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The Versipellis Mystery Series

"Holmes meets Highlander via Hammer House of Horror."

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A Portrait of Death
 
A Portrait of Death: The Versipellis Mysteries, Book One, is the first in a series of paranormal Victorian murder mysteries, following the supernatural investigations of Elliott Caine, and his associate Abernathy Thorne.

 

In the quiet English village of Marmis Parva, a weekend house party is organised by a society hostess…but this is no ordinary soiree.

 

Renowned Contralto Giselle Du’Lac, society nerve specialist Mr Weatherly Draycott, and young socialite Lady Bunny Ellerbeck are amongst the guests who have been invited to make it the social event of the season, but the weekend ends in horror when two men are savagely murdered during the course of the evening and a young man, presumed dead, returns home after two years’ imprisonment in South Africa, bringing with him proof of treason.

 

Detective Chief Inspector Elliott Caine’s long-awaited holiday in the Lake District is cancelled as he is brought in to investigate the peculiar nature of the murders. More bodies are discovered and Elliott has to manoeuvre between high society, Government protocols and the sickening nature of the crimes if he and his old friend, Detective Sergeant Abernathy Thorne, are to catch this sadistic killer, and the traitor lurking amongst the honoured guests.

 

When Caine’s mysterious past comes back to haunt him, will his judgement be too clouded to focus on solving the crime?

 

Will the Boer spy’s identity be uncovered before they can flee?

 

How are these murders connected to another in New York?

 
“Jack the Ripper meets Highlander!”
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Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited.
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Death in the Sound
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The year is 1900, responding to a desperate plea from an old friend, Elliott, Giselle, and Thorne, accompanied by Veronique the Labrador, travel from England to New Zealand to unravel a new and complex mystery.

For his daughter’s twenty first birthday, Millionaire philanthropist Octavius Damant orchestrates a weekend party aboard the Taniwha, a luxurious paddle steamer moored in the primordial and isolated landscape of Milford Sound.

Several high society guests are invited to their remote home for the celebrations; Sir Wesley Eade, society lawyer and his beautiful but icy mistress Lady Leonora Carlton-Cayce, Dona Carla Riva, a flamboyant Brazilian dancer, and Carolyn Nolloth, O.D’s estranged sister-in-law who has a great love of other people’s money.

But O.D is the subject of persecution; a series of anonymous letters accuse him of past crimes and threaten the life of his daughter unless he gives in to their creator’s poisonous demands.

Elliott, Giselle, and Thorne discover the odds stacked against them when an unforeseen murder is committed, and they find themselves trapped aboard the Taniwha with a killer who will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

As the body count rises, they must unravel the clues and piece together a devilish jigsaw that includes blackmail, extortion, desire, and the reappearance of the fabulous Larkspur Diamond, a gemstone with a past as murky and blood soaked as that of the relentless killer on board.

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Set in the late Victorian era, with a touch of the odd, and a twist of the macabre, “Death in the Sound” continues the crime solving, paranormal escapades of Elliott Caine, Giselle Du’Lac, and Abernathy Thorne.

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Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited.

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