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A trace of poison / by Cambridge, Colleen,author.;
In England's stately manor houses, murder is not generally a topic for polite conversation. Mallowan Hall, home to Agatha Christie and her husband, Max, is the exception. And housekeeper Phyllida Bright delights in discussing gory plot details with her friend and employer ... The neighboring village of Listleigh has also become a hub of grisly goings-on, thanks to a Murder Fête organized to benefit a local orphanage. Members of The Detection Club-a group of celebrated authors such as G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Agatha herself-will congregate for charitable events, including a writing contest for aspiring authors. The winner gets an international publishing contract, and entrants have gathered for a cocktail party - managed by the inimitable Phyllida - when murder strikes too close even for her comfort. It seems the victim imbibed a poisoned cocktail intended for Alastair Whittlesby, president of the local writers' club. The insufferable Whittlesby is thought to be a shoo-in for the prize, and ambition is certainly a worthy motive. But narrowing down these suspects could leave even Phyllida's favorite fictional detective, M. Poirot, twirling his mustache in frustration. It's a mystery too intriguing for Phyllida to resist, but one fraught with duplicity and danger, for every guest is an expert in murder - and how to get away with it.
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Historical fiction.; Recipes.; Novels.; Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976; Mallowan, M. E. L. (Max Edgar Lucien); Household employees; Murder; Poisoning;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The kitchen front : a novel / by Ryan, Jennifer,1973-author.;
"From the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir comes a new World War II-set story of four women on the home front competing for a spot hosting a BBC wartime cookery program and a chance to better their lives. Two years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest--and the grand prize is a job as the program's first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives. For a young widow, it's a chance to pay off her husband's debts and keep aroof over her children's heads. For a kitchen maid, it's a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it's a chance to escape her wealthy husband's increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it's a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession. These four women are giving the competition their all--even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart?"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; War fiction.; Recipes.; Cooking; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Cheap old houses : an unconventional guide to loving and restoring a forgotten home / by Finkelstein, Elizabeth(Architectural historian),author.; Finkelstein, Ethan,author.; Marshall, Kelly,photographer (expression); Poletto, Christina,author.;
"From the founders of the addictive Instagram handle and HGTV show Cheap Old Houses comes a lookbook of beautiful, affordable homes and a resource for anyone who's ever dreamed of buying and restoring an historic house. More than once, I've lost my heart to an old house. And many times over, I've seen others do the same exact thing. I'm not surprised anymore when someone professes love for a home that has been overlooked or shirked, and watch them chase these feelings of adoration straight into homeownership. Save this house! Welcome to the magical world of Cheap Old Houses, where the new American dream comes with zero mortgage and an alternative lifestyle fit for a storybook. Elizabeth and Ethan Finklestein have scoured the country to capture real homes bought for under 150,000-some for as little as 25,000 to 50,000-and the stories of how they were acquired and lovingly restored. Within these beautifully photographed pages, you'll discover monster Victorian mansions, Italianate-style farmhouses, Federal manors, off-the-beaten-path cabins, and even old schools and churches turned into residences. Peppering the home love stories is valuable insight from Elizabeth, who shares her perspective as a historical preservationist on her favorite details to look out for, from pocket doors to plaster walls to mansard roofs"--
Subjects: Architecture; Dwellings; Dwellings; Homeowners;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Murder Takes the Stage [electronic resource] : by Cambridge, Colleen.aut; cloudLibrary;
A witty and inventive treat for lovers of all things Christie, Downton Abbey, and Knives Out, set in London and the English countryside and starring Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper to the great dame of detective fiction herself. “Dame Agatha would be proud” (Publishers Weekly). Housekeeper Phyllida Bright is quite in her element at Mallowan Hall, the charming English manor that she keeps in tip-top shape. By contrast, the bustling metropolis of London, where her famed employer Agatha Christie has temporarily relocated, leaves Phyllida a bit out of her depth. Not only must she grapple with a limited staff, but Phyllida also has to rein in a temperamental French cook who has the looks of Hercule Poirot, but none of the charm.  When a man named Archibald Allston is found dead in an armchair onstage at the Adelphia Theater, first impressions are that he died of natural causes. But the very next day, the unlucky actor playing Benvolio at the Belmont Theater is found with his head bashed in. And when a third victim turns up, this time with double-C initials, the fatal pattern is impossible to ignore.  With panic erupting among theater folk—a superstitious bunch at the best of times—Phyllida steps up to help with the investigation. The murderer’s M.O. may be easy to read, but can Phyllida uncover the killer’s identity before the final curtain falls on another victim?General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Amateur Sleuth; Historical; International Mystery & Crime;
© 2024., Kensington Books,
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Home at night / by Munier, Paula,author.;
"Beware the blackbirds ... It's Halloween in Vermont, winter is coming, and five humans, two dogs, and a cat are a crowd in Mercy Carr's small cabin. She needs more room-and she knows just the place: Grackle Tree Farm, with thirty acres of woods and wetlands and a Victorian manor to die for. They say it's haunted by the ghosts of missing children and lost poets and a murderer or two, but Mercy loves it anyway. Even when Elvis finds a dead body in the library. There's something about Grackle Tree Farm that people are willing to kill for-and Mercy needs to figure out what before they move in. A coded letter found on the victim points to a hidden treasure that may be worth a fortune-if it's real. She and Captain Thrasher conduct a search of the old place-and end up at the wrong end of a Glock. A masked man shoots Thrasher, and she and Elvis must take him down before he murders them all. Under fire, she and Elvis manage to run the guy off, but not before they are wounded, leaving Thrasher fighting for his life in the hospital, Mercy on crutches, and Elvis on the mend. Now it's up to Mercy and Troy and the dogs to track down the masked murderer in a county overflowing with leaf peepers, Halloween revelers, and treasure hunters and bring him to justice before he strikes again and the treasure is lost forever, along with the good name of Grackle Tree Farm ... "--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Novels.; Dog owners; Farms; Halloween; Murder; Treasure troves;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Murder in the Tea Leaves [electronic resource] : by Childs, Laura.aut; cloudLibrary;
It’s Lights, Action, Murder as tea maven Theodosia Browning scrambles for clues in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series. When Theodosia Browning reads the tea leaves on the set of the movie, Dark Fortunes, things go from spooky to worse. Lights are dimmed, the camera rolls, and red hot sparks fly as the film’s director is murdered in a tricky electrical accident. Or was it an accident? Though the cast and crew are stunned beyond belief, nobody admits to seeing a thing. And when Theodosia’s friend, Delaine, becomes the prime suspect, Theodosia begins her own shadow investigation. But who among this Hollywood cast and crew had murder on their mind? The screenwriter is a self-centered pot head, the leading actress is trying to wiggle out of her contract, the brand new director seems indifferent, and nobody trusts the slippery-when-dry Hollywood agent. Between hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany’s Tea, a Poetry Tea, and trying to launch her own chocolate line, Theodosia doggedly hunts down clues and explores the seemingly haunted Brittlebank Manor where the murder took place. And just when she’s ready to pounce, a Charleston Film Board member is also murdered, throwing everything into total disarray. But this clever killer will go to any lengths to hide his misdeeds as Theodosia soon finds out when she and her tea sommelier, Drayton, get caught up in a dangerous stakeout. INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!
Subjects: Electronic books.; Amateur Sleuth; Women Sleuths;
© 2024., Penguin Publishing Group,
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The shadow key : a novel in four branches / by Stokes-Chapman, Susan,1985-author.;
"Dismissed from his post at a prestigious London hospital, Dr. Henry Talbot has little choice but to accept a mysterious offer of employment as a private physician from an inscrutable lord of a rural manor in Wales. Arriving at Plas Helyg, Lord Julian's isolated estate, Henry can't speak the language and finds himself treated with hostile suspicion by superstitious villagers, whose beliefs in myths and magic he's inclined to dismiss. But when he discovers that his predecessor died under peculiar, inexplicable circumstances, his determination to uncover the truth leads him down a path fraught with danger-made all the more perilous by his headstrong, reluctant ally Linette, Lord Julian's niece. Linette has lived a lonely life as Plas Helyg's unconventional mistress: her uncle treats her with disdain, her father is long dead, and her mother, long plagued by strange spells and believed by everyone around her to be deeply unwell, spends most of her time locked away in her rooms. Fiercely self-reliant, Linette refuses to wear women's clothes, has no interest in marriage, and takes an interest in the welfare of the men working in Lord Julian's mines, against his wishes. Linette has always suspected something is not quite right in the village, but it is only through Henry's dogged investigations that the dark truth about those closest to her will come to light-a truth that will bind hers and Henry's destinies together forever in ways neither thought possible"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Gothic fiction.; Novels.; Physicians; Villages; Mythology, Celtic;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Lapvona / by Moshfegh, Ottessa,author.;
"In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh's most exciting leap yet Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life's few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby, as she did so many of the village's children. Ina's gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina's home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place. Among their number is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people's desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord's family, new and occult forces upset the old order. By year's end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, the natural world and the spirit world, will prove to be very thin indeed"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Fiefs; Middle Ages; Midwives; Shepherds;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The murders in Great Diddling : a novel / by Bivald, Katarina,1983-author.; Menzies, Alice,translator.; translation of:Bivald, Katarina,1983-Morden i Great Diddling.English.;
"The best stories are the ones we didn't know needed to be told. The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories-author Berit Gardner can feel it. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers ... Berit can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript (not even the idea for a manuscript, truth be told), Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it. Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself. An explosion in the library of the village's grand manor kills a local man, and the resulting investigation and influx of outsiders sends the quiet, rundown community into chaos. The residents of Great Diddling, each one more eccentric and interesting than any character Berit could have invented, rewrite their own narrative and transform the death of one of their own from a tragedy into a new beginning. Taking advantage of Great Diddling's new notoriety, the villagers band together to start a book and murder festival designed to bring desperately-needed tourists to their town. What they couldn't have predicted is how the new story they've begun to tell will change all their lives forever. Uplifting, charming, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Murders in Great Diddling by New York Times bestselling author Katarina Bivald is a celebration of the life-changing magic of books and the people who love them"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Novels.; Authors; Books and reading; Explosions; Murder; Small cities; Tourists; Women authors; Women detectives;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The drowning sea / by Taylor, Sarah Stewart,author.;
"In The Drowning Sea, Sarah Stewart Taylor returns to the critically acclaimed world of Maggie D'arcy with another atmospheric mystery so vivid readers will smell the salt in the air and hear the wind on the cliffs. For the first time in her adult life, former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D'arcy is unemployed. No cases to focus on, no leads to investigate, just a whole summer on a remote West Cork peninsula with her teenage daughter Lilly and her boyfriend, Conor and his son. The plan is to prepare Lilly for a move to Ireland. But their calm vacation takes a dangerous turn when human remains wash up below the steep cliffs of Ross Head. When construction worker Lukas Adamik disappeared months ago, everyone assumed he had gone home to Poland. Now that his body has been found, the guards, including Maggie's friends Roly Byrne and Katya Grzeskiewicz, seem to think he threw himself from the cliffs. But as Maggie gets to know the residents of the nearby village and learns about the history of the peninsula and its abandoned Anglo Irish manor house, once home to a famous Irish painter who died under mysterious circumstances, she starts to think there's something else going on. Something deadly. And when Lilly starts dating one of the dead man's friends, Maggie grows worried about her daughter being so close to another investigation and about what the investigation will uncover. Old secrets, hidden relationships, crime, and village politics are woven throughout this small seaside community, and as the summer progresses, Maggie is pulled deeper into the web of lies, further from those she loves, and closer to the truth"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Novels.; Murder; Secrecy; Truthfulness and falsehood;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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