Murder in Grosvenor Square

Murder in Grosvenor Square

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, Book 9. This is a full-length novel of 86,000 words (32 chapters). Captain Gabriel Lacey begins Spring 1818 preparing for a duel. But while he focuses on the affair of honor, darkness, greed, and death stalk the streets of London and bring tragedy to a family Lacey has grown close to. With the aid of Lucius Grenville, London’s most famous dandy, and Brewster, a ruffian employed by an underworld criminal, Lacey explores the world of molly houses and the double lives some men of society lead. His investigation takes him from the elegant mansions of Grosvenor Square to the squalid lanes of Seven Dials, to taverns that practice a highly illegal trade, spelling ruin and possible hanging for those caught within. Lacey once again comes into the realm of James Denis, a crime lord, when what appears to be a simple crime of hatred becomes far more complex.
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The Thames River Murders

The Thames River Murders

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

Captain Lacey is asked by Thompson of the Thames River Police to help him investigate a cold case–the murder of a woman found near the docks Thompson patrols. The investigation was sidelined, considered unsolvable, but Thompson, in touch with the woman’s family, has long wished to find her murderer. Captain Lacey joins him in the hunt, entering a part of society that is closed to outsiders. Meanwhile, he must deal with his daughter’s debut and more developments in his new domestic life. (Coming in 2015)
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The Hanover Square Affair

The Hanover Square Affair

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the young woman to murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. At the same time, he struggles with his disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world, redefining his role with his former commanding officer, and making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden. Book 1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
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The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #1)

The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #1)

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

London, 1816 Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, his career ignominiously over. He stumbles onto the case of a kidnapping, the accused a prominent MP. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. At the same time, Lacey must face the everyday troubles of his own life.London, 1816 Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. Lacey faces his own disorientation upon transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world, redefining his role with his former commanding officer and making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.Book 1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
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The Gentleman's Walking Stick

The Gentleman's Walking Stick

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

London, 1817 An anthology of two short stories of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. In The Gentleman's Walking Stick, Lacey untangles a web of deceit involving a respectable society man, his only clue being a missing walking stick. (This story first appeared in the Regency fiction magazine, The Reticule in 2000.) In The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald, Lacey is asked to locate a man's missing daughter, though he senses that the family will be just as happy for her to remain missing. The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald was nominated for a Derringer Award for best short mystery in the year 2000. The story first appeared in Over My Dead Body! Mystery Magazine in Summer, 2000. The first story runs 6000 words; the second, 5000 words. While these are standalone stories, the events fall in the series timeline anytime after The Sudbury School Murders.
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Murder in the Eternal City

Murder in the Eternal City

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

When I agree to visit Grenville in his villa near Rome, I scarcely imagine that I immediately will become embroiled in mystery and mayhem. James Denis has requested that I purchase an antique from a collector, one Conte de Luca. Before I can approach this count, I am recruited by a Roman a man to help rescue his daughter from a cool aristocrat, and then asked to solve the murder of an Englishman—by a man who is already dead. These tasks do not keep me from traveling to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and exploring to my heart's content, but trouble follows me in the form of a man bent on killing me—for what reason I cannot fathom. All this is compounded by another murder back in Rome, and I am commanded by James Denis, as well as the aristocrat who stole my new Roman friend's daughter, to find out who committed the deed and the secret of the man's astonishing collection of rare and fine art. Probing these puzzles lead me to the past,...
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The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #4.5)

The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries #4.5)

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

London 1817. Captain Lacey agrees to track down the missing necklace of a society matron and prove the innocence of her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. He recruits Lady Breckenridge to infiltrate the matron's household, and finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. This is a ten-chapter (25,000 word) novella.
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Murder Most Historical: A Collection of Short Mysteries

Murder Most Historical: A Collection of Short Mysteries

Ashley Gardner

Mystery & Thrillers / Historical Fiction / Romance

Three historical mysteries span in time from the court of Louis XIV to Victorian London. Meet Émilie d’Armand, a young woman who witnesses corruption and murder in seventeenth-century France (The Bishop’s Lady), and Katherine Holloway, an English cook sought after by the wealthy, who finds herself embroiled in murder, assisted only by the mysterious Daniel McAdam (A Soupçon of Poison). Finally, explore the darker side of Regency London in an alternate look at that period from the point of view of an army soldier whose family has lost face (A Matter of Honor).
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