ondon 1816 After rescuing a lovely woman from an attempted robbery, Captain Lacey discovers that she's the widow of a colonel who had been accused of murdering an English officer during the recent war. Lydia declares that her husband was innocent and that she knows the true culprits' identities. Intrigued, Lacey begins to investigate, and soon finds himself mired in scandals past and present. Book 2 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars to begin solving crimes that go unnoticed by the Bow Street Runners, which take him from the mansions of Mayfair to the backstreets of London's rookeries. Returning home through a London night in July 1816, Captain Gabriel Lacey is surprised to see a well-dressed, elegant woman stride to the middle of an unfinished bridge. Following her in curiosity, Lacey is on hand to rescue her from an attack by a footpad. As grateful as she is for the help, the lady refuses to give her name and direction, and so Lacey takes her to his own rooms in a street off Covent Garden to rest. He discovers that she is one Lydia Westin, wife of Colonel Roehampton Westin, who has recently been accused of murdering an English officer in Portugal during the Peninsular War. Before he could come to trial, however, Colonel Westin was found dead at the foot of the staircase in his own house. Lydia Westin, to Lacey’s surprise, declares he was murdered and that she knows the culprits’ identities. Intrigued, Lacey begins to investigate, and soon finds himself mired in scandals past and present, with a journalist dogging his footsteps, eager to print Lacey’s latest adventure.
This anthology includes: The Bishop's Lady (an Émilie d’Armand mystery), A Soupçon of Poison (a Kat Holloway Below-Stairs mystery), and A Matter of Honor (a Regency mystery with a touch of paranormal). Three historical mysteries span time from the court of Louis XIV to Victorian London. Meet Émilie d’Armand, a young woman who witnesses corruption and murder in seventeenth-century France (The Bishop’s Lady), and Katherine Holloway, an English cook sought after by the wealthy, who finds herself embroiled in murder, assisted only by the mysterious Daniel McAdam (A Soupçon of Poison). Finally, explore the darker side of Regency London in an alternate look at that period. Robert Archer, an army soldier whose family faces ruin, searches in desperation for a way to heal his family, assisted by an unlikely ally (A Matter of Honor).
James Denis gives Captain Lacey a task, to deliver a mysterious package to a man with an office near the Custom House on the bank of the Thames. Lacey, who has been drawn into danger delivering items for Denis before, opens the package to find a single chess piece, a white queen. The piece tells Lacey nothing, but he soon realizes it plays deeply into Denis’s ongoing battle for control of London’s underworld. Meanwhile Lacey encounters an old army friend just returned from Antigua, who is being accused of smuggling and possibly murder. Lacey decides to help the man, whom he considers honorable, to clear his name. But Lacey is drawn farther into the dark games of James Denis and his rival, until only his wits and memories from his past can save himself and his family from gravest danger. Book 15 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries
London 1816 Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. At the same time, he struggles with his own transition from a soldier's life to the civilian world, redefining his role with his former commanding officer, and making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.
Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil facade of the village begins to loom sinister. Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides in his childhood friend, Miss Lucy Harrington.
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars to begin solving crimes that go unnoticed by the Bow Street Runners, which take him from the mansions of Mayfair to the backstreets of London's rookeries. Captain Lacey takes a post as a secretary at the Sudbury School in Berkshire, a school for sons of the wealthiest merchants and bankers in England. He discovers as soon as he arrives that he's been hired for more than his letter-writing skills—a series of disturbing pranks have kept the school in an uproar. The headmaster expects Lacey to discover the identity of the prankster—immediately. Problems intensify when a groom of the school's stables turns up dead in a lock of the nearby canal. A Romany is arrested for the murder, and Lacey is the only person who believes him innocent. As Lacey works to discover what happened, he gets drawn into the secrets of Marianne Simmons, the actress who'd lived upstairs from Lacey in London. Marianne swears Lacey to silence, which puts a new strain on his friendship with Grenville. Meanwhile the intrigue surrounding the murder becomes as murky as the waters of the canal itself and puts Lacey and Grenville into grave danger.
