SNOWDRIFT AND OTHER STORIES

ARABELLA

Arabella, the daughter of an impoverished country parson, dreams of a new life in London. But her beauty and charm will only get her so far - and when Arabella embarks on her first London season armed with nothing but a benevolent godmother and her own notoriously short temper, she quickly runs afoul of Robert Beaumaris. He's the most eligible bachelor of the day, with a personality as strong and combative as hers - and Arabella cannot abide him thinking of her as just another pretty girl after his wealth. So she allows herself to be provoked into a game of deception - one that could have unexpected consequences...

BATH TANGLE

The Earl of Spenborough had always been noted for his eccentricity. Leaving a widow younger than his own daughter was one thing ... leaving his fortune to the trusteeship of the Marquis of Rotherham, the one man that same daughter had jilted, was quite another!

BEAUVALLET

Witty, elegant, stylish and the best comedies of manners since Jane Austen. 'Mad Nicholas' to his friends, 'Scourge of Spain' to the enemy, Sir Nicholas Beauvallet has never been known to resist a challenge.When a captured galleon yields the lovely Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva, he vows to return her and her father to the shores of Spain. But he has no sooner done so than he proposes a venture more reckless than any of his exploits on the high seas which have made him Drake's equal and a favourite of the Queen. He will take Dominica as his bride even if he must enter the lion's den...

BEHOLD, HERE'S POISON

When Gregory Matthews, patriarch of the Poplars is found dead one morning, imperious Aunt Harriet blames it on the roast duck he ate for supper. After all, she had warned him about his blood pressure. But a post-mortem determines that the cause of death is much more sinister. Murder. By poison. Suspicion falls immediately amongst his bitter, quarrelsome family. Each has a motive; each, opportunity. It falls to Superintendent Hannasyde to sift through all the secrets and lies and discover just who killed Gregory Matthews, before the killer strikes again...

THE BLACK MOTH

Diana Beauleigh is caught between two men. Seven long years ago, Jack Carstares, the Earl of Wyncham, sacrificed his honour for his brother and has been in exile ever since. Returning to England, Jack pretends to be a gentleman named Sir Anthony Ferndale but makes his living in a most ungentlemanly fashion, as a highwayman and a gambler. When Jack encounters his nemesis, the Duke of Andover, in the midst of kidnapping Diana Beauleigh, the two old enemies come to blows. Can Jack save the beautiful Diana from rakes, kidnap and ruin...?

BLACK SHEEP

Abigail Wendover tries to stop the liaison between her niece and a fortune hunter, Stacy Calverleigh. The arrival of Stacy's uncle in Bath further complicates Abby's life.

A BLUNT INSTRUMENT

When Ernest Fletcher is found bludgeoned to death in his study, everyone is shocked and mystified: Ernest was well-liked and respected, so who would have a motive for killing him? Enter Superintendent Hannasyde who, with consummate skill, begins to uncover the complexities of Fletcher's life. It seems the real Fletcher was far from the gentleman he pretended to be. There is, in fact, no shortage of people who wanted him dead. Then, a second murder is committed, with striking similarities to the first, giving a grotesque twist to a very unusual case.

A CIVIL CONTRACT

Adam Deveril, the new Viscount Lynton and a hero at Salamanca, returns from the Peninsula War to find his family on the brink of ruin and his ancestral home mortgaged to the hilt. It is Lord Oversley, father of Adam's first love, who tactfully introduces him to Jonathan Chaleigh, a wealthy City man with no social ambitions for himself, but with his eyes firmly fixed on a suitable match for his only daughter...

THE CONQUEROR

William the Bastard, base-born son of the Duke of Normandy, must fight the King of France to regain his Duchy. Spurned in love by the lovely Princess Matilda, the fighting Duke dares to take a whip to her in her own father's palace, before making her his bride. Thwarted by the Saxon Earl Harold of a promise of the throne of England, William the Conqueror sails to Hastings to claim the King's crown and sceptre for his own.

THE CONVENIENT MARRIAGE

To save her sister, Horatia Winwood impetuously rushes into marriage with the Earl of Rule. An innocent in society, the naive Horry commits compromising follies from which she must be rescued by her long-suffering husband.

COTILLION

Kitty Charing will inherit a vast fortune from her great -uncle Matthew, if she marries one of her cousins. Her preferred choice is Jack Westruther who has no inclination to marry. So Kitty and another cousin devise a plan, designed to make Jack madly jealous!

COUSIN KATE

When young governess Kate Malvern finds herself unemployed, she is taken in by Minerva Broome, the aunt she has never met, and whisked away to the majestic country home of Staplewood. However, things are not as they seem: strange things start to happen in the manor and Staplewood soon turns from an inviting stately house to a cold and gloomy mansion with a dreadful secret!

DEATH IN THE STOCKS

A moonlit night. A sleeping village. And an unaccountable murder... An English bobbie returning from night patrol finds a corpse in evening dress locked in the stocks on the village green. He identifies the body immediately. Andrew Vereker was not a well-loved man, and narrowing down the suspects is not going to be an easy job. The Vereker family are corrupt and eccentric -and hardly cooperative ... It's another case for the resourceful Superintendent Hannasyde, who sets off on the trail of a killer so cunning that even his consummate powers of detection are tested to their limits...

DETECTION UNLIMITED

Slumped on a seat under an oak tree is old Sampson Warrenby, with a bullet through his brain. He is discovered by his anxious niece, Mavis, who is just one of the the people in the village in the running for chief suspect, having just cause to dislike Warrenby intensely. Only Chief Inspector Hemingway can uncover which of the ten has turned hatred into murder.

DEVIL'S CUB

When the young Marquis of Vidal is forced to leave the country Mary Challoner discovers that he plans to abduct her sister. To save her sister’s reputation, Mary plans to impersonate her.

DUPLICATE DEATH

Inspector Hemingway has his work cut out for him when a seemingly civilized card game ends in a double murder. The two crimes appear identical, but were they carried out by the same hand? When Timothy Harte's young fiance - a put-upon secretary and suspected gold digger - becomes the inspector's prime suspect, Harte is determined to prove her innocence. But when he starts digging into her past, he finds it's more than a little bit shady...

ENVIOUS CASCA

It is no ordinary Christmas at Lexham Manor. Six holiday guests find themselves the suspects of a murder enquiry when the old Scrooge, Nathaniel Herriad, who owns the substantial estate, is found stabbed in the back. whilst the delicate matter of inheritance could be the key to this crime, the real conundrum is how any of the suspects could have entered the locked room to commit this foul deed. For Inspector Hemingway of Scotland Yard, 'tis the season to find whodunit.

FALSE COLOURS

On leave from the diplomatic service, the Hon Christopher Fancot finds his mother on the brink of financial ruin and his twin brother vanished without trace.

FARO'S DAUGHTER

Renowned gamester and the first to admit that he is entirely void of a romantic disposition, Max Ravenscar regards all eligible females with indifference and unconcern. But when he meets the woman his young cousin Adrian is bent on marrying - the beautiful Deborah Grantham, mistress of her aunt's gaming house - he finds that none of his experience in risk and gambling has prepared him for such a worthy opponent.

FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK

The Priory may look ramshackle in appearance, but Peter, Margaret, and Celia, are totally charmed by their newly-inherited country house. But there's more to The Priory than meets the eye. Left empty for years, hardly a single person has set foot inside and, down in the village, the locals whisper of a ghostly figure that roams the halls . . . When a murder is committed, the new owners start to fear the rumours are true - but is their new home really haunted, or is someone trying to scare them away?

FREDERICA

Vernon Alverstoke sees no reason to put himself out for anyone. But when a distant connection asks for help, he is quickly plunged into one drama after another by the disorderly Merriville family. Surprisingly, he finds himself far from bored - especially when he encounters their strong-minded daughter, Frederica. However, she seems far more concerned with her family's welfare than his romantic advances...

FRIDAY'S CHILD

In this Regency comedy Young Lord Sherry marries the adorably unsophisticated Hero Wantage who had loved him devotedly since childhood and, after their runaway marriage, he seems to have time to do little except get his wife out of her quaint scrapes.

THE GRAND SOPHY

Sophy Stanton-Lucy has travelled from the Continent to visit her cousins in Berkeley Square. She finds the family in a sad tangle, but the redoubtable Sophy sets out with wit and flair to rearrange her cousins' lives. A Regency comedy.

MASQUERADERS

A delightful romantic adventure from one of the best-known and beloved historical novelists of all time. Robin and Prudence Merriot have been dissemblers since they were children. And in this age of slippery politics, they need to be. So it is nothing for them to rescue a rich heiress from her abductor. But once committed to their masquerade, they must see it through...

MY LORD JOHN

John, Duke of Bedford, grew to manhood fighting for his father, King Henry IV of England, on the wild and lawless Northern Marches. A prince of the royal blood, loyal, strong, the greatest ally that his brother - the future Henry V - was to have. Filled with the clash of bitter rivalries and deadly power struggles, this is Georgette Heyer's last and most ambitious novel.

NO WIND OF BLAME

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.

PENHALLOW

The death of Adam Penhallow on the eve of his birthday seems, at first, to be by natural causes. He was elderly after all. But Penhallow wasn't well liked. He had ruled over his estate with an iron will and a sharp tongue. He had played one relative off against another. He was so bad tempered and mean that both his servants and his family hated him. It soon transpires that far from being a peaceful death, Penhallow was, in fact, murdered. Poisoned. With his family gathered to celebrate his birthday, and servants that both feared and despised him, there are more than a dozen prime suspects. But which one of them turned hatred into murder?

THE RELUCTANT WIDOW

Stepping into the wrong carriage at a Sussex village, Elinor Rochdale is swept up in a thrilling and dangerous adventure. Overnight the would-be governess becomes mistress of a ruined estate and partner in a secret conspiracy to save a family's name. By midnight she is a bride, by dawn a widow.

ROYAL ESCAPE

Dispossessed of crown and kingdom, crushed and routed at the grim Battle of Worcester, the young Charles II is forced to flee for his life. Out of the heat of battle, the outlaw King and his tiny party must journey across Cromwell's England to a Channel port and a ship bound for France and safety. But the King, with his love of adventure, his irrepressible humour and his unmistakeable looks, is no easy man to hide...

SIMON THE COLDHEART

Even as a fourteen-year-old orphan, Simon Beauvallet knows his own mind. Later, friend and foe alike will know better than to cross the flaxen-haired mountain of a man whose exploits in battle have earned him knighthood, lands and gilded armour. After Agincourt, he has no equal save the king himself in generalship - until his legendary prowess is baulked by a woman. In Normandy, the icy rage of Simon the Coldheart must melt - or quench Lady Margaret, spitfire of Belremy.

SYLVESTER

Arrogant Sylvester, Duke of Salford, seeks a wife who is worthy of him. However, unbeknown to him, the lady of his choice has written a scandalous novel featuring him as the villain.

THE TALISMAN RING

Lord Lavenham wants to provide for his grand-daughter, Eustacie, but his heir, Ludovic, is a fugitive from justice. It is his dying wish that Eustacie should marry Sir Tristram Shield, but neither party has the inclination to marry.

THE TALISMAN RING

The legend of the Headless Horseman and a proposed marriage de convenance both have their impact on the mystery of a golden talisman ring and Lord Lavenham's young heir, Ludovic. Neither Sir Tristram Shield nor Eustacie, his young French cousin, share the slightest inclination to marry one another, yet it is Lord Lavenham's dying wish. For there is no one else to provide for the old man's granddaughter while Ludovic remains a fugitive from justice ...

THESE OLD SHADES

Twenty years after being refused permission to marry the sister of Duc de Saint-Vivre, Justin Alastair is plotting revenge by using his new red-haired page, Leon. But is everything in the Paris of Louis XV as it seems?

THEY FOUND HIM DEAD

The sixtieth birthday party of Silas Kane was marred by argument and dissension amongst his family. And then, the morning after the celebrations, Kane is found dead at the foot of a cliff. The theory that Silas accidentally lost his way in the fog is confirmed when the coroner returns a verdict of death by misadventure. But then Kane's nephew and heir is murdered and threats are made on the next in line to the fortune, throwing a new and sinister light on Silas Kane's death. All clues point to an elderly lady of eighty as the killer. But as the redoubtable Superintendent Hannasyde delves further into the case he discovers that nothing is quite as it seems...

THE TOLL-GATE

Home after Waterloo, Captain John Staple finds peacetime life rather dull, until he finds himself lost in the Pennines where he discovers the adventure, and the romance of a lifetime.

THE UNFINISHED CLUE

The stabbing of irascible General Sir Arthur Billington-Smith fails to stir up grief in anyone - least of all his family, which is no wonder considering the way he had treated them all during the fateful weekend. He had disinherited his son, humiliated his wife, refused to help his financially stricken nephew and made no secret of his loathing for his son's fiancee, a cabaret dancer. Inspector Harding picks his way through a mass of familial discontent to find the culprit - and find much more besides.

THE UNKNOWN AJAX

Miles from anywhere, the isolated mansion Darracott Place is presided over by the irascible Lord Darracott. The recent drowning of his eldest son has done nothing to improve his temper. For now he must send for the unknown offspring of the uncle whom the family are never permitted to mention. Yet none of that beleaguered family are prepared for the arrival of the weaver's brat and heir apparent ...

VENETIA

In all her twenty-five years, Venetia Lanyon has never been further than Harrogate. Nor has she enjoyed the attentions of any man aside from her two wearisomely persistent suitors. Then, in one extraordinary encounter, she meets a neighbour she only knew by reputation - the infamous Jasper Damerel. Before she realises it, Venetia is encouraging a man whose way of life has scandalised the North Riding for years.

WHY SHOOT A BUTLER?

It is a complete mystery why anyone would choose to murder the trusted old butler of Norton Manor. Barrister turned amateur detective, Frank Amberley, has reason to suspect that the shooting involves the nervy young lady discovered at the scene of the crime, a snooping gentleman in the halls of Greythorne and then a second dead body. A dramatic tale of upstairs, downstairs and family secrets.