Historical Fiction

Beautiful muse, Miss Sapphire Reubens, the inspiration for her lover's latest art exhibition, is missing – items of her clothing found in the river. Worryingly, Miss Matilda Hayward and her fellow writer for the Women’s Journal, Miss Alice Doran, enjoyed a preview of the inspired work featuring Miss Reubens immersed in water. Was it a death portrait?

When another two rival artists are found murdered and posed in the manner of their painting, Matilda and her new beau, Detective Thomas Ashdown, fear the artist's inspiration may have come from ill means. There is mystery, passion and love afoot!

Matilda Hayward is determined to have a career, after all, it is 1888! While reporting for the Women’s Journal newspaper, Matilda is sent to cover the visiting ‘Freak Show’ and to interview Mrs Anna Tufton, a giantess. During the interview, the giantess slips a note to Matilda begging for help to her escape the show she is forced to do by her husband. But when the giantess’s husband is found murdered; the giantess is a likely suspect.

Matilda enlists the help of her lawyer brother, Amos, to prove the giantess is no killer and to free her from a life of exploitation. But close family friend, Detective Thomas Ashdown – who has feelings for Matilda having known her since childhood – would prefer Matilda was nowhere near his murder case. There is mystery, danger, and love afoot!

Miss Matilda Hayward has a nose for a story which serves her well as a writer for the Women’s Journal newspaper. Her beau, Detective Thomas Ashdown, is not quite as enthusiastic about her role. When Matilda’s brother, Elijah, takes up a doctor’s position at the Asylum for the Insane, she volunteers, seeking more life experience to improve her writing. Joined by her illustrator friend, Miss Georgina Urry, the two ladies are thrust into the mystery of several strange asylum deaths as patients believe they can fly. When Thomas is sent to investigate, their worlds collide. Now the race is on to find the sinister threat dwelling inside the dark and gloomy walls of the asylum. There is secrecy, danger, and love afoot!

Miss Phoebe Astin and her brothers, Julius and Ambrose, lead an unconventional life working in the family funeral business – The Economic Undertaker. But Phoebe is not just a talented mortician, she is a medium for the spirit world, and often enjoys the company of her clients before they move on to the next world. When one gentleman begs her to investigate his murder, Phoebe contacts her brother’s friend, Detective Harland Stone, and soon they uncover not only was the deceased a victim of a dastardly villain, but now several missing brides are feared murdered. For the Astin family, being dead is no excuse for letting a crime go unpunished!

Miss Phoebe Astin of The Economic Undertaker has applied her mortician skills to many faces, but a beautiful young debutante, Miss Daisy Dorchester, needed little work, or so Phoebe thought. When the debutante’s spirit appears to her, insisting she was murdered and demanding Phoebe do something about it, Phoebe agrees. She has, after all, helped many of her ghostly clients before they move on to the next world.
It soon comes to light that Daisy's death is connected to the priest from St Patrick's Parish and a young gentleman suitor with an engagement ring in his pocket; Daisy had boasted to the debutantes of a secret love.
Phoebe finds time is running out as the debutante will soon be laid to rest, but her brothers Julius and Ambrose, Detective Harland Stone, journalist friend Miss Lilly Lewis, and her dear friend Kate who took a portrait of the debutante the day before her death, are on the case.
Unfortunately, Daisy appears to have more enemies than friends and is fast making Phoebe one with her demands, requiring Julius to step in and reveal a side of himself he had to date kept hidden.
But justice must be served, and for the Astin family, being dead is no excuse for letting crime go unpunished!

Miss Phoebe Astin of The Economic Undertaker found herself charmed by the recently deceased perfume salesman, Mr Edward 'Teddy' Tate, as were many of his former clients. Not unaccustomed to speaking with spirits as they leave this life on their way to the next, the debonair salesman had two requests of Phoebe: to investigate his death, which he believed was not an accident and to send his love to three ladies whom he had been romancing. Phoebe passes the information on to her beau, Detective Harland Stone, and when two of Teddy's love interests are found dead, the detective gets a whiff of a crime afoot. Aided by her brothers, Julius and Ambrose, and her dear friends, the Vexed Vixens, Phoebe is doing her best to grant the dearly departed justice. After all, for the Astin family, being dead is no excuse for letting crime go unpunished (even if he was romancing three ladies, the cad!)

Mortician Phoebe Astin and her brothers, Julius and Ambrose, of The Economic Undertaker loved the chilly winter weather; it was much more befitting to wearing dark suits and burying the dearly departed. However, not all that were buried remained that way, notably two young ladies who appear in spirit form to Phoebe, claiming to have died from heartbreak after being left at the altar, their fortunes stolen. Determined to help them get justice, Phoebe provided a tip to her beau, Detective Stone, to catch the cad. But suddenly, the weather was not all that was proving to be chilly when, for the first time, Detective Stone dismissed Phoebe’s clue; Julius was ambivalent to her hurt; and an angry Ambrose was most out of sorts. Regardless, there was a rogue to be stopped, and being dead was no excuse for not seeking justice.

Amidst the festivities at the Christmas market, a killer is slaying "fallen angels".

It’s the most wonderful time of the year until fear overtakes festivities a week before Christmas. Mortician Phoebe Astin is visited by several young women who met their deaths after a visit to the Christmas market, and witnesses claim to have seen a woman leading them away. The last words the victims hear are the killer’s chilling nickname – "Fallen Angel."

As the town’s joyous mood turns to apprehension, Phoebe along with sharp-eyed Detectives Harland Stone and Gilbert Payne, and daring reporter Lilly Lewis, are desperate to unmask the ruthless killer before another lady is claimed.

It's a busy time for Phoebe and her brothers, Julius and Ambrose, at The Economic Undertakers amid twinkling lights, a proposal, and a baby's arrival. But can Phoebe help unravel the sinister truth before death casts a pall over the holiday cheer?

Ideal for fans of Deanna Raybourn, Cara Devlin, Irina Shapiro, and Wendy Vella.