The presumed suicide of a high-class prostitute in turn-of-the-century Biarritz shakes up the upper-class world when the deceased woman, Topaz Brown, leaves her fortune to England's suffragette movement

Nell Bray has dedicated herself to the woman's suffrage movement; it's her amateur sleuthing, though, that seems to be attracting the most attention. First, Nell unearthed the truth behind the mysterious death of one of France's most notorious courtesans, and now comes a plea from her old friend Jenny Chesney. World War I is at its height, and Jenny is hard at work at Nantgarrew military hospital, where Freudian analysis is a specialty. Her efforts are complicated by Mrs. Monica Minter, who is determined to express her disapproval of Freud's theories through petty acts of sabotage. But would Mrs. Minter resort to a pot-shot at one of the patients? It seems unlikely, but someone did. Nell holds no truck with either Dr. Freud or Mrs. Minter. Neither does she approve of war, but attempted murder is another matter. So she heads for Nantgarrew - where she finds that mysterious behavior is a way of life. Mrs. Minter swoops down like lightning, bent on her schemes. One soldier keeps a handy box of grenades and revolvers under his bed. Another is determined to reach Moscow by bicycle. And the doctors in charge are far less interested in these odd goings-on than in their patients' dreams - be they of sausages or sex. Nell's bafflement turns to horror when the would-be assassin's aim finally turns true. Nantgarrew - devoted to healing - becomes the site of a murder, and Nell Bray, indomitable and irrepressible, is determined to solve it.

Although she has spent two terms in Holloway Prison for her suffragette activities, it is amateur sleuthing that's gaining Nell Bray a reputation. She has already solved two murders, and tales of her success are spreading throughout London - and reaching the ears of none other than George Bernard Shaw. The formidable playwright approaches Nell with a case: His leading lady is in danger, and Shaw wants to ensure she makes it safely to curtain time. For the new play, Cindrella Revisited, Shaw has reworked the classic into a scathing attack on English marital law. The plot bears more than a passing resemblance to the life of its star, Bella Flanagan: Like her character, Bella is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man interested only in her money. It seems that her husband, Lord Penwardine, is no more willing to allow his wife to tread the stage than to give her her freedom. Threats and sabotage have followed the actress throughout rehearsals. With Nell's help the play does finally open - but hardly without a hitch. Penwardine's cronies are out in full force, heckling, rioting, doing just about anything to get the production stopped. But would a hateful husband resort to murder? Someone does, and it's up to Nell Bray, indomitable and irrepressible, to find out who.

From Publishers Weekly It's 1910, and nosy, energetic Nell Bray, British suffragette and sometime sleuth seen last in Stage Fright, is vacationing at the resort town of Chamonix in the French Alps. Nell is climbing a mountain slope when the body of Arthur Mordiford is freed from the ice nearby 30 years after he and his guide were lost to an avalanche. Arriving to claim the body are the victim's wealthy brother Gregory (a member of the original climbing party), who has brought his son, daughter and a nephew, who hires Nell as interpreter to help with the red tape. They are staying with the guide's widow, Marie, and her daughter Sylvie. A diary found on Arthur's body raises questions about Sylvie's parentage and tensions abound, reaching a climax after Gregory, leading a family pilgrimage to the site of the body's discovery, is poisoned and Marie is arrested for his murder. Nell joins forces with Arthur's onetime fiancée, for many years a contented recluse in the area, to find the truth about the brothers' deaths, past and present. Plotting goes from over-elaborate to numbing in this tale best recommended for its well-crafted evocation of time and place. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Detective heroine Nell Bray once again finds herself in the midst of a mystery as she and her fellow suffragettes organize a procession. The movement has decided to take advantage of the cheery atmosphere surrounding George V's coronation to promote their cause with a peaceful five-mile-long march culminating in a rally at the Royal Albert Hall. All goes well until Nell spots an unusual float at the tail end of the procession. As she and her hapless friend Simon Frater move in to investigate, a fire breaks out on the float, confusion follows, and a shot is heard. When the crowd clears, Simon is left holding the gun and examining the body of the victim as the real suspects escape.

Nell Bray is a no-nonsense, passionate suffragette living in turn-of-the-century London. She also happens to be a superb amateur sleuth. Nell leaves London for a visit to the family home and, naturally, becomes involved in a murder case. Davie Kendal is due to hang for killing local mill owner Osbert Newbiggin. Davie's lawyer, a charismatic man named Bill Musgrave, has tried every trick in the book to save him, but all the evidence points to the young man's guilt. Davie's sister and Musgrave beg Nell to help prove Davie's innocence. The case is difficult and baffling, and it's only when Nell probes the relationship between Osbert Newbiggin and his pretty young ward, Laura, that she finds the key to the killer's identity. Teaming up with Musgrave and her longtime friend Rose, Nell races against time to find enough evidence to save Davie from the noose. An original and intriguing plot combined with Linscott's eye for period ambience and authentic detail result in yet another fine historical mystery. Emily Melton From Booklist

Book by GILLIAN LINSCOTT

December 1918. The vote has been won at long last, the Great War is over and suffragette Nell Bray is standing for election. Everything seems to be falling into place for the dedicated activist. Yet, with a month to go to the first general election, Nell is still without party backing, writing desperately to friends and contacts to drum up support for her cause. Further, the former Conservative candidate has been blown up by a firework while celebrating the Armistice, his widow is certain that he's sending her messages about his killer through a haunted piano, and at least one person in the constituency has a murderous hatred of all politicians. To add to Nell's troubles, two men from her checkered past are home from the war. Nell finds herself in the middle of a baffling case, with the odds most definitely against her—both for election victory and survival. The suffragette turned amateur sleuth must then show a dedication to the truth as strong as her loyalty to women's rights to solve the mystery and come out on top.

Verona seemed the perfect daughter, but surprised her friends by leaving home in Devon to attend art school in London. When she returned home, it was to die - pregnant and with her body full of morphine. Her cousin, Nell Bray, isn't convinced of suicide and discovers Verona's double life.

After three years of traipsing across Europe with her lovesick, widowed mother, Nell Bray has finally found her way to Oxford University. There she has befriended the beautiful Imogen and the charming Midge. When the three girls decide to accept an invitation by their male classmates to join a reading party in the country during vacation - accompanied by a dashing philosophy don with a reputation for stirring up trouble - they go against what is quickly becoming the obsolete conventions of the nineteenth-century. Once they arrive in the country, they are greeted by the unpleasant fact that their host has been accused of murder when a local boy is missing. Rather than return home, however, the six students and their mentor decide to put down their books and put their intellectual prowess to the test by solving the mystery. This combination of mystery and learning - with some college crushes and loves along the way - makes Dead Man Riding Gillian Linscott's best mystery to date.

When the suffragette movement is bequeathed a valuable painting by campaigner Philomena Venn, suffragette and amateur sleuth Nell Bray agrees to retrieve it. The plan is Collect the picture from Philomena's widower, Oliver, take it to Christie's, and sell it to raise much-needed funds. But Nell is in for a surprise when she returns from the Vennes' home in the The painting he has given her is a fake! When Oliver refuses to hand over the real painting, his son, political activist Daniel Venn, suggests an alternative plan to Why doesn't she break into the house and switch the paintings? Against her better judgment she agrees, and in the process she uncovers a far more serious crime—-a brutal murder in which she is now personally embroiled... Once again, Gillian Linscott guides her delightfully starchy heroine through the politics, personalities, and perils of early twentieth-century England.