Bøker av Kathy Lynn Emerson

These four romance novels, originally published between 1989 and 1997, have been newly edited by the author and are now collected for the first time in this omnibus edition. In Cloud Castles, originally published under the pseudonym Kaitlyn Gorton, fate brings an optimistic Kendra Jennings and a cynical Alex Moreau together on a lonely country road in 1989. A Deputy Sheriff, Alex thinks Kendra is keeping secrets and he's right, but she's telling the truth about the peculiar things that have happened to her since she moved into a house deep in the Maine woods. When her life, and that of Alex's teenaged son, are threatened, he has more than his duty to do. Romantic Times wrote that "both plot and characterization keep us nicely entertained." In Love Thy Neighbor, Linnea Bryan returns to Maine to discover her roots and encounters the unexpected in her next-door neighbor, Marsh Austin, a retired cop who now raises and races sled dogs. When she decides to stay in Austin's Crossing to renovate her grandfather's house, Marsh is suspicious of her motives but very attracted to her. Romantic Times called this one "A rollicking good read!" In The Rapunzel Trap, formerly published as Hearth, Home and Hope under the pseudonym Kaitlyn Gorton, Hope Rowan suspects fairy tale character Rapunzel had agoraphobia, just as she does. Is Cooper Sanford, former high school bad boy, the handsome prince who can rescue her from her tower? To persuade Hope to help him with his motherless daughter, he's willing to give it a try, but he may be asking too much in return. Rendezvous called it "fast paced with funny, interesting characters-people you can care about." In Family Lies, formerly published as Separated Sisters under the pseudonym Kaitlyn Gorton, Ariadne Palmer, part owner of an antiquarian bookshop in Maine, doesn't believe Clay Franklin when he tells her she has a twin sister and grandparents she never knew about. As a lawyer, Clay has sworn not to tell her the whole truth about her family, but his immediate and growing attraction to her argues against keeping that promise. Romantic Times called it "A warmhearted tale . . . with many touching moments." As a bonus, this collection also includes a short story, "The Boston Post Cane."

In 1554, scores of English Protestants fled into exile on the Continent after Mary Tudor took the throne and returned England to Catholicism. Sir Henry Ingram and his daughter Cordell were among them, but Sir Henry is not all he seems. When he dies in Strasbourg, Cordell's life is turned upside down. Certain he was poisoned, and that his murder had something to do with the intelligence he was gathering about a plot to overthrow the queen, she is determined not only to complete his mission but also to bring his killer to justice. There is only one problem-as a young woman on her own she does not dare trust anyone, not even old friends. Her journey home is fraught with peril, and once she is back in England, nothing is as she expected it to be. Praise for Agatha Award winning author Kathy Lynn Emerson:"Highly recommended for readers who appreciate suspenseful historical mysteries." Booklist"A solid bet for historical mystery fans." Publishers Weekly

The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Renaissance England, revised in 2023, was originally published in 1996 as part of the Writers Digest Books Everyday Life series. It contains chapters on: Clothes and Accessories; Food and Drink; Architecture; Furnishing a House; Marriage and Family; Physic and Physicians; Government; Monarchs, Nobles, and Commoners; Crime and Punishment; Coins, Money, and How Much Things Cost; War and Peace; Seafaring; Education, Secular and Religious; Employment; Entertainment; Language; Life in London and Other Cities; Rural Life; Travel and Travelers; and Witches, Magic, Necromancy, and Superstition. "Even if you're not writing historical fiction, this volume is full of fascinating period information." Booklist Kathy Lynn Emerson is also the author of A Who's Who of Tudor Women, How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries, and numerous historical mysteries, including the Face Down Series, the Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries, and the Diana Spaulding 1888 Quartet.

This new edition of How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries is the author's personal take on writing historical mysteries, based on over forty years in print as a writer of fiction and nonfiction and the publication of eighteen of her historical mysteries and two collections of historical mystery short stories. Her experiences are the core of the book. The remainder of the text consists of contributions from fellow historical mystery writers-advice, opinions, anecdotes, and suggestions for research-and input from assorted editors, booksellers, reviewers, and historical mystery fans.The first edition of How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries won the Agatha award for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 and was nominated in that category for the Anthony and Macavity awards. Reviewer Marv Lachman, in Deadly Pleasures, described it as "the best book about writing mysteries that I have ever read." Whether you are an old hand at writing historical mysteries, or a neophyte who has only dreamed about delving into the past, or a reader and fan of the genre, you will find this volume both inspiring and entertaining.

The three short stories and a novella that comprise The Valentine Veilleux Mysteries feature professional photographer Valentine Veilleux as an amateur sleuth. Val specializes in creating calendars for organizations to use for fundraising purposes. She is a free spirit who travels the country in a RV, custom-designed to serve as both home and workplace, with her three-legged cat, Lucky, for company. In the course of each job she takes on, she becomes involved with a group of people who know each other and often share dark secrets. When a member of such a group is murdered, Val has the advantage of an outsider's perspective combined with an insider's knowledge of the suspects, while her photographs provide clues the police have missed. Val first appeared in Kaitlyn Dunnett's ninth Liss MacCrimmon Mystery, The Scottie Barked at Midnight, and reappeared in the second book (Clause &Effect) of her Deadly Edits Mysteries. Kaitlyn Dunnett is a pseudonym for Kathy Lynn Emerson, Agatha-award winning author of both fiction and nonfiction.

Kerry Odell and her younger brother Lyle are not enthusiastic about spending the next six months in rural western Maine. It seems like a pretty dismal place, especially in March, and means entering a new school in mid-year. The house their mother has rented, with its locked tower, has all the makings of a haunted "castle" with mysterious comings and goings, odd noises in the night, and a landlord who seems to have it in for them. Set in 1982. Reading level 4.9.from the reviewers:"Emerson writes with suspense and spins a clever plot. The book is full of action and shows a certain pre-teen authenticity in its portrayal of adolescent relations and concerns.""Emerson is to be commended for realistically portraying a young girl's anxiety over the possibility of her widowed mother's remarriage, and the potential rift in the mother-daughter relationship that may ensue as an important new family member is absorbed."

"The Finder of Lost Things" is the name Blanche Wainfleet''s three sisters bestowed on her when they were young, not only for her ability to locate missing handkerchiefs and runaway pets, but also because she was so good at finding solutions to all manner of puzzles. Now, in the winter of 1590-1, twenty-eight-year-old Blanche, a London merchant''s wife whose husband is traveling abroad, is faced with a much more serious mystery, one she is desperate to solve.   Late Elizabethan England is an era rife with treason and conflicting political and religious loyalties. Priest-catchers target Catholic households in the hope of being able to arrest and execute priests. The householders themselves have to pay ruinous fines if they do not attend Anglican services. And yet leaders of both faiths agree that a bewitched person can be cured by exorcism.   When Blanche''s youngest sister, Alison, fell in love with a Catholic gentleman, she converted to Catholicism and went to live at Otley Manor as Lady Otley''s companion. Arrested for illegally hearing mass, she died under mysterious circumstances while imprisoned in Colchester Castle. Some say she was bewitched to death.   To discover the truth about how Alison died, Blanche contrives to have herself confined with Lady Otley and other members of the Otley household in Colchester''s dungeon. She tells no one of her connection to Alison, but does pretend that she, like her sister, wishes to convert. Still without answers when a royal pardon sets all women prisoners free, Blanche accepts Lady Otley''s invitation to join her household and take instruction in the Catholic faith. She''s just begun to make progress when a second murder puts her in mortal danger from powerful figures on both sides of the religious divide.