Mrs. Jeffries
39 primary works
Book 21
After a perfectly decent local woman is killed during a robbery, the Witherspoon household receives a surprising visit from a stranger named Blimpey Groggins. He claims his best buddy was convicted of the crime. He also claims the peaceable chap didn't even know how to fire a gun. And considering he's to be hanged in three weeks, Blimpey's desperate to find the real killer. With the trail cold, the crime allegedly solved, and the evidence mucked up, Mrs. Jeffries and her belowstairs cohorts have their work cut out for them if they want to save an innocent man from the gallows.
Praise for the Mrs Jeffries Mysteries:
'It's murder most English all the way!' The Literary Times
'Fascinating murder mystery . . . wit and style . . . a winning series. Mrs. Jeffries is the Miss Marple of Victorian Mystery' The Paperback Forum
Book 22
Home and hearth is never safe when you have this many enemies.
A friendless old miser, banker Lawrence Boyd, is found dead at home. Called to the scene, Inspector Witherspoon is lucky to have Mrs. Jeffries's help - since the list of suspects includes just about everyone Boyd's ever met.
Praise for the Mrs Jeffries Mysteries:
'It's murder most English all the way!' The Literary Times
'Fascinating murder mystery . . . wit and style . . . a winning series. Mrs. Jeffries is the Miss Marple of Victorian Mystery' The Paperback Forum
Book 23
The case is an unexpected bother for Inspector Witherspoon's household, already abuzz with plans for the holidays, but Scotland Yard wants this crime solved before Christmas. Now the busy sleuths must rally in support of their Inspector - especially since the clues are harder to find than a silver sixpence in a plum pudding . . .
Praise for the Mrs Jeffries Mysteries:
'It's murder most English all the way!' The Literary Times
'Fascinating murder mystery . . . wit and style . . . a winning series. Mrs. Jeffries is the Miss Marple of Victorian Mystery' The Paperback Forum
Book 24
She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone’s awed by his Scotland Yard successes—but they don’t know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries’s polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man there’s a woman—and that a crime solver’s work is never done.
Book 25
Train enthusiast Francis Humphreys took his last breath while relatives and neighbors visited downstairs. But if everyone was downstairs, who could have stolen into Uncle Francis?s study, killed him, and escaped? Mrs. Jeffries will have to lend her downstairs common sense to this upstairs murder mystery.
Book 26
Book 27
Book 28
Book 29
Ring in the season with another Mrs. Jeffries tale of holiday homicide.
Under a bundle of mistletoe, art collector Daniel McCourt lies with his throat slit, a bloody sword next to his body. Inspector Witherspoon is determined to solve the case-preferably before the eggnog is ladled out on Christmas Eve-but of course he will require assistance from the always sharp-witted housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries, who has a few of her own theories on why McCourt had to die by the sword.
Book 30
When the general office manager of Sutcliffe Manufacturing is murdered, no one is really surprised. Ronald Dearman was anything but a dear man. The tyrannical bully had more than enough enemies to go around. But who hated him enough to walk into his office and put a bullet between his eyes?
For once, Inspector Gerald Witherspoon doesn't get the case; it's given to another inspector. Then someone from Mrs. Jeffries' past—someone she'd hoped to never see again—shows up and begs for her help. Now Mrs. Jeffries must step into the fray and stop a terrible miscarriage of justice…
Book 31
IN THE WEEDS
Beautiful and new in town, Ellen Langston-Jones doesn’t have any enemies. So, when she’s found dead in the communal gardens, Inspector Witherspoon quickly narrows the field of suspects down to one: Lucius Montague, who was seen threatening Mrs. Langston-Jones shortly before her death.
The Inspector and all of London are positive that he’s the killer, but Mrs. Jeffries has doubts. Her biggest problem is that Lucius Montague is a very disagreeable character and no one—including Inspector Witherspoon’s staff—is inclined to save his skin. Now, she must turn the tide of the investigation...or watch an innocent man take the fall for the real killer.
A Mrs. Jeffries Mystery
She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone’s awed by his Scotland Yard successes—but they don’t know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries’ polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man there’s a woman—and that a crimesolver’s work is never done.
Book 32
Book 33
Normally dead bodies in a graveyard are buried—but not this one. When a woman is found strangled in a North London cemetery with an old newspaper clipping clutched in her hand, Inspector Witherspoon is surprised to find that he and the victim have crossed paths before.
Alice Robinson was a respectable widow who ran a quiet Islington lodging house. None of her lodgers have any apparent motive to murder their landlady. But nagging suspicions are lodging in the Inspector’s mind—only he knows that “Alice Robinson” is not her real name. Now he’ll need the help of Mrs. Jeffries to revisit an old case that has haunted him for years and to get the real story.
Book 34
NIPPED IN THE BUD
The ladies of the Mayfair Orchid and Exotic Plant Society are known for a bit of friendly rivalry, but the backstabbing has never been literal—until now. When Hiram Filmore, an orchid hunter and supplier, is found dead in Mrs. Helena Rayburn’s conservatory, Inspector Witherspoon is called in to weed out a murderer.
When it comes out that Mrs. Rayburn and her flowery friends knew each other from long ago, Mrs. Jeffries begins to suspect that there’s more to unearth about this case than meets the eye. Now she, along with the rest of Inspector Witherspoon’s household and friends, will have to dig up the past to figure out which gardening gentlewoman had a grudge worth killing for...
A Mrs. Jeffries Mystery
She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon . . . and keeps him on his toes. Everyone’s awed by his Scotland Yard successes—but they don’t know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries’ polished detection skills are up to the task . . . proving that behind every great man there’s a woman—and that a crimesolver’s work is never done.
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED!
Book 35
Thomas Mundy checks in to London’s Wrexley Hotel, but he never checks out. The maid finds him on the floor of his room, bludgeoned to death by his own walking stick. Inspector Witherspoon is soon on the case and learns Mundy had a reputation for being polite, charming, and diligent—an unlikely victim for such a violent crime.
But Mrs. Jeffries and the household staff uncover that Mundy was less an amiable businessman and more a duplicitous con man with enemies on both sides of the Atlantic. Now Witherspoon and his staff must determine who on their lengthy list of suspects had the motive to put Mundy in the red.
A Mrs. Jeffries Mystery
She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon . . . and keeps him on his toes. Everyone’s awed by his Scotland Yard successes—but they don’t know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries’ polished detection skills are up to the task . . . proving that behind every great man there’s a woman—and that a crimesolver’s work is never done.
Book 36
Book 37
On a cold night in February, the popular Lighterman’s ball festivities are cut short when a guest of honor, Stephen Bremmer, goes into spasms and abruptly collapses. Once again Inspector Witherspoon returns to the Wrexley Hotel to investigate a murder.
The victim was considered a boorish snob who felt entitled to anything and anyone he wanted. Yet despite his Oxford education, he was barely literate, lazy, and prone to make stupid mistakes – his last mistake turned out to be crossing a killer.
The owners and management of the Wrexley Hotel clearly don’t welcome the return of Inspector Witherspoon but he has his job to do, and Mrs. Jeffries, and the rest of the household must do their best to catch a murderer who shows no signs of slowing down…
Book 38
Margaret Starling wasn’t the sort of woman anyone expected to be murdered. She was on the advisory board of the London Angel Alms Society, she was an active member of St. Peter’s Church, and, best of all, she was always willing to lend a hand to a friend or a neighbor in need of advice. She was also a wealthy upper-class widow. But money alone won’t protect you when someone decides it’s high time you met your maker.
Margaret’s next-door neighbor considered her an odious busybody, the Reverend Reginald Pontefract wished she’d never set foot in St. Andrew’s, and half the advisory board of the London Angel Alms Society heartily hoped she’d come down with a case of the gout before the next quarterly meeting.
All in all, Margaret wasn’t as well regarded as she’d always thought she was. But Mrs. Jeffries and Inspector Witherspoon know that justice isn’t a popularity contest, and they won’t rest until they sift through the suspects to catch a sinister scrooge.
Book 39
Inspector Nigel Nivens is not a nice man or a good investigator. In fact, he’s terrible at his job and has always done everything he can to make life difficult for Inspector Witherspoon. But even his powerful family can’t help him after he maliciously tried to hobble Witherspoon’s last homicide investigation. He’s been sent to a particularly difficult precinct in the East End of London as penance.
When a paid informant is found shot in an alley, Nivens thinks that if he can crack the case, he’ll redeem himself and have a much-needed chance at impressing his superiors. But there’s one big problem with his plan—Niven’s distinct antique pistol is found at the scene of the crime and even more evidence is uncovered that links the Inspector to the murder.
Despite their mutual dislike for Nivens, Mrs. Jeffries and Inspector Witherspoon know the man isn’t a cold-blooded killer. Now they’ll just have to prove it. . . .