Showing results by narrator "Gabrielle Baker" in All Categories

As one of the first female reporters on 1880s Fleet Street, Penny Green has her work cut out. Whether it's investigating the mysterious death of a friend or reporting on a serial killer in the slums, Penny must rely on her wits and determination to discover the truth. Fortunately she can rely on the help of Inspector James Blakely of Scotland Yard, but will their relationship remain professional?

Luckily, Mina Wilde loves him anyway, as well as her two other literary boyfriends—the 'Napolean of Crime,' James Moriarty, and Poe's contemplative raven, Quoth. It's tough buying the perfect Christmas gifts for three lovers, but Mina's determined to make this year the best Christmas Nevermore Bookshop has ever seen. That is until the charity Christmas tree and all the presents donated by the village go missing. Heathcliff's grinching makes him the obvious culprit, but Mina knows Heathcliff isn't mean enough to steal gifts for the animal shelter . . . or is he?

London 1884. Electricity pioneer Simon Borthwick lights up Victorian London with a stunning illuminations display - then shoots himself in a hansom cab. Plucky Fleet Street reporter Penny Green witnesses the inventor's death and suspects the clue to his suicide lies in a mysterious letter he left behind. But can she persuade Inspector James Blakely of Scotland Yard that a crime has been committed? Borthwick isn't the only person who died that day, and Penny soon encounters a shadowy world which the police can't get close to.

Josie Adams had a brilliant speech writing career in American politics - until a scandal destroyed everything. Unsure what to do with the rest of her life, she moves home with her mother in the Cotswolds. Journalist Harriet Powell ditched London after getting sacked and divorced within six months of each other. She hopes to find peace in the village, but after meeting Josie, Harry's world will never be the same. While the two don't see eye to eye on the professional front, it's hard to deny their connection, even if Josie's mum is determined to set Josie up with anyone who isn't Harry.

Lucy Waltham is hunting for a husband, but she needs some target practice. She turns to her brother's cold-as-ice best friend, Jeremy Trescott, the earl of Kendall, to test her seductive wiles on him before setting her sights on another man. But her practice kisses spark a smoldering passion - one that could send all her plans up in smoke.

The old eddas speak of dreki—fabled creatures who haunt the depths of Iceland's volcanoes and steal away fair maidens. Freyja wants none of such myths. Dreki seducing young ladies? Ha. They probably eat such foolish girls. But when the local dreki steals her last ram—costing her any chance of feeding her ill father through the winter—Freyja intends to confront the fearsome myth.

Helen Swift is almost 50 and tired of her day job as a professor at Oxford University. She prefers to write cozy mysteries under a well-hidden pen name in her Cotswolds cottage. She's also far too busy to even consider romance. Posh girl, Victoria "Rory" Carlisle, is over the moon when she snags Helen as her DPhil supervisor, and not only because of Professor Swift's academic prowess. Rory takes an instant shine to Helen, who is far from charmed by her advances.

Desperate to escape a loveless marriage and society's constraints, pampered heiress Sophia Hathaway jilts her groom, packs up her paints and sketchbook, and assumes a new identity, posing as a governess to secure passage on the Aphrodite. She wants a life of her own: unsheltered, unconventional, uninhibited. But it's one thing to sketch her most wanton fantasies and quite another to face the dangerously handsome libertine who would steal both her virtue and her gold.

For Finlay Swinton, Viscount Firthwell and only son of a powerful earl, life has been a lark...until he discovers a terrible family secret that could ruin him. Determined to make a name for himself free of scandal's shadow, he runs for Parliament. However, he encounters Charlotte, the mysterious woman who disappeared after their one night together, and he finds it impossible to stay away, despite her working class status and Jewish faith that threaten to destroy his chance for success.

Driven into exile years earlier, due to family scandal, Declan Sinclair is called home, devastated to discover his brother has been murdered and he's the new Duke of Darington. When clues point to the man he blames for both his exile and his brother's death, Declan resolves to ruin the culprit. If only the daughter of the man's business partner, lovely Lady Alethea Swinton, didn't tempt his resolve.

Madalene Dowding was devastated when her mother died, leaving her all alone. To honor her mother's legacy, she decides to use part of her fortune to open an orphanage. When a teacher at the orphanage goes missing, Madalene takes it upon herself to start looking for her, even if it means taking her deep into the unsavory parts of London.

Mina Wilde is thrilled to be invited to a prestigious writers' retreat at Meddleworth House. Heathcliff, Morrie, and Quoth decide to come along to keep her company and indulge in some of the estate's activities. Mina is excited to get feedback on her first novel, but her dreams of writing stardom are shattered when the other writers tear her work to pieces. A little criticism never hurt anyone, right? Wrong. Their picturesque country holiday soon turns deadly when a violent storm closes in. As the writers gather around the fire to critique each other's work, the power goes out.

When the local Banned Book Club loses their meeting room, Mina volunteers to host the group at Nevermore Bookshop (against Heathcliff's muttered protests, of course). Little does she know this old biddies book club is about to turn murderous. First, someone poisons Mrs. Scarlett, then members of the book club start dropping like flies. Who in the village will turn to murder just to stop people reading a few dusty old books? Mina's got to figure it out quick, or her beloved teacher Mrs. Ellis is next to die. Luckily, she's got Moriarty, Heathcliff, and Quoth to help.

Ivy Gover, a curmudgeonly middle-aged charwoman with some slightly witchy talents, inherits a rural cottage in Buckinghamshire and takes up residence near the tiny village of Little Warby. Having settled in with a rescued dog and a pet pigeon, she manages, despite her anti-social instincts, to have surprising effects on her new neighbors. But her biggest challenge will likely be the twelve-year-old runaway who shows up at her door.

Seven years ago a woman with too many secrets and a man with too many lies fell in love. Then she left him. Isabel's quiet life as an assistant to one of London's famous apothecaries hides a deadly secret. A secret that could see her put on trial for witchcraft if the authorities uncover the truth. But when the authority figure who turns up at her shop is Sir Nicholas Merritt, she's at risk of losing more than her life. She could lose her heart and soul, and the man she loves.

Mina's excited to attend the annual Argleton Jane Austen Experience at the stately Baddesley Hall. It's just what she needs after all the recent murders - a whole weekend of dancing with Morrie, attending poetry readings with Quoth, and helping Heathcliff field marriage proposals from adoring fans. But murder and intrigue follow Mina everywhere. When an eminent Austen scholar is run through with his own sword, Mina and her boys must solve the mystery before the killer claims another victim.

Skilled surgeon Veronica Mallick runs her London hospital department like she runs her surgeries: with hawkish efficiency. Then her perfect world is turned upside down by the arrival of a new Head of Trauma. Cassie Taylor is a brash, no-nonsense army surgeon, fresh from the front lines, and trying to find her way in civilian life. She's all action and sharp edges, not too interested in rules. She's even less interested in bureaucracy, or playing nice with her uptight, paper-pushing colleague, Veronica.

Only one thing could convince Sir Tobias Aldridge, an incorrigible libertine, to profess undying fidelity to a woman he's just met. Revenge. What better way to get back at an enemy than by stealing the scoundrel's sister? Not that Toby finds it a chore, seducing a beguiling, sultry beauty freshly arrived from the West Indies. When the prize is Isabel Grayson, vengeance is doubly rewarding.

Seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra is strong-willed and sharp-tongued - in a house full of older brothers and their friends, she had to learn to hold her own. Not the best makings for an aristocratic lady in Regency London. Yet her mother still dreams of marrying Alex off to someone safe, respectable, and wealthy. But between ball gown fittings, dances, and dinner parties, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get herself into what may be her biggest scrape yet.

For 16-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion. Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. And she will give up everything to prove it.