The Victorian era is an age of excursions. And for every hopeful holidaymaker, there are dozens of businesses hoping to sell them the trip of their dreams.Four such men, eager to make money, come together to offer fossil-hunting expeditions along the south coast of England. But ambition and greed soon rip the venture apart and it ends in violent murder.Unfortunately, the victim is killed right under the noses of Lord and Lady Calaway. It ought to be a simple case; the police order that no-one is to leave their large country house. The suspects are assembled. But each question unearths more unwelcome secrets from the past, and Adelia herself has to confront a love affair that she thought she'd put long behind her.As the revelations threaten to tear her marriage apart, the scandalous behaviour of her daughter Edith is rocking their position in society too. Beset on all sides, Adelia has to defy convention, defy the police … and defy her very own husband.She is used to fixing other peoples' relationships. But if she can't solve this murder, she might lose her marriage too…This is the fourth book in The Discreet Investigations of Lord and Lady Calaway. It is written in British English, which may use unfamiliar spellings, vocabulary and grammatical structures. Enjoy with a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and perhaps a biscuit.

London, 1890: Marianne Starr's job is unmasking fake mediums, not fake fathers…She takes the new case anyway. She's desperate for money, her father is ill, and an unfortunate incident with a hatpin has scared away most of her clients - except George Bartholomew. He's just returned from Prussia and he's convinced his father is an imposter.Marianne thinks George is mad.Then George turns up dead and suddenly everyone's waving pistols around and not even her scientific training can unravel the mystery. She needs the help of her socialite cousin, Phoebe, and her stage magician friend, Simeon.Now she's deep in blackmail, poisoning, and trickery, with fraudulent mediums and vengeful Prussians after her. And who is the man in the blue top hat shadowing her every move?She's not just fighting for her family, but she's fighting for her future … and her life.Light, fun and intriguing, THE WILLING GAME is the start of a thrilling new historical mystery series from the author of Lady C Investigates.

<p><b>Who killed Viscount Beaconberg?</b></p><p>Lady Beaconberg's a prime suspect: the money-grabbing snob of a wife would do anything to get further up the social ladder, and ditching a lowly viscount would free her for marriage to a much more esteemed nobleman.</p><p>Or perhaps the killer was the viscount's business partner, Sir Arthur, who's been arguing in public and in private, desperate to wrest control of the racing stables fully into his own hands.</p><p>As Theodore Caxton, the Earl of Calaway and his wife Adelia look further into the viscount's suspicious death, more secrets emerge from the family's past. Everyone had someone to gain from the murder. How far will the killer go to hide the truth?</p><p>Theodore's a man of learning and science; Adelia's got a gift for reading people and asking the right questions. Together they get dangerously close to the murderer. When events separate them – one on a wild chase across the northern moors of England, the other into the heart of horse racing at York – can they each survive on their own?</p><p>They cannot afford to be losers in this deadly game of murder, love and money.</p>

There's something foul in the air around Tavy Castle.The old Lady Buckshaw can't say the word "trade" without feeling ill and the new Lady Buckshaw can't say much at all - at least, not much that makes sense. She's always been a sensitive soul, but have the oppressive swamps around her new home finally driven her into a very Gothic insanity?Madness and death seem to go hand in hand, and it's not long before a corpse turns up in the ice house. Theodore, Lord Calaway is all set to use his considerable powers of investigation but he's immediately thwarted by a stereotypically bumbling inspector from Plymouth who declares it all an accident. Theodore and his wife Adelia disagree. Adelia is busy enough with matchmaking for Captain Everard, helping to plan a Floating Ball aboard a ship, and trying to bring order to Tavy Castle. But her people-skills are essential in helping her rather-too-rational husband to make sense of the murder.They think they are making progress until the next murder happens unexpectedly. Chaos breaks out. The inspector returns. Arrests are made which devastate the Buckshaws and the Calaways.If Theodore and Adelia can't find the evidence to bring the real culprit to justice, then their own daughter will hang for it.This is the third book in The Discreet Investigations of Lord and Lady Calaway. It is written in British English, which may use unfamiliar spellings, vocabulary and grammatical structures. Enjoy with a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and perhaps a biscuit.

The urchins of Victorian London say that a ghost is murdering young women …Maybe it wouldn't matter on the chaotic and dingy streets – but these victims are respectable ladies, and when the Chief Inspector asks questions, he's transferred out of the way.Marianne Starr is asking questions, too. One of the victims was her friend. Asking the wrong questions puts her in the firing line and suddenly she's on the run, hiding out in the very worst rookeries, and the only way to return to her normal life is to expose the truth behind the murdering ghost.But the truth behind the murderer also reveals some dangerous facts about her dead friend, too, and calls into question everything she thought she knew about women, society and justice.There is one thing more powerful than justice. And that's money. Marianne has neither. How can she avenge her friend's death – and with her surprising past revealed, does she even want to?

Lord and Lady Lassiter are young, minted and living the high life in the Bohemian artistic circles of London. It's Christmas, 1893, and the excitement of a new millennium is already gathering pace. New opportunities! New ways of living! An end to stuffiness and convention! But society and business are still controlled by the old guard. Where there is money, there is power. And where there is both, there must be corruption. Lord Lassiter chooses the wrong friends and he quickly finds himself ensnared in a criminal gang within the sophisticated world of art fakes and forgeries. He begs his father-in-law, Lord Calaway, for help to get him out. Theodore agrees, but no sooner than they begin their investigation, the main player is killed. Now they're all involved but this is a far more dangerous world than anything Theodore has known before. He needs all his wits about him. Adelia, Lady Calaway, is at his side but they've made powerful enemies who will stop at nothing to keep control of their secrets. Will he have to choose between justice – and his family's safety? This is the fifth book in the series called The Discreet Investigations of Lord and Lady Calaway. It is written by an actual Brit, so it may contain unfamiliar spellings, vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Who killed Sir Phileas Hinge?This novella (half the length of a regular book) is the perfect introduction to the upper-class world of Victorian England. Here, genteel dinner parties hide murderers; sparkling balls harbour dastardly villains; and every light society conversation hints at a darker scandal.The Earl of Calaway and his wife, Adelia, have raised and married off seven daughters. Now free of domestic duties, they are building an enterprise as private detectives of a very personal nature, guaranteeing to keep aristocratic reputations intact.In this short story, which can be read at any point in the series of full-length novels, Adelia and Theodore are invited to the trouble-ridden parish of Peverham where the local vicar is convinced that the death of Sir Phileas Hinge was no accident.After all, so many people wanted him dead. Sir Phileas's ancestral home of Pever House is now occupied by the bombastic Vice Admiral Frankhaus, and both men hated each other. Then there are the Smiths – the oldest and most established family in the area – who look down on everyone else as being merely shabby new money. All three families – the Hinges, the Frankhauses and the Smiths – are vying for control of the parish, and this comes to a head when the vicar asks for money for a new bell in the church. Each family wants to be the one who contributes the most and to have the bell inscribed with their name for all time.The death of Hinge removes one of the players – but who will be next? Theodore and Adelia race to discover the murderer before death strikes again.This book is written in British English by an actual Brit who used to have to curtsey to the local aristocrat from "the big house" when she visited the village school at Christmas. The spelling and grammar is British English throughout. Splendid!

<p><b>Adelia's broken free of the restraints that Victorian society puts on a woman. By using her wit, unconventional intelligence and good humour, she's risen to marry an earl who dotes on her; she's raised and married off seven beautiful daughters; what more is there for her now?</b></p> <p>What, indeed. Adelia's looking for a new adventure. She's not ready for her twilight years of slumber just yet…</p><p>Then her daughter's friend is found brutally murdered in the grounds of Mondial Castle – in the company of a man who is not her husband. That man is the Marquis of Mondial but he's also injured and obviously above suspicion. Yet his subsequent peculiar behaviour soon sets fashionable tongues wagging…</p><p>Adelia negotiates the gossips of the drawing room while her husband Theodore wrestles with the other gentlemen and their foibles.</p><p>Adelia and Theodore are shocked as they peel back layers of deadly secrets in the household of the castle but the truth at the heart of it threatens their own daughter's marriage … and their whole family's place in society.</p><p><i>Unmasking the murderer is impossible alone but working as a team, they are unique.</i></p><p><i>And unstoppable.</i></p>

London, 1890: scientific investigator Marianne Starr must discover the source of the unearthly screams that plague a gothic house at night. The suspects seem obvious though the reasons are a mystery. Nevertheless, she is quick and clever and is soon ready to expose the fraud, and pocket the money and fame.But then someone is killed, someone else flees, and suddenly her world is turned upside down. Her father is breaking out at night on a mission of his own, and her funds are running low. The murderer knows that Marianne is coming after them, and will stop at nothing to protect their interests.Her knowledge is not enough. She has to call on favours from some less-reputable members of London society and she runs the risk of being arrested herself.The race is on to track down the real object of the murderer's actions, but once again Marianne has dragged everyone else she knows and cares about into mortal danger…Light, fun, intriguing and irreverent, THE TALKING BOARD is a standalone historical mystery. It comes after THE WILLING GAME but they can be read in any order. Suspend your disbelief, and join Marianne on her high jinks through Victorian London!