On the day of the ‘Royal Wedding' in July 1981 at a house party on the banks of the Thames, a little girl wanders off on her own. Her doll is found floating in the river, but of the girl herself there is no sign. Twenty years on and Antonia Darcy, divorcee and assistant librarian at the Military and Naval Club, still puzzles over the disappearance of Sonya Dufrette and the strange behavior of the awful Lawrence Dufrette, his exotic wife Lena, and intelligent and charming Lady Mortlock—not to mention the strange absence of the nanny. Ably assisted by her new admirer, Major Payne, Mrs. Darcy embarks on the first adventure in a new series of ingeniously plotted whodunits set against the background of country house life.

Death threats start arriving in the post and legendary French diva Corinne seeks refuge at her grandmother's country estate.

Praise for R.T. Raichev: “Fascinating.”—Lady Antonia Fraser, author of the Jemima Shore series “Agatha Christie fans will find much to like in this traditional whodunit.”—Publishers Weekly “Antonia Darcy is a terrific sleuth, and Raichev is a very clever writer, indeed.”—Booklist “Fans of cozies will love the light touch.”—Kirkus Reviews Mystery writer Antonia Darcy and her husband, Major Hugh Payne, are persuaded to visit a fan’s home. They become suspicious when the dying master of nearby Ospreys leaves his fortune to her. R.T. Raichev’s previous novels are The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette and The Death of Corinne.

Praise for R.T. Raichev: "Deftly mixes dark humor and psychological suspense, its genteel surface masking delicious deviancy.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Mixes Henry James’s psychological insight with Agatha Christie’s whodunit plotting skills... Raichev once again triumphs.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Except for its modern-day setting, the book could have been published during Agatha Christie's heyday, the so-called Golden Age of detective fiction, and readers who relish that period will be delighted.”—The Denver Post "Raichev's use of characterization and allusion will keep the reader turning pages to the end."—The Oklahoman It promised to be the perfect holiday with every modern convenience: exotic terraced gardens complete with an English folly, thirty-eight varieties of ice cream, and cocktails with names like “Widow’s Wink” and “Mumbay Mule.” Antonia Darcy and Hugh Payne never seriously imagined they would encounter anything worse than extravagance in this idyllic setting. But an uninvited guest at the garden party given in their honor makes Antonia his confidante. Not only does he claim to have witnessed the strangling of beautiful, wayward Marigold Leighton, he also insists it was their host Roman Songhera, the “uncrowned King of Goa,” who had committed the murder. R.T. Raichev is a researcher and writer who grew up in Bulgaria and wrote a university dissertation on English crime fiction. He is the author of four novels in the Antonia Darcy series and has lived in London since 1989.

Did the young and beautiful Lady Tradescant try to poison her elderly husband? If not, who did? There is no shortage of suspects. His eccentric twin sister Bettina, his disgruntled son Nicholas, his scheming daughter Olivia . . . Antonia Darcy and Hugh Payne face one of their most baffling cases. Their investigation takes them from the luxury of Claridge’s Hotel to Mayholme Manor, a residential home for elderly gentlemen. This proves to be a distinctly sinister establishment, where they encounter the mysterious Doctor Fairchild and his albino manservant Madden. There seems to be a link in all of this to the Nuremberg trials. Did a royal figure secretly plot to save one of Hitler’s most notorious henchmen from the gallows? And how does that relate to the murder?

When a birthday party for one of their Hampstead neighbors turns deadly, Antonia Darcy and Major Hugh Payne end up investigating the murder of one of Melisande Chevret's other guests. The aging actress becomes a natural suspect, as the victim was her love rival. But after the first murder, a second takes place at the Villa Byzantine. The owner of the house is royal biographer Tancred Vane, who swears he is innocent. And surely Catherine Hope, an elderly lady helping him with his research, can have nothing to do with it. A damning piece of evidence points to the victim's daughter—but why would that a teenage girl have a dainty silk handkerchief bearing her monogram? And would she drop it so conveniently beside her mother's body? As the questions mount, Antonia Darcy and Major Payne search desperately for answers.

Lord Remnant’s eccentric parties on his privately owned Caribbean island of Grenadin are the stuff of legends ... but then the 12th Earl suddenly dies in the course of an amateur production of The Murder of Gonzago, the play within a play in Hamlet . The Times obituary gives the cause of death as “heart attack.” However, an anonymous video tape showing Lord Remnant’s final moments makes it clear that the nobleman’s demise was far from natural. As it happens so often, Antonia and Hugh Payne get involved in the sinister events surrounding Lord Remnant’s death entirely by accident. They are intrigued by the boldness of the murder, which seems to have been committed within a full view of Lord Remnant’s wife Clarissa and their four guests. Who killed Lord Remnant? Was it his drug-addicted stepson Stephan? Was it Clarissa’s Aunt Hortense, whose past contains a dark and shocking secret? Was it, as Stephan claims, the demonic “Grimaud”? Or perhaps it is the elusive Mr. Quin, who is left a vast amount of money in Lord Remnant’s will, for no apparent reason.

The eighth entry in the acclaimed Antonia Darcy and Major Payne mystery series offers a modern twist on Agatha Christie's most famous whodunit, 'And Then There Were None'. Detective story writer Antonia Darcy and her husband Hugh Payne are asked to travel to Devon in order to prevent a murder on Sphinx Island, but they are far from enthusiastic as they suspect an elaborate joke. And when they hear that one of the house party guests is Romaine Garrison-Gore, another crime writer, they have no doubt that they will walk into a rather tedious variant of the Murder Weekend. After all, it is their 10th wedding anniversary and Major Payne's aunt, Lady Grylls, has been trying to think of a truly original present for them. But then they receive a rather sinister letter signed "The Riddler" and become curious—could the devil speak true?

The ninth Antonia Darcy and Major Payne mystery novel—a suspenseful whodunnit set in London Do plots involving exchanged murders still work, and who exactly is the victim? Antonia Darcy never imagined that taking her young grandson to his first day at school would embroil her in a most baffling case of mistaken identity and murder. Major Payne, on the other hand, believed that it was their destiny. Olga Klimt played a dangerous game with the affections of the men in love with her, though she knew perfectly well there might be a high price to pay. Among the unlikely murder suspects are a rich young heir to a cookie fortune, his Aconite-addicted mother, his manservant, and the headmistress of a prestigious nursery school. As the questions mount, husband and wife sleuths Antonia Darcy and Major Payne search desperately for answers before the killer strikes again.