Regency Thriller

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.

Benedict Rutland - the darkly handsome earl of Rothay - gained his title too young. His youth was spent clawing back the family fortunes. Now a man in his prime and financially secure, he is betrothed to a strict, sensible, and coolheaded woman who will never upset the balance of his life or disturb his emotions.... But then Miss Skeffington-Fox arrives. And as family members in line for the dukedom begin to die at an alarming rate, all fingers point at Benedict, and Miss Skeffington-Fox may be the only one who can save him.

Penelope Ashford, Portia Cynster's younger sister, has grown up with every advantage: wealth, position, and beauty. Yet Penelope is anything but a pretty face in a satin gown: forceful, willful, and blunt to a fault, she has for years devoted her considerable energy and intelligence to caring for the forgotten orphans of London's sooty and seamier streets. But now her charges are mysteriously disappearing.

Audrey Sheridan is London's sweetheart, a position that allows her access to the ton and all its secrets. As the enigmatic writer, Lady Society, she is wild, reckless, and speaks her mind. She matchmakes wicked rogues with their perfect wives. But there's one thing she's failed to find since her debut. A husband for herself. And there's only one man she's ever wanted. There's just one problem: He doesn't want her. What's a lady to do to mend her broken heart? Run off to become a spy.

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.

After rescuing a lovely woman from an attempted robbery, Captain Lacey discovers that she is the widow of a colonel who'd been accused of murdering an English officer during the Peninsular War. Lydia declares that her husband was innocent and that she knows the true culprits' identities. Intrigued, Lacey, along with his friend, Lucius Grenville, begins to investigate. He soon finds himself mired in scandals of the past and surrounded by murders that are very much in the present.

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.

Cambridgeshire, September 1813: Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods are lured to an isolated estate in the deadly marshland surrounding Ely, to investigate a murder.

England, 1817. Captain Lacey takes a post as a secretary at the Sudbury School in Berkshire, a school for sons of the wealthiest merchants and bankers in England. As soon as he arrives, Lacey discovers that he's been hired for more than his letter-writing skills. A series of disturbing pranks have kept the school in an uproar, and the headmaster expects Lacey to discover the identity of the prankster. The problems intensify when a groom from the school's stables turns up dead in a lock of the nearby canal.

Lord Michael Sutherland, Viscount Ellersleigh, is infamous among the ton for his powers of seduction and his prowess as a lover. Running from his own ennui and a lover who fancies herself his future wife, Michael retreats to the country and a crumbling, haunted castle won in a game of chance...a castle occupied by an innocent and oh-so-tempting young woman, Miss Abbigail Barrows. But country life proves to be anything but quiet. At a debauched house party, Michael finds himself confronted with an unfortunate quandary: Marry Abbigail, an innocent, or hang for murder.

Justine DeCabrillac, daughter of the nobility whose parents died in the chaos of the Revolution, is rescued from a decadent child brothel by a woman of the French Secret Police. Justine, too, becomes a great spy for France. Attacked on a rainy London street, Justine knows only one man can save her: Hawker, her oldest friend - her oldest enemy. London is crawling with hidden assassins, and someone is out to frame Hawker for murder. The two spies must work together to find who's out to destroy them.

The Pink Carnation, history's most elusive spy and England's only hope for preventing a Napoleonic invasion, returns in Lauren Willig's dazzling, imaginative new historical romance. The Masque of the Black Tulip opens with the murder of a courier from the London War Office, his confidential dispatch for the Pink Carnation stolen.

Finally, Flora Hyde-Clare has wrest the narrative from Beatrice by finding her own compelling murder mystery to solve. Well, it’s not entirely her own because the victim is her cousin’s former beau Mr. Theodore Davies, whose father cruelly separated the young lovers (though not so cruelly, for it left the door open for Bea to woo the duke of Kesgrave).

Lady Priscilla Dalloway’s twin brother took a job as trainer to Lord Cromarty - and then promptly disappeared. For Pris, finding her brother means seducing notorious cad Dillon Caxton. Dillon claims to have set aside his devilish ways and forged an impeccable reputation as Keeper of the Register for racehorses. He resists all women, and lets absolutely no one view the information he safeguards. But Lady Priscilla Dalloway is no ordinary temptress and she means to work her way into Dillon’s books.

Lord Evan Corbyn is responsible for all of the agents of the Crown. It is a job that he takes most seriously, and it occupies nearly every moment of his waking life. When one of his agents is murdered, he is determined to bring the killer to justice. Lady Jane Radcliff tires of her brothers' secrets and is determined to root out the truth. However, it is proving to be a much more difficult task than she had imagined. Thankfully, she is rescued by the dashing Lord Evan, a man whom she has always held in high regard.

After her elder brother’s mysterious death, Rebecca Hunter vows to expose the man she believes responsible: Mr. Lewis Browning - known by the locals as the Midnight Devil and by Rebecca as her new guardian. Summoned to his reclusive country estate to await her London season, Rebecca plans her own secret investigation among the darkened corridors of the mysterious Greybourne Hall. Yet Lewis Browning is not as she once imagined, and his motivation is horribly unclear.

When Sybil Delafield's coach to Croft Towers was robbed by highwaymen, she should have realized that her new position as companion to old Mrs. Chalcroft would be no ordinary job. Upon Sybil's arrival, Mrs. Chalcroft sneaks into her room in the dark of night, imploring her to relay messages to town that are to stay hidden from the rest of the family. Who exactly is she working for and what do the messages contain?

Miraculously spared from death, Malcolm Sinclair erases the notorious man he once was. Reinventing himself as Thomas Glendower, he strives to make amends for his past, yet he never imagines penance might come via a secretive lady he discovers living in his secluded manor. Rose has a plausible explanation for why she and her children are residing in Thomas's house, but she quickly realizes he's far too intelligent to fool. Revealing the truth is impossibly dangerous, yet day by day he wins her trust, and then her heart.

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.

Since the new Duchess of Kesgrave cannot be swayed from her unfortunate interest in dead bodies, Lady Abercrombie decides to confront the matter head-on by hosting a murder mystery dinner party. Gathering together several of society’s most influential members, she concocts an amusing puzzle-play, assigns roles, and stands back to allow Bea to impress them all with her ingenuity.