Society Mystery

Erin Coleridge's used bookstore in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, England, is a meeting place for the villagers and, in particular, for the local Jane Austen Society. At the Society's monthly meeting, matters come to a head between the old guard and its young turks. After the meeting breaks for tea, persuasion gives way to murder with extreme prejudice when president Sylvia Pemberthy falls dead to the floor. Poisoned? Presumably, but by whom? And was Sylvia the only target?

When the quaint English town of York hosts a Jane Austen Society conference, bookseller Erin Coleridge is glad to get out of Kirkbymoorside for a while—until featured speaker Barry Wolf suddenly perishes from what appears to be a heart attack. Erin is suspicious, since Barry had no history of heart disease. But who did him in? Was it the decedent's assistant, Stephen, who was observed chatting to Barry's young wife Luca earlier that night? Might it have been Barry's ex-wife Judith, who was seen arguing with her erstwhile betrothed at the bar? 

For centuries, secret societies have operated in the shadows of public life. Some were born from the pursuit of knowledge. Others from the desire for power, protection, or change. From hidden intellectual circles to revolutionary networks, from elite institutions to underground resistance movements, these organisations have shaped history in ways that are often misunderstood, exaggerated, or deliberately concealed.

This is a boxed set from the Rutledge Historical Society Cozy Mystery series. It includes the first four books: Message for Murder, Death over Divorce, Kousins Kan't Kill, and Rogues to Riches.

November, 1923. An invitation to a house party at the estate of Parkview Hall is a welcome respite for Olive Belgrave, a newly minted working girl who’s become the solver of high society’s trickiest problems. But when the sumptuous black-tie event turns deadly, Olive’s cousin Peter becomes the main suspect. Olive must unmask a sophisticated killer before an innocent man takes the blame . . . because murder doesn’t RSVP.

Rumors about the Knox and its influence have swirled through Boston for centuries. While some believe the secret society is merely an elite social club, others are convinced it hides something more sinister... Vivian Lawrence was born into old-money Boston, but when her family fortune vanishes...

When Lois Grover moves into the Beacon of Hope Assisted Living Center, she fears boredom will consume her, but a fellow resident soon invites her to a secret meeting of the Twilight Society. This quirky group of elderly residents, with a variety of skills, talents, and expertise, helps lost souls, tethered to the world of the living, by solving the mysteries keeping them from moving on. The center itself—a historic colonial mansion that has functioned as a hospital, a school, and a sanitarium—possesses mysteries of its own that both help and hinder the society's investigations.

A ghost at the piano. A melody unfinished. A mystery that won’t stay silent. When mournful piano music begins drifting through the main dining hall of Beacon of Hope Assisted Living, Lois Grover is the first to hear it. The haunting melody plays only at night—and no one sits at the piano...

Olive and Jasper have never been closer—except for one thing. Jasper is still reticent about his frequent disappearances from polite society. With the holidays approaching and no paying client on the books, Olive decides to shadow Jasper when he’s unexpectedly called away. Her search brings her to Holly Hill Lodge where an eclectic group has gathered to celebrate an old-fashioned English Christmas. When the butler goes missing, Olive and Jasper must work together to solve the Christmas crime—as well as the secret Jasper hides.

Witty, endearing, and wildly entertaining, this Southern cozy mystery is a little bit Gilmore Girls, a little bit Finlay Donovan, with a big helping of Only Murders in the Building. Narrated by AudioFile Earphone Award Winner, Stephanie Nemeth-Parker! Lila Shaw stopped trusting anyone the minute...

Olive Belgrave needs a job. Despite her aristocratic upbringing, she’s penniless. Determined to support herself, she jumps at an unconventional job—looking into the background of her cousin’s fiancé, Alfred. Alfred burst into the world of London’s high society, but his answers to questions about his past are decidedly vague. Before Olive can gather more than the basics, a murder occurs at a posh party. Suddenly, every Bright Young Person in attendance is a suspect, and Olive must race to find the culprit because a sly murderer is determined to make sure Olive’s first case is her last.

Switzerland, 1924. Lady sleuth Olive Belgrave is set to enjoy a holiday of ice skating and snowshoeing in the glamorous alpine setting of St. Moritz, but her plans are rudely interrupted when an unfortunate accident takes place. It quickly becomes clear that the tragic event was a carefully concealed murder. Olive isn’t one to shy away from a challenge, and with her sharp intuition and knowledge of the high society set, she uncovers motives among the elite guests. However, this case is one of the most challenging she’s faced.

For twenty years, Greta Davenport has lived with the guilt of surviving the accident that killed her parents. She’s tested the limits of her own mortality ever since, but little gives her the dopamine rush she craves. Not until the night she almost drunkenly crashes her car into a tree, and a peculiar blank card slides under her front door—an invitation to the Found Object Society. What she discovers there is beyond comprehension: an opulent, subterranean playground filled with aisles of objects from different eras and regions of the world.

Olive Belgrave is delighted with her new flat at South Regent Mansions where she’s made several friends, including the modern career woman, Minerva, who draws a popular cartoon about a flapper for a London newspaper. But then Minerva comes to Olive for help after catching a glimpse of a disturbing sight—a dead body. At least, that’s what Minerva thought she saw, but there’s not a dead body anywhere in the posh building, and the residents are continuing with their lives as they normally do. Is Minerva seeing things? Is she barmy? Or is there a more sinister explanation?

Esoteric scholar Manly P. Hall covers a lot of areas relating to the ancient mysteries, including common roots in religious and ritual practices, the practices of the Druids and how they relate to Masonry, the rites of Mithras, Simon Magus and the Gnostics, Abraxas, the Egyptian Serapis, the Odinic mysteries and how they compare, the rites of Eleusis, the Orphic mysteries, Bacchus, Dionysos, and much more.

It’s October, 1923, and Olive Belgrave has a new case. Her client, Lady Agnes doesn’t believe in curses, and she hires Olive to prove her Egyptologist uncle wasn’t the victim of a malevolent mummy. Olive investigates and discovers the truth is much worse—it’s murder. Can Olive debunk the curse and reveal the true culprit before the supposed curse claims another victim?

The masquerade ball should have been an evening of harmless intrigue. Instead, on the dark roads of Hounslow Heath, highwaymen attack Miss Leah Crauford's carriage. Leah escapes, but her dearest friend, Miss Susanna Talbot, is not so fortunate.

How far will some go to safeguard a secret? In the latest novel in Dianne Freeman's witty and delightful historical mystery series, the adventurous Countess Harleigh finds out . . . On August twelfth each year, members of the upper class retire to their country estates for grouse-shooting season...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE CHILLING SEQUEL TO #1 YA BESTSELLER THE MAGPIE SOCIETY: ONE FOR SORROW Audrey and Ivy, determined to bring their fellow student Lola Radcliffe's killer to justice, find themselves in the middle of another mystery when a friend disappears in suspicious circumstances...

November, 1923. Olive’s school chum, Gigi, invites Olive to London because Gigi’s dotty grandmother fears for her life—or so she’s said to Gigi. However Olive is surprised to find that the dowager is far from muddled. The sharp and imperious matriarch refuses to admit to her worries and sends Olive on her way. Without a client or case, Olive is swept into the glittering lifestyle of the “fast set,” and their decadent excess. But then among the cocktails and champagne, a murderer strikes during a frivolous party game, and Olive realizes the dowager’s fears were well-founded.