<div>James Boswell and Dr. Samuel Johnson team up to solve mysteries in this collection of brilliantly baffling historical crime stories. James Boswell is just twenty-two when he comes south from Scotland, determined to befriend Dr. Sam Johnson, the greatest thinker of the eighteenth century. But when he first goes to call on the legendary scholar, a hue and cry is raised throughout the neighborhood because a wealthy old invalid refuses to come to her door. It&rsquo;s barred from the inside, and when Johnson and Boswell break in, they find the woman dead. There&rsquo;s nothing like a good locked room mystery, and no detective quite as clever as Dr. Johnson. With Boswell at his side, he will solve the mystery of the barred door, using his wits against everything the killers and thieves of the Enlightenment throw his way. Inspired by real case files from the era, the Dr. Johnson detective stories recreate this period of history with uncanny realism. Funny, challenging, and genuinely thrilling, they are perfect for anyone who&rsquo;s been searching for an eighteenth-century Sherlock Holmes. </div>

The Return of Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

<div>Eight exquisite mystery stories set in London, starring Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of the greatest minds of the eighteenth century. In 1775, as the British Empire is about to be cracked by the earthquake of the American Revolution, twenty English families join in the ghoulish bargain known as a tontine. Each puts &pound;5,000 into a common fund to be held in trust for their children with the terrible stipulation that the money will go to the last child left alive. Such a bargain should take seventy or eighty years to come to fruition, but there is a curse upon this tontine. Sixteen of the twenty children are dead within four years&mdash;and the survivors have no one to turn to but the great Dr. Sam Johnson. The seventy-year-old scholar has seen his share of trickery, corruption, and murder, but he&rsquo;s never encountered anything quite as chilling as &ldquo;The Tontine Curse.&rdquo; In this story, and the seven others included in this volume, Dr. Johnson and his assistant, biographer James Boswell, pit their wits against the darkest mysteries of the Enlightenment. In this charming, brilliant series, author Lillian de la Torre features Johnson and Boswell, real-life forerunners of Holmes and Watson, in an assortment of &ldquo;excellent detective puzzles&rdquo; (The New York Times). </div>

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The Detections of Dr. Sam Johnson

<div>Literary legend Samuel Johnson and his biographer, James Boswell, solve mysteries in eighteenth-century London in this delightful story collection. A brilliant thinker and his trusted assistant sit in their drawing room, pondering a story in the newspaper, when the door opens and the subject of the article enters, begging for help. It&rsquo;s a classic scene from English detective fiction, set not at 221B Baker Street, but 1 Inner Temple Lane&mdash;the home of Dr. Samuel Johnson and his biographer, James Boswell. This mystery, concerning a disputed title, a kidnapped earl, and one of the greatest fortunes in England, will be no match for Dr. Johnson. Based on true criminal cases of the era and inspired by Boswell&rsquo;s legendary Life of Johnson, the seven stories in this volume touch on witchcraft, murder, theft, and the scientific breakthroughs of the Enlightenment. &ldquo;I am lost without my Boswell,&rdquo; said Sherlock Holmes&mdash;and Dr. Johnson was no different. Lillian de la Torre&rsquo;s delightful stories of Boswell and Johnson show the original Watson and Holmes in action. </div>

The Exploits of Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

<div>The true story of the eighteenth-century English maidservant at the center of a fascinating criminal mystery. On New Year&rsquo;s Day, 1753, Elizabeth Canning disappeared. An eighteen-year-old girl, she was unremarkable in every respect, from her appearance to her disposition, but she was about to become the most famous person in London. When she reappeared one month later, starving and ill, she claimed she had been abducted and held captive by a woman named Susannah Wells, who wanted Elizabeth to work for her as a prostitute. Based on Elizabeth&rsquo;s testimony, Wells was arrested, tried, and convicted&mdash;but the case was just getting started. Convinced the young woman was lying, the Lord Mayor of London set out to uncover the truth. What followed was one of the most celebrated criminal cases of the era. The controversy, which threatened to tear London apart, revolved around one frightened, mysterious girl. Meticulously researched and irresistibly readable, Elizabeth Is Missing is the definitive account of one of the most unusual cases of the eighteenth century, a must-read for fans of historical true crime. </div>

Elizabeth Is Missing

<div>Nine mystery tales starring lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson in &ldquo;the finest series of historical detective stories ever written&rdquo; (Ellery Queen). For over two hundred years, devotees of English literature have lost themselves in James Boswell&rsquo;s Life of Johnson, a biography of the great eighteenth-century thinker and writer, chronicling everything from kitchen chemistry experiments to tackling a pickpocket to his legendary investigation of the Cock Lane ghost. But Dr. Sam Johnson was more than a great thinker&mdash;he was also a talented sleuth. From the chilling affair of the waxwork cadaver to the thrilling search for the stolen seal of England, the nine cases in this volume show Johnson at his very best&mdash;using his legendary intellect to apprehend the worst killers and thieves the era had to offer. Written by Lillian de la Torre, a mystery author with &ldquo;a finely tuned ear for eighteenth-century prose,&rdquo; these charming stories are so believable, so perfectly in keeping with the Dr. Johnson we know and love, it&rsquo;s hard to believe they aren&rsquo;t true (TheNew York Times). </div>

Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

<div>A sensational account of the Lady Jane Douglas scandal: A penniless Frenchman claimed a title and turned eighteenth-century England upside down. In 1748, Scottish noblewoman Lady Jane Douglas gave birth to twin boys in Paris. Although she and one of the boys died in poverty five years later, her surviving son was heir to one of the greatest fortunes in England, and would become one of the most important men in the empire&mdash;if his inheritance were secure. But was Archibald Douglas really Lady Jane&rsquo;s son? His mother was fifty at the time of his birth&mdash;an incredible circumstance in any century&mdash;and if it could be proven that Archibald was adopted, the fortune would pass to another. The Douglas Cause, one of the greatest scandals in English history, a legal case whose twists and turns mesmerized the British public, led the citizens of Edinburgh to riot, and threatened to undermine the very fabric of the empire. Based on six years of research, The Heir of Douglas is the thrilling, definitive account of an astonishing court case, written by a woman who &ldquo;knows her way about in the eighteenth century&rdquo; (The New York Times). </div>

The Heir of Douglas

<div>Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of the female Norwegian immigrant who led a secret life as a serial killer in the early twentieth-century Midwest. On the morning of April 27, 1908, the farmhand on a lonely property outside La Porte, Indiana, woke to the smell of smoke. He tried to rouse the lady of the house, the towering Belle Poulsdatter Sorenson Gunness, and he called the names of her three children&mdash;but they didn&rsquo;t answer, and the farmhand barely escaped alive. The house burned to the foundation, and in the rubble, firemen found the corpses of Belle, her two daughters, and her son. The discovery raised two chilling questions: Who started the fire, and who cut off Belle&rsquo;s head? As investigators searched the property, they uncovered something astonishing: The remains of a dozen or more men and children who had been murdered with poison or cleaver were buried beneath the hog pen. It turned out Belle Gunness was one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. And when the investigation revealed that the body found in the fire might not have been hers, the people of La Porte were forced to confront the terrifying realization that Belle might have gotten out alive. Nominated for an Edgar Award for best factual crime story, The Truth about Belle Gunness is based on extensive interviews with witnesses and residents of La Porte who knew Belle and her family. Perfect for fans of In Cold Blood or The Devil in the White City, it is a &ldquo;magnificent [and] brilliantly written&rdquo; exploration of a highly unusual murderer (The New York Times). </div>

Lillian de la Torre
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Books By Lillian de la Torre (7 Books)

The Return of Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

The Detections of Dr. Sam Johnson

The Exploits of Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

Elizabeth Is Missing

Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

The Heir of Douglas

The Truth about Belle Gunness

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Lillian de la TorreFollow this author

Books By Lillian de la Torre (7 Books)

The Return of Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

The Detections of Dr. Sam Johnson

The Exploits of Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

Elizabeth Is Missing

Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector

The Heir of Douglas

The Truth about Belle Gunness

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Get weekly updates and deals from Early Bird Books

More from

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Lillian de la Torre
Follow this author