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Murder in St. Giles
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London, 1819: When Brewster, my bodyguard, comes to me about a murder of a pugilist—and what’s more, says his wife has summoned me—I must hasten to St. Giles to find a killer before Brewster is arrested for the crime.
This is made difficult because Donata's late husband’s odious cousin has materialized to try to wrest her son into his care. After all, seven-year-old Peter is a viscount, and his cousin wants to get closer to the title.
But how close? If Peter’s life is in danger, I must remain, but Brewster risks hanging for the death of his wife’s brother-in-law. He’s done too much for me to turn my back on him, but the devil if I’ll let the Breckenridge cousin get his clutches on Peter.
It will take all my perseverance, and a few wiles, to plough through these difficulties. In the meantime, I meet a Runner who teaches me about crime and punishment in this enlightened age, and Brewster’s old trainer, who made him the excellent pugilist—and thief—he is today.
Book 13 in the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
Murder Most Historical
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Three historical mysteries span 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, who is more than he seems (A Soupçon of Poison). Finally, explore the darker side of Regency London in an alternate look at that period from the point of view of an army soldier whose family has lost face (A Matter of Honor).
The Glass House
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
It's Captain Lacey's duty to unravel the mysteries of Regency England.
The Glass House is a place where London's high society can indulge their vices. When one of its regulars is found floating in the Thames, Captain Lacey demands justice, uncovering jealousy and murder--while also confronting some secrets of his own.
A Covent Garden Mystery
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Lacey's seventeen-year-old daughter, recently returned to London with his estranged wife, has disappeared, as have many street girls in Covent Garden. Desperately hunting for her, Lacey uncovers secrets about his wife's past--and his own life--that he must face before he can stop a killer.
The Alexandria Affair
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Lucius Grenville at last persuades Captain Lacey to join him in an expedition to Egypt, to visit various ancient sites. Lacey is excited to go, though torn about leaving his new family. He discovers, though, that the burgeoning market for antiquities has made Egypt’s ancient history open for plunder, bringing forth ruthless men who will not stop short of murder for the sake of a fortune.
Death at Brighton Pavilion
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
When Captain Gabriel Lacey finds himself standing over a dead body in Brighton Pavilion, bloody sword in hand and no memory of how he got there, he immediately fears he is a murderer.The dead man is Colonel Hamilton Isherwood, a man Lacey clashed with after the battle of Salamanca in Spain seven years before. As Lacey tries to piece together the events of the previous night, he discovers he'd promised to help a Quaker gentleman find his missing son, and that the Society of Friends might know far more about his strange night out than anyone else.With the help of Brewster, Grenville, and his wife, Lacey races to save himself from arrest, even it means bringing to light painful scandals from his own past.
A Mystery at Carlton House
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
1818: Captain Lacey is drawn into affairs of the highest in the land when his friend Grenville is asked by the Prince Regent to look into odd happenings in his lavish abode of Carlton House. Objects of value have gone missing, paintings and sculpture have been moved, and some of the staff have reported strange sounds and movements in the shadows. The Regent and his cronies suspect ghosts or other malign spirits.
The Bow Street Runners have a more human suspect for these doings, and Captain Lacey is asked by a Runner to help him prepare a case against the man they’ve already arrested.
But the suspect is under the protection of James Denis, a leader of crime, which brings Lacey head-to-head with him once more. Opposing Denis can be dangerous, and so can dividing the loyalties of the men who work for him.
Meanwhile Lacey has his family to worry about—his daughter, his wife, and new members who have joined. In addition, he’s not convinced that either Denis or the Runners have the right idea in this matter. He must produce the correct answer before Denis loses his patience or one malevolent Runner in particular makes Lacey answer for the crimes.
A Disappearance in Drury Lane
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Late December, 1818 As Captain Gabriel Lacey prepares for his upcoming wedding, his former neighbor, Marianne Simmons, comes to him about an actress friend who's gone missing. Lacey agrees to help look for the actress, little realizing that the search will pit him against men who think nothing of abduction, assault, or sending incendiary devices to the innocent. At the same time, Lacey's personal life is changing, and his time for investigation is frequently and frustratingly interrupted. He is also commanded by a new Bow Street Runner to assist in bringing down James Denis, a criminal with whom Lacey now has complicated ties. Lacey must help or else risk hanging alongside Denis. The search for the actress takes Lacey from elegant assembly rooms to the backstage of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, where he finds darkness in all corners. Lacey's life and honor are constantly challenged as he tries to settle into his new life, until he realizes he can follow no code but his own. Book 8 in the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries.
A Regimental Murder
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Lacey returns in the second book of this series. After saving a beautiful woman from a mysterious assailant near the docks, Captain Lacey helps in her search for her husband's murderers. Her late husband was accused of committing a crime during the atrocities after a Peninsular War battle, and Lydia Westin wants Lacey to clear his name. Lacey investigates with his usual thoroughness, bringing in Lucius Grenville, the immensely wealthy Regency dandy, to help him. But murder and mayhem follow, and James Denis once more tries to recruit Lacey to help him with his underworld activities. This book introduces the characters of Lady Breckenridge and Grenville's irrepressible footmen, Matthias and Bartholomew.
A Death in Norfolk
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Lacey takes Lady Breckenridge to his boyhood home in Norfolk and finds himself embroiled in intrigue from the past.
Blood of a Gladiator
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Leonidas, champion gladiator of Rome, is set free from the games by a mysterious benefactor who grants him freedom, a place to live, and a servant—Cassia, a scribe—to look after him. But the benefactor is only so generous—Leonidas must pay his own way and Cassia's, which means hiring himself out. The sharp-witted Cassia quickly lands him a post as a bodyguard, escorting a retired senator to Ostia. The journey soon turns deadly, as Leonidas and Cassia find themselves squarely in the middle of intrigue that reaches from the slums of the Subura to the Palatine Hill and the emperor Nero himself. Book 1 of the Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries
Blood Debts
Ashley Gardner
Leonidas, freeman, former slave gladiator and champion of the Roman Colosseum, now must fight the full might of the Roman Empire. A man who owed him money was murdered, and Leonidas is a prime suspect. With the formidable assistance of Cassia, a greek scribe who is also his unwanted slave, Leonidas fights the treachery of justice in the courts and back lanes of Imperial Rome. And if he loses, he faces a short, painful future back in the Colosseum, without friends, arms, or hope.
A Gladiator's Tale
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
AD 63 Leonidas's former trainer, Aemil, asks him to look into the disappearances of gladiators from his ludus. Leonidas and Cassia investigate, and soon uncover gruesome murders involving some of the wealthiest citizens of Rome. Leonidas pits his skills against an unknown killer who hunts gladiators from the back lanes of the Subura to prestigious villas atop Rome's hills. He and Cassia must succeed in uncovering the murderer's identity before Nero grows impatient and makes Leonidas pay for the chaos the killer has rained down upon his city.
The Necklace Affair
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Lacey agrees to track down the missing necklace of a society matron and prove the innocence of her maid, who has been arrested for the theft. Lady Clifford declares that the rival for her husband's affections has stolen the necklace, but Lacey soon realizes that the problem is not so simple. He recruits Lady Breckenridge to infiltrate the Clifford household, while Lacey and his friend Lucius Grenville follow other leads. The investigation digs up scandal and past secrets, and Lacey finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval.
This is a 25,000-word (ten-chapter) novella. The events occur between the end of The Sudbury School Murders (Book 4) and the beginning of A Body in Berkeley Square (Book 5).
Murder in Grosvenor Square
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, Book 9. This is a full-length novel of 86,000 words (32 chapters).
Captain Gabriel Lacey begins Spring 1818 preparing for a duel. But while he focuses on the affair of honor, darkness, greed, and death stalk the streets of London and bring tragedy to a family Lacey has grown close to.
With the aid of Lucius Grenville, London’s most famous dandy, and Brewster, a ruffian employed by an underworld criminal, Lacey explores the world of molly houses and the double lives some men of society lead. His investigation takes him from the elegant mansions of Grosvenor Square to the squalid lanes of Seven Dials, to taverns that practice a highly illegal trade, spelling ruin and possible hanging for those caught within.
Lacey once again comes into the realm of James Denis, a crime lord, when what appears to be a simple crime of hatred becomes far more complex.
The Thames River Murders
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Lacey is asked by Thompson of the Thames River Police to help him investigate a cold case–the murder of a woman found near the docks Thompson patrols. The investigation was sidelined, considered unsolvable, but Thompson, in touch with the woman’s family, has long wished to find her murderer. Captain Lacey joins him in the hunt, entering a part of society that is closed to outsiders. Meanwhile, he must deal with his daughter’s debut and more developments in his new domestic life. (Coming in 2015)
The Hanover Square Affair
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
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 young woman to murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. At the same time, he struggles with his disorientation transitioning 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. Book 1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
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The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #1)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London, 1816 Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, his career ignominiously over. He stumbles onto the case of a kidnapping, the accused a prominent MP. 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, Lacey must face the everyday troubles of his own life.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. Lacey faces his own disorientation upon transitioning 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.Book 1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
The Sudbury School Murders
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Lacey accepts a position at the Sudbury School to find the person behind a series of malicious pranks. But when the mischief takes a deadly turn, Lacey must teach a murderer a lesson.
A Body in Berkeley Square
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
When an opulent ball is marred by murder, Captain Lacey's insufferably upright former friend, Colonel Brandon, is the prime suspect. With the man's fate in his hands, Lacey finally has a chance to avenge the wrongs Brandon has done to him--but at what price?
The Gentleman's Walking Stick
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London, 1817
An anthology of two short stories of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries.
In The Gentleman's Walking Stick, Lacey untangles a web of deceit involving a respectable society man, his only clue being a missing walking stick. (This story first appeared in the Regency fiction magazine, The Reticule in 2000.)
In The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald, Lacey is asked to locate a man's missing daughter, though he senses that the family will be just as happy for her to remain missing.
The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald was nominated for a Derringer Award for best short mystery in the year 2000. The story first appeared in Over My Dead Body! Mystery Magazine in Summer, 2000.
The first story runs 6000 words; the second, 5000 words. While these are standalone stories, the events fall in the series timeline anytime after The Sudbury School Murders.
Murder in the Eternal City
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
When I agree to visit Grenville in his villa near Rome, I scarcely imagine that I immediately will become embroiled in mystery and mayhem. James Denis has requested that I purchase an antique from a collector, one Conte de Luca. Before I can approach this count, I am recruited by a Roman a man to help rescue his daughter from a cool aristocrat, and then asked to solve the murder of an Englishman—by a man who is already dead. These tasks do not keep me from traveling to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and exploring to my heart's content, but trouble follows me in the form of a man bent on killing me—for what reason I cannot fathom. All this is compounded by another murder back in Rome, and I am commanded by James Denis, as well as the aristocrat who stole my new Roman friend's daughter, to find out who committed the deed and the secret of the man's astonishing collection of rare and fine art. Probing these puzzles lead me to the past,...
The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #4.5)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London 1817. Captain Lacey agrees to track down the missing necklace of a society matron and prove the innocence of her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. He recruits Lady Breckenridge to infiltrate the matron's household, and finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. This is a ten-chapter (25,000 word) novella.
The Gentleman's Walking Stick (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Two short stories of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries series. 1. The Gentleman's Walking Stick; 2. The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald. In each, Captain Lacey unravels crimes on the back streets of Regency London. These stories inspired the launch of the Captain Lacey series of novels.
Murder Most Historical: A Collection of Short Mysteries
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Three historical mysteries span in 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 from the point of view of an army soldier whose family has lost face (A Matter of Honor).
The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 1)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
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 disorientation transitioning 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.
The Sudbury School Murders (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #4)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
In 1817, Captain Lacey takes a post as a secretary at the Sudbury School in Berkshire. He soon finds that the headmaster expects him to discover the source of disturbing pranks that have kept the school in an uproar. The problems intensify when a stableman 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.
A Soupçon of Poison: Kat Holloway Victorian Mysteries
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London 1880
Kat Holloway, cook to the parsimonious Sir Lionel Leigh-Bradbury, finds herself embroiled in murder when she’s accused of poisoning her own cooking. Her only help as she hurriedly works to clear her name comes from the mysterious Daniel McAdam, who is much more than he seems.
Book 1 of the Kat Holloway Mysteries
The Glass House clrm-3
Part #3 of "Captain Lasey Regency Mysteries" series by Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
A Death in Norfolk (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #7)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
September 1817: Captain Lacey travels with Lady Breckenridge to his boyhood home in northern Norfolk only to discover mysterious happenings in and around the Lacey estate. The underworld criminal, James Denis, uses Lacey's visit to Norfolk as an opportunity to have Lacey deliver a message to a local squire. A simple task--but one that lands Lacey squarely in international theft and murder.
Murder in Grosvenor Square (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 9)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Captain Gabriel Lacey begins Spring 1818 preparing for a duel. But while he focuses on the affair of honor, darkness, greed, and death stalk the streets of London and bring tragedy to a family Lacey has grown close to.
With the aid of Lucius Grenville, London’s most famous dandy, and Brewster, a ruffian employed by an underworld criminal, Lacey explores the world of molly houses and the double lives some men of society lead. His investigation takes him from the elegant mansions of Grosvenor Square to the squalid lanes of Seven Dials, to taverns that practice a highly illegal trade, spelling ruin and possible hanging for those caught within.
Lacey once again comes into the realm of James Denis, a crime lord, when what appears to be a simple crime of hatred becomes far more complex.
Book 9 of the Captain Lacey Regency mysteries. This is a full-length novel of 86,000 words.
A Soupçon of Poison
Part #1 of "Kat Holloway Victorian Mysteries" series by Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London 1880
Kat Holloway, cook to the parsimonious Sir Lionel Leigh-Bradbury, finds herself embroiled in murder when she’s accused of poisoning her own cooking. Her only help as she hurriedly works to clear her name comes from the mysterious Daniel McAdam, who is much more than he seems.
Book 1 of the Kat Holloway Mysteries
The Glass House (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #3)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
On a January night in 1817, former cavalry officer Captain Gabriel Lacey is summoned to the banks of the Thames to identify a body. When Lacey looks down at the pretty young woman, cut down too soon, he vows to find her murderer. His search takes him from the seamy streets of the East End, to gatherings of the London ton in Mayfair, to the chambers of respectable Middle Temple barristers.
A Mystery at Carlton House
Part #12 of "Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries" series by Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
Murder in St. Giles
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London, 1819: When Brewster, my bodyguard, comes to me about a murder of a pugilist—and what’s more, says his wife has summoned me—I must hasten to St. Giles to find a killer before Brewster is arrested for the crime. This is made difficult because my wife’s late husband’s odious cousin has materialized to try to wrest her son into his care. After all, seven-year-old Peter is a viscount, and his cousin wants to get closer to the title.But how close? If Peter’s life is in danger, I must remain, but Brewster risks hanging for the death of his wife’s brother-in-law. He’s done too much for me to turn my back on him, but the devil if I’ll let the Breckenridge cousin get his clutches on Peter.It will take all my perseverance, and a few wiles, to plough through these difficulties. In the meantime, I meet a Runner who teaches me about crime and punishment in this enlightened age, and Brewster’s old trainer, who...
A Regimental Murder (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #2)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London 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.
The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #1)
Ashley Gardner
Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance
London, 1816 Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, his career ignominiously over. He stumbles onto the case of a kidnapping, the accused a prominent MP. 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, Lacey must face the everyday troubles of his own life.