Gilded Age Mystery (Simpson)

Set amidst the opulent mansions and cobblestone streets of Old New York, this enthralling historical mystery by Rosemary Simpson brings the Gilded Age to life-in a tantalizing tale of old money, new love, and grave suspicion . . . As the Great Blizzard of 1888 cripples New York City, heiress Prudence MacKenzie sits anxiously within her palatial Fifth Avenue home waiting for her fiancé's safe return. But the fearsome storm rages through the night. With daylight, more than two hundred people are found to have perished in the icy winds and treacherous snowdrifts. Among them is Prudence's fiancé-his body frozen, his head crushed by a heavy branch, his fingers clutching a single playing card, the ace of spades . . . Close on the heels of her father's untimely demise, Prudence is convinced Charles's death was no accident. The ace of spades was a code he shared with his school friend, Geoffrey Hunter, a former Pinkerton agent and attorney from the South. Wary of sinister forces closing in on her, Prudence turns to Geoffrey as her only hope in solving a murder not all believe in-and to help protect her inheritance from a stepmother who seems more interested in the family fortune than Prudence's wellbeing . . .

From the author of What the Dead Leave Behind, this suspenseful and richly atmospheric mystery captures both the elegance and sophistication of New York's Gilded Age-and the secrets and bloody terrors that lurk behind its elegant facades . . . Heiress Prudence MacKenzie is a valuable partner to attorney Geoffrey Hunter, despite the fact that women are not admitted to the bar in nineteenth-century New York. And though their office is a comfortable distance from the violence of the city's slums, the firm of Hunter and MacKenzie is about to come dangerously close to a high-profile killer across the pond . . . Nora Kenny works in Prudence's Fifth Avenue house, just as her mother once served Prudence's mother. As children, they played freely together, before retreating into their respective social classes. Still, they remain fond of each other. So when Nora's body is discovered in a local park, Prudence is devastated. As other poor, vulnerable young women fall victim, the police are confounded. Has the Ripper crossed the Atlantic to find a new hunting ground? Is someone copying his crimes? A former Pinkerton agent, Geoffrey intends to step in, and Prudence is equally determined. But a killer with a disordered mind and an incomprehensible motive may prove too elusive for even this experienced pair to outwit.

In Gilded Age New York, heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter investigate crimes that take them from the slums of Five Points in lower Manhattan to the Fifth Avenue mansions of society's elite. In the late nineteenth century, women are particularly vulnerable... LET THE DEAD KEEP THEIR SECRETS Childbirth can be dangerous even for the wealthy. So when opera singer Claire Buchanan shows Prudence and Geoffrey a postmortem cabinet photograph of her deceased twin sister and newborn niece, they express sadness but not surprise. The popular black-bordered portraits are the era's way of coping with the devastating losses that plague every family. What makes this death different is that Claire is convinced Catherine and her child were murdered. Prudence's friend is haunted by a sense of her sister's lingering presence, and by the conviction that her dead twin is demanding justice. Catherine's widower, Aaron Sorensen, is a cold, controlling man who swiftly remarried. Now his second wife is already pregnant and may be in terrible danger. In order to discover the truth and find evidence of Sorensen's guilt, Geoffrey will delve deep into his past while Prudence casts herself as his next victim-putting her own life at grave risk...

Investigators Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter discover all that glitters is not gold in the Gilded Age, whether on the island of Manhattan or an island off the coast of Georgia... Death Brings A Shadow In spring 1889, Prudence and Geoffrey set sail from New York Harbor on a private yacht bound for Bradford Island, where her friend Eleanor Dickson is to be wed. The Sea Islands along the Georgia coast serve as a winter playground for the likes of the Carnegies, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and Dicksons. Despite her Yankee pedigree, Eleanor is marrying a Southern gentleman, Teddy Bennett, and Prudence is thrilled to be the maid of honor. But days before the wedding, the bride is nowhere to be found. A frantic search of the island turns up her drowned corpse in an alligator-infested swamp. Prudence is devastated, but as they prepare the body for burial, she and Geoffrey discover evidence of bruising that indicates Eleanor was held under-most dishonorably murdered. Determined to seek justice for her beloved friend, Prudence begins to investigate with Geoffrey's help and is quickly led into a morass of voodoo spells and dark deeds from the days of slavery. As Prudence and Geoffrey pursue a killer, they soon discover that Eleanor will not be the last to die on Bradford Island...

The pursuit of stolen diamonds once belonging to Marie Antionette leads heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter down a twisted maze through Gilded Age New York City from Fifth Avenue to Five Points.. DEATH, DIAMONDS, AND DECEPTION. Fall 1889: Lady Rotherton has arrived from London intent on chaperoning her niece Prudence through a New York social season to find a suitable husband. It's certainly not her niece's devilishly handsome partner in Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law. Aunt Gillian's eye for eligible suitors is surpassed only by her ability to discern genuine gems from nearly flawless fakes. At the Assembly Ball at Delmonico's, she effortlessly determines that the stones in the spectacular diamond waterfall necklace adorning the neck of the wife of banker William De Vries are fake. Insisting on absolute discretion to avoid scandal, the banker employs Prudence and Geoffrey to recover the stolen diamonds pried out of their settings-priceless stones acquired by Tiffany, originally purchased for Marie Antoinette. Their search for a possible fence rapidly leads to a dead end: a jeweler brutally killed in his shop during an apparent theft. The jeweler's murder is only the first in a string of mysterious deaths, as Prudence and Geoffrey pursue their elusive quarry. But the clues keep leading back to duplicity on the part of the De Vries family, who, it turns out, have a great deal to hide..

Heiress-turned-sleuth Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter step out of the elite society of Gilded Age New York as they venture into the city's crime ridden streets and most dangerous neighborhoods to search for two missing children... THE DEAD CRY JUSTICE May 1890: As NYU Law School finally agrees to admit female law students, Judge MacKenzie's daughter Prudence weighs her choices carefully. Chief among her concerns is how her decision would affect the Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law agency and her professional and personal relationship with the partner who is currently recuperating from a near fatal shooting. But an even more pressing issue presents itself in the form of a street urchin, whose act of petty theft inadvertently leads Prudence to a badly beaten girl he is protecting. Fearing for the girl's life, Prudence rushes her to the Friends Refuge for the Sick Poor, run by the compassionate Charity Sloan. When the boy and girl slip out of their care and run away, Prudence suspects they are fleeing a dangerous predator and is desperate to find them. Aided by the photographer and social reformer Jacob Riis and the famous journalist Nellie Bly, Prudence and Geoffrey scour the tenements and brothels of Five Points. Their only clue is a mysterious doll with an odd resemblance to the missing girl. But as the destitute orphans they encounter whisper the nickname of the killer who stalks them-Il diavolo-Prudence and Geoffrey must race against time to find the missing children before their merciless enemies do...

When newly minted lawyer Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter travel to Niagara Falls on a mysterious assignment from Lady Rotherton, they quickly discover familiar dangers beyond the water's edge . . . DEATH AT THE FALLS October 1890: As Prudence and Geoffrey settle into the most elegant hotel in Canadian Niagara, they observe a popular tourist area torn between natural beauty and industrial power. Also attracting their attentions are the antics of daredevil Crazy Louie Whiting, determined to be the first person to navigate the falls without drowning. Shortly after their arrival, Crazy Louie sends a specially designed test barrel containing a sheep over the falls. But when the barrel is retrieved and opened, the battered body of a local Tuscarora Indian spills out. When Geoffrey and Prudence learn of the dead man's suspicions about rampant bribery among greedy land developers and local officials, they wonder if there's a connection to their client, Rowan Adderly. A young woman whose father disappeared while she was a child, the land she is due to inherit could be worth millions-and inevitably the sharks have come feeding. In a move to block Rowan's inheritance, her greedy grandmother has declared Rowan to be the illegitimate offspring of an illicit affair between her son and a seductive Irish songstress. As Prudence and Geoffrey dig deeper into the region's undercurrent of opportunistic greed, their investigation is impeded at every turn by murder and attempted murder. They will have to work quickly to solve a convoluted case before a determined killer sends one of them on a fatal plunge . . .

A diplomat's murder draws heiress-turned-sleuth Prudence MacKenzie and former Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter away from New York's high society and into the dark heart of Chinatown . . . MURDER WEARS A HIDDEN FACE February 1891: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition of Chinese art objects, timed to coincide with the arrival of a new Chinese cultural attaché, Lord Peng. Prudence and Geoffrey are invited to attend the opening ceremonies. But among the throng of dignitaries making their way through the galleries is one decidedly unwelcome and unexpected visitor-an assassin who stabs the attaché to death, then flees through Central Park. As witnesses, Prudence and Geoffrey quickly become immersed in the case and join former New York detective Warren Lowry in investigating the murder. But there are complications. The Peng family will no longer enjoy diplomatic standing and is threatened by deportation and possible disgrace or execution in their homeland. Desperate to remain in the West, they flee into the labyrinth of Chinatown, enlisting the protection of a long-lost uncle, now the leader of one of the city's most feared Tongs. But that alliance comes with a price; Peng's son must become his uncle's apprentice in crime, while his eldest daughter will be forced to marry a Tong leader she has never met. With a killer still at large, bent on revenge for a long-ago injustice and determined to eliminate every member of the Peng family, Prudence and Geoffrey are plunged into the heart of a culture about which they know very little. Each foray into the narrow streets and alleyways of Chinatown could be their last.

When a series of mysterious deaths plagues a new Scottish play, heiress and lawyer Prudence MacKenzie and her partner ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter are called in to perform an investigation at one of Broadway's most stunning theatres . . . DEATH TAKES THE LEAD APRIL 1891: Prudence MacKenzie is delighted to attend a riveting rehearsal of Waif of the Highlands with her dear friend, Lydia Truitt, whose cousin, Septimus Ward, stars in the play. But the drama continues after the curtain falls, as the women overhear a ferocious argument between Septimus and the play's famous playwright-director, Barrett Hughes. When confronted about the dispute, Septimus reveals that he actually wrote the script, but allowed Hughes to claim authorship in return for casting Septimus's paramour, Flora Campbell, in the lead. Septimus has come to regret the agreement and vows to reclaim authorship, even if it means the play never opens. But, days later, Prudence and Geoffrey are urgently summoned to Septimus's boarding house, where the thespian lays dying in Lydia's arms. Lydia believes her cousin's death is no accident and wants Hunter and MacKenzie Investigative Law to look into the matter, going so far as to help Prudence and Flora secure employment undercover in the play's wardrobe department. At first, Hughes's determination to keep the production running seems admirable, but his motives are soon called into question as Prudence hears whispers backstage about his notorious predatory behavior with young women. And when another body turns up at the theatre, it's clear that someone is targeting the play and its company-but why? Prudence and Geoffrey must improvise as they tread into an unfamiliar world where deceit is cultivated for entertainment and deception is celebrated as talent, to expose a darkness lurking behind the glittering stage lights. . .

Heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter are about to become more than partners as investigators-they are to be wed at Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. But a killer has designs on ruining the wedding as well as their lives . . . IN DEADLY FASHION AUGUST 1891. Prudence has her heart set on wearing her mother's wedding gown on the happy day, but she soon discovers the material has deteriorated so badly that it cannot be refurbished. With time running out, she decides to seek out a new American designer, a woman who trained in the House of Worth, the makers of the original dress in Paris, who now has a shop in New York City. The gown is nearly complete when the expert seamstress overseeing the project is found dead in the studio, with Prudence's wedding dress slashed to ribbons and scattered over the body. The murder incites a scandal, as client after client deserts the now struggling designer. Now not only must Prudence find the murderer, she must rescue the talented young couturière's reputation-all while another gown is being hastily sewn. The police suspect the seamstress's disgruntled lover. Prudence wonders about other designers competing in the cutthroat world of high fashion. But when additional wedding plans start to go awry, it's clear there is an elaborate campaign of sabotage and that either Prudence or Geoffrey or both are being targeted. Once again they must work as a team to expose whoever is determined to ruin their lives-before the future they've so long dreamed of is left in tatters . . .