Why would a thief steal a china bowl, a letter opener and a handkerchief? And why have the objects then reappeared in unusual places? It's a Christmas mystery for Theo and Rose to solve in this Milestone Agency Victorian Mysteries short story.

Spain threatens to invade England, and the people of Plymouth are understandably fearful. They watch for enemy sails on the horizon, and worry about spies and traitors in their midst. But one person in the city already knows how events will unfold, and she has more on her mind than a potential invasion.A tear in the curtain of time has stranded Alexandra Barton in 1588, with no idea how she got there or how to return to the present. If that weren't enough, she has to decide whether...

Rose Miles was young, wealthy, recently widowed and bored out of her mind. Theodore Stone was trying to find a way to avoid joining the family business. When their paths crossed in dramatic fashion, it seemed logical for them to join forces -- and the Milestone Investigative Agency was the result.'Oxford Blue' is the first novel in the Milestone Agency Victorian Mysteries series

Jessica Hughes never intended to be a detective. Private investigator Philip Burgess never expected to be shot while on his way to a concert. But with Philip hospitalized, Jessica agrees to step in and investigate a case where a suicide is looking more and more like a murder. What's more, she finds she's actually enjoying her new career, despite the lecherous attention of her temporary boss, an unexpected end to a boating trip and the difficulty of attempting a high speed car chase while d...

Rob Mangan has problems. His small independent research lab is on the brink of bankruptcy and his wife's gone off with the fish tank cleaner. So when Rob and his brother Phil are offered a small fortune to develop surgical dressings using sphagnum moss, they jump at the opportunity.But things that seem too good to be true, usually are. In Mossfire, the first R&P Labs mystery, the five scientists-turned-detectives -- Rob, Phil, Ellis, Virginia and Mitch -- match wits with a mint-suc...

Hunger drove 13-year-old Sarah Simm to steal a valuable gold pocket watch. Kindness prompted Jacob Silver to offer her a job rather than see her jailed for the theft. Those two acts changed both their lives forever.'Sarah's Story' is a companion book to 'Tools of the Trade', the first book in the Silver and Simm Victorian Mysteries series, re-telling the story of their meeting and their first case from Sarah's point of view.

A young police constable is shot while walking through an Oxford park. A wealthy woman hires the Milestone Agency to find a valuable missing ring. The two events would seem to have absolutely nothing in common, but that's before Theo and Rose discover a unexpected connection, one that could have fatal consequences.'Oxford Copper' is the ninth novel in the Milestone Agency Victorian Mystery series.

He's considered a heretic. She's a 13-year-old thief. Jacob Silver and Sarah Simm are mistrusted by the residents of their Cotswold market town even before the suspicious death of wealthy merchant Thomas Martyn – a man with the power to destroy both of them. But a secret night visit, a hidden scandal and a second murder mean that the two outsiders on the fringes of society are now thrust into the spotlight. Can this unlikely duo discover the truth others have missed – or concealed?...

Brian Connell was a photographer with a short attention span where wives were concerned; he went through three of them in five years. But that didn't mean he was guilty of murder, and it didn't stop him from dashing off to photograph an erupting volcano, accompanied by writer turned detective Jessica Hughes. Her job is not only to report on the eruption, but to keep Brian out of the clutches of the law until she and partner Philip Burgess can track down a killer who is as hard to pin down ...

Having lost both her husband and her job, Zukie Merlino has time on her hands and a mystery to solve. Night after night, someone is searching the empty house next door, whose elderly owner died following an unusually explosive Fourth of July. A second death in the house brings out all Zukie's detective instincts and with the help of her reluctant accomplice Lou, she launches her own investigation using her wits, her wigs and a coffee cake or two.

A street party on a hot summer evening takes a deadly turn when one of the revellers dies, apparently from food poisoning. But there's more to the death than first meets the eye, and the five R&P Labs staff members find themselves drawn into a case of love, loathing and lemon meringue pie.'Halfbaked' is a short story of about 16,500 words. It also appears in the collection 'Four by Five' and introduced Zukie Merlino, who then insisted on being featured in her own full-length novels...

The R&P Labs staff members are planning their Christmas potluck lunch when a stranger arrives on the doorstep with an announcement that threatens to turn several lives upside down.'Tis the season to be wary, and in this short story, the five scientific sleuths have to do some rapid research to discover whether one of them will be getting a very unusual Christmas present.