Is airship travel safe? Not if there’s a killer on board.
When business magnate Robert Jeffreys announces his investment in airships, he hosts a promotional flight for a group of reporters. Working undercover in the crew is retired spy Augusta Peel. She’d rather be working on her book repair business, but Inspector Fisher of Scotland Yard has persuaded her to help with a surveillance operation.
The press trip on the airship takes a turn when a body is found in a cabin. Augusta now has a new challenge on her hands. Can she identify the murderer? It’s tricky to find a motive among the sophisticated passengers—some of them are sophisticated liars too.
Events escalate when a second death occurs. The airship murderer is covering their tracks. Augusta faces a race against time before the culprit tracks her down and silences her too.
It’s the Roaring Twenties. London’s bright young things are partying, Soho’s nightlife is buzzing, and Augusta Peel is hiding in her basement.
She has a reason to hide there: it’s home to her Bloomsbury workshop where she repairs old, neglected books. After a busy time during the war, all Augusta wants is peace and quiet—even if it is routinely disturbed by the tube trains beneath her feet.
But events take a turn when Augusta agrees to chaperone nineteen-year-old Harriet Jones on a date. Failing to get her home on time, she ends up in a riotous nightclub. She can’t imagine the evening getting much worse when the police raid it. But then the murder happens.
Who shot Jean Taylor? An old acquaintance at Scotland Yard learns Augusta was near the murder scene and persuades her to help with his investigation. But how can a humble book repairer navigate Soho’s world of actresses, gangsters, and theater impresarios to discover the truth?
A new historical cozy mystery from the author of the Penny Green Victorian mystery series and the Churchill & Pemberley cozy mystery series
The first three mysteries in the page-turning Penny Green Victorian Mystery series: Limelight, The Rookery, and The Maid's Secret.
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?
Contains mature themes.
Some say the Hotel Tempesta is cursed, but its owner, Mr. Gallo, refuses to believe it. When he's brutally murdered one night, the suspicion falls on his guests. Ten suspects in total. And Penny Green is one of them.
Does Mr Gallo's murder have anything to do with the criminal mastermind on the run from America? Penny and Inspector James Blakely must negotiate a world of courtesans, stolen paintings, and secret codes to prove Penny's innocence and uncover the truth.
London 1885. Something's not right at Shoreditch Workhouse and reporter Penny Green is struggling to convince someone to listen. After spending time there undercover, she knows that more can be done for the deserving poor beneath its roof. But does anyone else care?
When two workhouse inmates die in a fight, the police and the coroner accept the simplest explanation. Penny undertakes her own investigation with Inspector James Blakely's help and it's not long before they make themselves unpopular.
A macabre turn finally makes the authorities act, but can anyone stop the force behind the crimes?
London 1884. A culprit is on the run after a fatal poisoning in Bermondsey. It seems like a simple case for Penny Green to report on, until a series of macabre photographs is discovered.
As the poisonings continue, Scotland Yard is convinced they have their suspect. It's not long before they're outwitted and no one is safe. Penny and Inspector James Blakely must avoid the red herrings and track down the manipulative poisoner.
But could there be more than one?
A woman dies in a burglary in Fitzrovia. A man is murdered in an opium den in Limehouse. Gutsy Fleet Street reporter Penny Green suspects the two deaths are connected, but how can she prove it?
The answer may lie in Whitehall where the India Office reaps the benefits of Britain's opium trade. But when Inspector James Blakely of Scotland Yard begins investigating, an unforeseen danger looms.
Soon Penny is forced to act alone and is put to the ultimate test when her quest becomes personal.
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. When the intimidation begins, Penny starts to fear for her own safety. James does what he can to protect her, but is it enough?
The truth is rarely simple.
London 1884. Victorian industrialist Alexander Glenville is a man with many secrets. Fleet Street reporter Penny Green is tasked with working undercover as a maid in his home, but tragedy strikes when Glenville's daughter is poisoned.
Penny's insider knowledge is crucial for Scotland Yard's murder investigation, but someone in the Glenville household already suspects that she's more than just a servant. Can Penny and Inspector James Blakely solve the mystery before Penny's cover is blown?
There's a killer in the slums.
London 1884. When a thief robs Fleet Street reporter Penny Green, she finds herself caught up in a horrifying murder.
Someone is terrorizing the residents of St Giles Rookery and Scotland Yard sends Inspector James Blakely to investigate. When the serial killer claims a victim outside the slums, Victorian London is sent into panic.
Can Penny's friendship with the people of St Giles uncover the culprit? She and James must overcome their complicated relationship to work together, but each new murder threatens to derail their work for good.
How did an actress die twice?
London, 1883. Actress Lizzie Dixie drowned in the River Thames, so how was she murdered five years later in Highgate Cemetery?
Intrepid Fleet Street reporter Penny Green was a friend of Lizzie's and Scotland Yard needs her help. Does Penny unwittingly hold clues to Lizzie's mysterious death? Penny must work with Inspector James Blakely to investigate the worlds of theater, showmen, and politicians in search of the truth.
But who is following her? And who is sending her threatening letters?
Penny is about to discover that Lizzie's life was more complicated, and dangerous, than she could ever have imagined.
