Showing results by author "Alice Duncan" in All Categories

Historical cozy mystery set in Los Angeles, CA, in 1926. Mercy Allcutt, Boston Brahmin, wants to experience life in all its grittiness. How better than by working for a down-on-his luck PI in Hollywood? Once she discovers what PI actually stands for, she knows Mr. Ernest Templeton is the boss for her. Together, they must cope with a stray child, kidnapping, blackmail, murder, a toy poodle, a vamp, a stalker, Mercy's overactive imagination and Ernie's strong protective streak.

Black hands in Fayette County, Tennessee, were free to pick cotton and corn but were barred from casting ballots. A whirlwind of change blew through the county when Black landowners like John McFerren and Harpman Jameson organized registration drives to help Black citizens vote—but not without violent attempts to stop it. White farmers evicted Black sharecroppers off their land, leaving families stranded and forced to live in tents. White shopkeepers also refused to sell to them. But the voiceless did finally speak. In 1965 the Voting Rights Act legally ended voter discrimination. 

It's 1924 and spiritualist-medium Daisy Gumm and her fiancé, Detective Sam Rotondo, discover a dead body tucked away in the Pasadena Public Library's bibliography stacks.

When Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to people with more money than sense, is asked by her good friend, Johnny Buckingham, a captain in the Salvation Army, to teach a cooking class for disadvantaged ladies, she's sure Johnny is nuts. She earns her living raising the dead, for goodness sake! The only thing she's ever been able to do in the kitchen is burn things. Yet, she gallantly sets out to teach the class, using a cooking booklet Johnny provided, fully expecting calamity to ensue.

It's a warm August morning in 1926 Los Angeles, California. Mercedes Louise Allcutt (Mercy to her friends) is thrilled to be going to her job as secretary to private investigator Ernie Templeton--until she opens the door and discovers her mother on the doorstep. Known to her friends as Honoria and her daughters as The Wrath of God, Mrs. Allcutt is the very last person earth whom Mercy wants to see, barring a couple of coldblooded murderers she's met in the past few weeks.

Daisy Gumm Majesty, Pasadena's spiritualist-medium to folks with more money than sense, is talked into playing the role of mean Katisha in her church's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Mikado. As rehearsals progress and Daisy falls into her role, the producer's wife experiences a mysterious decline in health, a cast member claims someone is trying to kill her, and the husband of another cast member is murdered.

After the death of her beloved husband Billy, Daisy Majesty falls into a deep depression. Everyone, from her family to her late husband's best friend, Sam Rotondo, worry about her. She's too depressed to eat and only mopes around the house.

Daisy Gumm Majesty is back and she's up to her ears again. Not only does she have to deal with her husband Billy's declining health and her dog Spike's obedience training, but she's been hired by Lola de la Monica, a fabulously spoiled silent-screen beauty, to be her spiritual advisor on the set of her next picture.

Thanksgiving Angels brings Mercy Allcutt and Daisy Gumm Majesty together for the first time when Mercy's parents buy a winter home in Pasadena, CA, and force Mercy to visit for Thanksgiving. To Mercy's shock, Mrs. Allcutt hosts a séance, conducted by Daisy. Mayhem ensues.

On the fateful night of the Titanic disaster, heiress Loretta Linden made sure her friends and fellow passengers got to the lifeboats before she even thought of herself. Her soft heart is legendary - and her desire to help others is her great passion. She will not rest until her little band is safely reunited in her native San Francisco - where she meets the dashing Captain Quarles.

Running from a painful past, Gracie fled to New Mexico - and Jake - with a child named Charity in her arms. It had been 14 years since Gracie and Jake had seen each other, but it seemed like yesterday. And though Jake knew that his town was no place for a woman and child, he had never been able to resist Gracie's pleas for help.

Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to folks with more money than sense, can scarcely believe that her best client wants her to get her spiritual control, Rolly, to appear at a séance in a speakeasy. Bad enough that Daisy made up Rolly when she was ten, but now Rolly has to perform at a séance for a bunch of murdering gangsters?

Unlike most girls her age, Polly MacNamara did not go out with friends to parties or on sleigh rides with charming beaux. She stayed home to take care of her ailing mother and only dreamed of a world of boundless riches and endless fun. But when shopping for a Christmas gift in Chinatown, she received a mysterious coin from an ancient-looking woman--and watched a series of remarkable events unfold.

Set in Pasadena, California, in the 1920s, this fresh, funny romance follows the exploits and adventures of a medium who caters to the rich and famous... and puts the “con” in conjurer!

Rescued by a quirk of fate, Somerset FitzRoy remembers little about his ordeal in the icy water. But he cannot forget the frightened child who begged him for help that night - and her mother's beautiful face haunts his dreams. Days later, he is overjoyed to find Isabel and Eunice among the survivors in New York. Will she remember him? She must - because their love was meant to be.

Callida Prophet never would have suspected that her stubborn, sullen employer had such a tender way with words. He certainly doesn't show much affection toward beautiful six-year-old Becky, Callida's charge and his only child. But in the love letters he wrote years ago - which Becky finds and asks Callida to read to her - he is a completely different man. Poetic. Passionate. Utterly devoted. And suddenly, Callida sees this moody, mysterious widower with new, more loving eyes.

Former Boston Brahmin Mercy Allcutt is excited to be renting out suites of rooms to deserving working women in her new home on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles. She considers she's performing an act of good-heartedness, no matter skeptical her boss, private investigator Ernie Templeton, is about her endeavor. Mercy not only takes driving lessons from Ernie, but she discovers there's more to being a landlady than meets the eye. Is one of her Angels of Mercy not what she appears to be? Only time, and perhaps Mercy and Ernie, will tell...

Penelope Potter was thrilled to go to London with her brother, Harry, for his best friend's wedding. And she was determined to ignore the jealousy that arose at the thought of Art Collingsworth marrying another woman. Besides, she already committed to a life of independence - free from love or marriage. But Penny didn't expect to be thrown together with Art to puzzle out Harry's bizarre change in behavior. It was almost as if Harry was . . . possessed?

Transplanted Boston Brahmin, Mercy Allcutt, has had some very exciting times as secretary to private investigator, Ernie Templeton. While it’s true she’s been in what she considers a wee bit of trouble (and Ernie considers out-and-out danger) a time or two, she’s determined to continue learning the ways of the “real” world. However, when she sets out to find her wandering boss, Ernie, one hot September afternoon, she not only discovers a corpse, but she also finds Ernie, bound and gagged. Worse, when the police arrive to investigate the crime, they peg Ernie as the killer.

In 1920s Pasadena, California, Daisy Gumm Majesty caters to the rich and famous as a medium who puts the "con" in conjurer. When she's blackmailed by Detective Sam Rotondo into spying on the wealthy Kincaid family, Daisy isn't quite sure what he's trying to sniff out. When Daisy gives Sam his own private reading, she tells him the spirits have a lot more in store for him. Original.