For fans of Lindsey Davis and Iain Pears—A lawyer stands accused of murder in this historical mystery series opener set in Cromwell's England.Two-time Edgar nominee L. C. Tyler is best known for his series featuring Ethelred and Elsie— a third-rate novelist and his gloriously vulgar agent, respectively. And so he should be: He's twice won Britain's "Last Laugh" award for the Best Humorous Mystery of the Year.But with A Cruel Necessity, the first in t...

In this Edgar-nominated cozy series opener, a second-rate British crime novelist and his quirky agent investigate his devious ex-wife's murder.A mediocre mystery-writer (and thus a purveyor of red herrings), Ethelred Tressider has even less interest in writing his books than his (dwindling) fan base has in reading them, and his agent—the pesky, nosy, vulgar, chocolate-chomping Elsie—has no interest in them at all. But with a name like Ethelred, things can always get...

By day, Sable Knight publishes crime books.By night, they're brought to life.Sable Knight, owner and Commissioning Editor at the London publishing house Day & Knight, knows a thing or two about crime fiction. But behind the glossy covers and gripping blurbs lies a darker enterprise. Her 'special editorial services' are far more lucrative than the average publishing deal. Some clients - let's call them authors - need a little help plotting their entirely fic...

This anthology draws together some of the best new stories of mystery and murder—compiled by the Anthony Award–winning crime fiction editor.This anthology collects the most original stories of murder by some of mystery fiction's most inventive talents from the United States and United Kingdom. With innovative new takes on locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes, these short stories are full of vexing conundrums and reality-defying puzzles. A murder has been comm...

It's the Autumn of 1666, and the Great Fire is still burning, the ashes of hundreds of houses and shops and St. Paul's Cathedral choking the air. The people, too, are choking, raging at the French, the Dutch, at the foreigners who—they are certain—lit the torch. Lord Arlington, the Secretary of State, might conceivably be interested in harnessing this anger; it can be so useful, at times, to have the population united in loathing of a common enemy. But this is not one of those times. And i...

From the author of The Herring in the Library, a struggling mystery author takes an Egyptian cruise for inspiration only to become surrounded by murder.Ethelred Tressider's career is not, let's face it, what one might call glittering. In fact, it's barely what one might call capable of paying the gas bill. To be honest, this is not surprising: Ethelred lost any real interest in writing mystery novels many years ago, and his audience has never been truly exc...

A Mediaeval Manor house. Family members who barely tolerate each other. An overbearing Matriarch. A collection of authors. Suspicious deaths in the library.it sounds like the plot to one of Ethelred Tressider's novels. Not this time - this time, it's real life and it's fallen to Ethelred and his sceptical agent, Elsie Thirkettle to find out what happened.So, instead of acquiring a new book deal to write Lady Letitia Catchpole's exclusive biography, Ethelred and Elsie are sifting thr...

In this Edgar-nominated cozy mystery, a sub-par literary agent and her crime-writing client must ferret out a murderer in a French hotel.Ethelred Tressider is eager to pack in his career a mid-level mystery author—and happy to leave his (deservedly) long-suffering agent, Elsie, holding the bag. But Elsie has tracked Ethelred from England to his hideout, a run-down hotel hosting a stamp-collectors' conference in the French Loire Valley.After a guest is stabbed...

In this mystery by the author of Crooked Herring, a lawyer in Cromwell's England receives dangerous info that could stop a murder—or get him killed.John Grey is a newly minted lawyer and would-be ladies' man with a bad habit of poking his nose into other people's business and getting tangled up in intrigue. That's unfortunate, because a mis-delivered letter from royalists has left Grey with more information about a murderous plot than it's entirely safe to ...

A politically sensitive murder is detected amid the chaos of a deadly plague in this "stellar . . . well-crafted" mystery set in Restoration London ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).It's 1665, and the Black Death has London in its hideous grip. It's bad news for everyone . . . almost. For a mysterious killer, it presents an opportunity to hide a dead body among a city full of them. But as corpses are collected and brought to the burial pit, one of the b...

From the author of Ten Little Herrings, murder is on the menu when a two-bit British crime writer and his sub-par agent dine at a country estate.Ethelred and Elsie are an unlikely duo: he's a deeply mediocre mystery writer, and she's his deeply nosy, chocolate-chomping agent. And yet they are stuck with one another, if only because their combined sleuthing abilities are much more impressive than anything either one of them can come up with alone. Tonight's ...

From the author of Herring on the Nile, a fellow novelist's plea for help plunges a mid-list mystery writer and his agent into a murder investigation."You don't believe me, do you?" asked Henry. "That I might have killed somebody." Well, really. The genuine murderer—the real pro—tends to keep track of that sort of thing. And besides, there is no dead body to speak of. Understandably, Ethelred, our struggling mystery writer, is reluctant to help his colleagu...