A Treacherous Tale

A Treacherous Tale is the second in a charming new cozy series from Elizabeth Penney, set in an English bookshop and following Molly Kimball, who has a habit of bookmarking trouble... “A cozy mystery that will delight your booklover’s heart and satisfy your hunger for intrigue—and crumpets!” —Paige Shelton, New York Times bestselling author of the Scottish Bookshop series on Chapter and Curse Lately, Molly has been feeling that she might have fallen into a fairy tale: she's reinvigorated the family bookshop Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, made friends in her new home of Cambridge, England, and is even developing a bit of a romance with the handsome Kieran—a bike shop owner with a somewhat intimidating family pedigree. Having recently discovered The Strawberry Girls, a classic children's tale, Molly is thrilled to learn the author, Iona York, lives nearby. But while visiting the famous author at her lovely cottage in nearby Hazelhurst, an old acquaintance of Iona's tumbles off her roof to his death. Then, when one of Iona’s daughters—an inspiration for the original Strawberry Girls—goes missing, Molly begins to worry this story might be more Brothers Grimm than happily-ever-after. Especially after Molly learns about the mysterious long-ago death of Iona’s husband and co-author of The Strawberry Girls...could past and present crimes be linked? Molly must put the clues together before someone turns this sweet tale sour.

In Elizabeth Penney's Chapter and Curse, Molly Kimball is used to cracking open books . . . but when a poetry reading ends in murder she must use her skills to crack the case. A MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD NOMINEE! "With its bucolic British setting, engaging heroine, and unsolved murder dating back decades, Elizabeth Penney has penned the perfect cozy."–Ellen Byron, USA Today Bestselling Author Librarian Molly Kimball and her mother, Nina, need a change. So when a letter arrives from Nina’s Aunt Violet in Cambridge, England requesting their help running the family bookshop, they jump at the chance. Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, is one of the oldest bookshops in Cambridge, and—unfortunately—customers can tell. When Molly and Nina arrive, spring has come to Cambridge and the famed Cambridge Literary Festival is underway. Determined to bring much-needed revenue to the bookstore, Molly invites Aunt Violet’s college classmate and famed poet Persephone Brightwell to hold a poetry reading in the shop. But the event ends in disaster when a guest is found dead—with Molly’s great-aunt’s knitting needle used as the murder weapon. While trying to clear Violet and keep the struggling shop afloat, Molly sifts through secrets past and present, untangling a web of blackmail, deceit, and murder.

Reese Conlon’s much anticipated family leave is only two weeks away, and nothing is going to stand in the way of her being at her wife’s side for the upcoming birth—not even the summer crowds in Provincetown, a new rookie cop with a hero complex, and a cruise ship at anchor in the harbor with a reported outbreak of a mysterious illness. Andy Champlain might be a rookie cop, but she was raised by a family of cops, and she’s ready to take on any challenge, if she only gets the chance. With a disaster brewing in Provincetown Harbor, a journalist who’ll do anything for a story, and sexy summer PA, Laurel Winter, at the local clinic, she’s about to have all the excitement she can handle. Before long, Reese, Tory, Laurel, and Andy are caught up in the gathering storms of an epidemic that could threaten all their lives.

"Forgive me...for I have sinned."And nothing interrupts a good confession like a murder. Fiona Mahoney stands in the ashes of her hopes facing her tempting adversary, Inspector Grayson Croft. Her sins are about to spill from her lips, when he says the one thing that could dispel all thoughts of revelation or redemption. Someone is leaving the corpses on London's cobbled streets, and a name is being whispered in the fearful shadows. The name against which Fiona would sell her very soul for vengeance. Jack the Ripper. Old enemies and new friends join Fiona as she chases a relentless evil through the streets of Victorian London. She'll pull upon every contact in her arsenal including Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, Inspector Aberline, "The Hammer" a charismatic gangster, "The Blade" an enigmatic assassin, and, of course, Jack.

A Complex and Compelling Glimpse at One of the Bible's Baddest Girls Life is not easy in Philistia, especially not for a woman and child alone. When beautiful, wounded Delilah finds herself begging for food to survive, she resolves that she will find a way to defeat all the men who have taken advantage of her. She will overcome the roadblocks life has set before her, and she will find riches and victory for herself. When she meets a legendary man called Samson, she senses that in him lies the means for her victory. By winning, seducing, and betraying the hero of the Hebrews, she will attain a position of national prominence. After all, she is beautiful, she is charming, and she is smart. No man, not even a supernaturally gifted strongman, can best her in a war of wits.

A widow remarries for the sake of her child and discovers her husband has been keeping secrets from her in this historical romance. London, 1925: Annie Sancerre is finally looking for love. Her French husband was killed in the First World War before their son Davie was born, and since then the young widow has put him first in everything. Her motherly instincts tell her that Davie would benefit from having a father, and when Fergus Cameron proposes to her, Annie knows he offers them both comfort and security. But is there more to life than just safety and good sense? When she and Davie bump into Richard Ross near their home in Kew, her instincts are proved correct. Richard, a lawyer, has an easygoing charm and she agrees, at his insistence, to become his wife. But shortly afterwards she wonders if there was more to their original chance meeting than she thought . . . Why does Richard know more about her past than she does? And can love survive the poison of treachery? From Teresa Crane, author of the smash-hit The Italian House, this is a vivid and unputdownable story of life, love, deception, and betrayal.

An unconventional woman. A deadly enemy. A clash of intrigue, deception, and desire. . . . 1525: Artist Susanna Horenbout is sent from Belgium to be Henry VIII’s personal illuminator inside the royal palace. But her new homeland greets her with an attempt on her life, and the King’s most lethal courtier, John Parker, is charged with keeping her safe. As further attacks are made, Susanna and Parker realize that she unknowingly carries the key to a bloody plot against the throne. For while Richard de la Pole amasses troops in France for a Yorkist invasion, a traitor prepares to trample the kingdom from within. Who is the mastermind? Why are men vying to kill the woman Parker protects with his life? With a motley gang of urchins, Susanna’s wits, and Parker’s fierce instincts, honed on the streets and in palace chambers, the two slash through deadly layers of deceit in a race against time. For in the court of Henry VIII, secrets are the last to die. . . . Brilliantly revealing a little-known historical figure who lived among the Tudors, Michelle Diener makes a smashing historical fiction debut.

Tragedy strikes in Thread and Dead, the second book in Elizabeth Penney's cozy mystery series—and now everyone in Blueberry Cove, Maine, is on pins and needles. . . Iris Buckley is busier than ever this July, with the town’s annual Lobster Festival fast approaching. In just a matter of days her apron shop Ruffles & Bows, will be jam-packed with tourists eager to lay eyes on its world-class collection of aprons and linens—and Iris’s inventory is running low. Then, just when all hope seems lost, Iris gets a call from Eleanor Brady, a wealthy, reclusive spinster who just happens to have trunks full of vintage fabrics. Would Iris like to come down to Eleanor’s cottage estate Shorehaven and have a look? Before long Iris is on the scene—and on the case. Turns out that Eleanor has rented Shorehaven to the handsome, charismatic environmentalist Dr. Lukas de Wilde and his flock of students. What begins as an apron-scouting endeavor soon morphs into a full-blown murder investigation when Dr. de Wilde’s beautiful young teaching assistant turns up dead. Now it’s up to Iris—along with her partner-in-love-and-crime Ian Stewart—to unravel the mystery before the Blueberry Cove killer strikes again. Praise for The Apron Shop series “Quirky-meets-fun.”—Woman's World on Hems & Homicide “Penney knows the recipe for delivering just what cozy readers are looking for.” —Reviewing the Evidence