Frank Carlson Library

Maisie Dobbs entered domestic service in 1910 at thirteen, working for Lady Rowan Compton. When her remarkable intelligence is discovered by her employer, Maisie becomes the pupil of Maurice Blanche, a learned friend of the Comptons. In 1929, following an apprenticeship with Blanche, Maisie hangs out her shingle: "M. Dobbs, trade and personal investigations." She soon becomes enmeshed in a mystery surrounding The Retreat, a reclusive community of...

In the fourth century BC, Nikeratos is an actor, a devotee of Plato, and a friend of Dion of Syracuse. Their relationship gives Nikeratos rare proximity to the Greek political stage at a moment when ambitions are about to collide. In Syracuse, the young tyrant Dionysios the Younger rules, but Dion is determined to bring democracy and strength to the city. In an effort to curb Dionysios's excesses, Dion has Plato pose as a tutor-only to learn that...

After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year's Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis's father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son's inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind. To Maddie's horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father's favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed...

Amanda Quick's bestselling trademark is a combination of suspense and passion in historical tales alight with sparkling wit and brimming with dangerous intrigue. Now she serves up the most tantalizing novel of her career as an enterprising woman allies herself with a mysterious spy, only to be caught in a seething brew of treachery — and temptation....
From the moment he burst into her antiquities shop in Rome, Lavinia Lake knew the stranger...

Turning away from the opulence of Rome, Marcus is led by a whispering voice from the past into a journey that could set him free from the darkness of his soul.

A tantalizing tale of a legendary knight and a headstrong lady whose daring quest for a mysterious crystal will draw them into a whirlwind of treachery–and desire.
When the fearsome knight called Hugh the Relentless swept into Lingwood Manor like a storm, everyone cowered–except Lady Alice. Sharp-tongued and unrepentant, the flame haired beauty believed Sir Hugh was not someone to dread but the answer to her dreams. She knew he had...

The Man Without a Country is a short story by Edward Everett Hale. Lieutenant Philip Nolan forsakes his nation during a court case for treachery and is subsequently condemned to spend the rest of his life at sea.

Meet the daughters of King Arthur's descendant, Merlin Pendragon: Averil: She may be the Lord's eldest-and illegitimate-daughter, but Averil knows her dazzling beauty can buy her what she wants most: marriage to a great and powerful lord. But fate has other plans in the rugged form of Rhys FitzHugh. Thinking her the sole heiress, the penniless bailiff kidnaps the beauty. Now, to salvage his honor, he must marry the openly hostile Averil and accept...