It began as a harmless wager. Who could solve their case first?Professor and Mrs. Moriarty have a few weeks to kill before their theater opens. Happily, two small cases drop in their respective laps. Moriarty has what looks like a scheme to swindle Army veterans out of their discharge pay. Angelina must find a missing servant by winkling her way into a circle of officers’ wives. Neither case seems terribly challenging; just enough to provide an agreeable competitio...

Professor and Mrs. Moriarty seek justice where the law can’t — or won’t — apply.In this series of lively stories, they assemble a band of misfits -- others who have been cast out or falsely accused -- to help them defend the victims of the rich and powerful in Victorian society. Their efforts often put them at odds with police consultant Sherlock Holmes.Book 1: Moriarty Meets His MatchProf. Moriarty has one desire in his ruined life: to destroy his e...

Welcome to Ayreford in 1591, where cats can talk and fairies are real.Jane Moone leaves her thriving practice as a cunning woman in London to return to Ayreford to care for her father Amias, who has grown quite peculiar in the years since she left home. Before she can find out what’s troubling him, her only client’s husband is murdered. The tailor is found in his workshop covered in red spots with a bottle of tonic from Moone’s apothecary near at hand. A rival cunning man accuses A...

Francis Bacon is charged with investigating the murder of a fellow barrister at Gray's Inn. He recruits his unwanted protégé Thomas Clarady to do the tiresome legwork. The son of a privateer, Clarady will do anything to climb the Elizabethan social ladder. Bacon's powerful uncle Lord Burghley suspects Catholic conspirators of the crime, but other motives quickly emerge. Rival barristers contend for the murdered man's legal honors and wealthy clients. Highly-placed courtiers are implicated ...

Welcome to the imaginary worlds of award-winning author Anna Castle.This collection of short stories ranges through time and space from the Yucatán peninsula in the early years of the Spanish conquest (The Broken Circle) to a bank office in late Victorian London (The Stockbroker’s Wife.) Most stories feature Francis Bacon and other characters from his milieu. You’ll read about Bacon’s first case (For Want of a Book) and Tom’s first solo investigation (In Walked a L...

It’s 1589 and England is embroiled in a furious pamphlet war between an impudent Puritan calling himself Martin Marprelate and London’s wittiest writers. The archbishop wants Martin to hang. The Privy Council wants the tumult to end. But nobody knows who Martin is or where he’s hiding his illegal press.Then two writers are strangled, mistaken for Thomas Nashe, the pamphleteer who is hot on Martin’s trail. Francis Bacon is tasked with stopping the murders — and catching Martin, whil...

The most corrupt court in Elizabethan England has turned deadly.Francis Bacon’s clerk, Thomas Clarady, has finally passed the bar. Now it’s time to sue for his livery in the Court of Wards. Alas, nothing is simple in the most corrupt institution in Tudor England. The attorney tries to wring a bribe from Tom, who refuses in threatenting terms. When the attorney turns up dead, Tom’s the most likely suspect. He goes into hiding, leaving Bacon and Lady Dorchester to fi...

“Either my theater is haunted or someone’s trying to drive me into bankruptcy!”Professor Moriarty’s new client is the manager of a West End theater. He’s three weeks away from opening his Chistmas pantomime, the expensive spectacle that pays for the rest of the year. But after months of freak accidents and spooky incidents, the cast and crew are convinced the show is cursed. Worse, he’s out of money and the rent is due.The Moriartys leap to the rescue. Ange...

Professor & Mrs. Moriarty tackle a case too ticklish for Sherlock Holmes to handle on his own...James and Angelina Moriarty are settling into their new marriage and their fashionable new home — or trying to.Then Sherlock Holmes comes to call with a challenging case. He suspects a prominent Harley Street specialist of committing murders for hire, sending patients home from his private hospital with deadly doses or fatal conditions. Holmes wants to investigate, but the doctor’...

London, 1593. An anonymous ballad calls for violence. The mayor offers 100 crowns for the author’s name. Thomas Clarady wants that money and drags Francis Bacon in to help.Then the authorities turn on two popular playmakers. One is tortured. Another is killed in a brawl. The official story seems plausible, but Tom doesn’t buy it. He refuses stop digging, uncovering a plot best left buried.Bacon and his team must hazard their lives to find the truth. Whether justice...

London, 1588. Someone’s turning Catholics into widows...... and masking the crimes under cover of Armada fever. Francis Bacon is charged with identifying the murderer by the Andromache Society, a widows’ guild led by his formidable aunt. Thomas Clarady and Lady Alice Trumpington help investigate while struggling to keep themselves out of hot water. Bacon must free his friends from the Tower, track an exotic poison, and untangle several crimes to determine if the motive is patriotis...

Melody Mockingbird, investigator for the Austin Druidic Detective Agency, must solve the murder of a beloved jazz singer before all memory of both the woman and the crime are extinguished.