Victorian Detective Fiction

Kate Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not - outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon penny dreadfuls. Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig - and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.

"Brilliant! Six really well written SH tales that capture the atmosphere of the era to perfection. I can't praise this enough." - Goodreads (paperback edition) SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEADLY SECRETS is a Victorian/Edwardian detective short fiction collection featuring Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, as well as several other characters of the Holmesian universe created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The following six stories are included in this volume: SECRET CHILD Miss Clara Anderson, a young Canadian heiress visiting England, seeks out Sherlock Holmes, hoping he can save the ...

Narrated by acclaimed British actor Edward Petherbridge, The Last Moriarty is set in London, 1895. On a cold November morning, a young American actress visits 221B Baker Street, desperate for Sherlock Holmes to protect her from the threats of a mysterious, menacing man who has recently appeared in her life. Holmes agrees to help, even though he has just promised the Prime Minister to solve the murder of John D. Rockefeller's security agent before the incident can derail an upcoming British-American summit.

Narrated by acclaimed British actor Edward Petherbridge. On the eve of war, Sherlock Holmes is asked by the Prime Minister of England to recover a new British superweapon that has fallen into the wrong hands. But Lucy James, an actress and Holmes's recently discovered grown daughter, has inherited the family sleuthing skills and strong-willed nature. Despite her father's objections, she insists on helping him, although several horrific murders have been linked to the weapon's disappearance.

Christmas at a snowed in country house. You know what happens next… Not necessarily. Agatha Aston is invited to spend the weekend before Christmas with some old friends. Accompanied by her Machiavellian Basset hound, Talleyrand, Agatha encounters murder, ghosts and romance at a country house where nothing is as it seems. While Agatha has her hands full solving a murder, Talleyrand has his own problems in the shape of Bismarck, the hosts’ unfriendly German Shepherd. Expect fireworks. Containing a short ghost story within a story, The Christmas Murder Mystery is a twisty box of delights, ...

The sole survivor of his family’s gruesome murder years earlier, poor little Ned Lawton has struggled to put the dark events behind him. So, when a brash New York detective darkens his doorway demanding an interview, the wealthy young gentleman immediately shuts him out. But a rash of murders in America are mirroring of the London killings, and Patrick Kelly knows Ned might be the key to stopping the bloodshed.

Step back into Baker Street with a Sherlock Holmes who feels as sharp and readable as if he were written today. This refreshed edition of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes presents Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tales in clean, contemporary typography and carefully clarified language, preserving every twist, deduction, and dry joke. Archaic phrasing and cluttered layouts have been gently updated, making Holmes’s brilliance and Watson’s narration instantly accessible for modern readers and new fans alike. Set against the fog-bound streets and drawing rooms of Victorian London, these stories...

THE YEAR IS 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s. Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

Inspector Lestrade considers a young man's death merely accidental but his rival Tobias Gregson is not completely convinced and solicits the opinion of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes concludes that Lestrade is mistaken but even the great detective is unaware of how deep the waters run in the affair. As he and Watson tug at the thread, they uncover a plot of murder and deception intended to bring down an empire. PRAISE FROM GOODREADS.COM: "A great and exciting Sherlock Holmes story, that I really enjoyed reading. The story and mystery, keeps you guessing and flipping through the pages, to see how ...

Chicago, 1856. Kate Warne is a widow with no prospects, no fortune, and no future—until she walks into Allan Pinkerton's detective agency with an audacious proposal: hire her as the first female detective in America. Against all odds, Pinkerton agrees, setting Kate on a path that will shatter conventions and redefine what women can achieve. Armed with sharp intelligence, unflinching courage, and the unique advantage of being underestimated, Kate infiltrates Chicago's glittering society circles to solve cases that baffle her male colleagues. From a stolen emerald necklace that leads to ...

Bubble, bubble, toil, and murder... When a woman is found dead near her village in Norfolk, the verdict is suicide. Not everyone agrees. Detective James Simpson is ordered to investigate and he brings Agatha Aston, Betty Simpson and Talleyrand the hound, with him. They stumble across a tale of murder that stretches back two centuries. Part occult story, part murder mystery - this creepy tale is steeped in witchcraft and strange rural festivals where everything is not as it seems. The second Agatha Aston murder mystery is full of laughs, twists and things that go bump in the night. Golden ...

A lovely American actress awakens in London on a cold morning in 1897 - lying face down on the concrete pavement outside the British Museum. She has no memories. She does not even know who she is, although she has a vague recollection of the name Sherlock Holmes. What she believes is that she has may have just killed someone, and that someone is definitely trying to kill her. As she searches for clues to her true identity, she will learn that she is not the only target.

A young American actress arrives in London hoping to learn her identity, just as Sherlock Holmes is closing in on a master criminal. Their worlds collide, and not even Holmes could have foreseen the impact!

Edgar Award winner Otto Penzler returns with a new anthology of exhilarating mysteries, assembling Victorian society's lords and ladies and most miserable miscreants. Behind the velvet curtains of horse-drawn carriages and amid the soft glow of the gaslights are the detectives and bobbies sniffing out the safecrackers and petty purloiners who plague everything from the soot-covered side streets of London to the opulent manors of the countryside. Brush off your dinner jackets and straighten out your ball gowns for these exciting, glitzy mysteries.

Victorian London 1874… In public halls and darkened parlours, the fever for spiritualism is at its height… A stranger in the great Metropolis, Josiah Abbs must solve his first case at Scotland Yard. A grieving architect has been murdered. Seemingly, he disturbed an intruder. Only Inspector Abbs believes the truth is darker and more complicated. London is seeping over its green borders like a blot of dark ink… Some thrive here among the teeming, heart of Empire. Others are silently sinking, caught in a mystery of lies and loss. When two cases tangle, Abbs will risk everything to ...

Lady Antonia discovers a body at the opening of the Great Exhibition, in the presence of Queen Victoria, no less. The newly married Lord and Lady Danvers put all such unpleasantness behind them, though, as they sail off in his aerostat for a secluded honeymoon in Scotland. Until the shades of grave robbers a generation earlier come back to haunt them.

Before Jack the Ripper terrorised London, Police Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft patrolled the streets of Whitechapel. Clever and hard-working, Ravenscroft nonetheless has the worst record in the force. He lets a murderer escape during a chase and is banished to the spa town of Malvern for a water treatment to cure his asthma. Ravenscroft accepts a dinner invitation from a new acquaintance, Jabez Pitzer. Before dinner, the maid finds Pitzer slumped over his desk - dead. Ravenscroft immediately recognises the signs - Pitzer has been poisoned.

An intriguing Victorian mystery… The first case for Inspector Abbs. A wealthy spinster has been poisoned in the Devonshire town of Seaborough. Inspector Abbs and Sergeant Reeve are sent to investigate. With no apparent motive, they must uncover the secrets of the close-knit community. Untangling the past may provide the answer… but not before a second body is found. Their visit to Seaborough will change everything for the two detectives. Discovering the truth may even prove deadly…

With a flood of new cases following their recent successes, James Lavender is still not happy. The newly apprenticed Rose McCarthy is proving to be far too efficient and organised. So much so, that James now finds himself with little ‘musing’ time in Boaters café across the road. So, when a letter arrives from Earl George Howard inviting them all to a Christmas event (including Sydney and his family), James firmly puts his foot down. However, Rose has other ideas… Christmas at Castle Howard is exactly as James had predicted. It’s complete and utter mayhem, with non-stop games and ...

Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.