Murdered Heiress

Young, well-intentioned, introverted, intellectual, and socially inept, Tedmund "Ted" Strickland moves from Upstate New York to New York City. There he attends university, earns a degree in finance, and lands a plum job with a brokerage firm. He unwittingly finds himself flung into social circles he'd never willingly have entered. He had been bullied as a youth, and now manipulated as an adult. Unexpectedly, Ted receives a call from a woman he once had a crush on, the heiress Violet Naysmyth Hunter. Violet, whose husband is a poor boy from The Bronx who made good, is less than a year married. She confides in Ted about her plan to start a family. Within an hour or so of their conversation, Violet is found murdered in her Manhattan town house. Lieutenant Paton and Detective Ramirez of the NYPD are determined to apprehend Violet's killer. The crime scene shows no signs of a break-in, giving rise to the theory that the victim knew her killer. Violet's husband, cousins, servants, and friends either have a plausible alibi or lack a motive. Yet the victim and the suspects all have secrets. Further, to Paton's and Ramirez's astonishment, everything connects back to Ted. After Ted finds himself a person of interest in the death of Violet, he plots his next moves carefully. Paton and Ramirez realize they must be meticulous if they are to bring Violet's killer to justice.

The disappearance of fabulously rich Chicago candy heiress Helen Brach and the suspicious deaths of a string of champion racehorses are linked in a celebrated scandal that has reverberated through every level of the glamorous enclaves of thoroughbred horse breeding. When widowed heiress Helen Brach suddenly disappeared on the morning of February 17, 1977, after a visit to the Mayo Clinic, she left behind a lavender Rolls-Royce, Cadillacs in red, pink, and coral, an eighteen-room mansion, and a fortune now estimated at $75 million. She also left behind a mystery that would tantalize investigators for years. When Assistant US Attorney Steven Miller assigned himself the challenge of solving the Brach case, he never imagined an investigation of the horse world would lead to a charming gigolo named Richard Bailey who made a career of romancing wealthy women out of huge sums of money, a shadowy figure called The Sandman who made his living by killing priceless horses so that their owners could collect insurance, and the ghastly murder of three children in 1955.

In this stunning series debut from New York Times bestselling author Madeline Hunter, a duke’s mysterious bequest brings fortune—and passion—to three young women . . . Minerva Hepplewhite has learned the hard way how to take care of herself. When an intruder breaks into her home, she doesn’t swoon or simper. Instead she wallops the rogue over the head and ties him up—only to realize he is Chase Radnor, the man who nearly got her convicted of her late husband’s murder. Now he’s insisting that Minerva has inherited a fortune from his uncle, a wealthy Duke. Only one thing could surprise her more: her sudden attraction to this exasperating man . . . Chase can’t decide whether Minerva is a wronged woman or a femme fatale. Either way, he’s intrigued. Since the scandal surrounding her husband’s death, she has set up a discreet detective business to rival Chase’s own. She may be the perfect person to help him uncover the truth about his uncle’s demise. But as proximity gives way to mutual seduction, Chase realizes he craves a much deeper alliance . . . Madeline Hunter’s novels are: “Brilliant, compelling. . . . An excellent read.” --The Washington Post “Mesmerizing.” —Publishers Weekly “Pure passion.” —Booklist Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

Stella Kendrick is an all-American heiress who can’t be tamed. But when the lively aspiring equine trainer tangles with British aristocracy, she meets her match—and a murderer . . . Like the Thoroughbreds she rides across the Kentucky countryside, Stella takes adventure by the reins when she’s asked to attend a mysterious wedding in rural England. But once she arrives at the lush Morrington Hall estate, her cold, ambitious father reveals that he has arranged to give away his daughter as bride to the Earl of Atherly’s financially strapped son . . . Stella refuses to be sold off like a prized pony. Yet there’s something intriguing about her groom-to-be, the roguish Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst. The unlikely pair could actually be on the right track with each other . . . until they find the vicar who was to marry them dead in the library. Now, Stella and Lyndy must put their marriage on hold to prevent an unbridled criminal from destroying their new life together right out of the gate . . . “Delightful . . . Eccentric, humorous characters add to the intrigue . . . Fans of historical cozies will be enchanted.” —Publishers Weekly “Well-drawn characters, a richly described historical setting with details of horse racing, and a tentative romance distinguish this agreeable cozy.” —Booklist

"Dr. Wagner, an heiress to a large fortune, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered for her wealth. Yet, through a miracle of God, she lives today."--Cover page [4].

Wild-hearted Kentuckian Stella Kendrick cautiously navigates the strict demands of British high society as the future Lady of Morrington Hall. But when petty scandals lead to bloody murder, her outspoken nature could be all that keeps her alive . . . Following a whirlwind engagement to Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst, Stella is finding her footing within an elite social circle in picturesque rural England. Except teatime with refined friends can be more dangerous than etiquette faux pas—especially in the company of Lady Philippa, the woman Lyndy was once set to marry, and her husband, the ostentatious Lord Fairbrother . . . Outrage erupts and accusations fly after Lord Fairbrother’s pony wins best in breed for the seventh consecutive year. The man has his share of secrets and adversaries, but Stella and Lyndy are in for a brutal shock when they discover his body floating in the river during a quiet morning fishing trip. Suddenly unwelcome around hardly-grieving Lady Philippa and Lyndy’s endlessly critical mother, Stella faces the bitter reality that she may always be an outsider—and one of her trusted new acquaintances may be a calculating killer. Now, Stella and her fiancé must fight against the current to catch the culprit, before they’re the next couple torn apart by tragedy.

A fight over a rich man’s will turns deadly in this murder mystery by the “kingpin among the mystery writers” from the series that inspired the HBO show (The New York Times). Marilyn Marlow has inherited a good deal of money from her mother. But the money originated with another will—that of her mother’s wealthy employer. Now his relatives are contesting the will, and it’s Rose Keeling, the key witness to its signing, whose mind they'll need to sway. When Rose is murdered, sleuthing lawyer Perry Mason must navigate a twisted case involving a personal ad that casts a cloud of suspicion over his client, Miss Marlow, in this mystery in Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany. DON’T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER’S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS