As Lady Phoebe and her betrothed say their vows of holy matrimony, a killer has vowed unholy vengeance on the town's chief inspector . . .

June 1922: The blessed day has finally arrived. Phoebe Renshaw and Owen Seabright are to be wed, and lady's maid Eva Huntford could not be more delighted for her lady's happiness. But she is disturbed by one notable absence from the ceremony--her beau, Police Constable Miles Brannock. When Miles finally does appear, breathlessly running into the reception at Foxwood Hall, he brings grim news: he's found Chief Inspector Isaac Perkins murdered, shot in his home in his favorite parlor chair with his own gun.

A policeman naturally makes enemies, especially those of questionable character. In charge of finding his former boss's killer, Miles reviews the details of the crime scene. The murder weapon has been wiped clean and left on the table next to the remnants of the chief inspector's breakfast: sausage pasty and coffee reeking of a bit of whiskey. No sign of forced entry. A seemingly peaceful scene--other than the bullet hole in the victim.

Before Miles can make much progress in his investigation, a Scotland Yard detective arrives in Little Barlow to take over the case--and promptly focuses his suspicions on the constable himself, who he reasons had motive and opportunity. Coming to their maid's defense, Phoebe and Owen postpone their honeymoon to join Eva in clearing her beau's good name and unmasking the identity of the true killer . . .

Reporter and sleuth Emma Cross Andrews must stop a bold poisoner who is targeting the society wives of the Four Hundred in Gilded Age Newport, Rhode Island . . .

August 1901: A fundraiser for a new Rhode Island Audubon Society brings Emma to Vinland, the Viking-themed seaside home of her relative, Florence Vanderbilt Twombly, where the guest of honor is Edith Roosevelt, wife of Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. Listening to the speakers and observing the ladies in attendance, Emma is struck by the contrast of the Viking warrior-inspired elements in the house and the admirable but admittedly genteel cause of bird protection. Vinland bears the name of the Vikings' first landfall in North America, but in this room today there is most assuredly no one to fear.

Emma's observation of harmless philanthropy is proven wrong the following morning when one of Mrs. Twombly's houseguests from the luncheon becomes mysteriously and dangerously ill. Accompanying police detective Jesse Whyte, Emma discovers a box of petit fours supposedly sent by Mrs. Roosevelt. They promptly rule out the Second Lady as a suspect, but someone has poisoned the cakes.

Soon another box of desserts as well as letters tainted with ink containing caustic toxins show up at other grand Newport cottages. Are the ladies from the luncheon being targeted? Emma and Jesse must sort through possible motives and means because now more than the birds need protection . . .

In the summer of 1898, reporter Emma Cross investigates a shocking death among the bright lights of Newport's high society . . .

After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald, Emma has returned to the salty air, glittering ocean vistas, and grand stately mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, more determined than ever to report on hard news.

But for now she's covering the social event of the season at Ochre Court, a coming-out ball designed to showcase Cleo Cooper-Smith, who will be on display as Cleopatra in an elaborate tableau vivant. But as the deb ascends to her place of honor, the ballroom is plunged into darkness. When the lights come back on, Cleo sits still on her throne, electrocuted to death.

Quickly establishing that the wiring was tampered with, Emma now has a murder to investigate. As Emma begins to discover this crime has unseen connections to a nefarious network, she puts her own life at risk to shine a light on the dark motives behind a merciless murder . . .

Plenty of red herrings and an intimate look at the world of the wealthy and famous make for a rich broth of a mystery. -Kirkus Reviews

In post-World War I England, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, step outside of their social roles and put their lives at risk to apprehend a vicious killer. . .

December 1918: As a difficult year draws to a close, there is much to celebrate for nineteen-year-old Phoebe Renshaw and her three siblings at their beloved family estate of Foxwood Hall. The dreadful war is finally over; eldest daughter Julia's engagement to their houseguest, the Marquis of Allerton, appears imminent; and all have gathered to enjoy peace on earth, good will toward men.

But the peace of Foxwood Hall is shattered on the morning of Boxing Day, when the Marquis goes missing. Not entirely missing, however, as macabre evidence of foul play turns up in gift boxes given to lady's maid Eva Huntford and a handful of others. Having overheard her sister and the Marquis in a heated exchange the night before, Lady Phoebe takes a personal interest in solving the mystery.

As the local constable suspects a footman at Foxwood Hall, Phoebe and Eva follow the clues to a different conclusion. But both young women will need to think outside the box to wrap up this case--before a cornered killer lashes out with ill will toward them. . .

Reporter, sleuth, and new mother Emma Cross Andrews comes to the aid of a distraught wife who's convinced her husband is trying to kill her . . .

April 1903: Emma and Derrick Andrews have been invited to the wedding of her cousin Reggie Vanderbilt and heiress Cathleen Neilson at the Bellevue Mansion, Arleigh. Their hosts are a popular young couple who are leasing the home for the summer--Harry and Elizabeth Bessie Lehr. Known for his practical jokes, Harry is the toast of parties, earning a reputation as the court jester of the Gilded Age. However, as Emma soon learns, behind closed doors he is dead serious.

Following the wedding, Bessie comes to Emma for help, insisting that her husband is cruel to her in private, telling her outright he married her only for her money and finds her repulsive. Divorce is unthinkable. Now she believes he is plotting to murder her and make it look like an accident: a broken balcony railing she might have leaned on, a loose stair runner that could have sent her tumbling down a staircase, faulty brakes in the car she uses . . .

Some would say being trapped in a loveless marriage is a fate worse than death. Not Bessie--she wants to live! Unsure if these situations are mere coincidences or add up to premeditated sabotage, Emma agrees to investigate and determine if Newport's merry prankster is engaged in a cold-blooded game of life or death . . .

For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America's 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries... As the nineteenth century comes to a close, the illustrious Vanderbilt family dominates Newport, Rhode Island, high society. But when murder darkens a glittering affair at the Vanderbilt summer home, reporter Emma Cross learns that sometimes the actions of the cream of society can curdle one's blood. . . Newport, Rhode Island, August 1895: She may be a less well-heeled relation, but as second cousin to millionaire patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, twenty-one-year-old Emma Cross is on the guest list for a grand ball at the Breakers, the Vanderbilts' summer home. She also has a job to do--report on the event for the society page of the Newport Observer. But Emma observes much more than glitz and gaiety when she witnesses a murder. The victim is Cornelius Vanderbilt's financial secretary, who plunges off a balcony faster than falling stock prices. Emma's black sheep brother Brady is found in Cornelius's bedroom passed out next to a bottle of bourbon and stolen plans for a new railroad line. Brady has barely come to before the police have arrested him for the murder. But Emma is sure someone is trying to railroad her brother and resolves to find the real killer at any cost. . .

For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America's 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries...

For Newport, Rhode Island's high society, the summer of 1896 brings lawn parties, sailboat races...and murder.

Having turned down the proposal of Derrick Andrews, Emma Cross has no imminent plans for matrimony--let alone motherhood. But when she discovers an infant left on her doorstep, she naturally takes the child into her care. Using her influence as a cousin to the Vanderbilts and a society page reporter for the Newport Observer, Emma launches a discreet search for the baby's mother.

One of her first stops is a lawn party at Mrs. Caroline Astor's Beechwood estate. But an idyllic summer's day is soon clouded by tragedy. During a sailboat race, textile magnate Virgil Monroe falls overboard. There are prompt accusations of foul play--and even Derrick Andrews falls under suspicion. Deepening the intrigue, a telltale slip of lace may link the abandoned child to the drowned man. But as Emma navigates dark undercurrents of scandalous indiscretions and violent passions, she'll need to watch her step to ensure that no one lowers the boom on her...

In late August 1898, reporter Emma Cross attends the final fête of the Newport social season and discovers the party's over for a visiting prince . . .

The approaching end of summer means it's time for the Harvest Festival, the last big event of the season, held by Mamie Fish, wife of millionaire tycoon Stuyvesant Fish, at their grand cottage, Crossways. The mansion is decked out in artificial autumn splendor and an extravagant scavenger hunt will be held. But the crowning jewel of the evening will be the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria.

As acting editor-in-chief of the Newport Messenger, Emma had hoped to leave her days as a society reporter behind her. But at the last moment, she must fill in at the Harvest Festival. With nearly every eligible daughter of Newport high society in attendance, Emma can almost hear romantic dreams shattering like glass slippers when the prince finally appears--as a corpse in the garden.

The prince was stabbed in the same manner as another man recently found on nearby Bailey's Beach, who strongly resembles a relation of Emma's presumed dead for nearly thirty years. It's up to Emma to find a connection between the two victims--before a killer slips away like the fading summer . . .

Another tricky mystery set against the backdrop of some great real-life mansions.
--Kirkus Reviews

For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America's 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries...

With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder and a disappearance. . .

Responding to a frantic call on her newfangled telephone from her eighteen-year-old cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Emma Cross arrives at the Marble House mansion and learns the cause of her distress--Consuelo's mother, Alva, is forcing her into marriage with the Duke of Marlborough. Her mother has even called in a fortune teller to assure Consuelo of a happy future.

But the future is short-lived for the fortune teller, who is found dead by her crystal ball, strangled with a silk scarf. Standing above her is one of the Vanderbilts' maids, who is promptly taken into police custody. After the frenzy has died down, Consuelo is nowhere to be found. At Alva's request, Emma must employ her sleuthing skills to determine if the vanishing Vanderbilt has eloped with the beau of her choice--or if her disappearance may be directly connected to the murder. . .

For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, the glorious mansions of Newport house many mysteries--murder, theft, scandal--and no one is more adept at solving them than reporter Emma Andrews . . .

1901: Back from their honeymoon in Italy, Emma and Derrick are adapting to married life as they return to their duties at their jointly owned newspaper, the Newport Messenger. The Elms, coal baron Edward Berwind's newly completed Bellevue Avenue estate, is newsworthy for two reasons: A modern mansion for the new century, it is one of the first homes in America to be wired for electricity with no backup power system, generated by coal from Berwind's own mines. And their servants--with a single exception--have all gone on strike to protest their working conditions. Summarily dismissing and replacing his staff with cool and callous efficiency, Berwind throws a grand party to showcase the marvels of his new cottage.

Emma and Derrick are invited to the fete, which culminates not only in a fabulous musicale but an unforeseen tragedy--a chambermaid is found dead in the coal tunnel. In short order, it is also discovered that a guest's diamond necklace is missing and a laborer has disappeared.

Detective Jesse Whyte entreats Emma and Derrick to help with the investigation and determine whether the murdered maid and stolen necklace are connected. As the dark deeds cast a shadow over the blazing mansion, it's up to Emma to shine a light on the culprit . . .

In late nineteenth-century Newport, Rhode Island, journalist Emma Cross discovers the newest form of transportation has become the newest type of murder weapon...

On a clear July day in 1899, the salty ocean breeze along Bellevue Avenue carries new smells of gasoline and exhaust as Emma, now editor-in-chief of the Newport Messenger, covers Newport's first-ever automobile parade. But the festive atmosphere soon turns to shock as young Philip King drunkenly swerves his motorcar into a wooden figure of a nanny pushing a pram on the obstacle course.

That evening, at a dinner party hosted by Ella King at her magnificent Gothic-inspired cottage, Kingscote, Emma and her beau Derrick Andrews are enjoying the food and the company when Ella's son staggers in, obviously still inebriated. But the disruption is nothing compared to the urgent shouts of the coachman. Rushing out, they find the family's butler pinned against a tree beneath the front wheels of Philip's motorcar, close to death.

When Emma later receives a message informing her that the butler bullied his staff and took advantage of young maids, she steers the police toward a murder investigation. While Emma investigates the connections between a competing heir for the King fortune, a mysterious child, an inmate of an insane asylum, and the brutal boxing rings of Providence, a killer remains at large--with unfinished business to attend to...

Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, encounter an uncharitable killer at a charity luncheon sponsored by a posh school for girls . . .

Good deeds build good character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe--with the tireless assistance of Eva--has organized a luncheon to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks add up to a recipe for disaster when the school's headmistress, Miss Finch, is fatally poisoned.

The girls at Haverleigh all come from highly respected English families, none of whom will countenance their darling daughters being harassed like common criminals by the local police. So Lady Phoebe steps in to handle the wealthy young debutantes with tact and discretion, while Eva cozies up to the staff. No one is above suspicion, not even members of the school's governing body, some of whom objected to Miss Finch's modern methods. But Lady Phoebe and Eva will have to sleuth with great stealth--or an elusive killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson . . .

Colorful information on the postwar period is combined with plenty of suspects, all neatly wrapped up in the style of a classic mystery.
--Kirkus Reviews

Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, are preparing for a wedding, but it may not be the happy occasion everyone hopes for . . .

Since the Great War, the Renshaw family fortune has suffered. Now Julia Renshaw is under pressure to marry for money--and has settled for Gilbert Townsend, a viscount and wealthy industrialist. He is decades older than Julia, and it's clear to her sister, Phoebe--and to Eva, who has been like a surrogate mother--that this is no love match. Nevertheless, the wedding takes place--and in a hurry.

At the reception aboard the groom's yacht, there appears to be tension between Gil and several guests. The bride is also less than pleased to discover her honeymoon will be more crowded than expected--with Gil's pretty secretary, among others, coming along. Worse, that very night, Julia is injured during a hot-tempered outburst on her new husband's part . . .

The next morning, Gil's body is found in the water--and Phoebe and Eva must discover who pushed him over--before the Renshaws' social standing is irreparably stained by Julia's arrest for his murder . . .

Maxwell, who always puts an interesting spin on her country-house mysteries set between the great wars, delivers once again in this tale of love, hate, revenge, and country houses in peril. --Kirkus Reviews

For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America's 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries...

Late nineteenth-century Newport, Rhode Island, is home to some of America's wealthiest citizens. For society reporter Emma Cross, a less well-heeled cousin to the illustrious Vanderbilts, trailing gossip and glamour will lead her straight into murder . . .

Covering a polo match for the Observer, Emma's job is to take note of the real players off the field--Newport's well-bred elite. But the fashionable façade is breached when a woman in gaudy clothing creates a scene demanding to speak to the wife of Senator George Wetmore--until she is escorted off the grounds by the police.

The next morning, police detective Jesse Whyte asks Emma to meet him at the Wetmores' Bellevue Avenue home, Chateau sur Mer, where the senator's wife, Edith, has mysteriously asked to see her. Upon entering the mansion, Emma is confronted with a crime scene--the intruder from the polo match lies dead at the foot of a grand staircase.

To avoid scandal, Edith Wetmore implores Emma to use her reporter skills and her discretion to investigate. When Emma learns the victim was a prostitute--and pregnant--she wonders if the senator was being blackmailed. As Emma peels back layers of deception and family secrets, she may have met her match in a desperate killer who will trample anyone who gets in the way . . .

For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, the glorious mansions of Newport house many mysteries--murder, theft, scandal--and no one is more adept at solving them than reporter Emma Andrews . . .

1901: Back from their honeymoon in Italy, Emma and Derrick are adapting to married life as they return to their duties at their jointly owned newspaper, the Newport Messenger. The Elms, coal baron Edward Berwind's newly completed Bellevue Avenue estate, is newsworthy for two reasons: A modern mansion for the new century, it is one of the first homes in America to be wired for electricity with no backup power system, generated by coal from Berwind's own mines. And their servants--with a single exception--have all gone on strike to protest their working conditions. Summarily dismissing and replacing his staff with cool and callous efficiency, Berwind throws a grand party to showcase the marvels of his new cottage.

Emma and Derrick are invited to the fete, which culminates not only in a fabulous musicale but an unforeseen tragedy--a chambermaid is found dead in the coal tunnel. In short order, it is also discovered that a guest's diamond necklace is missing and a laborer has disappeared.

Detective Jesse Whyte entreats Emma and Derrick to help with the investigation and determine whether the murdered maid and stolen necklace are connected. As the dark deeds cast a shadow over the blazing mansion, it's up to Emma to shine a light on the culprit . . .

The New York Yacht Club's exclusive gathering at Newport, Rhode Island's Beacon Rock mansion hits stormy seas in the summer of 1900 when reporter Emma Cross, a lesser Vanderbilt, discovers a drowned corpse in Alyssa Maxwell's tenth Gilded Newport Mystery...

As a reporter, Emma is used to covering Newport's social events. But this time she is appearing on the arm of her fiancé, Derrick Andrews, at a small but exclusive gathering of the New York Yacht Club at Beacon Rock, the Grecian-inspired summer cottage of Edwin and Elizabeth Morgan. The members--which include cousin and Yacht Club Commodore John Pierpoint Morgan and widow Lucy Carnegie, the first woman to be admitted to the Club--are there to discuss their strategy for the next America's Cup Challenge, to be held in New York Harbor the following summer.

But it's Emma who must come up with a strategy when she discovers a woman's body bobbing against one of the hulls of the boats moored at the base of Beacon Rock. After the woman is identified as the missing daughter of a yacht designer, the police--with the exception of Emma's friend Detective Jesse Whyte--hastily conclude she is a suicide, perhaps to quiet any scandal for the Morgans. But Emma suspects the woman was murdered and begins to sort through a who's who of sportsmen, boat crews, and the Newport elite in search of a stone-cold killer . . .

In the sobering yet hopeful years following the First World War, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, find their summer plans marred by an instance of murder . . .

Phoebe and her sister Julia are eager for a summer getaway at High Head Lodge, the newly purchased estate of their cousin Regina. But they are not the only houseguests. Regina's odd friend, Olive, is far from friendly, and Regina's mother and brother--bitter over the unequal distribution of her father's inheritance--have descended on the house to confront Regina.

In addition to the family tension, Eva is increasingly suspicious of Lady Julia's new maid--wondering why she left her former employer so suddenly. And why does Regina seem ill at ease around the maid, as if they were previously acquainted? But things go from tense to tragic when their hostess meets an untimely end--murdered in her bed with no signs of struggle. Now, with suspects in every room, Lady Phoebe and Eva must uncover secrets hidden behind closed doors--before a killer ensures they never leave High Head Lodge . . . alive.

An unusual twist rooted in the recent horrors of World War I adds interest to a typical country-house mystery.
--Kirkus Reviews

The New York Yacht Club's exclusive gathering at Newport, Rhode Island's Beacon Rock mansion hits stormy seas in the summer of 1900 when reporter Emma Cross, a lesser Vanderbilt, discovers a drowned corpse in Alyssa Maxwell's tenth Gilded Newport Mystery...

As a reporter, Emma is used to covering Newport's social events. But this time she is appearing on the arm of her fiancé, Derrick Andrews, at a small but exclusive gathering of the New York Yacht Club at Beacon Rock, the Grecian-inspired summer cottage of Edwin and Elizabeth Morgan. The members--which include cousin and Yacht Club Commodore John Pierpoint Morgan and widow Lucy Carnegie, the first woman to be admitted to the Club--are there to discuss their strategy for the next America's Cup Challenge, to be held in New York Harbor the following summer.

But it's Emma who must come up with a strategy when she discovers a woman's body bobbing against one of the hulls of the boats moored at the base of Beacon Rock. Is it possible she fell from the Newport ferry and was carried by the tide? Or could she have drowned herself or fallen victim to foul play?

After the woman is identified as the missing daughter of a yacht designer, the police--with the exception of Emma's friend Detective Jesse Whyte--hastily conclude she is a suicide, perhaps to quiet any scandal for the Morgans, since her body was found floating near their property. But Emma suspects the woman was murdered and begins to sort through a who's who of sportsmen, boat crews, and the Newport elite in search of a stone-cold killer . . .

In the Alyssa Maxwell's sixth delightful A Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery set after World War I, a trip to Staffordshire for Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, leads to murder in a famed pottery works...

Following the devastation of the Great War, England's noble class takes comfort in honoring tradition. To celebrate their grandparents' wedding anniversary, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her siblings travel to Staffordshire to commission a china service bearing the Wroxly coat of arms from the venerated Crown Lily Potteries, a favorite of Queen Mary.

The two leading designers at the illustrious china manufacturer offer competing patterns. But when one of them is found dead--his body crushed in a grinding pan and his design pattern book missing--his rival is immediately suspected. The police are also suspicious of the dead designer's resentful young son, a schoolmate of Phoebe's fifteen-year-old brother Fox. When Fox gets involved to help his friend, Phoebe begins to investigate the rival artist.

At the same time, Eva is enlisted to go undercover at the works so she can gain the confidence of the female employees, who are only allowed to paint, not design, which may have led to a grudge against the victim. Pursuing a killer who has no compunction about using a kiln as a coffin, Phoebe and Eva take their lives into their hands to discover the shattering truth...