A man?s home is his castle, but for Percy Spender that motto has been taken just a bit too literally. After the sudden death of first one distant relative and then another, the amiable Perce has becom
It's a naughty world, a tiresome world, a world notably lacking in witty epigrams. In short, it's a world that is crying out for Gervase Fen, and so he has declared himself a candidate for Parliament,
Bill Slider, a middle-aged, straight-arrow London cop, finds his life thrown into passionate disarray by the murder of a mysterious young violinist. The writing is irresistibly clever and heavily lace
A mediocre mystery-writer, Ethelred Tressider has even less interest in writing his books than his (dwindling) fan base has in reading them, and his agent, the pesky, nosy, vulgar, chocolate-chomping
Inspector Peroni is glad to be done with Verona, but he?s none too thrilled with Venice. The cuisine is an endless parade of soup, and the crime is as bland as the menu. The most nefarious crime Peron
The Fashion in Shrouds introduces Albert Campion?s sister, a talented young clothing designer with a roster of celebrated clients. The most celebrated among them is Georgia Wells, a glamorous actress
Born into a life of privilege, Sybilla has spent many years opting instead to live on the streets of Stockholm, cadging a bed, a bath, a meal, where she can. Her favorite technique?one she permits her
Eva and Jonas are two separate pots of poison, both coming inexorably to a boil. For Eva, the poison stems from the dawning realization that her cozy family life has been a lie, that her loving husban
Sir Eustace is a cad of the first water, with a specialty in other men?s wives, and the list of people who might want to do him in could fill a London phone book. But which of them actually sent the c
On the day he graduated from law school, there was little doubt that Ellis Portal would have a brilliant future. He and five of his similarly gifted colleagues commemorated the splendor of their share
Charlie Hook, the last of the English Mobsters, is ready to spill some juicy stories about the old days of crime, and all he needs is a ghost-writer. As Charlie sees it, the ideal ghost is veteran cri
Apron Lane is a little bit of Dickensian London that still appears to be flourishing in the brave new post-War world. Urchins abound, and a quasi-feudal order is maintained by the eccentric Palinode f
Julian Kestrel is the walking definition of a Regency-era dandy. He cares about little beyond the perfection of his tailoring, he lives for the bon mot, and his life has the specific gravity and the f
It is the end of the 17th century, and the Countess Ashby de la Zouche is having rather a bad time. The money is long gone, along with the Count, and while the Countess has no mealy-mouthed scruples a
When we last saw Ethelred Tressider, he was pulling a disappearing act, eager to pack in his career as a mediocre mystery-writer, and happy to leave his (deservedly) long suffering agent, Elsie, holdi
Feng Shui master C.F. Wong is no fan of the 21st century. It is far too rushed and noisy, a terrible environment for the kind of peaceful contemplation that his work requires. His clients seem to view
The little village of Cotton Abbas is home to both an irritating influx of England?s newly rich and a deliciously weird clutch of long-time locals. Chief among the latter: Colonel Babbington, whose ca
The hospital sees nothing to question about the death of the reclusive Mr. Crenshaw, and it?s not as though he had any friends to press the issue. He did, though, have one casual acquaintance, who hap
Paul Galliard is a magician by training and heredity: his father died performing the Bullet Catch, an infamous trick that over the centuries has claimed the lives of more than a dozen magicians. A pra
On a sweltering day in Florence, art student and newlywed Mary Warren wandered into a shady tunnel of trees. Within minutes, she was brutally attacked and her husband murdered. And within months the k
