Historical Manners

Hannah Miles navigates the etiquette of monster hunting through the parlours of a magical Regency England. This collection contains: Manners and Monsters, Galvanism and Ghouls, and Gossip and Gorgons.

A visit to relatives in Newport is supposed to give Sylvia time to rest and consider the latest revelation about Miles' past. But when a picnic hosted by the local yacht club ends with a mysterious death, Sylvia is drawn into a dangerous investigation.

When Amy and Effy Tribble, two charming but impoverished spinster sisters, lose out on a much needed inheritance, they place an advertisement in The Morning Post and hire themselves out as professional chaperones. Vowing to prepare even the most difficult misses for marriage, the Tribble sisters will spend a London season on each client in this delightful Regency series, The School for Manners. Felicity Baronsheath, their first assignment, turns out to be more of a challenge than they ever imagined.

How would the story of Pride and Prejudice be altered if Mr. Wickham had been a good man? Instead of becoming a scoundrel who regularly attempts to elope with teenage girls, Mr. Wickham studies the law as he originally told Mr. Darcy when he gave up the value of the living. After finishing his studies, Mr. Wickham finds work in Meryton with Mr. Phillips, a local solicitor and the Bennets's uncle.

If 14-year-old Cassandra Reed makes it through her first day at Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies without anyone discovering her secret, maybe, just maybe, she’ll let herself believe that she really does belong at Miss Castwell’s. Except Cassandra Reed’s real name is Sarah Smith and up until now, she lived her whole life in the Warren, serving a magical family, the Winters, as all non-magical “Snipes” are bound by magical Guardian law to do. That is, until one day, Sarah accidentally levitates Mrs. Winter’s favorite vase in the parlor....

It is a truth universally accepted that well-bred members of society are not beleaguered with magic. For Elsabeth Dover and her sisters, that truth means living in a perpetual state of caution, never using their sorcerous gifts in public. Elsabeth chafes under the stricture, although not enough to risk the possibility of good marriages for her sisters...until she meets handsome, arrogant Fitzgerald Archer

One of Jane Austen's most complex and mature works, Mansfield Park shows the writer at the top of her form, tackling the manners and customs of early 19th-century society with wit and irony that still resonate with readers two centuries after the book's initial publication. Flo Gibson's compelling narration gives perfect voice to the trials and tribulations of Fanny Price, sent at a young age to live with her rich relations.

Maria Kendall is stunningly beautiful, impeccably mannered, effortlessly graceful - in short, a perfect candidate for marriage. Thus all of polite London society is astonished that she is the latest charge of Amy and Effy Tribble, eccentric spinsters specializing in making matches for unmarriageable misses. But when Maria’s suitors - among them the roguish and exceedingly aristocratic Duke of Berham - meet her vulgar and boorish parents, proposals of marriage invariably vanish.

1885, London, England. When Violet's Aunt Adelia decides to abscond with her newest paramour, she leaves behind her role as the most popular Agony Aunt in London, Miss Hermione, in Violet's hands. And of course, the first letter Violet receives is full, not of prissy pondering, but of portent: Ivy Armstrong is in need of help and fears for her life. But when Violet visits the village from which the letter was posted, she finds Ivy dead. Soon Violet discovers that when you represent the best-loved Agony Aunt in Britain, both marauding husbands and murder are par for the course.

Miss Harriet Brown, daughter of a Methodist minister, is the embodiment of propriety and Christian charity - too much so, perhaps, for her own good. The virtues Harriet possesses are far from fashionable, but Amy and Effy Tribble, chaperones-for-hire, feel confident that their new charge will attract a worthy vicar or two before the end of the season. First, though, they must vanquish confirmed rake and gambler Lord Charles Marsham, catch though he is, who seems perversely determined to woo Harriet.

The School for Manners finds the Tribble sisters, Amy and Effie, once again entangled in the machinations of the marriage mart. The formidable but lovable spinsters, who earn their livings by sponsoring young girls and finding them husbands, take on the case of Delilah, a beautiful, mindlessly flirtatious country heiress. What puzzles everyone is why such a beauty is unmarried at 23, and why she is ensconced in the London school of the zany Tribbles.

When Fiona Macleod is sent by her guardian aunt and uncle to spend a London season with the Tribble sisters, it is something of a last resort. At nineteen, Fiona is a beautiful and wealthy Scottish heiress, yet for some mysterious reason, her several proposals of marriage over the past few years have all fallen through at the last moment. Amy and Effy Tribble, professional chaperones whose School for Manners has recently made them the talk of fashionable London society, are always short of cash and gladly take on Fiona as a new client.

Lovely, wealthy, and well bred, Clarissa Vevian has been unable to find a suitable husband because of her terrible clumsiness. Her petite and fastidious mother, the Lady Clarendon, has tried to mold Clarissa into a dainty miss to fit the fashion, but until the fashions fit tall Clarissa, her mother’s efforts are doomed to fail.

Everyone in Highley eagerly anticipates the arrival of Reginald Abernathy, the new master of Albon Manor. Everyone, that is, except Lord William Bascomb. William knows he’ll be expected to woo Reginald’s sister, and he can't summon the interest for it. But when the Abernathys arrive at last, William discovers he’s interested after all - in Reginald. Reginald is the most handsome, most dashing, most intriguing man he’s ever known. Better yet, he seems to share William's preference for men.

The first of Jane Austen's novels to be published, Sense and Sensibility marked the debut of England's primary novelist of manners. Convinced that "three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work upon", Austen created a brilliant tragicomedy of flirtation and folly.

The 18th century novelist-of-manners-turned-sleuth returns to delight readers with another nimble-witted investigation of mayhem in the pastoral landscape of rural England. When Jane's gentleman friend Lord Trowbridge sends her, in the utmost secrecy, to retrieve a parcel hidden amidst the ruins of Netley Abbey, Jane finds not only the parcel but also a dying man. When events take a regrettably sinister turn, only Jane is clever enough to pursue the miscreant.

Theodosia Throckmorton is in a fix. Allowed to attend a reception given by one of the directors of her parents museum, she stumbles across Mr. Tetley of the British Museum in most unusual circumstances! Since Theo has last seen him in a showdown in an ancient Egyptian tomb, his reappearance could mean only one thing: the Serpents of Chaos are back.

Will detests house guests. Especially when he’s the one who invited them… It seemed like a sensible plan at the time: bring the girl home, build up her strength, then send her on her way as quickly as possible—but then he accidentally introduced her as his long-lost cousin. Now he has to juggle his disapproving housekeeper, guest-turned-counterfeit cousin, and rumors of a strange man haunting the manor grounds. Vivienne knows none of it is permanent: the clean clothing, spacious rooms, good food—and especially the role she finds herself playing as Will’s cousin. Recharged by the ...

When Amy and Effie Tribble, two charming but impoverished spinster sisters, lose out on an inheritance, they place this advertisement in The Morning Post and hire themselves out as professional chaperones. Vowing to prepare even the most difficult misses for marriage, the Tribble sisters will spend a London season on each client, educating them in their School for Manners. Felicity Baronsheath, their first assignment, turns out to be more of a challenge than they could have ever imagined. Not only is Felicity indifferent to the idea of marriage, she is also a spoilt brat!

As a member of the Knights of the Realm, Reid swore an oath to protect her king only to discover he harbors a traitorous agenda. Being a woman raised in a man’s world, Reid thought becoming a Knight would give her purpose and strength. So far, it has done nothing but give her trouble. The king ordered her to spy on the Axian royal family while she prepares for her marriage - a marriage neither she nor Price Dexter wants. Once in Axian, Reid realizes she’s being used as a pawn in a decades-old political match.