Historical Mystery Women Sleuth

Miss Phoebe Astin and her brothers, Julius and Ambrose, lead an unconventional life working in the family funeral business, The Economic Undertaker. But Phoebe is not just a talented mortician; she is a medium for the spirit world, and often enjoys the company of her clients before they move on to the next world. When a gentleman lingers behind before passing over to the other side and begs her to investigate his murder, Phoebe contacts her brother's friend, Detective Harland Stone, to explain her concerns.

In the latest mystery from New York Times best-selling author Charles Todd, World War I nurse and amateur sleuth Bess Crawford investigates an old murder that occurred during her childhood in India, a search for the truth that will transform her and leave her pondering a troubling question: How can facts lie? Bess Crawford enjoyed a wondrous childhood in India, where her father, a colonel in the British Army, was stationed on the Northwest Frontier. But an unforgettable incident darkened that happy time....

Abigail Northrup of Tarrytown, New York, was her parents' pride and joy. After graduating from a prestigious women's college in Morningside Heights, she took a job there as an instructor. She also joined the ranks of the New Women, ladies planning for a lives without husbands in which they make their own decisions and make a difference in the world. Unfortunately, her murder ended all that.

1796, England. When Lady Ottilia Fanshawe finds herself launched into a river and fighting for her life, she becomes convinced someone pulled her under the water. And when a dead body washes up on the riverbank, her theory becomes a certainty. Lady Fan recognizes the dead woman as someone connected to one of her past cases. Had the woman been spying on her? Was she Lady Fan's attacker? If so, why was she killed? Lady Fan is desperate to unravel the mystery but her dedicated husband, Francis, is determined to keep her out of harm's way.

Orlando Edison is a stockbroker using London's infatuation with foreign mining ventures to make a fortune. He has curried favor with the nation's most respected aristocrats, even inviting three influential investors - known as the Merry Gentlemen - to be part of his latest enterprise. Edison is welcomed in the highest circles and moves with ease among the rich and powerful. But a few days before Christmas, he is found murdered.

When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny. Betty must find the truth in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.

Lady Arianna, now the Countess of Saybrook, is settling into married life with her new husband. To celebrate his birthday, she finds the perfect gift: a rare volume of botanical engravings on Theobroma cacao - or chocolate - in an exclusive bookshop. But she is forced to fight off a stranger who tries to steal it way from her. Arianna forgets about the strange incident - until she and her husband attend an important government party on a country estate, where her assailant reappears and turns out to be a Russian diplomat.

The new decade is going well for Edgar Stephens and his good friend the magician Max Mephisto. Edgar is happily married, with children, and promoted to Superintendent. Max has found fame and stardom in America, though he's now back in England for a funeral, and a prospective movie job. Edgar's new wife, though - former detective Emma - is restless and frustrated at home, knowing she was the best detective on the team. But when an investigation into a string of disappearing girls begins, Emma sees her chance to get back in the action. She begins her own hunt.

Victorian Era England. Stetson revels in being unconventional. So when society shies away from her independent nature, the bold woman creates an imaginary boss and opens her own detective agency. And her keen observational skills, convincing disguises, and Holmesian methods quickly bring in a string of tough-to-crack cases. Struggling to squeeze a personal life in around a series of hazardous investigations, Stetson worries she'll never find a woman of like-passions. But with her heart set on true love despite the risk, she carries on hunting for the perfect relationship.

Frank and Sarah Malloy are enjoying married life and looking to make their family official by adopting Catherine, the child Sarah rescued and has been raising as her daughter. The newlyweds soon discover Parnell Vaughn, an actor and Catherine's legal father, is looking to fatten his pockets by insisting on a financial settlement to relinquish his parental rights. Even though exchanging money for a child is illegal, Frank and Sarah's love for Catherine drives them to take a chance. When Frank returns with the money and finds Vaughn beaten to death, all evidence points to Frank as the culprit.

Ghostly images appear and float across the stage, objects levitate into the air, and a beautiful assistant disappears inside a glass box, then reappears inside a second glass box. All while the audience at the Crystal Palace, including amateur investigator Mikaela Forsythe, watch the performance. Is it real? Then, an evening with her friend, Theodora Templeton, attending the one-night performance by master illusionist Jean Luc Betard, takes a ghastly turn and plunges Mikaela headlong into murder when the illusionist's young assistant is found dead at the end of his newest stunt.

Karin Muller, side-lined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing. But Muller soon finds her problems have followed her to Halle-Neustadt. She and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town's image.

An explosion and fire at the Ashton Gunpowder Mill in Kent has killed over a hundred men. It's called an appalling tragedy - until suspicion and rumor raise the specter of murder. While visiting the Ashton family, Bess Crawford finds herself caught up in a venomous show of hostility that doesn't stop with Philip Ashton's arrest. Indeed, someone is out for blood, and the household is all but under siege.

Mirabelle Daws traveled all the way from Australia to Sheridan Square to visit her sister - only to die in the middle of a locked garden. All the residents of Sheridan Square have a key to the garden - but no one seemed to know that Mirabelle was planning to arrive. So the question facing Mrs. Jeffries is: Who wanted to make sure that Mirabelle's visit was very, very short-lived?

Olive and Jasper have never been closer—except for one thing. Jasper is still reticent about his frequent disappearances from polite society. With the holidays approaching and no paying client on the books, Olive decides to shadow Jasper when he’s unexpectedly called away. Her search brings her to Holly Hill Lodge where an eclectic group has gathered to celebrate an old-fashioned English Christmas. When the butler goes missing, Olive and Jasper must work together to solve the Christmas crime—as well as the secret Jasper hides.

Normally dead bodies in a graveyard are buried - but not this one. When a woman is found strangled in a North London cemetery with an old newspaper clipping clutched in her hand, Inspector Witherspoon is surprised to find that he and the victim have crossed paths before. Alice Robinson was a respectable widow who ran a quiet Islington lodging house. None of her lodgers have any apparent motive to murder their landlady.

New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be - can it? A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death.

When a strange child follows her home on the train from London, Ella Bridges feels bound to help her. However, she soon discovers the child is not what she seems. Having recently moved into a large home on Linhay Island, affectionately known locally as the Yellow Cottage, Ella finds herself at the center of a murder investigation thanks to a special gift from the previous house owner.

The former Beatrice Hyde-Clare is having a little trouble adjusting to her new situation. Now installed as the duchess of Kesgrave in elegant splendor in Berkeley Square, she is confounded by the stately residence’s seemingly endless array of rooms. And every time one of the maids addresses her as "your grace", she flinches.

Fellbridge Hall, England: Mabel Canning is thrilled to be organising a suffragette conference. But when all the women are settled in the sprawling country mansion, she barely has time for a sip of gin before chaos ensues. Leading suffragette Annie Harkin has been found murdered in her bed, clutching a white feather in her outstretched hand… As the guests clamour for justice for Annie, young police officers Ned and Ted arrive in time to trip over the banners and be roundly ignored. And with a killer on the loose, the suffragettes swiftly vote for Mabel and her pals to take control.