Mystery England

New England is filled with phenomena science cannot explain. Houses in which the floorboards creak and doors open on their own, waters upon which ghost ships sail, spooky sounds coming from the forest, eerie lights in the sky, and much more.

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.

As the mists roll over the fens and enigmatic lights twinkle in the distance, only the locals know their way along the hidden paths through the mysterious watery terrain of one of England's most beautiful and sometimes dangerous places. Detective Matt Ballard may have retired but there's still plenty going on in the fens to keep him busy. Someone trashes an old lady's garden and daubs her isolated cottage with hateful graffiti. Emilia Swain seems to be totally harmless, so why is she being targeted?

Grace Repton, a beautiful older woman, walks into the police station to tell Detective Matt Ballard she has information that could stop a murder. Her fiance, the infamous serial killer Jeremy Reader, has told her that he has a disciple who is going to kill using Reader's horrific methods. Reader murdered five women and was finally brought to justice by Detective Ballard. Reader is safely imprisoned in a high security prison, and claiming to be a reformed man who wants to help the police.

This riveting debut set in 1534 England secured C. J. Sansom’s place “among the most distinguished of modern historical novelists” (P. D. James). When Henry VIII’s emissary is beheaded at an English monastery, hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake is dispatched to solve the crime. But as he uncovers a cesspool of sin, three more murders occur - and Matthew may be the next target.

When she finds out that the man convicted of killing her sister may be innocent, FBI agent and forensic psychologist Alexis Forrest goes on the search for the real culprit. Evidence of her sister’s murder was found in a remote cabin, along with traces of dozens more young women. A serial killer has been stalking these woods for decades and he’s still out there. Alexis had returned to Broken Hill, the snowy New England town where she grew up, to investigate another case. But after finding the serial killer’s cabin with evidence of other victims, she will do anything to track him down. ...

In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950 - and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia’s family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.

Iris Buckley is hoping for a bit of rest and relaxation now that the summertime rush is winding down in Blueberry Cove, Maine. Her apron shop Ruffles & Bows has been a huge success, her friendships are stronger than ever, and now she's ready for all of the end of summer cookouts on the beach that she can handle. But before Iris can even turn on the grill, Bella's latest fling, former Olympian sailor and gorgeous bad boy Lance Pederson, is killed in a hit-and-run while jogging at dawn - and all the evidence points to Bella herself.

In the picturesque coastal town of Sunrise Harbor, Maine, where salty ocean breezes mingle with the scent of freshly caught lobsters, a chilling mystery unfolds. When a supposedly idyllic lobstering cruise takes an unexpected turn, steamy romance author, baker and amateur sleuth, Tabitha Clive, finds herself accused of murdering her husband’s former sister-in-law, Ethel Brownville. As whispers of her guilt spread through the town, Tabitha's closest friends refuse to let her face the weight of false accusations alone. In The Women Sleuths Club Murder, a vibrant group of “mature” ...

Forensic psychologist and FBI agent Alexis Forrest is on the hunt for a serial killer who has been terrorizing New England for decades. Years ago, her teenage sister fell victim to this predator, but the wrong person was convicted and sent to prison and the real killer is still out there. The eerie calm of Broken Hill, Alexis's hometown, is shattered when a string of brutal killings resurfaces, echoing the nightmare of her past. For years, everyone thought he was gone and then he strikes again. After her father's house is burned down and her mother receives threats, Alexis knows she's ...

The options for the penniless daughter of a deceased earl are few indeed in Regency England. So, following the suspicious death of her father and the discovery that she and her much younger sister have been left without income or home, Lady Caroline takes a post as a lady's companion to the wealthy widow Frogerton. Just as Caroline is getting accustomed to her new position, her aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood, invites her and her employer to a house party in the countryside to celebrate her youngest daughter's birthday. But all is not well at the Greenwood estate.

When a local publican is murdered, Inspector Witherspoon takes Mrs. Jeffries' advice to heart. He is going to trust his own instincts - but that keeps Mrs. Jeffries in the dark. She must rouse the household staff to action and hope the Inspector doesn't arrest the wrong person before they can solve the crime.

It's the Christmas season in London, but the holiday festivities don't deter Lady Katherine from investigating a death that happened months earlier. Since the victim was a maid, investigative resources were sparse, and the police hastily wrote it off as a random killing. But Lady Katherine and her friends believe it was nothing short of premeditated murder, and they vow to seek justice.

Forensic psychologist and rookie FBI agent Alexis Forrest returns to her hometown of Broken Hill to investigate the disappearance of a missing teenage girl. Returning to this snowy New England town is the last thing Alexis wants to do. She has a strained relationship with her divorced parents whose relationship did not survive the disappearance and murder of Alexis’ older sister, or her dad’s prison sentence. The circumstances of this girl’s disappearance are surprisingly similar to her sister’s yet the local police aren’t exactly welcoming to an inexperienced FBI agent sent to ...

Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for Bar Harbor's Island Times, is...well, kind of broke. So when she's selected for that extreme coupon-clipping reality game show coming to town...she's thrilled, especially when her competition is nasty nurse Candace Culpepper. But when Haley stumbles across a face-down-in-the-snow Candace - scissors gleaming between her shoulders - she knows the next thing she'll be selected for will probably be a police line-up.

An artist's model never shows up at Neville Grant's house...or so he claims. But when one of Mr. Grant's houseguests suddenly dies, the Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries have to work double-time to find both the missing model and the killer!

The Peculiar Crimes Unit has solved many extraordinary cases over the years, but some were hushed up and hidden away. Until now. Arthur Bryant remembers these lost cases as if they were yesterday. Here, then, is the truth about the Covent Garden opera diva and the 17th reindeer, the body that falls from the Tate Gallery, the ordinary London street corner where strange accidents keep occurring, the consul’s son discovered buried in the unit’s basement, the corpse pulled from a swamp of Chinese dinners....

Abby Kimball has just moved to New England with her boyfriend and is trying to settle in, but the experience is proving to be quite unsettling, to say the least. While on a tour of local historic homes, Abby witnesses a family scene that leaves her gasping for breath - because the family has been dead for nearly a century. Another haunting episode follows, and another, until it seems to Abby that everything she touches is drawing her in, calling to her from the past.

Hannah Cameron was not well-liked, but who stabbed her in the back? To almost everyone, the answer was clear: she was killed by a burglar. This case is given to Inspector Nivens, so Mrs. Jeffries and the rest of the household must tiptoe around this case to find the real killer.

The evidence was all there: a dead body, two dessert plates, and a gun. Could it be that Mr. Ashbury was sharing his cake with his killer? The old bloke had enemies galore - even his own daughter disliked him. Mr. Ashbury's son-in-law doesn't want Inspector Witherspoon asking questions. Of course this doesn't stop Mrs. Jeffries and her staff from snooping around.