Sweet Poison

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Agatha Christie · 190 pages

Set in the summer of 1917 in an Essex country estate, the story follows the war-wounded Captain Arthur Hastings to the Styles St. Mary manor of his friend John Cavendish. The Cavendish household is wrought with tension due to the marriage of John's widowed old aunt Emily, she of a sizeable fortune, to a suspicious younger man, Alfred Inglethorp, twenty years her junior. Emily's two stepsons, John

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Alan Bradley · 375 pages

In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950--and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia's family calls home. A dead bird is found

Arsenic for Tea

Robin Stevens · 352 pages

False Scent

Ngaio Marsh · 255 pages

In a poisonous cloud of spray, the curtain falls on a drama queen. Little did beloved British actress Mary Bellamy know that she would be done in at her own birthday party-choked by toxic mist from the bottle of "Slaypest," a deadly insecticide. Basking in the glow of her most adoring fans-who all happened to be her most duplicitous enemies-Mary would make her final performance. When Superinten

The Crime at Black Dudley

Margery Allingham · 211 pages

A Speedy Death

Gladys Mitchell · 305 pages

If anything rouses the rancour of guests at Chayning Court, it is that someone should dare be late for dinner. But as it turns out, the object of their disdain and speculation on this occasion, the intrepid explorer Everard Mountjoy, would never apologise for his tardiness. In fact, he would never eat dinner again, for he was slumped dead in the bath... The alarming Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bra

No Wind of Blame

Georgette Heyer · 320 pages

Tragedy befalls the Carter family following an eventful visit from a Russian prince and a scandalous blackmail letter. The murder of Wally Carter generates a bewildering mystery: how does one shoot a man crossing a narrow bridge without being near the murder weapon when it is fired? The superlatively analytical Inspector Hemingway reveals his unnerving talent for solving a fiendish problem.

Death Comes to Pemberley

P.D. James · 330 pages

Death Comes to Pemberly is a murder mystery based on the characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The novel joins Mr and Mrs Darcy after they have been married for six year and just as they are preparing to hold their annual ball in honour of Mr Darcy’s mother. Everything is going well, Jane and Bingley have arrived and their staff have preparations well in hand. Then the night befor

Murder at Maypole Manor

L.B. Hathaway

Excitingly, Private Detective Posie Parker has been asked to accompany Inspector Richard Lovelace of New Scotland Yard on an undercover mission. Their destination is a glittering New Year's Eve party at Maypole Manor, the cliff-top home of Lord Robin Glaysayer. Among the twelve members of the house-party are a famous film star, an artist, an Italian nobleman, a government spy and a clairvoyant. Wi

The Murders of Richard III

Elizabeth Peters · 240 pages

In a remote English manor house, modern admirers of the much-maligned King Richard III -- one of Shakespeare's most extraordinary villains -- are gathered for a grand weekend of dress-up and make-believe murder. But the fun ends when the masquerade turns more sinister ... and deadly. Jacqueline Kirby, an American librarian on hand for the festivities, suddenly finds herself in the center of strang

The Clock Strikes Twelve

Patricia Wentworth · 259 pages

**Miss Silver investigates the murder of a great British industrialist.** Though they share a manor house, the Paradines are not close, and their patriarch does nothing to discourage the petty jealousies that divide wealthy families. A cold figure, James Paradine prefers work to his relations, but on New Year’s Eve he convenes the household. Valuable plans have been stolen from his office, and

Death of a Cozy Writer

G.M. Malliet · 297 pages

The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks

James Anderson · 330 pages

"But Lavinia, I don't want people staying here," said the Earl. "After the last two house parties, we agreed no more." "This wouldn't be a house party, George, it's nine guests for one night." "But the last two times we've had people here it's been disastrous." "This is quite different. These people are family, not spies and jewel thieves and blackmailers and film stars. And when one occupies a

Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie

Kathy Lynn Emerson · 256 pages

Left alone to handle the uproar following the poisoning murder of the steward, Lady Susanna Appleton, an expert herbalist, seeks to identify what killed the steward while unmasking the killer.

The Moonstone

Wilkie Collins · 444 pages

One of the first English detective novels, this mystery involves the disappearance of a valuable diamond, originally stolen from a Hindu idol, given to a young woman on her eighteenth birthday, and then stolen again. A classic of 19th-century literature.

Murder at Dareswick Hall

Margaret Addison · 246 pages

The Dark Side of the Road

Simon R. Green · 224 pages

An English Murder

Cyril Hare · 176 pages

A country house murder mystery classic, as a party find themselves snowed-in on Christmas Eve with a murderer among them... The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. All is set for a lovely Christmas, with friends and family gathered round the fire, except as the bells chime midnight, a murder is committed. But who is responsible? The scorned yo

The Novice's Tale

Margaret Frazer · 229 pages

The arrival of lusty, blaspheming dowager Lady Ermentrude at St. Frideswide convent in 1431 causes quite a stir, but before the obnoxious woman can get what she came for--her niece, the novice Thomasine--she is murdered. Sister Frevisse - Book 01

Satellite People

Hans Olav Lahlum · 336 pages

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Stephanie Barron · 337 pages

"The twelfth installment in Stephanie Barron's fan-favorite Being a Jane Austen Mystery series. Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at The Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities,

Auntie Mayhem

Mary Daheim · 268 pages

Though lurching through London is ever so jolly, hostess on-holiday Judith McMonigle Flynn and her cantankerous cousin Renie are looking forward to an unharried weekend at a real English country manor. They find the estate taxing, however, what with vacationing relations crowding every nook and cranny of Ravenscroft House, while its awesomely aged mistress, Aunt Petulia, holds court—until a box of

Murder at Rutherford Hall

P.B. Kolleri · 216 pages

On a cold November evening, Lord Rutherford disappears suddenly and unaccountably while his breathtakingly beautiful young wife, Celia, flees Rutherford Hall with blood on her hands. Rachel Markham, Rutherford's niece, and Jeremy Richards, a Scotland Yard detective, team up to help the local police force unravel the mystery.

The Burglar in the Library

Lawrence Block · 344 pages

Bookseller and New-Yorker-to-the-bone, Bernie Rhodenbarr rarely ventures out of Manhattan, but he's excited about the romantic getaway he has planned for himself and current lady love Lettice at the Cuttleford House, a remote upstate b&b. Unfortunately, Lettice has a prior engagement—she's getting married . . . and not to Bernie—so he decides to take best buddy Carolyn instead. A restful respite f