Regency Thriller

Principal Bow Street Officer Hugh Marsden is used to living in the shadow of disgrace. First, as the illegitimate son of the late Viscount Neatham, and second, as the man who permanently maimed his half-brother in a duel six years ago. Reviled by the posh ton, Hugh happily severed ties to polite society—until the enigmatic Duchess of Fournier, Audrey Sinclair entered his world and turned it upside down. Now, Hugh's half-sister Eloisa has done the same.

As much as Beatrice Hyde-Clare relished the challenge of figuring out who murdered a fellow guest during a house party in the Lake District, she certainly does not consider herself an amateur investigator. So when a London dandy falls dead at her feet in the entryway of a London Daily Gazette, she feels no compulsion to investigate. It was a newspaper office, after all, and reporters are already on the case as are the authorities.

Unsettled with his new role in society, and being deemed one of London's most eligible bachelors, Hugh is happy to fall back on his Bow Street skills to track down Lady Redding—and to see Audrey again. But the viscountess's disappearance is only half of the puzzle. A long-lost ring worth a fortune could be the driving force behind the deadly events, and as Audrey and Hugh unravel the truth—along with the secrets and complications surrounding their future—a killer closes in on the house party . . . and selects a new victim.

After studying art under Miss Drake, a renowned painter, Phoebe Radcliff is certain she can finally move beyond the childish mistake that’s kept her away from home. She is thrilled when Miss Drake employs her to complete a complicated ballroom renovation. Everything changes, however, the moment Miss Drake is murdered. With her last breath she imparts the location of a clue to Phoebe. Can the biggest secret of Avonthorpe Hall be true? Phoebe is tasked to finish her work in the ballroom by Miss Drake’s infuriatingly regimented yet all-too-handsome nephew, Lt. Graham Burke.

London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder. It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep.

Keeping a hibernating dragon should have been a simple thing. Should have been, but it was not. Apparently, nothing involving dragons was ever simple, at least not for Anne Elliot, junior keeper to dragon Kellynch. With the estate in debt, Anne’s father in denial, and the dragon’s treasure missing, Kellynch’s awakening is shaping up to be nothing short of catastrophe. Not to mention, there was the pesky matter of her own broken heart and resentment against the old friend who had caused it.

With the epic victory at Waterloo behind them, Arianna and Saybrook are looking forward to a quiet summer of scholarship, far from the turmoil of war and politics. But little do they know that an even more dangerous battle is about to test their mettle. The shocking news that Lord Grentham, the steely minister of state security, has been accused of treason and is on the run from arrest takes them and their close circle of friends by surprise. Arianna and Saybrook don't want to believe it. Despite their fraught past with the minister, they've developed a grudging friendship.

Beatrice, Duchess of Kesgrave, emerges from a wretched night’s sleep to discover him embracing the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. His former mistress! It is shocking, yes, but not so very alarming, for Penelope Taylor is actually there to see Bea. Her dearest friend has been brutally slain, and as Millicent Lloyd happened to be sleeping in the courtesan’s bed at the time, Mrs. Taylor is the only suspect. The magistrate is impatient to cart her off to Newgate and refuses to acknowledge the truth that is glaringly obvious to her: She was the intended victim.

Bringing back the lovers from Slightly Shady, Amanda Quick plunges us into a whirlwind intrigue involving an ancient cameo bracelet, known as the Blue Medusa, said to possess terrifying powers. Lavinia Lake and Tobias March join forces again, romantically and intellectually, to solve the murder of the beautiful wife of an old family friend.

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.

Now that peace reigns in Europe and Napoleon has been exiled to the island of Elba, Lady Arianna and her husband, the earl of Saybrook, are determined to put government sleuthing aside. But the head of British security has other ideas.... Rumors are rife that Napoleon may be plotting to take back the French throne and plunge the continent into another war. So when Saybrook learns that his Spanish cousin has gone missing on the island under mysterious circumstances, he and Arianna feel they have no choice but to undertake a secret mission to Elba.

Upon the death of her father, Mary Bennet’s life is thrown into turmoil. With no fortune or marriage prospects, she must rely on the kindness of her relatives. When a mysterious late-night visit by an unknown relative - a Lady Trafford from Castle Durrington - leads to an extended stay and the chance for an education, Mary gratefully accepts the opportunity. But even as she arrives at the castle, she’s faced with one mystery after another.

With the threat of war looming over the Continent now that Napoleon has reseized the throne of France, London is abuzz with intrigue as diplomats from the European powers gather to negotiate a military alliance against him. But Lady Arianna and her husband, the Earl of Saybrook, are intent on staying clear of the conflict, deciding it's a battle for nations and armies to fight. Until things turn very personal. When a Prussian diplomat is murdered, two items found in his pocket force Arianna and Saybrook to once again become reluctant allies with the shadowy head of British security.

Melissa North had assumed that after eight years of not setting eyes on each other, her youthful attraction to - or an infatuation with - Julian Delamere, once Viscount Dagenham and now earl of Carsely, would have faded to nothing and gasped its last. Unfortunately, during the intervening years, she has failed to find any suitable suitor who measures up to her mark, and she is resigned to ending her days an old maid. Then she sees Julian across a crowded ballroom, and he sees her, and the intensity of their connection shocks her.

London, 1815. Lady Petra Forsyth, daughter of the Earl of Holbrook, has made a shocking proclamation. After losing her beloved fiancé in an accident three years earlier, she announces in front of London’s loosest lips that she will never marry. A woman of independent means—and rather independent ways—Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life is gone. Instead, she plans to continue enjoying the best of society without any expectations.

When a fellow passenger is found dead on Audrey's packet ship from France, a mysterious note on the body points to her as the killer. Detained in Dover for an inquest that is being led by a prejudiced magistrate, she is joined by trusted friends and family—and the newly minted viscount, Hugh Marsden—to prove her innocence. But when it's discovered the murdered man was a private inquiry agent, hired to follow the duchess while she traveled the Continent, they enter a race to find out who hired him and why.

Since the death of his first wife, Godric St. John has devoted his nights to protecting the innocent of London disguised as the notorious Ghost of St. Giles. When Lord Griffin Reading discovers Godric's secret double life he presents him with an offer he can't refuse, and Godric finds himself married to a young - and pregnant - stranger. Two years ago Lady Margaret "Megs" Reading lost both her lover and her unborn child - but not before being forced into a marriage of convenience with Godric St. John....

When James Denis is arrested for murder and lands himself in Newgate, it falls to me to prove his innocence. I have nowhere to start but in a dark street in Seven Dials and the name of the unknown man Denis is supposed to have killed. I soon find myself beleaguered by enemies from Denis’s past, secret societies, and a host of people who want Denis to hang. In addition I receive word from a mysterious young woman I haven't heard from in years who now seeks my help.

It is hardly surprising Verity Lark can’t sleep at night with all the thoughts darting through her mind: her recent stay in Newgate, her debt to Colson Hardwicke, the horrible abuse suffered by the children at Fortescue’s that her reporting on the orphan asylum several years earlier had failed to uncover. And then of course there are the shooting lessons she has promised to give to the Duchess of Kesgrave. Verity has spent three months cruelly mocking the former spinster for her investigative pretensions, and now she is obligated to teach the woman how to fire a deadly weapon.

Lady Hermione Merryhew, daughter of an impoverished marquess, already has her share of problems. The last thing she needs is an intruder in her bedroom, especially not a fugitive thief. She should scream, but the shabby rascal is a man from her past. Six years ago, at her first ball, dashing Lieutenant Mark Thayne failed to steal a kiss, but succeeded in stealing a little of her heart. She's older and wiser now. She can't toss him to the wolves. Besides, she wants that kiss. Now Viscount Faringay, Mark has never forgotten Lady Hermione, but he mustn't involve her in his dangerous life.