Southern Historical Mystery Fiction

Southern Legacyby Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a captivating mystery novel set in the Gulf States during the sweltering summer of 1888. This gripping tale weaves together elements of historical fiction, intrigue, and Southern Gothic tradition. In the heat of 1888, at a modest station where eastbound and westbound trains exchange a handful of passengers daily, two men meet whose lives will become deeply intertwined. Adley Witt Jr., a sociable and amiable gentleman, steps in to help a young woman named Kitty Palmer, setting off a chain of events that reveals the complexities of Southern life post-...

Ya'll, let me tell you my story!Glad you could find your way here, and I welcome you to the Sellers Plantation here in the deep south of Mobile, Alabama. I'm anxious to get started with my story tellin,' so, I'm sharin' a little bout the story that I be tellin' to ya'll down below. When I wuz born, I be given the name Gertrude Ida Rollins, but as I be growin' folks just be callin' me Ms. Gertie. I wuz born in Mobile, Alabama in the year eighteen and eighty-eight. Yes, that be a long time ago for most of ya'll, but I thinks it be good to be learnin' bout the history that be comin' before you...

Southern historical fiction novel of drama and intrigue set on the Blue Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in Western North Carolina. Excerpt from Chapter Nine: She hid in the woods all night long. Didn’t even come out to milk the goat or feed her mother’s chickens. The goat was starting to bleat to be milked by the next morning, but she was too afraid to take a chance on being out in the open long enough to milk her. By the time the sun started going down, she gathered enough determination to slip close enough to the cabin to see through the open door. There was enough light left in ...

Unearth the chilling secrets buried within Rosegate Manor, an age-old home shrouded in darkness and whispers, nestled in Mobile, Alabama.Meet Carrie Jo, a historian with a unique gift—she's also a human dream catcher. Hired to transform the decaying Rosegate Manor into a living museum, she soon finds herself ensnared in webs of disturbing mysteries that stretch back over a century. As she peels back the layers of time, the disappearance of the Brown triplets, three six-year-old boys who vanished without a trace in 1911, haunts her investigation. Guided by spectral figures and pursued by ...

Seven Sisters Collection: Book Two continues the haunting journey through the heart of Mobile's enigmatic Seven Sisters estate. In this compelling second installment, author M. L. Bullock weaves three more mesmerizing tales: "The Stars That Fell," "The Stars We Walked Upon," and "The Sun Rises Over Seven Sisters." Each story delves deeper into the mysteries of the antebellum mansion and its ghostly inhabitants, blending Southern charm with chilling paranormal encounters. "The Stars That Fell" finds Carrie Jo Jardine adapting to her role as the estate's dream catcher. Her connection to the ...

In the heart of the Deep South, nestled within the hauntingly beautiful landscapes of Mobile, Alabama, lies the Seven Sisters estate. Here, author M. L. Bullock invites readers into a world where the past and present intertwine in eerie and unexpected ways. "Seven Sisters Collection: Volume One" brings together the first three chilling tales in the Seven Sisters series: "Seven Sisters," "Moonlight Falls on Seven Sisters," and "Shadows Stir at Seven Sisters." The journey begins with "Seven Sisters," where readers meet Carrie Jo Jardine, a young woman with an extraordinary gift. Hired as a ...

A mountain girl in the early 1900’s copes with a marriage arranged by her dad. Her story is titled from an old saying “I own my land, heaven-high and hell-deep.” “Your pa gave his consent for us to marry,” he said the words as though it was a simple matter. It wasn’t a romantic proposal of love and devotion. It wasn’t a proposal at all. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I tried again. “I don’t know your name,” I managed to say as I felt my chest constrict. There was a pain in me that started at my toes and went to the roots of my hair. Dad had come up with a ...

Thatcher Hutton, a war-weary soldier on the way back to his cowboy life, jumps from a moving freight train to avoid trouble...and lands in more than he bargained for. On the day he arrives in Foley, Texas, a local woman goes missing. Thatcher, the only stranger in town, is suspected of her abduction, and worse. Standing between him and exoneration are a corrupt mayor, a crooked sheriff, a notorious cathouse madam, a sly bootlegger, feuding moonshiners...and a young widow whose soft features conceal an iron will.

From Chapter 2: ... “Did you see those folks from off while you were up there?” Gramps asked, but I didn’t answer, nor did I think Granny had seen me at all, but Gramps was good at guessing what I’d been up to. “What folks?” I asked as innocently as possible. Gramps grinned ever so slightly as he nodded toward my feet. “You got that red clay dirt on the bottom of your feet. That mountain is the only place where you can find that kind of red dirt.” I looked down and sure enough my feet were stained slightly orange by the red dirt I’d walked through instead of plain old ...

This fascinating third volume in the Britannia's Fist series will have you pondering how easily history could have been swayed differently. What if other countries had become involved in America's Civil War? Historian Peter G. Tsouras presents the third installment in his Britannia's Fist alternate history series.

Returning to London after his honeymoon (For Deader or Worse), Bow Street Runner John Pickett soon discovers wedded bliss is not without its pitfalls, as he finds it galling to be financially dependent on Julia, his aristocratic bride. When he is summoned to the home of Lady Washbourn, Pickett finds he has something in common with the young countess: like himself, Lady Washbourn has married above her station and now finds herself adrift in a world to which she does not truly belong.

Sixty-something sisters Mary Alice and Patricia Anne head to Florida to relax at a beachfront condo. But when a body washes up on the waves, the sisters find themselves awash in a sea of dirty real estate dealings and evidence of murders.

The Aldens are excited to visit a deserted South Seas island. But soon they discover clues that they are not alone. Is someone on the island watching them?

When one of his colleagues witnesses a robbery in which one of the participants, a child, bears a striking resemblance to a certain Bow Street Runner, John Pickett realizes he has a young half-brother who has been “apprenticed” to a criminal gang. The brutal murder of the pursuing constable makes the crime far more serious than a simple robbery would be - and 10-year-old Kit is linked to the crime by the toy soldier he dropped while fleeing the scene.

When a rash of jewel thefts strikes London, magistrate Patrick Colquhoun deploys his Bow Street Runners to put a stop to the crimes. A Russian princess is to attend a production of Handel’s Esther at Drury Lane Theatre, where she will wear a magnificent diamond necklace. The entire Bow Street force will be stationed at various locations around the theatre - including John Pickett, who will occupy a box directly across from the princess.

Paul Yarbrough's critically-acclaimed debut novel, MISSISSIPPI COTTON, brings to light the complex history of rural Mississippi in the 1950’s. It is 1951. Young Jake Conner gets on a bus to visit his cousins in the Mississippi Delta. But when the body of an unknown man is found in the Mississippi River, Jake's summer vacation gets a little more adventurous as he and his cousins snoop around in a mystery that is better left to the grown ups. "First time novelist, Paul H. Yarbrough, masterfully transports readers deep into the world of Mississippi Cotton, where life is not as simple as it ...

For twelve-year-old Martha "Sonny" Creech, there is no place more beautiful than her family's cotton farm. She, her two brothers, and her parents work hard on their land - hoeing, planting, picking - but only Sonny loves the rich, dark earth the way her father does. When a tragic accident claims his life, her stricken family struggles to fend off ruin - until their rich, reclusive neighbor offers to help finance that year's cotton crop.

The eighth book in the series finds John Pickett bound for England's scenic Lake District, where an unsigned letter has summoned him for an unspecified reason. Pickett and his wife Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, take a room at the Hart and Hound as the letter instructs him. Once installed there, however, Pickett can do nothing but wait for the anonymous contact to identify himself. A midnight search of the inn's register seems to identify the innkeeper, Ned Hawkins, as his man, but before Pickett can discover the reason for his summons, Hawkins is pushed from a cliff - surviving the fall only long enough to call Pickett's attention to the letter in his pocket.

In 1913, on a summer's day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns. The boy's mysterious disappearance from the family's lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards, and struggle not to give in to despair.

Ada promised herself she would never go back to the Trace, to her unbearable life on the swamp, and to her harsh father in Mississippi. But now, after running away to Baton Rouge and briefly knowing a different kind of life, she finds herself with nowhere to go but back home. Matilda, daughter of a sharecropper, is from the other side of the Trace. Doing what she can to protect her family from the whims and demands of some particularly callous locals is an ongoing struggle, so she forms a plan to go north.