership destined to change both their lives. Suspecting that Ben’s late wife was murdered, he and Juliet dive headfirst into the investigation, questioning Birdswing's most eccentric and suspicious residents.

England, 1925. When a strange young woman is found murdered on the grounds of Unsworth Castle, the duke and his family are astounded at first, but quickly become enraged when the police begin asking all sorts of impertinent questions. And when suspicions dare to fall on one of their own, it is up to Mr. Quayle, Lord Unsworth's exceedingly efficient secretary, to find the true culprit and save the House of Unsworth from scandal and ruin.

It is 1936. Undercook Joan Hart and lady's maid Verity Hunter are back in London after a long stay in the country. The capital is fraught and unsettled. Protests and riots are taking place regularly, fascism is on the rise and trouble in Europe is brewing, but the girls are still thrilled to be back in the Big Smoke, ready for some fun and frivolity. That is, until an old friend of Verity's contacts the servant sleuths, asking for help.

Georgia Fenchurch is a demure Victorian spinster and part of the secretive investigative group the Archivist Society. She is both a quiet antiquarian bookseller and adventurous hunter of killers and thieves. When a woman comes into Georgia's bookshop asking for the Archivist Society's help in finding her neighbor, she sends Georgia and her friends onto a perilous path where aristocrats lie to them, thugs attack, and the dashing, enigmatic Duke of Blackford appears to be involved in thwarting them at every step.

Amory and Milo plan to quietly winter in Italy. But Amory receives an urgent summons to the English countryside. There, Amory and Milo are surprised to discover a group of guests have been invited, led by socialite Isobel Van Allen. Isobel has returned to England after years of social exile to write a sequel to her scandalous first book. Her second incriminating volume, she warns the house's occupants - all of whom were present when one of their companions was killed years ago - will tell everything that really happened that fateful night.

1918 Italy. When a deadly blizzard traps Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane in the Dolomite Mountains, it’s all downhill from here. Their hotel is snowed-in, and no one can get in or out. Then a man is found dead in his locked hotel room – and the killer is still on the premises. But with no murder weapon and too many suspects, their investigation is treading on thin ice.

Cornwall, 1854. The people of Roche have always whispered about the recluse in the black granite tower that looms above the moorland. But one young woman is driven to discover the truth behind the old tales. Her life overshadowed by family tragedy, Mina Penrose escapes her lonely days by working at The Magpie, a cozy tearoom on the village’s edge. Lately she’s been seeing shapes in the sodden leaves that hint at the future. After one such omen, Mina stumbles upon a murdered man on the heath.