Murder In Reproach
This seemed like a cut-and-dried case of suicide to Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle; the decedent—a wealthy theatre patron—must have decided that life without her famous husband was too hard to bear, and so she’d ended it.
Indeed, nothing about the tranquil scene would indicate foul play, save for the housekeeper’s insistence that something was amiss. The girl was certain that her mistress would never take her own life, and equally certain that she would never hold a peacock feather while doing so. After all, everyone in the theatre trade knew that peacock feathers were bad luck. . .
The Stray Relation
For years, Lisabetta had been under the protection of the Empress Josephine due to her status as a stray-relation—the illegitimate child of Josephine’s first husband. But now, Josephine was dead and all the various spymasters that Lisabetta had double-crossed were circling like vultures to see what she knew about the rumored St. Alban’s treasure. She needed a gambit, and needed it fast; it was fortunate, indeed, that love was the greatest gambit of all.
