In 1815, an inquiry agent, Mr. Knighton Gaunt, is asked by Lord Crowley to attend a séance with the express purpose of revealing the spiritualist as a fraud. When the séance ends abruptly, Lord Crowley is poisoned during the turmoil by an unseen killer. Gaunt is now left to investigate not only fraud, but murder. Suspicion turns first to the spiritualist, Miss Prudence Barnard, but as Gaunt digs deeper into the twisted history of the guests at Rosecrest, he discovers more deadly secrets. Inevitably, long-time friends turn against one another as the tension mounts, and Gaunt is challenged time and time again to separate fact from fiction before another death at Rosecrest. The Vital Principle is the first mystery in the Second Sons Inquiry Agency series and features coolly intellectual Mr. Knighton Gaunt, the agency’s founder. This witty, historical whodunit in the tradition of Bruce Alexander’s Blind Justice, will keep you guessing until the unexpected end. “Murder, mystery, and a dash of romance combined with witty dialogue and unforgettable characters make The Vital Principle a book that will definitely go on my keeper shelf!” Lilly Gayle, author of Into the Darkness and Slightly Tarnished.

The only family Charles has left is his uncle, Sir Edward. When Sir Edward is accused of murdering his mistress, Charles is determined to prove his uncle's innocence. Unfortunately, the only clues left behind are a few enigmatic roses and a note threatening to kill an unidentified victim unless the riddle is solved. Ariadne is struggling to make a success of the gardening business left to her by her father, and when an earl, Charles Vance, tells her that a stranger's life depends upon her identification of a rose, she is torn. She wants to assist him, but If she is wrong, someone could die and her reputation as a rosarian would be ruined. The stakes are high, but Ariadne reluctantly agrees to help the attractive earl. As the two plunge deeper into the mystery, they must fight the distraction of their growing love if they hope to prevent a killer from claiming yet another life.

It's 1819, and when Eric Knibbs invites his second cousin, Prudence Barnard, to a house party, she’s pleased to discover that she has a family, even if it is a distant one. Since her father’s death, Pru has struggled to maintain her existence without the affection and support of relatives. Unfortunately, their reunion is cut short when Eric is found dead, hanging from a noose outside his bedroom window. The coroner and his jury believe Eric hung himself, but Eric was afraid of heights and could never have committed suicide in such a manner. He won’t even allow the drapes to be opened in his bedroom, so how could he have jumped out of the window with a noose around his neck? After a quick examination of his room, Pru finds too many anomalies and can’t help questioning the positioning of the body outside his window, facing the hedge maze in his garden. Pru doesn’t have any answers, but she knows her cousin was well-liked and generous, so she seeks help from her old friend, Knighton Gaunt of the Second Sons Inquiry Agency. Pru soon learns the maze had a dark past and neither Pru nor Knighton are prepared for the strange paths they must follow to discover what deadly truth lays hidden in the shadows at Kennington Manor. Was the dead man’s view of the maze at the heart of the mystery or simply the killer’s ruse to suggest suicide?

Inquiry agent, Captain Nicholas Ainsley, needs a challenge to escape his crippling nightmares of war. But he's unprepared for the intricacies of his first assignment. Someone has killed an earl, and Nicholas must tread carefully to avoid getting caught in the web of lies and subterfuge shrouding the victim's privileged life. The clues point to the earl's mistress, Kathryn. Rumors are spreading that the earl cast her aside and that enraged, she killed him with the jeweled knife he'd given her as a gift. When he questions her, Kathryn remains stubbornly silent, even when the victim's family demands her arrest. Despite her obstinacy, however, Nicholas is attracted to her and struggles to maintain his distance. His instincts whisper that the obvious answer may not be the right one, and he ignores the family's threats, determined to uncover the truth. But evidence against Kathryn continues to mount, and Nicholas is caught between his desire for the lovely woman and the facts. If he can't prove her innocence, she will hang, and he will lose the woman who has turned his nightmares into dreams of love.

Pru and Knighton stumble upon murder on their way to the triple falls on Italy's Velino river when one of their fellow travelers is shot and thrown into a ravine. The rumor soon spreads that local banditos killed the woman when she foolishly went for a walk at night. A robbery gone awry, they say, although she was still wearing valuable jewelry when she was found. Knighton is not convinced, but he is happy to leave the case in the hands of the local authorities. This is not England, and he and Pru are on their honeymoon. Then Pru disappears. The leader of the banditos claims he has her and will not release her until Knighton proves he is innocent of the murder. Knighton now has no choice. Caught between the banditos and the authorities, he questions the members of their party. They are not the strangers to one another they claimed, and he soon discovers they each have their own motive for wanting the woman dead and the banditos blamed. Working against time, Knighton searches to uncover the deadly secret behind the gruesome murder before the only woman he has ever loved, dies.