A man is murdered in broad daylight by a stealthy killer in this pitch-perfect WWII crime mystery. September 1939. Inspector Betty Church – one of the few female officers on the force – has arrived from London to fill a vacancy at Sackwater police station. But Betty isn't new here. This is the place she grew up. The place she thought she'd left for good. After a slow start, Betty's called to the train station to investigate a stolen bench. But though there's no bench, there is a body. A smartly dressed man, murdered in broad daylight, with two distinctive puncture wounds in his throat. While the locals gossip about the Suffolk Vampire, Betty Church steels herself to hunt a dangerous killer. Reviews for BETTY CHURCH AND THE SUFFOLK VAMPIRE: 'Betty Church is a wonderful creation... Had me laughing out loud' GOODREADS. 'I loved this... A cast of crazy characters, with a gruesome murder or two thrown in for good measure' GOODREADS. 'Loved Betty Church! No nonsense, in control with quirky crazy cast makes this a new series I can't wait to read more of' GOODREADS.

The first in a charming, evocative, and sharply plotted Victorian crime series starring a detective duo to rival Holmes and Watson. After her father dies, March Middleton has to move to London to live with her guardian, Sidney Grice, the country’s most famous private detective. It is 1882 and London is at its murkiest yet most vibrant, wealthiest yet most poverty-stricken. No sooner does March arrive than a case presents itself: a young woman has been brutally murdered, and her husband is the only suspect. The victim’s mother is convinced of her son-in-law’s innocence, and March is so touched by her pleas she offers to cover Sidney’s fee herself. The investigations lead the pair to the darkest alleys of the East End: every twist leads Sidney Grice to think his client is guilty; but March is convinced that he is innocent. Around them London reeks with the stench of poverty and gossip, the case threatens to boil over into civil unrest and Sidney Grice finds his reputation is not the only thing in mortal danger.

The latest mystery in the popular Victorian crime series featuring the ever-curmudgeonly private detective, Sidney Grice, and the charming March Middleton. London, 1884. 125 Gower Street, the residence of Sidney Grice, London's foremost personal detective, and his ward March Middleton, is at peace. Midnight discussions between the great man and his charge have led to a harmony unseen in these hallowed halls since the great frog disaster of 1878. But harmony cannot last for long. A knock on the door brings mystery and murder once more to their home. A mystery that involves a Prussian Count, two damsels in distress, a Chinaman from Wales, a gangster looking for love, and the shadowy ruin of a once-loved family home, Steep House . . .

New 1940s crime series, featuring Inspector Betty Church - one of the UK's first female police officers. Pitch-perfect historical crime. Brilliant new series from the author of The Mangle Street Murders , perfect for readers of Agatha Christie, Jasper Fforde and M.C. Beaton. September 1939. A new day dawns in Sackwater, not that this sleepy backwater is taking much notice... Inspector Betty Church - one of the few female officers on the force - has arrived from London to fill a vacancy at Sackwater police station. But Betty isn't new here . This is the place she grew up. The place she thought she'd left behind for good. Time ticks slowly in Sackwater, and crime is of a decidedly lighter shade . Having solved the case of the missing buttons, Betty's called to the train station to investigate a missing bench. But though there's no bench, there is a body . A smartly dressed man, murdered in broad daylight, with two distinctive puncture wounds in his throat . While the locals gossip about the Suffolk Vampire , Betty Church readies herself to hunt a dangerous killer . Reviews for BETTY CHURCH AND THE SUFFOLK VAMPIRE : 'Betty Church is a wonderful creation ... Had me laughing out loud' GOODREADS. 'I loved this ... A cast of crazy characters, with a gruesome murder or two thrown in for good measure' GOODREADS. 'Loved Betty Church! No nonsense, in control with quirky crazy cast makes this a new series I can't wait to read more of' GOODREADS.

After the government’s first choice to design a secret installation is discovered and murdered by foreign agents, the president turns to a lonely widower from Pittsburgh to take her place. Stanley Bigelow’s unusual engineering skills and solitary life make him suitable for the work, but Captain Tyler Brew, the Navy SEAL overseeing the project worries that the man’s age, weight, and lack of physical fitness will make him vulnerable to his predecessor’s fate. Despite round-the-clock protection by female FBI agent, L.T. Kitt, and a specially trained German shepherd from the witness protection program (Augie), the SEAL’s fears prove warranted. All while a terrorist offensive takes shape. The Accidental Patriot is a story of citizenship and service; loyalty and love; and how personal transformation happens in unexpected ways.

The much-anticipated second novel in the charming, sharply plotted Victorian crime series starring a detective duo to rival Holmes and Watson.

A cold-blooded killer stalks a sleepy Suffolk town in this pitch-perfect WWII crime mystery. December 1939. Sackwater Police Station feels a million miles from the war effort. Elderly Mr Orchard keeps wandering off in his pyjamas, little Sylvia Satin is having a birthday party, and a bookmark has been reported stolen. Inspector Betty Church – one of the few female officers on the force – is longing for something to get her teeth into... When a bomb is dropped on Sackwater, it seems the war has finally reached them. But Betty can't stop Adolf, however hard she tries. So when a dead man is found on the beach, she concentrates on hunting an enemy much closer to home. 'Eccentric and entertaining with a nicely complex plot'Crime Review. 'A wonderfully gripping old-fashioned murder mystery' The Lady.

This groundbreaking study explores the later lives and late-life writings of more than two dozen British women authors active during the long eighteenth century. Drawing on biographical materials, literary texts, and reception histories, Devoney Looser finds that far from fading into moribund old age, female literary greats such as Anna Letitia Barbauld, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Catharine Macaulay, Hester Lynch Piozzi, and Jane Porter toiled for decades after they achieved acclaim -- despite seemingly concerted attempts by literary gatekeepers to marginalize their later contributions. Though these remarkable women wrote and published well into old age, Looser sees in their late careers the necessity of choosing among several different paths. These included receding into the background as authors of "classics," adapting to grandmotherly standards of behavior, attempting to reshape masculinized conceptions of aged wisdom, or trying to create entirely new categories for older women writers. In assessing how these writers affected and were affected by the culture in which they lived, and in examining their varied reactions to the prospect of aging, Looser constructs careful portraits of each of her Subjects and explains why many turned toward retrospection in their later works. In illuminating the powerful and often poorly recognized legacy of the British women writers who spurred a marketplace revolution in their earlier years only to find unanticipated barriers to acceptance in later life, Looser opens up new scholarly territory in the burgeoning field of feminist age studies.

The new novel in the atmospheric Gower Street Detective series introduces a chilling locked room mystery to Detective Sidney Grice and his precocious ward March Middleton. London, 1883. All is quiet at 125 Gower Street. Private detective Sidney Grice is studying up on the anatomical structure of human hair whilst his ward, March Middleton, sneaks upstairs for her eighth secret cigarette of the day. The household is, perhaps, too quiet. So, when a beautiful young woman turns up at the door, imploring London's foremost private detective to solve the mystery of her father's murder, Grice can barely disguise his glee. Mr. Nathan Garstang was found slaughtered in his bed, but there is no trace of a weapon or intruder. A classic locked-room case. But what piques Grice's interest is the crime's link to one of London's most notorious unsolved murders. Ten years ago, Nathan's uncle aunt and servants were murdered in their sleep in the very same house. Now, it seems, the Garstang murderer is back . . .

The new mystery novel in the evocative Victorian crime series starring the charming March Middleton and the most curmudgeonly private detective in London, Sidney Grice. Gower Street, London: 1883. March Middleton is the niece of London's greatest (and most curmudgeonly) private detective, Sidney Grice. March has just discovered a wealthy long-lost relative she never knew she had. When this newest family member meets with a horrible death, March is in the frame for murder—and only Sidney Grice can prove her innocence. Grice agrees to investigate (for his usual fee) but warns that he is not entirely convinced of her innocence. If he were in her position, he might have been tempted. But the more he uncovers, the more all the clues point to Grice himself . . .