English Women Sleuths

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...

On the eve of trial, Assistant District Attorney Lainey Abbott gets a disturbing phone call. Her baby sister, Stephanie, who should have been back at her college dorm after visiting for the weekend, never arrived. At first, she isn’t too worried, because she’s a system insider and has plenty of resources available to locate her sister quickly, including Russ Sanders, the police detective she’s been on and off with for years. It’ll take a couple days, tops. They’ll find Steph and give her a piece of their mind for being so irresponsible. But a year later, Stephanie still hasn’t been found.

TWO BESTSELLING MYSTERIES IN ONE GREAT PACKAGE! THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE The Murder at the Vicarage is Agatha Christie’s first mystery to feature the beloved investigator Miss Marple—as a dead body in a clergyman’s study proves to the indomitable sleuth that no place, holy or...

When an executed murderer’s fingerprints turn up at a new crime scene, Kay Scarpetta investigates. Prepare for the kind of riveting suspense this best-selling author delivers so well.

Eve Dallas has solved a lot of high-profile murders for the NYPSD and gotten a lot of media. She - and her billionaire husband - are getting accustomed to being objects of attention, of gossip, of speculation. But now Eve has become the object of one person's obsession. Someone who finds her extraordinary, and thinks about her every hour of every day. Who believes the two of them have a special relationship. Who would kill for her - again and again....

Tabitha, Lady Chesterton, the Countess of Pembroke, is newly widowed at only 22 years of age. With no son to inherit the title, it falls to a dashing, distant cousin of her husband's, Jeremy Chesterton, known as Wolf. It quickly becomes apparent that Wolf had consorted with some of London's most dangerous citizens before inheriting the title. Can he leave this world behind, or will shadowy figures from his past follow him into his new aristocratic life in Mayfair? And can Tabitha avoid being caught up in Wolf's dubious activities?

Dante had been courting his victim in cyberspace for weeks before meeting her in person. A few sips of wine and a few hours later, she was dead. The murder weapon: a rare, usually undetectable date-rape drug with a street value of a quarter million dollars. Detective Eve Dallas is playing and replaying the clues in her mind. The candlelight, the music, the rose petals strewn across the bed - a seduction meant for his benefit, not hers. He hadn't intended to kill her. But now that he has, he is left with only two choices: to either hole up in fear and guilt or start hunting again....

Jessica is happy to accompany her publisher to Mexico for a little rest and relaxation. San Miguel de Allende is the perfect place for Jessica to soak up the sun, bask in Mexican culture, and spend some time with her good friends, Vaughan and Olga Buckley. But when Vaughan is kidnapped for a large ransom, Jessica must put her life on the line to find her old friend.

Marta Hendriks is onstage at the Metropolitan Opera in New York when she learns of her beloved husband's death in a house fire. Fast-forward two years and countless therapy sessions, and Marta is ready to resume her career. In a stroke of luck, she's hired at the last moment to sing Violetta for the Paris Opera. She manages to keep her emotions under tight control and triumphs in the opening-night performance.When Marta is caught in a sudden downpour, she dashes for the shelter of a subway station and spots someone doing the same. It is her husband.

Rona Shively needs something. She's not sure what it is, but she knows it's something. Summoned home by a mother she hates, she heads back to Ohio to check on things. When she gets there, her mother asks her to help out a local reverend who is a long time friend of the family. Rona soon finds herself surrounded by greed, corruption and criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want. With the help of a handsome, local P.I., she tries to piece it all together before the bad guys figure out she's looking. Through it all, can she "keep the faith"?

Raised by a family of survivalists, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick can take on any challenge - even the hostile reception to her homecoming. But she’s not the only one causing chaos in the rural community of Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. At first believed to be teenage pranks, a series of fires takes a deadly turn with the murder of two sheriff’s deputies. Now, along with Police Chief Truman Daly, Mercy is on the hunt for an arsonist turned killer.

An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy. It's hitting too close to home, bringing back her worst nightmares, threatening to expose her secret sins. But with the boy's life at stake, she won't let anything stop her from finding the real killer.

The first assessment used by Task Force Banshee when selecting its members. Hatch was the first woman to pass it. That was years ago. Now, just after completing the rigors of the Special Forces Q Course for a second time, she must face The Gauntlet. The course is uniquely different for each candidate, designed to specifically test the individual strengths and weaknesses. Hatch's former team commander, Chris Bennett, has designed the series of obstacles specially for her.

For Rona Shively, even the good news is bad news. She's just returned from an extended stay in her hometown of Clarkston, Ohio, and she's all geared up for a change. The only problem is that when the notion of starting over begins to sink in, she's compelled to rethink her enthusiasm. For a distraction, she starts working on a case for a 15-year-old girl that throws her into a mess of problems she can't even begin to deal with. In true Rona Shively fashion, she digs in deep and soon finds that this girl's problems run much deeper than a gumshoe of mediocre talents can handle.

Some places seem too beautiful to be touched by horror. Summit Lake, nestled in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, is that kind of place. But two weeks ago, Becca Eckersley, a first-year law student and daughter of a powerful attorney, was brutally murdered there. Now the town is reeling with grief, and the police are baffled.

It was one of Eve Dallas’s earliest takedowns, back in her uniform days. A monster named Isaac McQueen had been abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. Thanks to Eve, he wound up where he belonged, removed from civilized society in Rikers. But he’s not behind bars anymore. After his escape, McQueen has two things in mind. One is to take up where he left off, preying on the young and innocent - when necessary, with the help of a female partner all too willing to be manipulated and to aid and abet his crimes.

The small community has managed to keep those secrets hidden, but when six children vanish from their beds in the middle of the night, everyone points fingers. Detectives Jim North and Kerry Martin are assigned to investigate, but they’re up against the clock as fallout from their previous case plagues them and a dangerous storm churning through the Pacific threatens to end their investigation before they learn the truth.

When a tenement block erupts in flames on Langdon Rise, six lives are lost—including a disgraced MP under investigation for corruption. To DCI Naomi Cresswell, the blaze is anything but random. The survivors are terrified. The evidence is vanishing. And scrawled into a soot-stained wall is a symbol Naomi thought she’d left behind in childhood nightmares. As she digs deeper into the ashes, whispers of a rogue police unit—the Grey Watchmen—begin to surface. Disbanded. Denied. Buried. But not forgotten.

With the social season just around the corner, the women in Cleo’s family are having new outfits made by the most sought-after designer in the city. Madame Poitiers is bold, self-absorbed, and not French, despite her claims. When Cleo stumbles on her dead body in the salon, she is in a unique position to gather clues and speak to witnesses. But she doesn’t expect to find Harry Armitage’s business card in Madame’s possession. What is the alluring private detective’s connection to the victim? And why is he avoiding Cleo?

When aspiring actress Pansy Arceneaux returns to Sinful, Louisiana, to head up the beauty pageant portion of the Summer Festival, CIA assassin Fortune Redding knows she's in for trouble. Her undercover identity as a former beauty queen makes Fortune the perfect choice to chair the event with Pansy, but Pansy's abrasive personality makes it impossible to get through a single rehearsal without a fight. When Pansy turns up dead, Fortune is the prime suspect.