Recommendations based on "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox"

An alluring literary mystery full of secrets and lies, when an art teacher at a psychiatric hospital in 1960s England finds her life turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious patient who has spent decades living in complete isolation with his elderly aunts in a decrepit Victorian house. Perfect for fans of Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tessa Hadley.In all failed relationships there is a tipping point. It goes unnoticed at the time but can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park…The London suburb of Croydon,1964: Helen Hansford is unmarried and in her thirties. Something of a disappointment to her middle-class parents, she’s an art therapist at the Westbury Park psychiatric hospital, where she has been having a rebellious love affair with her colleague Gil, a dashing but married doctor.One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance at a derelict, vine-covered Victorian house a few miles up the road. There the police find a mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, his hair and beard down to his waist. It appears he lives in the old house with his elderly, frail aunt, who expires as soon as she’s admitted to the hospital. No one knows why William has been shut away for decades, unseen by neighbors, with only his two now-deceased aunts for company. Westbury Park becomes his refuge.When it emerges that William is not only sane but a talented artist, Helen comes to see him as something of a personal project. But as she tries to solve the puzzle of the Hidden Man’s past, Helen’s own carefully constructed life of secrets begins to unravel...A gorgeously written and life-affirming novel about life’s delicate layers of experience and connection, Shy Creatures reveals all the different ways we can be confined...and liberated.

The start of a thrilling new Second World War mystery series from the number-one-bestselling and multi-award-winning author of Murder Most Unladylike .'Superb' Observer'Meticulous and sharp' Guardian'Engaging . . . You will make the journey with a spring in your step' The Times'Robin Stevens is Agatha Christie for children' Katherine Rundell on the Murder Most Unladylike series1940. Britain is at war, and a secret arm of the British government called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up spies.Enter May Wong : courageous, stubborn, and desperate to help end the war so that she can go home to Hong Kong (and leave her annoying school, Deepdean, behind forever). May knows that she would make the perfect spy. After all, grown-ups always underestimate children like her.When May and her friend Eric are turned away by the Ministry, they take matters into their own hands. Masquerading as evacuees, they travel to Elysium Hall, home to the wealthy Verey family - including snobby, dramatic Nuala . They suspect that one of the Vereys is passing information to Germany. If they can prove it, the Ministry will have to take them on.But there are more secrets at Elysium Hall than May or Eric could ever have imagined.And then someone is murdered...'Spirited and fun . . . A must for young murder mystery fans' Bookseller

With her student days behind her and her career well underway, Sue and Bill, now married, together try to run a little hospital in the New England hills that was presented to the community by the town's wealthiest citizen, Elias Todd. Sue is Superintendent of Nurses, and her old friend Kit is helping her along with many of her fellow students from her years of training.After all the exciting nursing adventures these two girls have shared together, one might think they would find their new work rather tame. It is anything but tame for Sue, however, with that irrepressible street urchin, Marianna, as a student nurse; with Jean Ditmarr, sophisticated New Yorker, thinking she could put something over on the young Superintendent; with Dr. Bill so busy being a good doctor that Sue feared for a while he might not prove such a good husband; and above all, with the mysterious disappearance of the hospital sheets! Sue Barton is at her best with all the excitement and fun that this nurse seems destined to find in her nursing profession. The authentic setting of rural hospital life is the perfect backdrop for another great Sue Barton story.

Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway changed her life--until a convicted killer tells her that four of his victims were never found, drawing her back to the place she left behind.Everything has changed for Ruth Galloway. She has a new job, home, and partner, and she is no longer North Norfolk police's resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Ivor March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March confirms this and offers to show Nelson where the other bodies are buried--but only if Ruth will do the digging. Curious, but wary, Ruth agrees. March tells Ruth that he killed four more women and that their bodies are buried near a village bordering the fens, said to be haunted by the Lantern Men, mysterious figures holding lights that lure travelers to their deaths. Is Ivor March himself a lantern man, luring Ruth back to Norfolk? What is his plan, and why is she so crucial to it? And are the killings really over?

The pleasant old brown shingle house was similar to many in Berkeley's Elmwood district, a home away from home for serious university students. There seemed to be no reason for the unnerving anonymous phone calls or the vicious mutilation of plants in the front yard. Mere random vandalism, perhaps. But what about the pipe bomb thrown through the window? Private investigator Jeri Howard, who for a brief while had been stepmother to one of the residents, is alarmed by the escalating violence directed at the house. Especially when she learns that any one of the five women who live there could be innocently attracting it. Marisol works at a counseling center for battered women. Rachel does escort duty at an abortion clinic. Vicki and Emily have both been harassed by a man who won't take no for an answer. And Sasha, who owns the house, is the outspoken president of the African American law students' organization. Intuition warns Jeri that there's more involved than simple hostility. On the cool bay breezes she catches a whiff of mortal danger. And from her own not-so-distant past, she remembers the pattern of a chilling madness, the approach of an evil that knows no limit and feels no remorse.

Valerie Wilson Wesley’s Tamara Hayle mystery series featuring Newark, New Jersey’s number one private investigator are loved for their smart, sexy protagonist who “has a way with a wisecrack that is positively lethal” (Washington Post). Now in Dying in the Dark, Hayle is entrenched in a sinister investigation that will demand her best detective work yet.Tamara Hayle’s past has come back to haunt her–literally. She’s been plagued by terrifying dreams about Celia Jones, an old friend whose walk on the wild side led her to a horrible death. Celia’s teenage son, Cecil, begs Tamara to find his mother’s killer . . . only to end up dead himself, stabbed through the heart.The search for Celia and her son’s killer pulls Tamara deep into her friend’s troubled love life, where everyone adored her but somebody held a murderous  grudge. There’s her bullying thug of an ex-husband; a handsome ex-lover who woos Tamara with charm and lies; and an angry, jealous woman who claims that Celia broke her heart. And those were just the obvious people with axes to grind.Despite her better judgment and the admonitions of the police department, Tamara refuses to back away from the mystery surrounding her old friend’s death and the tragedy that met her son. All clues lead to the past Tamara shared with Celia Jones, and Tamara fears that that past will threaten her own son. But she uncovers more than she bargained for–and unearths secrets someone would kill to keep in the shadows.

Some paths lead only to the grave . . . Strangefields Farm is notorious for its sinister history ever since artist Jackson Temples lured young women there to model for disturbing works of art. Some of those girls never left the house alive. Now, decades later, Strangefields is to be transformed into a holiday village, but the developer's hopes of its dark history being forgotten are dashed when a skull is found on the site. And when a local florist is found murdered in an echo of Temples' crimes, DI Wesley Peterson fears that a copy-cat killer is at large. Especially when another brutal murder in a nearby village appears to be linked. As Wesley's friend, archaeologist Dr Neil Watson, uncovers the secrets of Strangefields' grisly past, it seems that an ancient tale of the dead returning to torment the living might not be as fantastical as it seems. And Wesley must work fast to discover who's behind the recent murders . . . before someone close to him is put in danger. The latest gripping mystery in the DI Wesley Peterson crime series from Kate Ellis, the award-winning author of the 2019 CWA Dagger in the Library. What readers are saying about Kate Ellis: 'A beguiling author who interweaves past and present' The Times 'Kate Ellis has got to be one of my favourite authors' Reader review, 5 stars 'I loved this novel . . . a powerful story of loss, malice and deception' Ann Cleeves 'The chilling plot will keep you spooked and thrilled to the end' Closer 'Another brilliant book that keeps you gripped' Reader review, 5 stars 'Haunting' Independent 'Kate has you spellbound' Reader review, 5 stars 'A fine storyteller, weaving the past and present in a way that makes you want to read on' Peterborough Evening Telegraph 'Unputdownable' Bookseller

Get swept up in a Victorian world of intrigue in these Lady Julia Grey mystery novellas from New York Times bestselling author of Killers of a Certain Age, Deanna Raybourn. Silent Night After a year of marriage—and numerous adventures—Lady Julia and Brisbane hope for a quiet, intimate Christmas together—until they find themselves at her father’s ancestral estate, Belmont Abbey, with her eccentric family and a menagerie of animals. Nevertheless, Julia looks forward to a lively family gathering—but amongst the celebrations, a mystery stirs… Midsummer Night Midsummer in Victorian England—an auspicious time for a wedding. Brisbane has taken charge of the music. Julia has, perhaps mistakenly, allowed her sisters to choose the dress. And Belmont Abbey is overflowing with guests awaiting the blessed day. Add in a dangerous past nemesis who has come to wish them not-so-well, and their day to remember just might take a fatal turn… Twelfth Night To mark the passing of another decade, the March family have assembled at Belmont Abbey to perform the Twelfth Night Revels. But before Lady Julia and Brisbane can take to the stage, an abandoned infant is found nestled in the helm of St. George. When the pair take up the challenge to investigate, they’ll be faced with an impossible choice—one that will alter the course of their lives…forever. Bonfire NightDuring the autumn of 1890, a solicitor arrives with a strange bequest: Nicholas, it seems, has inherited a country house—but only if he and his family are in residence from All Hallows’ Eve through Bonfire Night. Neither Lady Julia nor Nicholas is likely to be put off by local legends of ghosts and witches, until a new lady’s maid disappears, igniting a caper that will have explosive results… Previously published

As reeve of the small village of Pryor Byfield, Simon Perryn must rule on many local disputes - a task he often shares with the steward of St. Frideswide's nunnery. But when the steward is accused of dishonesty and forced to relinquish his post, the worldly Sister Frevisse is sent to replace him. Her new duties thrust the reluctant Frevisse into the conflicts, rivalries, and domestic dramas of the locals - and when a measles epidemic sweeps through the town, the overworked nun must stay to tend to the sick so as not to expose the nunnery to the illness. But Frevisse must divide her time between nursing and sleuthing after two villagers are brutally killed. As death casts a cloud over Prior Byfield, fear and suspicion reign. Simon stands accused of murder. Rumors of adulterous affairs and vicious squabbles proliferate. And Frevisse's pointed questions and keen deductions lead her closer to the disturbing truth. -- Dust jacket.

Hope is the next historical novel from the acclaimed Lesley Pearse. Her existence would be the ruin of her mother . . . Baby Hope, the unfortunate proof of Lady Harvey's adultery, is smuggled out of a privileged aristocratic household to a nearby village. There, her true identity a secret, she grows up in the arms of the poor, but loving, Renton family. But the day comes when Hope must pay her way. What could be more natural than being taken into service by the Harveys? However when she sees something she should not, she is threatened and blackmailed into leaving her beloved Rentons forever. Destitute on the streets of an unfriendly city, Hope's courage and kindness are recognized by a doctor. A talent for healing sees her taken on as nurse and destined for the horrific battlefields of the Crimea. But will Hope ever come home and uncover the true story of her birth? Hope by Lesley Pearse - author of bestsellers Gypsy and Remember Me - is a historical novel of past scandal and its consequences in a compelling nineteenth century setting. Fans of Susan Lewis will love the twists and turns of Lesley Pearse's work. Praise for Lesley Pearse: 'With characters it is impossible not to care about ... this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail 'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella 'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly Find Lesley on Twitter @LesleyPearse or find out more on her website, www.lesleypearse.co.uk.