An exciting new series featuring woman-on-the-run Elizabeth Miles-from the beloved national bestselling author of the Gaslight Mysteries. Every woman plays a part-but some are more dangerous than others. Like most women, Elizabeth Miles assumes many roles; unlike most, hers have made her a woman on the run. Living on the edge of society, Elizabeth uses her guile to relieve so-called respectable men of their ill-gotten gains. But brutal and greedy entrepreneur Oscar Thornton is out for blood. He's lost a great deal of money and is not going to forgive a woman for outwitting him. With his thugs hot on her trail, Elizabeth seizes the moment to blend in with a group of women who have an agenda of their own. She never expects to like or understand these privileged women, but she soon comes to respect their intentions, forming an unlikely bond with the wealthy matriarch of the group whose son, Gideon, is the rarest of species-an honest man in a dishonest world. Elizabeth knows she's playing a risky game, and her deception could be revealed at any moment, possibly even by sharp-eyed Gideon. Nor has she been forgotten by Thornton, who's biding his time, waiting to strike. Elizabeth must draw on her wits and every last ounce of courage she possesses to keep her new life from being cut short by this vicious shadow from her past.
Elizabeth Miles is preparing for her wedding to Gideon when a menacing shadow from her past threatens to destroy the new life she's built for herself in the latest Counterfeit Lady Novel from USA Today bestselling author Victoria Thompson. The Great War is over, and Elizabeth and Gideon are busy planning their wedding. Gideon is happily welcoming home old friends who have been discharged from the army. One of them, Archie Carstens, the son and heir of a wealthy Knickerbocker family, served as a captain in the army and now seems less happy to be home than Gideon had expected. While Archie was in France, he met and fell in love with a beautiful French woman named Noelle. He would have gladly proposed, but he was already engaged to a girl he had known all his life back in America. When Archie receives a letter supposedly from Noelle begging for money to help her get to America and flee terrible conditions in France, Elizabeth is suspicious. There's no way to verify the letter is actually from Noelle, and she and Gideon worry that a conman or woman might be trying to take advantage of Archie in his vulnerable state. But that's not all Elizabeth has to worry about. Vicious thug Oscar Thornton has gotten wind of her wedding announcement and realizes the woman who conned him is still alive and well. Gideon and Elizabeth have to figure out a way to help their friend while making sure their worst enemy doesn't destroy their future....
An exciting new book in the series featuring Elizabeth Miles, con woman turned Lady, from the beloved national bestselling author of the Gaslight Mysteries. Elizabeth Miles finds herself in a position no con can help her escape. Her beloved fiance, Gideon Bates, is awaiting his turn in the draft to fight in the Great War. Elizabeth is finding it hard to think of anything else, but Gideon has thrown himself into his work, preparing wills for soldiers before they ship out. Corporal Tom Preston is part owner of Preston Shoes, a company that is making footwear for the army, so he has a rather large estate. He needs a new will, however, because he has just been secretly married to a woman whom his family would never approve. He wants to make sure she and their unborn child are provided for if he does not return. When Tom is later reported killed, Elizabeth and Gideon learn that the new will has gone missing after Tom's bride revealed her identity to his family. Unless the new will is found and validated, the original will, which leaves everything to Tom's brother, will prevail and the wife and child will get nothing. If Tom's new bride survives, that is. Some terrible threats have been leveled against her, and Elizabeth and Gideon must figure out a way, legal or not quite, to secure Tom's fortune for his wife and child while saving her life in the process.
An exciting new book in the series featuring woman-on-the-run Elizabeth Miles--from the beloved national bestselling author of the Gaslight Mysteries. Con artist Elizabeth Miles has determined that Society is the biggest con of all. So far, Elizabeth's only real social success has been with Priscilla Knight. Priscilla is a dedicated suffragist who was recently widowed for the second time in her young life. Her beloved first husband, DeForrest Jenks, died in a tragic accident and left her with two young daughters and a comfortable fortune. Soon after his death, her pastor convinced her she needed a man to look after her. Before she knew it, he had engineered a whirlwind courtship and hasty marriage to fellow parishioner Endicott Knight. Less than nine months later, Endicott is also dead in a somewhat less tragic and even more suspicious accident. Priscilla confides to Elizabeth that she had understood Endicott was wealthy in his own right, and she had brought a sizeable fortune to the marriage as well. Now her banker is telling her she has hardly any money left and that her house has been mortgaged. The banker has hinted at a scandal that could damage the family's reputation and her daughters' future prospects. Fearing destructive gossip, Priscilla doesn't know whom to trust. Elizabeth discovers some unsavory evidence that seems to point to the possibility that Endicott's death may have been connected to blackmail. To save her new friend's future, Elizabeth must use her special set of skills to find the truth.
Elizabeth Miles is back in this all-new Counterfeit Lady Novel from USA Today bestselling author Victoria Thompson. Elizabeth Miles Bates has returned from her honeymoon cruise and is taking great pride in having completely forsaken her past life as a con artist. Then her friend, Anna Vanderslice, begs her to use her talents to help save her widowed mother from a disreputable medium. Since the war and the flu epidemic left so many families bereaved, interest in contacting the dead has experienced a revival. Once quite popular, séances have come back into vogue as desperate families mourn their loved ones and long to communicate with them. Anna's mother has been attending séances in an attempt to contact her son, David, who died of influenza. Anna had thought it a harmless activity, though a heartbreaking one, but she has just learned that Mrs. Vanderslice is paying the medium ever-increasing sums of money in her eagerness to make contact with her deceased son. Since David's death has caused Anna and her mother financial hardship already, Mrs. Vanderslice's obsession is in danger of ruining them. Madame Ophelia is part of a group of con artists working together to fleece as many New Yorkers as possible before moving onto another city. Several of Mrs. Vanderslice's friends as well as some of Gideon's clients have already been victimized. Elizabeth knows that simply exposing the medium as a fraud will not be enough, and the only way to get at least some of the stolen money back is to con the medium and her cohorts. But will Elizabeth's family help her when it means betraying other con artists? And who can they trust? No one, as it happens, so Elizabeth turns to her aunt, Cybil, and Cybil's partner, Zelda, for help. Although Cybil disapproves of her family's shady profession, she is more than happy to lend a hand. Can Elizabeth and her gang of amateurs fool the professionals?
" Sarah Brandt is shattered when she learns that a woman has inquired at Hope’s Daughters Mission for Catherine, the abandoned child she has taken as her daughter. The woman claims she was Catherine’s nursemaid, now acting on behalf of the girl’s mother to reunite them. Unwilling to simply hand Catherine over to a complete stranger, Sarah asks Malloy to investigate. But when he goes to interview the woman at her tenement in Chelsea, he finds she has been murdered. Though her death leaves Sarah’s claim to Catherine unchallenged, her sense of justice compels her to work with Malloy to find the killer. Their search takes them from the marble mansions of the Upper West Side to the dilapidated dwellings of lower Manhattan and into the deepest and darkest secrets of Catherine’s past. And while Malloy helps Sarah determine the fate of the child she loves, he faces a challenge of his own—and his decision could change both their lives forever…
Edgar Award finalist Victoria Thompson colorfully portrays the prejudices and hardships of turn-of-the-century New York
City. Called to Chinatown to deliver a baby, midwife Sarah Brandt soon helps search for a missing girl. But nobody seems to
know where she is. Has she been sold to a brothel, or has she run off with a secret love?
"… vividly recreates the gaslit world of Old New York."-Publishers Weekly
When midwife Sarah Brandt visits Little Italy to check up on a new mother who delivered her baby just the day before, she finds the young woman dead. The family insists that the death was from complications of childbirth. Sarah disagrees. So does the woman's own mother, an Irishwoman who spreads the story that the girl was murdered by her Italian in-laws, the Ruoccos-an accusation that inflames tensions between the two immigrant groups. The situation escalates when a second death in the tenements nearly leads to riots in the streets as political factions and organized crime take sides and square off over wild rumors and newspaper accusations. Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy realizes that he will need Sarah's help to unravel the secrets of these troubled families, bring a killer to justice, and restore order to the volatile community.
In the latest from the bestselling author of Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue, former police sergeant Frank Malloy and his wife adjust to life in New York high society as they investigate a death in the field of higher learning... After spending his first few weeks as a private detective by investigating infidelities of the wealthy, Frank has a more serious case at hand. Abigail Northrup of Tarrytown, New York, was her parents' pride and joy. After graduating from a prestigious women's college in Morningside Heights, she took a job there as an instructor. She also joined the ranks of the New Women, ladies planning for a life without a husband in which they make their own decisions and make a difference in the world. Unfortunately, her murder ended all that. When the police declare the incident a random attack and refuse to investigate further, Abigail's parents request Frank's help. Of course, he'll need Sarah's assistance as she's more familiar with the world of academia, and it will be far easier for her to interview the lady professors. Yet difficulties arise as they learn that although Miss Northrup may have been an exemplary student and teacher, she lived in a world of secrets and lies.
Frank Malloy has never known any life other than that of a cop, but his newfound inheritance threatens his position within his department. While trying to keep both his relationship with Sarah and his fortune under wraps, he' s assigned to a new case-- finding a missing young woman for her worried father, Henry Livingston.
It seems the girl had been responding to "lonely hearts" ads in the paper for months before she disappeared. Her father thinks that she' s eloped with a deceptive stranger, but Malloy fears the worst, knowing that the grifters who place such ads often do much more than simply abscond with their victims. But as Sarah and Malloy delve deeper into a twisted plot targeting the city' s single women, it' s their partnership-- both professional and private-- that winds up in the greatest peril.
The national bestselling author of Gaslight Mysteries returns with a case of murder in the field of higher learning in Victorian-era Manhattan. Frank Malloy's latest client Will is searching for his brother, a newsboy named Freddie, who runs off as soon Will's name is mentioned-only to be found dead a short time later. A suspicious Frank tracks down Will who spins a tale of lust and deceit involving a young society woman Estelle Longacre. Estelle's risky behavior took a fatal toll but Frank can't be sure if the company she kept is to blame or if her own ruthless family had a hand in her death. Frank will need Sarah's help to discover if there is a connection between Estelle and Freddie's death. Together they must navigate an underground web of treachery to find answers.
In this Gaslight Mystery from the national bestselling author of Murder in Murray Hill, midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy investigate foul play in the secretive high-society world of nineteenth-century New York City
