Murder in the Devil’s Half Acre
Trouble’s brewing in the Devil’s Half Acre. A death in an alleyway, a tragic accident in a factory, rumours of a murderer loose on the streets. It’s enough to give a genteel lady a fit of the vapours.
Fortunately, Grace Penrose isn’t one to swoon at the sight of blood. All she wants is the chance to become the first woman doctor in the colony. Instead, she is plunged into the harsh reality of the city’s worst sweatshop, where tensions are running as hot as a steam engine.
When the police prove reluctant to investigate the deaths, she turns to a constable who is already up to his neck in trouble. As the clock ticks, Grace Penrose and Constable Charlie Pyke must figure out which deaths are accidents and which are murders, because the next victim might well be one of their own.
Murder Most Melancholy
Penrose & Pyke venture to the edge of madness, when they reunite to investigate two tragic deaths and a family mystery.
Are the last words of a frightened woman the ravings of a lunatic or the key to an old family mystery? Detective Constable Charlie Pyke is desperate to find out. But is he desperate enough to risk the life of his sleuthing partner, medical student Grace Penrose? More to the point, can he stop her?
The answers lie behind the locked doors of a sanitorium for wealthy women of delicate sensibilities, where high walls and dark corridors conceal more than one shocking secret.
Murder By Vote
Penrose & Pyke are flung into an explosive new mystery during the campaign for women’s suffrage.
Politicians are terrified that women voters will oust them, liquor barons are furious that women favour temperance over drunkenness, and the man in the street fears his wife will no longer be content with home and hearth.
Just how far will they go to stop women from getting the vote? Medical student Grace Penrose and Detective Constable Charlie Pyke are about to find out.
Murder in the Moonlight
Whispers of misconduct swirl around Grace Penrose, when a prominent surgeon has a fatal seizure on their moonlit stroll together.
Grace and the victim are on opposing sides of a feud over hospital services for women. How could she refuse his invitation to resolve their differences in private? When he dies despite her attempts to save him, and his unusual symptoms further implicate her, it’s not only her personal and professional reputation at risk.
As the case becomes ever more baffling, the only thing Grace needs more than Charlie’s sleuthing skills is his uncanny knack of appearing when she needs him most.
Murder So Rash
Penrose and Pyke are under siege. A mischievous gossip, a series of robberies, and now a callous murder and a looming epidemic. How much worse can it get?
When a shopkeeper is killed during a robbery, Detective Charlie Pyke is desperate to track down the killer for reasons close to his heart. If only it was that simple. A tell-all article in the local ladies’ journal threatens both his investigation and his private life. Charlie needs Grace Penrose to stand by him, but she has her hands full preventing a deadly outbreak of measles.
The rash of clues only starts to make sense when they combine forces. The problem is, neither knows quite what is at stake.
Tinsel and Trickery: A Christmas Novella
Penrose & Pyke have until Christmas Eve to save the orphans’ home, by unravelling a tangle of tinsel and trickery.
Private detective Charlie Pyke was looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas with his fiancée, Grace Penrose. Instead, Charlie and Grace must stop a dubious deal, find a sneak thief and foil a mischievous brother, with the help of a pair of inquisitive orphans and the spirit of a dear departed grandmother.
If they can decipher the clues and make it through the dessert course, they just might survive their first family Christmas together.
Murder Ignited
Penrose & Pyke’s wedding dream turns to ashes when the local women’s refuge goes up in flames.
Grace Penrose is used to protesters at Lavender House, but she never expected them to set the refuge on fire, especially not on her wedding day. Watching Charlie Pyke disappear into the inferno was definitely not on her mother’s carefully orchestrated wedding plan.
The discovery of a woman’s body in the smouldering ruins rouses Grace and Charlie’s detective instincts. With marital bliss on their minds, an investigation is the last thing they need. But how can they ignore a possible murder?
Preorder now (release date 25 July 2024)
Rose Pascoe 