Kathleen Buckley

Ellen Cuthbert's husband, Randolph, is now the Earl of Keswick's heir. Their marriage is a sham, and Randolph's mistress, Lydia, is present at the house party. When she is found murdered in a locked room, all the evidence seems to point to Ellen. And how could the murderer have escaped the locked room except by witchcraft? Sir Hugh accompanies his cousin, a magistrate, to the scene of the murder. They investigate, appalled to find their childhood friend Ellen appears to be the chief suspect. Hugh's lack of prospects years ago prevented their marriage. Now if he cannot find the real murderer, there may be only one final service he can perform for Ellen to spare her a slow death at the end of the hangman's rope.

Allan Everard, an earl's illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father's death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity. Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women's charity. Drawn into Rosabel's problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional romance.

Margaret is her brothers' dependent. With her sister-in-law expecting another child and her younger brother soon to marry, Margaret will lose her home. When her former suitor offers her work as a governess, she accepts, despite misgivings. Unable to marry his first love, Alasdair abandoned his home for a disappointing military career. When his dying brother begs him to return, he agrees. He must protect his brother, the children, and the estate from his brother's wife and her greedy family. While on his brother's business, Alasdair meets his old sweetheart. Can love flare up again despite family chaos and fifteen years' separation?

What can you look forward to when your only relatives call you ugly, unbalanced, and a scandal? What would you do if your only friend was threatened? Dependent on her half brother, the Earl of Lamburne, Adelaide knows. She wants to escape. Gervase Ducane, invited to Lamburne's home to court his daughter, is torn. He needs to marry well and soon but not this spiteful chit. Should he buy a commission instead? Seek a wealthy merchant's daughter? As a marquess's brother, he has at least a noble connection to offer an heiress apart from his good manners. And why is he only now meeting the earl's delightful half sister? Ordered to stay away from the house party, Adelaide rebels. She will make her unwelcome, embarrassing presence known to avenge herself and her pet. Sometimes when you least expect it, magic happens.

The Barding earldom may be doomed. A shocking suggestion may provide another potential heir. Miles Halliwell, Barding's man of business, owes everything to the earl. Does loyalty to his employer require him to deal with a known criminal and incite forgery? Unfortunately for Miles's peace of mind, it may. To protect her family's reputation, Julia St. John, daughter of a baron, has given up her comfortable life to live in obscurity with an illegitimate child. She has no better future in sight, until Barding's man of business offers a possible solution and a new life.

After her father's stroke, Portia Gillespie finds they have just enough money to live on, so where is her brother's school tuition to come from? She and Mama have no idea until a moneylender comes to call. In spite of the prior debt, he is willing to lend this year's tuition. The only alternative to accepting the loan is to apprentice Benedict to one of the less expensive trades. Papa would be horrified. Solomon de Toledo has fulfilled none of his family's expectations. He is neither a rabbi nor a physician, nor even a respectable importer or banker. Still, as a moneylender, he is able to aid Portia, whose character he admires as much as he respects her father's scholarship. But when her father recovers and arranges Portia's betrothal, how will Solomon save her from her ruthless suitor?

Can a duke be thrown into debtor's prison? If so, Emily, dependent on her cousin, the heir to her father's impoverished dukedom, wonders what will become of her? With great reluctance, she agrees to marry a man willing to pay for an aristocratic bride. Rejected by the woman he loves, Ambrose Hawkins, shipper, importer, and former pirate, settles for a female who can further his social ambitions. His marriage to Emily is prospering until a man who blames Hawkins for the failure of his own courtship is murdered. Hawkins is the obvious suspect... ...and the obvious suspect usually hangs.

London's cutthroat shipping trade is no place for a lady, although Olivia Cantarell has secretly acted as her father's assistant for years. Now she has inherited his company, she has no mind to give up control over it-and herself-by marrying, however flattering it is to be sought after for the first time in her life. In spite of threats and intimidation, she will fight to keep her business. Careful, responsible, and twice jilted, Captain Marcus Easterday has no heart to attempt marriage a third time. But he cannot stand by and see a woman cheated of her livelihood by Ambrose Hawkins, rumored to be a former pirate, a man whose name is known and feared in ports from the West Indies to China. Courted by the ruthless Hawkins while relying on the scrupulous Easterday's help, Olivia must conceal the identity of one of her clerks and protect her company and employees. Who can she trust?

Jane Stowe frequently finds her irritable father, peevish stepmother, and half brother Rupert a trial. Her only hope of eventual escape is her maternal uncle, Roger Markham, whose heir she is. When he dies under mysterious circumstances, Jane is the obvious suspect.Alex Gordon, family misfit, has been sent to find out if there's anything to Markham's suspicions about the schooner Sea Mew. With half the Continent at war, and the Young Pretender recently landed in Scotland, the matter may be of critical importance. Once Alex ferrets out--with Jane's assistance--the connection between the Sea Mew and Jacobite activity, he is told to leave the rest to the professionals. But the professionals have no stake in saving Jane from the gallows or Rupert from a charge of treason.

After her guardian's death, Anne Sinclair comes to Town seeking a man with broad interests, rather than broad estates. She possesses a competence and a pretty face, so why did her late guardian think it might be difficult for her to make a match? The question becomes urgent when she discovers that London can be perilous for a young lady of inquiring mind--especially when she has a hidden enemy.Lord John Anniscote unexpectedly inherits the title and responsibilities of his dissolute brother, the Duke of Guysbridge, including houses, servants, tenants, and the need to provide himself with an heir. Formerly poor, cynical, and carefree, he finds himself hunted by marriage-minded females. When a plot against a young lady up from the country touches his honor, can the new duke safeguard her reputation and repair his own?