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The Girls’ Guide to
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Little Vampire Women
Love in the Time of Zombies
As eager as Beatrice, Duchess of Kesgrave, is to meet her husband’s newly discovered illegitimate half sister, she does not want it to happen like this: in the keeper's house at Newgate.
Yes, that Newgate, the abject prison filled with squalor and misery to which Verity Lark has been consigned for murder. Found standing over the slain corpse of an old tormentor with a still-warm pistol in her hand, she is obviously guilty.
It is an open-and-shut case with little for an unduly curious duchess to investigate.
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Verity Lark is in a new flap!
Bedeviled by Colson Hardwicke’s treatment—summarily dumping her via tersely worded message!—Verity Lark is lying awake in her bed seething over his behavior when she hears a floorboard creak. Immediately alert to the presence of a late-night intruder, she deftly thwarts the attack.
Taking her would-be kidnapper captive is easy.
Figuring out what he wants with her—well, that part is tricky and she wonders if it could have something to do with one of her many alter egos.
It is baffling, to be sure, but Verity has a plan.
A huszonhat éves vénkisasszony Beatrice Hyde-Clare-nek semmi esélye férjet szerezni. Rokonai jótékonyságából élő árvaként egyetlen dolga a hímzés és az udvarias hallgatás. Egy elegáns vidéki fogadás vendégeként Beatrice tökéletesen hozza a szerepét, még Kesgrave borzasztóan idegesítő, ám annál is jóképűbb hercege sem hozza ki a sodrából.
Contre toute attente, Beatrice Hyde-Clare est bel et bien fiancée au duc de Kesgrave. Et plus que jamais déterminée à l'épouser. Cette fois, c'est promis, aucun meurtre ne la détournera de son futur mari!
Peu importe les cris d'orfraie de sa tante, l'inquiétude de ses amis ou les conseils non sollicités de vagues connaissances bien intentionnées. Au diable les convenances, Beatrice est décidée à épouser le plus rapidement possible le duc de Kesgrave.
C'est compter sans mademoiselle Brougham, l'ennemie jurée de Bea, qui apparaît sur le pas de sa porte avec un mystère à résoudre. Un grand-père décédé, un bijou disparu, une lettre énigmatique... Et, cerise sur le gâteau, l'opportunité de reprendre le dessus sur mademoiselle Brougham. Pour Bea, l'occasion est trop belle.
Si seulement tout n'allait pas atrocement mal tourner....
Surprise! Beatrice Hyde-Clare, éternelle célibataire, se retrouve fiancée au duc de Kesgrave... et accablée par les obligations d'une telle union sous la Régence anglaise.
Submergée par l'interminable liste de ses devoirs en tant que future duchesse de Kesgrave, Beatrice n'a qu'une envie: se changer les idées avec un bon mystère à résoudre. Heureusement, c'est exactement ce que la comtesse d'Abercrombie lui a promis!
Or celle-ci refuse maintenant de lui donner les détails de l'affaire et Bea découvre que cette nouvelle enquête la touche de beaucoup plus près qu'elle ne l'aurait jamais imaginé... Et pour cause: les victimes sont ses propres parents, morts il y a vingt ans dans un naufrage. Mais cet accident tragique en était-il vraiment un?
Beatrice Hyde-Clareová úspěšně vyřešila dvě vraždy, které se jí z nějakého důvodu připletly do cesty, a nyní se poohlíží po další. Plachá stará panna se hloupým řízením osudu zamilovala do naprosto nedosažitelného vévody z Kesgravu a zoufalé hledá něco, co by jí pomohlo přijít na jiné myšlenky. Má ale štěstí, protože se na prahu jejího domu objeví starý známý z letního pobytu v Lake Districtu, a přesně to „něco“ jí nabízí: milenec matky jeho snoubenky totiž právě toho rána velice bolestivým způsobem zemřel a očividně byl otráven.
Je to sice naprosto nezvyklé, ale mladík o vyšetření případu požádá Beu, protože do celé věci nechce zatahovat policii. Beatrice se tedy ihned pustí do hledání vraha pana Wilsona, ale takřka okamžitě se ocitá ve společnosti vévody z Kesgravu, který je jako obvykle odhodlaný jí pomoci.
Je to zkrátka nespravedlivé, protože hlavním důvodem, proč se do té záležitosti pustila, bylo držet si pohledného vévodu od těla. Nyní tedy musí čelit dvojité výzvě – odhalit vraha, aniž by přitom odhalila vlastní srdce.
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ベアトリスは窮地に陥っていた。いくら事情があったとはいえ、「泣く泣く別れた身分違いの恋人がいた」と、彼女らしくもない大胆な嘘をついたせいで、叔母たちがいもしないその悲恋のお相手を見つけ出そうと、躍起になりはじめたからだ。そこで妙案を思いつく。架空の元恋人の「死亡記事」を新聞に載せればいい。ところが訪れた新聞社で、不運にも目の前で男性が刺殺されてしまう。ここでかかわったら、自分の立場が危うくなると知りつつも、ベアトリスは目にした手がかりがどうしても頭から離れない。被害者の背中に刺さっていたのは、大英博物館に展示されていた短剣にたしかに似ていた。しかし真相を探ろうにも学芸員に軽くあしらわれてしまう。そんなとき、手を差し伸べてくれたのは意外にも公爵さまで……!? ふたたび冴えない令嬢と公爵が手を組んで難事件に挑む！
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行き遅れ令嬢の事件簿シリーズ１巻
身分違いの探偵コンビが誕生！
19世紀英国。冴えない令嬢が、イケメンだけど鼻持ちならない公爵さまと図書室で死体に遭遇。不本意ながら凸凹バディを組んで殺人事件の謎を解くことに！
累計30万部突破の人気シリーズ上陸！
19世紀英国。幼い頃に両親を亡くしたベアトリス嬢は、叔母の家に身を寄せる居候。内気で読書好きな性格も災いして、すっかり婚期を逃していた。だからその日も、肩身の狭いハウスパーティーが一刻も早く終わることを願っていたのに、事件は起こってしまった。頭部を殴打された男性の死体を図書室で発見してしまったばかりか、そこであろうことか公爵と鉢合わせ。彼は頭脳明晰で美しいけれど、とても高慢な人物だ。案の定ベアトリスを体よく現場から追い出し、「男性は自殺だった」と嘘を吹聴した。公爵さまが犯人だからなの？ しかし嘘の真意を知ったベアトリスは公爵と協力して事件の真相を探ることに。誰にも注目されずに情報を集められる冴えない令嬢と、絶対的な発言権をもつ公爵――身分違いの凸凹バディの運命は！？
Beatrice Hyde-Clare järkyttyy, kun lontoolainen dandy putoaa kuolleena hänen jalkoihinsa Daily Gazette -lehden toimituksen edessä. Hyde-Clare jättää tapauksen Daily Gazetten toimittajille, sillä hänellä on itsellään on tarpeeksi pulmia. Häntä ei todellakaan kiinnosta alkaa jälleen yksityisetsiväksi. Hänen pitää hiljentää perheensä turhan uteliaat kysymykset hänen suhteestaan Kesgraven herttuaan.
Bea ei saa kuitenkaan mielestään jadetikaria, jolla miespolo oli tapettu. Hän matkaa British Museumiin saadakseen vastauksen mystisen tikarin alkuperälle. Sattumaa tai ei, Bea huomaa törmäävänsä turhan usein tutkimuksiensa aikana komeaan Kesgraven herttuaan.
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Beatrice Hyde-Clare kutsutaan kasvattivanhempiensa ja -sisarustensa mukana Englannin järvialueella sijaitsevaan kartanoon. Viktoriaanista aikaa edeltäneen aikakauden tapojen mukaan kyseessä on parempien piirien tilaisuus, jossa naimaikäiset perilliset tapaavat toisiaan ja päätyvät mahdollisesti avioliittoon. Nokkela ja nopeaälyinen Beatrice ei mahdu tähän leikkiin, hän on 26-vuotiaana jo liian vanha, eikä hänellä ole tarjota myötäjäisiä.
Sateinen sää pakottaa kaikki viettämään aikaa yhdessä sisällä. Uuvuttavan illan jälkeen Beatrice vetäytyy huoneeseensa ja huomaa tarvitsevansa lisää luettavaa. Etsiessään kynttilän valossa kirjaa kartanon kirjastosta hän törmää hyllyjen välissä lojuvaan ruumiiseen. Beatricen yllätykseksi paikalla on myös nuori ja komea Kesgraven herttua, tavoiteltu poikamies ja raivostuttavan itsetietoinen ylimys. Arvovaltaisesti herttua julistaa kuoleman itsemurhaksi Beatricen painokkaista vastalauseista huolimatta. Sisukas Beatrice ryhtyy selvittämään hämärää kuolemantapausta, ja pian epäiltyjen listalla on koko seurue.
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Lange Zeit galt Beatrice Hyde-Clare als schwer vermittelbares Mauerblümchen auf dem Heiratsmarkt der High Society. Doch dann stolperte die aufgeweckte junge Frau über ihre erste Leiche und entdeckte ihr Talent als scharfsinnige Detektivin – an der Seite des attraktiven und absolut nervtötenden Dukes of Kesgrave, der ihr stets auf wundersame Weise bei ihren Ermittlungen in die Quere kam.
Als dieser begehrteste Junggeselle Londons Beatrice überraschend einen Heiratsantrag macht, steht die Welt Kopf – nicht nur für die zukünftige Duchess, die sich mit einem Mal nicht mehr vor Einladungen in exklusive Tee-Salons retten kann, sondern auch für ihre Tante Vera, die sofort anfängt, ihren Hausstand zu planen. Das ist selbst für eine unerschrockene Hobby-Detektivin zu viel, und Beatrice flüchtet sich in den Salon ihrer Vertrauten, der Countess von Abercrombie.
Lady Abercrombie hat ihr vor kurzem einen neuen Fall in Aussicht gestellt – ein mysteriöser Todesfall, der offenbar schon viele Jahre zurückliegt. Doch nun gibt sich die ältere Dame plötzlich zögerlich. Es dauert eine Weile, bis Beatrice begreift, dass es in dem neuen Fall um ihre eigenen Eltern geht, die bei einem tragischen Bootsunfall ums Leben kamen, als sie ein Kind war. War es ein Unfall? Als Beatrice beginnt, in der Vergangenheit zu graben, erkennt sie mit zunehmendem Entsetzen, dass nichts in ihrer Familie so ist, wie es scheint …
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Eigentlich hat Miss Beatrice Hyde- Clare sich vorgenommen, die Finger von Dingen zu lassen, die sie nichts angehen. Als ihr daher vor dem Gebäude der London Daily Gazette ein Dandy tot vor die Füße fällt, fühlt sie sich kaum dazu berufen, eigene Ermittlungen anzustellen. Wirklich nicht. Nur dass der Dolch, der im Rücken des bedauernswerten Opfers steckt, ihr auf irritierende Weise bekannt vorkommt. So macht sie sich auf zum British Museum, um etwas zu überprüfen. Und dann – Überraschung! – taucht plötzlich der Duke of Kesgrave wie durch Zauberhand an ihrer Seite auf …
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Über ihre ersten beiden Mordfälle stolperte Miss Beatrice Hyde-Clare sozusagen zufällig, doch nun ist die junge Frau auf den Geschmack gekommen, und das hat einen tieferen Grund. Nicht nur hat die mittellose Waise ihr kombinatorisches Talent entdeckt (von dem sie vorher gar nicht wusste, dass sie es hatte) – durch eine absurde Laune des Schicksals hat sie sich in den für sie völlig unerreichbaren Duke of Kesgrave verliebt. Und sucht nun verzweifelt nach etwas, womit sie sich ablenken könnte. Eine Leiche käme da wie gerufen ...
Ende der Langeweile einer idyllischen Landpartie. Als Beatrice Hyde-Clare kurz nach Mitternacht in der Bibliothek von Lakeview Hall über die Leiche eines Gastes stolpert, ist es mit ihren hehren Vorsätzen weiblicher Zurückhaltung vorbei. Offiziell wird als Todesursache Freitod angegeben, Beatrice aber weiß es besser. Schließlich hat sie den eingeschlagenen Schädel des unglückseligen Mr. Otley gesehen. Ebenso wie der provozierend arrogante Duke of Kesgrave, der seltsamerweise alles daransetzt, den brutalen Mord als Selbstmord erscheinen zu lassen …
Beatrice Hyde-Clare est unique : sous la Régence anglaise, les jeunes filles de son âge sont rares à être encore célibataires... Et encore moins nombreuses à enquêter sur des meurtres.
Beatrice a désespérément besoin de détourner ses pensées du séduisant mais inaccessible duc de Kesgrave.
Miracle : monsieur Skeffington surgit du passé avec une demande peu orthodoxe. Il voudrait que ce soit Bea qui enquête sur la mort suspecte de l'amant de sa future belle-mère, plutôt que de faire appel aux autorités.
La jeune femme est soulagée : voilà qui devrait chasser le charmant Kesgrave de son esprit. Sauf que ce dernier est une nouvelle fois déterminé à l'aider dans son enquête. Bea se retrouve alors face à un défi de taille : démasquer le meurtrier sans dévoiler ses sentiments...
Beatrice Hyde-Clare, détective malgré elle au temps de la Régence anglaise, se retrouve à enquêter sur un nouveau meurtre... au côté du duc de Kesgrave !
Miss Beatrice Hyde-Clare est bien décidée à ne plus jamais se mêler de ce qui ne la regarde pas. Donc, quand un dandy s'écroule raide mort à ses pieds, elle ne ressent aucune envie d'enquêter. Vraiment aucune.
Sauf que l'arme du crime lui est étrangement familière... Voilà Bea en route pour le British Museum pour confirmer ses soupçons ! Et, surprise : le duc de Kesgrave apparaît comme par magie à ses côtés.
Entre Jane Austen et La Chronique de Bridgerton, une enquête haute en couleurs au temps de la Régence anglaise menée tambour battant par une héroïne malicieuse et attachante.
Beatrice Hyde-Clare détonne au sein de la noblesse anglaise : orpheline sans mari (alors qu'elle a déjà 26 ans !), elle dépend de la générosité de son oncle et de sa tante. Elle s'efforce donc de rester docile, respectueuse et à sa place : dans l'ombre de ses cousins.
Mais quand Bea trébuche sur le corps sans vie du pauvre monsieur Otley lors d'une partie de campagne, elle oublie aussitôt de se comporter comme une véritable lady et se lance en quête de la vérité, quitte à manquer de respect aux autres invités... et au divin duc de Kesgrave.
Jaké hrůzy se ukrývají v potemnělé knihovně? Šestadvacetiletá Beatrice Hyde-Clareová je příliš plachá, aby se pustila do vyšetřování podezřelé smrti jednoho z hostů panského domu v Lake Districtu. Stará panna, která je neochotně trpěnou schovankou svých příbuzných, by se jistě neodvážila prohledávat pokoje syna vážené hostitelky a jeho urozeného přítele, jen aby získala usvědčující důkazy. Byla vychována k úctě a poslušnosti, takže by ji samozřejmě nikdy v životě nenapadlo vyslýchat panovačného vévodu z Kesgravu a už vůbec by si netroufla zpochybňovat způsob, jakým celou záležitost předložil místnímu konstáblovi. Jenže když v opuštěné knihovně venkovského sídla Skeffingtonových zakopne o zkrvavené tělo ubohého pana Otleyho, přesně tohle udělá.
Jakkoli si Beatrice Hyde-Clareová libovala ve výzvě, jíž bylo pátrání po vrahovi na večírku v Lake District, rozhodně se nepovažuje za amatérskou vyšetřovatelku.
Když jí tedy přímo u vchodu do London Gazette padne mrtvý k nohám jistý londýnský švihák, necítí Bea žádné nutkání to vyšetřovat. Koneckonců je to zpravodajská kancelář a reportéři se už případem zabývají stejně jako úřady. A ona sama má vlastních problémů dost – třeba tu neškodnou lež, která se jaksi vyvinula ve směšně nafouknutý příběh.
Opravdu, vůbec ji to nezajímá.
Až na to, že dýka, která nebohého hraběte zabila, se zdá být znepokojivě povědomá... A tak se Bea vydává do Britského muzea, protože si nemůže odpočinout, dokud své podezření nepotvrdí, zatímco se snaží rozptýlit obavy své rodiny a pochopit nutkání vévody z Kesgrave.
Pohledný lord totiž nemá důvod ztrácet čas řešením záhady po boku plaché staré panny. A přesto se objevuje všude, kam Bea jde.
Verity Lark, Unraveling Deception.
Verity Lark — England's most tenacious gossip, the London Daily Gazette's most dogged reporter — relishes a challenge, which is why she refuses Colson Hardwicke's offer of menial employment. If the infuriating scoundrel really needs the sister of a radical reformer to be distracted with girlish chitchat, he can bloody well erupt into giggles!
The past rears its gorgeous head …
Deeply distressed to discover her husband lied about his whereabouts the day before, Beatrice, Duchess of Kesgrave, emerges from a wretched night’s sleep to discover him embracing the most beautiful woman she has ever seen.
His former mistress!
Why, yes, the former Beatrice Hyde-Clare is distracted. Having settled comfortably into marriage to the Duke of Kesgrave, she is nevertheless surprised to find herself in an interesting condition. And it has to be that—the unsettling prospect of motherhood—that causes her to overlook the obvious clue that Roger Dugmore had indeed been killed in his sleep. Summoned to the scene of the supposed crime by his grandson, a preening viscount from the country desperate to establish himself in society, she assumes he is trying to draw the attention of Mr. Twaddle-Thum, London’s most rapacious gossip.
Disgusted, she dismisses the absurd lordship and his concerns.
Henry Jacobson, a robot in the 13th upgrade, can’t process the data. Sure, humans can follow simple instructions to sweep floors and do other menial tasks that robots don’t want to do, but they can’t do anything complicated. Humans are just simple gadgets invented to make the lives of robots easier. Then his dad’s boss gives them a HueManTech ETC-420- GX-2 and Henry’s life is turned upside down. This human unit is like no other.
Welcome to Sundae’s, a retro diner that serves up the best dessert in all of Manhattan—and where three women find the right man to share it with....
In “What You Wish For,” Delaney Maguire’s wedding date is set. With her happily ever after guaranteed in just days, why is she suddenly doubting that Bob the banker is the one?
Megan's boss, Mim, has lost her cool. As the president of the cool-hunting (trend forecasting) company Pravda, Mim has just gone on public television and announced that T-shirts with Slut emblazoned across the chest is the next trend in the tween girls' market. Needless to say, her clients aren't happy and neither is the CEO of Pravda. So Megan makes it her mission to discover why Mim lost her cool. And she spends her free time watching Mim, which is a welcome distraction in helping her get over her ex-boyfriend, Ian, who was writing a book about an evil cool-hunter. Hmm, But when Megan discovers that Mim has agreed to help Ian publicize his book and that her strategy lands them at the scene of a crime, Megan finally realizes that Mim really has "lost her cool."
Tallulah West, the loveable heroine of Messina's second novel, is in a rut. The daughter of famed designer Joseph West, she works for the unimaginative Marcos Medici. Her father offered her a job, but she can't bring herself to work for him, or to forgive him for moving on so quickly after her mother's death. Even with the encouragement of her friend, Nick, the sexy, sweet son of a diplomat, she can't bring herself to ask her father for a loan to start the design company she's always dreamed of. When Marcos unexpectedly fires her, Tallulah's friend, Hannah, a wanna-be actress, encourages her to organize her life. She does, and discovers a deed to property her mother owned in North Carolina. Excited by the prospect, she convinces Nick to go with her to see the property. There, Tallulah finds something she hasn't felt in a long time: hope.
Seventeen-year-old Chrissy Gibbons has landed her dream job—a summer internship at her favorite magazine, Savvy. Being an intern is hard work, but the job becomes a lot more fun when Chrissy is befriended by a glamorous fashion editor who takes her to all the best parties. As the summer winds down, though, Chrissy realizes that in the whirlwind of parties and boys, she’s been neglecting what could be her big break in the magazine business: an opportunity to compete against other interns to become Savvy’s first teen columnist. Chrissy struggles to come up with a winning subject for her column—and in the process, she discovers what is most important to her.
Lights! Cameras! Inaction! New York writer Ricki Carstone knows it’s extremely unlikely a movie of her debut novel, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, will actually get made—the odds are like one in a hundred or something—but Moxie Bernard (hello! most famous teen on the planet!) has signed on to star. Plus, the producer is throwing her a super fabulous party in Hollywood (with Moxie!) to celebrate the relaunch of her book with a younger, sexier cover. Clearly, this is one movie option that’s going to make it all the way to the movie theater.Ricky is so confident, she quits her dead-end paralegaling job and moves out to Los Angeles to keep an eye on the project.
Eva Butler isn’t easily intimidated—certainly not by a stern receptionist with a disapproving scowl. Her appointment with media mogul Cole Hammond is too important to miss. As a senior associate at an auction house vying for his father’s multimillion-dollar art collection, she won’t be turned away by a specious claim that she doesn’t have an appointment. Of course she does. She made it herself!
Help comes in the form of an enigmatic executive who claims to have Hammond’s ear. Reed volunteers to take the meeting, and suddenly Eva finds herself at lunch with a charming man far too handsome for her peace of mind. She knows the sizzle of attraction she feels isn’t appropriate business behavior, and yet she can’t quite smother the spark.
Sixteen-year-old Violet Venom isn’t an artist—she can barely draw a straight line—and yet somehow the swankiest art gallery in New York City is hosting an exhibition of her work.
It’s a mega disaster in the making, but it’s not her fault. Really. She would never have told people she was the artist behind her late grandmother’s paintings. That totally off-the-charts lie belongs to Grey Shepherd, a fellow intern who had been trying to embarrass the mean girls they worked with. Mission accomplished!
Life at Fashionista magazine can be a bitch—especially when you work for one.
Vig Morgan finally worked her way out of the assistant-for-the-boss-from-hell trenches only to get stuck in a sea of editors. But Vig isn’t like the other worker bees at the aggressively hip and overwhelmingly current Fashionista magazine. For one thing, she couldn’t care less which star wore what designer to whose party. Sure, she’s smart and witty—and just as ambitious as the next overqualified underpaid underling—but she would never get drawn into a plot to depose the evil editor in chief.
You know Darcy: rich, proud, standoffish, disapproving, one of the greatest romantic heroes of all time. But you don't know this Darcy because THIS Darcy is a woman.
In Prejudice & Pride, Lynn Messina’s modern retelling with a gender-bendy twist, everything is vaguely familiar and yet wholly new. Bingley is here, in the form of Charlotte "Bingley" Bingston, an heiress staying at the Netherfield hotel on Central Park, as is Longbourn, transformed from an ancestral home into a perennially cash-strapped art museum on the edge of the city. Naturally, it employs an audacious fundraiser with an amused glint in his eye called Bennet.
It’s 2017, and a raging virus has drastically reduced the world’s population of men, transforming all but a fraction into a race of putrid, brain-dead zombies. So what’s single, ambitious 23-year-old Hattie Cross to do for fun, not to mention romance? In this hilarious marriage of post-apocalyptic fiction and supersmart chick-lit with a wry twist, novelist Lynn Messina spoofs dating manuals, monsters, and the superficial media world, all the while creating a feisty, funny heroine with heart.
The classic novel of love and family in the nineteenth century has grown some fangs! An uproarious retelling of Little Women that will leave readers craving the bloodthirsty drama on every page.
Readers will be agog and aghast at the hilarity of the March sisters' vampire transformation - especially now that Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy have (much) longer lives and (much) more ravenous appetites.
Hattie Cross knows what you're thinking: Zombie sex? Ewwwww.
But she also knows that since a virus turned 99.9999 percent of human males into zombies, it's statistically impossible to meet—let alone date—the remaining 0.00001 percent. So she writes “The Girls’ Guide to Dating Zombies” to help her fellow single women navigate the zombie-relationship waters.
Miss Evelyn Fellingham does not need to see the admiration in the Earl of Halsey’s eyes to know she is attractive—most men find her violet eyes and porcelain skin irresistible—but she wants to.
Yet every attempt to impress him with her playful wit and lively banter ends in sullen silence, for she is too much in awe of the handsome lord to form a coherent sentence. No doubt he thinks she’s a beautiful ninnyhammer. Indeed, that’s exactly what the earl thinks, and he dismisses her as yet another simpering society miss.
A PATENT FOR PASSION
No, no, no!
It doesn’t matter how many times the Duchess of Trent (The Harlow Hoyden) requests her help with a delicate matter regarding a patent for her sister’s invention, Tuppence Templeton will not lend a hand. She has a habit, yes, of coming up with ingenious plans to solve other people’s problems, and it is true that she’s clever and daring enough to pull off the proposed scheme.
Earning the nickname Lady Agony was no minor achievement for Lady Agatha Bolingbroke.
It required a great deal of effort to make herself so disagreeable, but she did it for a good cause: The fewer invitations she received, the more time she had to paint. Her mother, refusing to accept an unpopular daughter—or, worse, a talented one—insists on dragging her to every event of the season.
Miss Evelyn Fellingham does not need to see the admiration in the Earl of Halsey’s eyes to know she is attractive—most men find her violet eyes and porcelain skin irresistible—but she wants to.
Yet every attempt to impress him with her playful wit and lively banter ends in sullen silence, for she is too much in awe of the handsome lord to form a coherent sentence. No doubt he thinks she’s a beautiful ninnyhammer. Indeed, that’s exactly what the earl thinks, and he dismisses her as yet another simpering society miss.
A woman in the British Horticultural Society!
The very idea horrifies everyone, including ardent horticulturalist Lavinia Harlow, whose own name has been put forth for membership by the provoking Marquess of Huntly. He does it as a joke, of course, to get back at her for an imagined slight—well, to be fair, she had insulted his writing—and Vinnie, older sister to the infamous Harlow Hoyden, is far too sensible to rise to his ridiculous challenge.
Miss Emma Harlow hasn’t earned the reputation as a hoyden for nothing.
So when the Duke of Trent discovers her in his conservatory stealing one of his orchids, he’s isn’t surprised—charmed, delighted and puzzled, yes, but not surprised. It is Emma who is amazed. She has naturally concluded that the man reading in the conservatory must be the country cousin (who else in London would actually read?) and is quite vexed to discover that he is the Duke of Trent himself—imagine, stealing the duke’s prize Rhyncholaelia digbyana under his very nose!
Verity Lark knows everything.
As the London Daily Gazette’s popular gossip columnist, she is extremely adept at sneaking into houses, assuming disguises and overseeing a vast network of spies to ensure she stays abreast of the beau monde’s comings and goings. If it sometimes seems as though she was hiding behind the settee during a particularly fierce quarrel between a husband and his wife, it’s most likely because she was hiding behind the settee during their fierce quarrel.
But nobody knows her.
To be clear: Beatrice, Duchess of Kesgrave, does not think every dead person in London is the victim of a sinister plot. The city is large, after all, and some of its inhabitants had to have died from innocent causes. Like Peter Huzza, who was killed in a horrifying steam engine accident. It is shocking, yes, the way his body was torn apart by the explosion of his very own machine, but not entirely surprising. High-pressure steam is notoriously dangerous to harness.
There is no reason to suspect foul play.
Despite suffering a few initial setbacks, the former Beatrice Hyde-Clare has settled into her new position nicely.
Thanks to Lady Abercrombie’s machinations, she has secured the admiration of society and finally earned the respect of her staff. Even the lessons in defending herself, which her husband, the Duke of Kesgrave, insists she take if she wants to continue in her dangerous avocation, are going well. Save for the dreaded pineapple chunks chef André insists on putting in her beloved rout cakes, everything is perfect.
Since the new Duchess of Kesgrave cannot be swayed from her unfortunate interest in dead bodies, Lady Abercrombie decides to confront the matter head-on by hosting a murder mystery dinner party.
Gathering together several of society’s most influential members, she concocts an amusing puzzle-play, assigns roles, and stands back to allow Bea to impress them all with her ingenuity.
Finally, Flora Hyde-Clare has wrest the narrative from Beatrice by finding her own compelling murder mystery to solve.
Well, it’s not entirely her own because the victim is her cousin’s former beau, Mr. Theodore Davies, whose father cruelly separated the young lovers (though not so cruelly, for it left the door open for Bea to woo the Duke of Kesgrave). Bea insists, of course, that the law clerk’s death was merely an accident.
The former Beatrice Hyde-Clare is having a little trouble adjusting to her new situation.
Now installed as the Duchess of Kesgrave in elegant splendor in Berkeley Square, she is confounded by the stately residence’s seemingly endless array of rooms and every time one of the maids addresses her as "your grace," she flinches. And the butler! Oh, yes, that imposing servant holds her in utter contempt and has no qualms about sharing his opinion with the rest of the staff. It’s all so wretched. But just as Bea begins to despair—a bright spot.
Having inexplicably nabbed the Duke of Kesgrave, twenty-six-year-old spinster Beatrice Hyde-Clare is determined to marry him at once.
No amount of handwringing from anxious family members, worried friends and well-meaning acquaintances will convince her to delay. Except… maybe she is a little swayed by her uncle’s efforts to make amends for treating her with cold indifference during her childhood.
Having long abandoned any hope of making a match, twenty-six-year-old Beatrice Hyde-Clare finds herself a little overwhelmed by her engagement to the Duke of Kesgrave.
Cloying society matrons clamor for her attention while her aunt reels off an endless list of servants she will have to oversee. Even the most intrepid female would quake at the prospect of managing eight footmen! Fortunately, Bea knows the perfect distraction—an intriguing mystery—and pays a call on the Countess of Abercrombie, who had promised her that very thing only the evening before.
Having solved the two murders that somehow fell in her path, Beatrice Hyde-Clare is on the lookout for a third.
Through an absurd quirk of stupid fate, the shy spinster has fallen in love with the thoroughly unattainable Duke of Kesgrave and is desperate for something, anything, to occupy her mind. A dead body would do nicely. Fortunately for her, a fellow guest from a Lake District house party appears on her doorstep with exactly that: the lover of his fiancée's mother expired after a wretchedly painful episode just that morning in an apparent poisoning.
As much as Beatrice Hyde-Clare relished the challenge of figuring out who murdered a fellow guest during a house party in the Lake District, she certainly does not consider herself an amateur investigator.
So when a London dandy falls dead at her feet in the entryway of a London Daily Gazette, she feels no compulsion to investigate. It was a newspaper office, after all, and reporters are already on the case as are the authorities. She has her own problems to deal with anyway—such as extricating herself from a seemingly harmless little fib that has somehow grown into a ridiculously large fiction.
Nothing ruins a lovely house party like bloody murder.
When Bea receives an invitation to an elegant country party, she intends to do just that. Not even the presence of the aggravatingly handsome Duke of Kesgrave could lead this young lady to scandal. True, she might wish to pour her bowl of turtle soup on his aristocratic head - however, she would never actually do it. But a lady can fantasize.