Victorian Society

Really, it's too much to expect any normal man to behave like a staid accountant in order to inherit the fortune he deserves to support the lifestyle of an earl. So when Derek Saunders's favorite elderly aunt and her ill-conceived - and possibly fraudulent - Lady Travelers Society loses one of their members, what's a man to do but step up to the challenge? Now he's escorting the world's most maddening woman to the world's most romantic city to find her missing relative.

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

The last novel completed by Jane Austen before she died at 41, Persuasion is often thought to be the story of the author's own lost love. Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall has three daughters: Elizabeth, who shares his haughty vanity and, at 28 has found no one good enough to marry; Mary, who has, with some condescension, married the son of the local squire; and admirable Anne, who "was nobody with either father or sister".

London, 1866. Móirín Donnelly has spent the last five years working in the shadows for the Dread Penny Society, a secret fraternity of penny dreadful authors who use their profits, influence, and street smarts to protect the poor and vulnerable of Victorian London. But spending so much of her life in secret is taking its toll on her soul—and her heart. When members of the Dread Penny Society begin disappearing, Móirín turns to her friend Detective Constable Fitzgerald Parkington for help.

A lady should never be obliged to think of matters financial! But when Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe's carefree, extravagant lifestyle vanishes with the demise of her husband, her only hope lies in retrieving a family treasure - a Renaissance masterpiece currently in the hands of a cunning art collector in Venice. Thankfully, the Lady Travelers Society has orchestrated a clever plan to get Willie to Europe, leading a tour of mothers and daughters...and one curiously attentive man.

Harry Armstrong has spent years in Egypt. Now, he’s back in England with a new title and a new purpose: penning his exploits. But his efforts are overshadowed by London’s favorite writer about Egypt - a woman they call "The Queen of the Desert". Worse, her stories - serialized in newspapers and reprinted in books - are complete rubbish. Miss Sidney Honeywell didn’t set out to deceive anyone. It’s not her fault readers assumed her tales were real! The earl of Brenton challenges her to travel to Egypt to prove her expertise.

After an odd encounter at a grand masquerade ball, Lady Emily becomes embroiled in the murder investigation of one of the guests, a sometime actress trying to pass herself off as the mysterious heiress and world traveler Estella Lamar. Each small discovery, however, leads to more questions. Was the intended victim Miss Lamar or the imposter? And who would want either of them dead?

After the final curtain of Swan Lake, an animated crowd exits the Mariinsky theatre brimming with excitement from the night's performance. But outside, the scene is somber. A ballerina's body lies face down in the snow, blood splattered like rose petals over the costume of the Swan Queen. The crowd is silenced by a single cry - "Nemetseva is dead!" When the dead ballerina's aristocratic lover comes begging for justice, Emily must apply her own set of skills to discover the rising star's murderer.

When former lovers Hawker and Mrs. Peabody are paired on a spy mission over the holidays, the pair battle a deadly enemy…and a desire that neither can deny. As they surrender to passion, secrets emerge that could destroy their chance at happiness. Can they work together to vanquish their foes and win the love of a lifetime?

After 10 years of adventure, Colin Smith, the bastard son of a viscount, returns to the place he most despises - London. But only until he can sell off some of his treasures. He has no use for the stifling rules of the ton, but he's more than happy to play the game if it gets him what he wants.

In 1903, tensions between Britain and Germany are starting to loom over Europe, something that has not gone unnoticed by Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves. An agent of the Crown, Colin carries the weight of the empire, but his focus is drawn to Italy by a series of burglaries at his daughter’s palazzo in Florence - burglaries that might have international ramifications. He and Emily travel to Tuscany where, soon after their arrival, a stranger is thrown to his death from the roof onto the marble palazzo floor.

On a quest to distract her lifelong friend Jeremy from his recent heartbreak, Lady Emily organizes a holiday in Greece. As a lover of all things Greek, she quickly finds herself occupied with tours of ancient ruins, lively debates with Margaret, a devoted Latinist, and slightly more scandalous endeavors with her dashing husband, Colin Hargreaves. But the pleasantries are brought to an abrupt halt when a man long believed dead greets the party at their island villa. Lord Philip Ashton, Colin's childhood best friend and Emily's first husband, has returned.

In The Adventuress, Emily and husband Colin have come to the French Riviera for what should be a joyous occasion - the engagement party of her lifelong friend, Jeremy, duke of Bainbridge, and Amity Wells, an American heiress. But the merrymaking is cut short with the shocking death of one of the party in an apparent suicide. Not convinced by the coroner's verdict, Emily must employ all of her investigative skills to discover the truth and avert another tragedy.

Persephone Blackwell prefers digging in the dirt for old bones and secret treasure to anything Society might have to offer. When her godfather, the Duke of Pendleton, decides to host a Festival of Antiquaries, she jumps at the chance to take part—especially since it's the best way to save her oldest friend, Henry Talbot, who is being framed for treason. She has not yet found the evidence that he has sent home hidden inside Egyptian forgeries—but she does find something else: Conall Hunter, the Earl of Northwyck.

Emily and Colin Hargreaves make it a rule to spend as little time as possible with her parents in Kent, but are unable to refuse Lady Catherine Bromley’s invitation to join them for a pre-Christmas party that includes the family of Ala Kapur Singh, a powerful Punjabi maharaja who has come to England after receiving the Order of the Star of India.

When a mysterious gentleman arrives on his doorstep, Alexander Moreland is astonished to discover that the stranger is not a gentleman at all but a beautiful young woman disguised as a man and in great need of assistance. The woman remembers nothing except her own name, Sabrina, and has only the contents of her pockets as clues to her identity. Sabrina is certain that she is on the run from someone or something - how else to explain the bruises on her face and the pervasive sense of dread she feels?

For years, Elizabeth Miller has dreamed of opening a school for underprivileged girls in London’s East End. But despite her best efforts, she soon discovers that the cost of running the fledgling school may spell disaster for the endeavor. In desperation she turns to the one man she’d rather avoid: Lord Charles Chatsworth, a rich and carefree flirt whose scandalous reputation she despises.

This brilliant satirical novel, tracing the life and loves of Ernest Pontifex, has continued in popularity since its original publication in 1903. Every generation finds in The Way of All Flesh a reaffirmation of youth's rightful struggle against the tyranny of harsh parents and its admirable will for freedom of personal expression.

Things are looking up in Riverford, Texas, in June 1898. Czech immigrant, Sarah Novak, is finally graduating from teacher's college. Surely she will now put aside all that foolishness about being a professional woman and marry Lee Logan. After all, what young woman could ask for more? Lee is a handsome, young banker who will take his new bride off to bustling Fort Worth, Texas, and give her a life of luxury.

The Bronx, 1891. Virginia Loftin, the boldest of four artistic sisters in a family living in genteel poverty, knows what she wants most: to become a celebrated novelist despite her gender and to marry Charlie, the boy next door and her first love. When Charlie proposes instead to a woman from a wealthy family, Ginny is devastated; shutting out her family, she holes up and turns their story into fiction, obsessively rewriting a better ending.