James Langton
Miss Ann Pearson has spent years learning the difficult art of the professional cook, and jealously guarding her position in the kitchen of the fancy Coventry Club. When Colonel Sir Orion Goddard asks her to take on a young apprentice, Ann would rather refuse. But Orion is respectful, gruffly charming, and looking out for a girl whom others have neglected, and that is a combination Ann cannot resist.
Lingering scandal has taught Orion to
...Duncan Wentworth once tried his hand at rescuing a damsel in distress long ago, and he's vowed he'll never make that mistake again. Yet when he comes across a stranger in the poacher-infested woods of his estate, decency compels him to offer the lady aid. Matilda is whip-smart, she can read Duncan's horrible penmanship,...
THEY CALL HIM THE DUKE OF MURDER... The gossips whisper that the new Duke of Murdoch is a brute, a murderer, and even worse—a Scot. They say he should never be trusted alone with a woman....
Trevor, Marquess of Tavistock, has finally decided to stop larking around on the Continent, come home, and take a bride. His solicitors applaud his decision to settle down, provided he chooses a wealthy young lady to be his marchioness. Those years Trevor spent seeing the world were bad years for the lordly coffers.
Trevor is reluctant to consign himself to a mercenary marriage, and instead considers selling off some of his smaller properties.
...Miss Dorcas Delancey, vicar's daughter and advocate for the less fortunate, has been guarding her heart from fortune hunters and fashionable fribbles for years. She's completely unprepared for Alasdhair MacKay, former officer and all around grouch, to steal that heart. But when Alasdhair takes on responsibility for a motherless infant whom Dorcas's family won't acknowledge, she sees the honor lurking beneath his gruff mannerisms.
Alasdhair
...For Miss Charlotte Windham, the best way to maintain her spinsterhood — and her independence — is a teeny, tiny brush with scandal. She chooses wealthy, handsome upstart Lucas Sherbourne as her unwitting accomplice. He's intelligent, logical, and ambitious. What Charlotte doesn't count...
Lydia Lovelace has taken the housekeeper's post in the London home of Captain Dylan Powell. The captain is short on charm, but he's known for his rapport with, and support of, former soldiers trying to make a peacetime life in London. Unbeknownst to the captain, Lydia is searching for a brother who never came home after Waterloo, a brother whose birthright, along with Lydia's settlements, is being frittered away by scheming family members.
...One minute, London banker Quinn Wentworth is facing execution. The next, he's declared the long-lost heir to a dukedom. Quinn has fought his way up from the worst slums, and now he's ready to use every dirty trick he knows to find the enemy who schemed against him.
Jane Winston, widowed...
Julian St. David, Duke of Haverford, is barely keeping his head above water in a sea of inherited debts. Though he has a long-term plan to restore the family finances, his sister has a much faster solution: host a house party for London's single young ladies and find Julian a wealthy...
As a captain in the army, Colin MacHugh led men, fixed what was broken, and fought hard. Now that he's a titled gentleman, he's still fighting — this time to keep his bachelorhood safe from all the marriage-minded debutantes. Then...
12) Miss Devoted
Psyche Fremont has known two constants in life: Her passion for her art, and society's determination to ignore her talent. She isn't looking for anything other than a handsome model when she crosses paths with Michael Delancey, and he's only interested in making a few discreet coins lounging about in the altogether. Both Michael and Psyche are guarding secrets, but when love blooms, can they continue to guard their hearts?
Matilda Merridew, former hoyden of the first water, finds herself widowed, weary, and in want of coin. Along comes Marcus, Lord Tremont, with an interesting–and decent–proposition. Tremont will provide Matilda a handsome salary and keep a commodious roof over her head if she will relieve him of the burden of managing a houseful of unruly former soldiers.
Matilda accepts the post, and soon learns that the proper, soft-spoken earl
...Miss Catherine Fairchild spent much of her life haring about the globe with her diplomat parents, though she grasped at a young age that as a legitimate by-blow, her social standing among Polite Society would be marginal at best. Now she's lost both parents and is settled back in London, where she learns that not only is she an heiress, but that the family title can be preserved through the female line.
Miss Dubious has become Miss Desirable,
...15) The Zig Zag Girl
"Captivating."—Wall Street Journal
"An absorbing read, the debut of another great series."—San Jose Mercury News
"A labyrinthine plot,...
"No mystery writer except perhaps Anne Perry is as successful as Charles Finch at evoking the atmosphere of Victorian London" - Washington Post
From bestselling author Charles Finch comes the third and final in a prequel trilogy to his lauded Charles Lenox series.
London, 1855. A young and eager Charles Lenox faces his toughest case yet: a murder without a single clue. Slumped in a third-class car at Paddington Station