Central Kansas Library System

Death of a Gossip

When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joined the fishing class, she wasted no time in ruffling the feathers—or was it the fins?—of those around her. Among the victims of her sharp tongue and unladylike manner was Lochdubh Constable Hamish Macbeth. Yet not even Hamish thought someone would permanently silence Lady Jane's shrills—until her strangled body is fished out of

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Mannerling, the splendid family estate gambled away by Sir Beverly, remained the passionate desire of his daughters. Beverly himself had died; the eldest daughter, Isabella-having failed in her bid to reclaim their home-was blissfully wed. The mantle of savior then fell to the next eldest daughter, Jessica. How fortunate that the new owner of Mannerling had a marriageable son. In truth, Harry was a brutal lecher, a drunkard, and a wastrel, but Jessica,...

She had dared to turn a cold shoulder on London's prize catch. She was a precocious American upstart who thought beauty, brains, and bravery were enough to conquer London society. Well, he'd show her! Nobody publicly (or privately!) spurned Lord David Manley, the most eligible bachelor in town. He was determined that soon she'd be trembling in his arms, desperately in love with the man she had dared to mock. David Manley always got his way, and Miss...

Just when he'd fobbed off the last brat, another appeared to take her place! Poor Lord Anselm! The dashing bachelor was forever plagued with dying relatives leaving their female children to his care. Indeed, he had squired so many a silly miss from schoolroom to marriage mart that he had sworn off woman altogether. The current ward was far and away the worst. Cheeky as only a French girl could be, Yvonne de la Falaise had surely sent her papa to an...

Young Harriet Metcalf has come from the countryside to Mayfair, and her assigned task is to get two teenage heiresses launched in the London ton. For the course of the season, they will be renting at 67 Clarges Street-where the quirky but resourceful servants are always ready to lend a helpful hand. But Harriet soon finds herself being courted by a notorious rake, the Marquess of Huntingdon-much to the annoyance of the spoiled young sisters. The below-stairs...

Lovely Rachel Beverley, 19, having narrowly avoided an entanglement with a cad more interested in her former family home, Mannerling, than in her lissome person, is surprisingly still in that house's spell. The new owner, widower Charles Blackwood, is thought at "nearly forty" to be too old for marriage prospects by the remaining Misses Beverley, including Rachel. But a chance meeting with him, during which Rachel castigates the man for his inattention...

The redoubtable Tribble sisters are almost outfoxed by a young lady thrown on the London marriage mart, as they undertake another enterprise of matchmaking. Fiona McCloud, an implacable beauty, seems averse to marriage and is adept at dispatching would-be suitors for her hand and fortune. Her attitude undergoes a sea change with the appearance of rakish Lord Harvard. As he attempts to gain the approval of the Tribbles, a cast of familiar characters...

When the Duke of Pelham returns to his town house at 67 Clarges Street, he is grimly determined to find a suitable wife--but completely unprepared for what the Season has to offer. The duke's title alone has always brought him more than his share of feminine attention; claiming not to believe in love, he has never been spurned by a lady. The duke's self-imposed search is soon disrupted by the arrival in London of Miss Jenny Sutherland, a spoiled but...

Miss Jennie Bemyss was in a position that any intelligent young lady would envy. The wealthy, worldly Marquis of Charrington proposed a marriage of convenience that would leave him free to pursue his pleasures, and leave Jennie free of his undoubtedly depraved desires. At the same time, handsome charming Guy Chalmers, whom Jennie had loved since childhood, proposed to aid her in enjoying her freedom to the fullest. Jennie should have felt relief at...

Penelope-golden-haired, azure-eyed, fresh from the county-has stolen the heart of the most desirable Earl of Hestleton. Rich, startlingly handsome, he is the most eligible lord in the realm. He had planned to toy with her affections then toss her to the bon ton, but when the Earl discovers that he is a pawn in Penelope's Aunt Augusta's social-climbing scheme, he begins to doubt Penelope's true love. Can the belle keep her beau or will her aunt's ambitious...