Ashley Gardner
The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey, #1)
Ashley Gardner
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.
Blood of a Gladiator (Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries, #1)
Ashley Gardner
Leonidas, champion gladiator of Rome, is set free from the games by a mysterious benefactor who grants him freedom, a place to live, and a servant—Cassia, a scribe—to look after him.
But the benefactor is only so generous—Leonidas must pay his own way and Cassia’s, which means hiring himself out. The sharp-witted Cassia quickly lands him a post as a bodyguard, escorting a retired senator to Ostia.
The trip soon turns deadly, as Leonidas and Cassia find themselves squarely in the middle of intrigue that reaches from the slums of the Subura to the Palatine Hill and the emperor Nero himself.
Book 1 of the Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries. Events in this book take place before the novella, Blood Debts.
Blood Debts (Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries, #1.5)
Ashley Gardner
The Sudbury School Murders (Captain Lacey, #4)
Ashley Gardner
A Regimental Murder (Captain Lacey, #2)
Ashley Gardner
The Gentleman's Walking Stick (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, #4.6)
Ashley Gardner
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.
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.
A Covent Garden Mystery (Captain Lacey, #6)
Ashley Gardner
Lacey's seventeen-year-old daughter, recently returned to London with his estranged wife, has disappeared, as have many street girls in Covent Garden. Desperately hunting for her, Lacey uncovers secrets about his wife's past--and his own life--that he must face before he can stop a killer.
Death at Brighton Pavilion (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, #14)
Ashley Gardner
When Captain Gabriel Lacey finds himself standing over a dead body in Brighton Pavilion, bloody sword in hand and no memory of how he got there, he immediately fears he is a murderer. The dead man is Colonel Hamilton Isherwood, a man Lacey clashed with after the battle of Salamanca in Spain seven years before. As Lacey tries to piece together the events of the previous night, he discovers he’d promised to help a Quaker gentleman find his missing son, and that the Society of Friends might know far more about his strange night out than anyone else. With the help of Brewster, Grenville, and his wife, Lacey races to save himself from arrest, even it means bringing to light painful scandals from his own past. Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, Book 14. This is a full-length novel.
Murder in the Eternal City (Captain Lacey #16)
Ashley Gardner
When I agree to take my family to visit Grenville in his villa near Rome, I hardly 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 a 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 and a captain of the police, to find out who committed the deed and what dire secrets the murdered man kept, secrets with the potential to destroy them all.
Probing into these puzzles lead me to the past, present, and future troubles of the Italian peninsula, a beautiful but deadly place in the spring of 1820.
A Gladiator's Tale (Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries, #2)
Ashley Gardner
AD 63
Leonidas’s former trainer, Aemil, asks him to look into the disappearances of gladiators from his ludus. Leonidas and Cassia investigate, and soon uncover gruesome murders involving some of the wealthiest citizens of Rome.
Leonidas pits his skills against an unknown killer who hunts gladiators from the back lanes of the Subura to prestigious villas atop Rome’s hills. He and Cassia must succeed in uncovering the murderer’s identity before Nero grows impatient and makes Leonidas pay for the chaos the killer has rained down upon his city.
The Custom House Murders (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, #15)
Ashley Gardner
Captain Lacey encounters an old army friend just returned from Antigua, who is being accused of smuggling and possibly murder. Lacey decides to help the man, whom he considers honorable, to clear his name.
Meanwhile James Denis has given Lacey a task, to deliver a mysterious package to a man with an office near the Custom House on the bank of the Thames. Lacey, who has been drawn into danger delivering items for Denis before, opens the package beforehand to find a single chess piece, a white queen.
The piece tells Lacey nothing, but he soon realizes it plays deeply into Denis’s ongoing battle for control of London’s underworld.
A Mystery at Carlton House (Captain Lacey, #12)
Ashley Gardner
1818: Captain Lacey is drawn into affairs of the highest in the land when his friend Grenville is asked by the Prince Regent to look into odd happenings in his lavish abode of Carlton House. Objects of value have gone missing, paintings and sculpture have been moved, and some of the staff have reported strange sounds and movements in the shadows. The Regent and his cronies suspect ghosts or other malign spirits. The Bow Street Runners have a more human suspect for these doings, and Captain Lacey is asked by a Runner to help him prepare a case against the man they’ve already arrested. But the suspect is under the protection of James Denis, a leader of crime, which brings Lacey head-to-head with him once more. Opposing Denis can be dangerous, and so can dividing the loyalties of the men who work for him. Meanwhile Lacey has his family to worry about—his daughter, his wife, and new members who have joined. In addition, he’s not convinced that either Denis or the Runners have the right idea in this matter. He must produce the correct answer before Denis loses his patience or one malevolent Runner in particular makes Lacey answer for the crimes.
The Necklace Affair and Other Stories (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, #4.5, 4.6, 4.7)
Ashley Gardner
Listening Length: 3 hours and 59 minutes
Includes:
* The Necklace Affair
Captain Lacey agrees to help a society matron discover what has become of her expensive diamond necklace and to clear her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. Lady Clifford declares that the rival for her husband's affections has stolen the necklace, but Lacey soon realizes that the problem is not so simple. He quickly becomes enmeshed in scandal and past secrets and recruits Grenville and Lady Breckenridge to assist him. As he investigates, he finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval.
* The Gentleman's Walking Stick
Captain Lacey is asked to retrieve a walking stick, which embroils him in an affair of theft, deception, and betrayal.
* The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald
Lacey hunts for a missing young woman, learning more about a family's sordid secrets than he wanted to know.
The Alexandria Affair (Captain Lacey, #11)
Ashley Gardner
Lucius Grenville at last persuades Captain Lacey to join him in an expedition to Egypt, to visit various ancient sites. Lacey is excited to go, though torn about leaving his new family. He discovers, though, that the burgeoning market for antiquities has made Egypt’s ancient history open for plunder, bringing forth ruthless men who will not stop short of murder for the sake of a fortune.
The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald (Captain Lacey, #4.7)
Ashley Gardner
A short story set in 1817 London involving Captain Gabriel Lacey, originally published in the Spring 2000 issue of Over My Dead Body mystery magazine. Included later in the anthology, "The Necklace Affair and Other Stories", and also with The Gentleman's Walking Stick (Captain Lacey #4.6).
Finalist for The Short Mystery Fiction Society's 2001 Derringer Award, Best "Short" category (1,201–10,000 words).
Murder Most Historical
Ashley Gardner
This anthology The Bishop's Lady (an Émilie d’Armand mystery), A Soupçon of Poison (a Kat Holloway mystery), and A Matter of Honor (a Regency mystery with a twist). Three historical mysteries span 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. Robert Archer, an army soldier whose family faces ruin, searches in desperation for a way to heal his family, assisted by an unlikely ally (A Matter of Honor). The Bishop's Lady (5500 words) and A Matter of Honor (7800 words) are short stories; A Soupçon of Poison is a longer novella (27,000 words).
The Thames River Murders (Captain Lacey, #10)
Ashley Gardner
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)
The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, #4.5)
Ashley Gardner
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 the theft. Lady Clifford declares that the rival for her husband's affections has stolen the necklace, but Lacey soon realizes that the problem is not so simple. He recruits Lady Breckenridge to infiltrate the Clifford household, while Lacey and his friend Lucius Grenville follow other leads. The investigation digs up scandal and past secrets, and Lacey finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. This is a 25,000-word (ten-chapter) novella. The events in it occur between the end of The Sudbury School Murders and the beginning of A Body in Berkeley Square.
Murder in St. Giles (Captain Lacey, #13)
Ashley Gardner
London, 1819: When Brewster, my bodyguard, comes to me about a murder of a pugilist—and what’s more, says his wife has summoned me—I must hasten to St. Giles to find a killer before Brewster is arrested for the crime.
This is made difficult because Donata's late husband’s odious cousin has materialized to try to wrest her son into his care. After all, seven-year-old Peter is a viscount, and his cousin wants to get closer to the title.
But how close? If Peter’s life is in danger, I must remain, but Brewster risks hanging for the death of his wife’s brother-in-law. He’s done too much for me to turn my back on him, but the devil if I’ll let the Breckenridge cousin get his clutches on Peter.
It will take all my perseverance, and a few wiles, to plough through these difficulties. In the meantime, I meet a Runner who teaches me about crime and punishment in this enlightened age, and Brewster’s old trainer, who made him the excellent pugilist—and thief—he is today.
Book 13 in the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
A Death in Norfolk (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, #7)
Ashley Gardner
September 1817
Captain Gabriel Lacey travels with Lady Breckenridge to his boyhood home in northern Norfolk, only to discover mysterious happenings in and around the Lacey estate. A young woman, cousin of an old friend, has gone missing, strange objects appear in Lacey's ruined house, and the dark windmills on the marshes keep pulling Lacey to them.
The underworld criminal, James Denis, uses Lacey's visit to Norfolk as an opportunity to have Lacey deliver a message to a local squire. A simple task--but one that lands Lacey squarely in international theft and murder. Lacey learns more about Denis's past, and finds himself joining forces with Denis to flush out a brutal killer and save the one person about whom Denis admits to caring.
Book Seven of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
Murder in Grosvenor Square (Captain Lacey, #9)
Ashley Gardner
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.
The Glass House (Captain Lacey, #3)
Ashley Gardner
On a cold January night in 1817, former cavalry officer Captain Gabriel Lacey is summoned to the banks of the Thames to identify the body of a young woman. When Lacey looks at the pretty, dead young woman, cut down too soon, he vows to find her murderer. Lacey's search takes him to the Glass House, a sordid gaming hell that played a large part in the victim's past, as well as to gatherings of the haut ton and the chambers of respectable Middle Temple barristers. Lacey uncovers secrets from the highborn and the low, finds himself drawn deeper into the schemes of a crime lord, and explores his tentative new friendship with Lady Breckenridge. Book 3 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This is a full-length novel.
A Body in Berkeley Square (Captain Lacey, #5)
Ashley Gardner
London, 1817
A Bow Street Runner summons Captain Gabriel Lacey to a Berkeley Square ballroom where a young dandy was stabbed to death during a society ball. The prime Lacey's former commander, Colonel Brandon.
Instead of denying the charges, Colonel Brandon allows himself to be arrested, and claims, to Lacey's shock, that the lady he'd stayed protectively near at the ball is his mistress. Lacey realizes that he is the only person not convinced of Brandon's guilt--all present, including Brandon's wife, believe that Brandon committed the murder.
Colonel Brandon's reticence to tell the truth proves to be Lacey's greatest obstacle in his race against time to prove Brandon's innocence. Lacey's relationship with Lady Breckenridge moves forward while his hunt for evidence to clear Brandon uncovers dark secrets that go back to the Peninsular Wars and involve the origins of Lacey's and Brandon's private battle.
A Disappearance in Drury Lane (Captain Lacey, #8)
Ashley Gardner
Late December, 1818 As Captain Gabriel Lacey prepares for his upcoming wedding, his former neighbor, Marianne Simmons, comes to him about an actress friend who's gone missing. Lacey agrees to help look for the actress, little realizing that the search will pit him against men who think nothing of abduction, assault, or sending incendiary devices to the innocent. At the same time, Lacey's personal life is changing, and his time for investigation is frequently and frustratingly interrupted. He is also commanded by a new Bow Street Runner to assist in bringing down James Denis, a criminal with whom Lacey now has complicated ties. Lacey must help or else risk hanging alongside Denis. The search for the actress takes Lacey from elegant assembly rooms to the backstage of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, where he finds darkness in all corners. Lacey's life and honor are constantly challenged as he tries to settle into his new life, until he realizes he can follow no code but his own. Book 8 in the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries.
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