Bøger af Tracy Grant

Every spy has a past. But Mélanie Suzanne Rannoch is not prepared to meet her husband Malcolm's past literally walking towards them across a candlelit Mayfair ballroom in the person of brilliant, stunning Katelina Ashford, Malcolm's first love. Nor is she prepared to find that Kitty is a former agent herself, who has come to London seeking Malcolm's help. Mélanie, who misses her own past as a spy, always relishes the intrigue of espionage. But even as Kitty's secret mission unsettles London society, it leaves Mélanie questioning her own assumptions about the man whose name and bed she has shared for seven years. The quest that has brought Kitty to London began in Spain in the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars, but it stretches into some of the Britain's most powerful families. From the gritty bustle of Bow Street to the scandalous grottos of Vauxhall, the Rannochs find themselves involved in a search for a mysterious operative known as the Goshawk, a painting that holds the key to unraveling a long-buried secret history, and a fiendishly clever killer working very much in the present. But even as they try to keep the revelations from overturning vital alliances and smashing the lives of their closest friends, Mélanie and Malcolm discover the greatest danger may be to their own personal alliance. "Shimmers like the finest salons in Vienna." -Deborah Crombie "Meticulous, delightful, and full of surprises." -Tasha Alexander "Glittering balls, deadly intrigue, sexual scandals. . .the next best thing to actually being there!"- Lauren Willig "A superb storyteller."- Deanna Raybourn

The Rannoch Fraser Mysteries #15 Former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Suzanne Rannoch return to Dunmykel Castle in Scotland in response to a secret summons from Malcolm's grandfather, the Duke of Strathdon. The duke has a plan that will allow the Rannochs to resume their former life in Britain. Malcolm, worried that Mélanie could face treason charges for her past as a French spy, wants nothing more than to take his family safely back to Italy. But when Malcolm's sister Gisèle disappears from Dunmykel, Malcolm instead find himself doing the one thing he didn't want to do-risking a return to London in search of his missing sister. Meanwhile in Scotland, Mélanie uncovers information that connects her own shadowy past with Gisèle's disappearance, which sends Mélanie on a quest of her own. As they unravel the tangled threads, Malcolm and Mélanie learn Gisèle's disappearance is part of a dangerous game involving two old enemies and the highest reaches of Britain's government. The stakes rise still higher when one of their enemies is arrested for murder. From snowy Scotland to glittering Mayfair drawing rooms and the stews of St. Giles, the Rannochs unearth a conspiracy that could topple kings-and shake their family to the core... "Shimmers like the finest salons in Vienna." -Deborah Crombie "Meticulous, delightful, and full of surprises." -Tasha Alexander "Glittering balls, deadly intrigue, sexual scandals. . .the next best thing to actually being there!"- Lauren Willig "A superb storyteller."- Deanna Raybourn

The Rannoch Fraser Mysteries #18 London, December, 1819. After their recent adventures, former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch are looking forward to spending a quiet holiday season with friends and family. The greatest danger seems to be Mélanie's scandalous debut in a Christmas pantomime, which has shocked Mayfair's elite. But when an old friend smuggles a fugitive from the Continent into the theatre on opening night, the Rannochs find themselves facing both government agents and a mysterious assassin. As they infiltrate secret meetings, intercept coded documents, and reunite estranged lovers, they quickly realize nothing is quite what it seems. At least, as Mélanie tells her husband, they are spending the holidays with those closest to them-even if they aren't sure they can trust their nearest and dearest... "Shimmers like the finest salons in Vienna." -Deborah Crombie "Glittering balls, deadly intrigue, sexual scandals. . .the next best thing to actually being there!"- Lauren Willig "A superb storyteller."- Deanna Raybourn

London, 1820. Britain and Continental Europe teeter on the edge of upheaval, but Mélanie Rannoch tells herself she's left behind the dangers of the spy game and the sometimes equally-perilous intrigues of London society as she prepares for the premiere of her first play. Until her children stumble upon the body of the Hon. Lewis Thornsby in the wings of the Tavistock Theatre. Suddenly, Mélanie and her husband, Malcolm, plunge into an investigation that cuts closer to their former life of espionage than they would have thought possible. Thornsby, a seemingly guileless young man about town, was part of the Levellers, a secret group of reformers whose leader is a friend of the Rannochs. A paper on Thornsby's body hints at a plot to assassinate a member of the royal family. Was Thornsby the would-be assassin or was he killed because he had learned too much? Is the plot genuine or an attempt to entrap and discredit the Levellers? As their investigation takes them from gin-soaked Covent Garden alleys to Mayfair drawing rooms, the Rannochs learn Lewis Thornsby was not at all what he seemed. Whether his death is tied to the assassination, the pretty young actress he was willing to give up his fortune for, or his unexpected links to the Continent, someone was very determined he take his secrets to the grave. And if Mélanie and Malcolm can't uncover those secrets, their fate (along with that of their closest friends and Britain itself) may be in deadly peril.

Former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Suzanne Rannoch have fled Britain with their family to escape the exposure of Suzanne's past as a French agent in the Napoleonic Wars. The news that Malcolm's grandfather, the Duke of Strathdon, is dangerously ill makes them risk a secret voyage to Scotland in the depths of winter. But they arrive at the Rannoch castle on the Highland coast to find that all is not as expected. Dunmykel Castle holds dangerous mysteries beyond the sliding panel in the library, the hidden rooms, and the secret passage to the beach. As snow falls and the holiday season approaches, the Rannochs face smugglers and old enemies, and must race to uncover a deadly secret that could destroy their hard-won escape."Shimmers like the finest salons in Vienna." -Deborah Crombie"Meticulous, delightful, and full of surprises." -Tasha Alexander "Glittering balls, deadly intrigue, sexual scandals. . .the next best thing to actually being there!"- Lauren Willig "A superb storyteller."- Deanna Raybourn

A Malcolm & Suzanne Rannoch Historical Mystery 13 The secrets of Suzanne Rannoch's scandalous past have forced Suzanne and her husband Malcolm- also a spy - to flee London's intrigues and ballrooms. Suzanne fears they will go mad from boredom in their gilded refuge on Lake Como. But before they even reach the villa, they are attacked by bandits who think the Rannochs possess a mysterious treasure. Are their past deeds catching up with them or were they mistaken for someone else? As they settle in at the lake, they encounter Italian revolutionaries, gun smugglers, an English nobleman living in self-imposed exile with a beautiful contessa, and Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley, who have their own reasons for fleeing Britain. The exquisite beauty of the villas and gardens holds layers of deceit, tied to the very enemies the Rannochs sought to escape. When a golden afternoon on the lake turns crimson with murder, Malcolm and Suzanne realize that boredom is the least of their concerns...but they may have to fear for their lives and the lives of those closest to them... "Shimmers like the finest salons in Vienna." -Deborah Crombie "Meticulous, delightful, and full of surprises." -Tasha Alexander "Glittering balls, deadly intrigue, sexual scandals. . .the next best thing to actually being there!"- Lauren Willig "A superb storyteller."- Deanna Raybourn

London, 1821. Former spies Malcolm and Mâelanie Rannoch have been friends with Bow Street runner Jeremy Roth since they all met in the intrigues of the Peninsular War. Now settled in London, they frequently collaborate. On a chilly night, an urgent summons from Roth takes Malcolm to a tavern in the slums of Seven Dials. He finds Roth standing over the body of a murdered woman. Malcolm offers his assistance with the case, but Roth says Malcolm must investigate alone. When Malcolm asks why, Roth replies--because this is my wife.Malcolm and Mâelanie plunge into the secrets of Roth's estranged wife Allegra. Why did she disappear from England? Where has she been for five years? And why did she return now to the husband she abandoned? Their investigation is a race against time as another Bow Street runner is all too eager to arrest Roth for the murder. And though Malcolm and Mâelanie are both convinced Jeremy Roth is not a killer, his story keeps changing.Secrets are nothing new for the Rannochs. But this investigation will force them to question everything they thought they knew about some of those closest to them. And to re-examine the secrets at the heart of their own marriage--before someone else they love falls victim...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the life of a former spy cannot remain quiet for long.

In post-Regency London, dynamic former spies Malcolm Rannoch and his elegant wife Mélanie chase devastating secrets tied to the scandalous royal divorce trial.London, October 1820. Queen Caroline's divorce trial makes the House of Lords as crowded as a London ballroom-but far more deadly, as Mélanie discovers when she literally stumbles over a body while threading her way through the crush. More shockingly, she recognizes the victim as her friend Cordelia Davenport's former lover, George Chase, who recently fled England in disgrace. Mélanie is unable to save him but hears him say "Cordelia" with his dying breath. No one knows why George returned to England. But just before he was killed, he was trying to get a message to the prime minister saying he had vital information about the royal divorce.Mélanie and Malcolm plunge into an investigation that could shatter the lives of their closest friends and topple the British government. From hushed Whitehall council rooms to gin-soaked Covent Garden taverns, exclusive St. James's clubs, and Mayfair masquerade balls, they follow a twisting trail of family secrets and royal intrigue. As former spies, they expect the unexpected. But nothing has prepared them for a cascade of revelations that forces them to question everything they know-including their own future.

When former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch learn their enemies are trying to sell letters that could prove key at the trial between George IV and Queen Caroline, the Rannochs are determined to intercept the papers before they can be used.

Glittering chandeliers reveal dark secrets... Former spies and London society favorites Malcolm and Mélanie Suzanne Rannoch are back home, and delighted that their dear friends, Raoul O'Roarke and Laura Tarrington, are finally free to marry. But what should be an occasion for joy is soon/quickly marred by a blackmail attempt. To aid an old friend, the Rannochs must resume a life of espionage and adventure, facing an attack at the London docks and infiltrating a Mayfair ball in disguise to retrieve stolen letters. They soon realize the stolen documents they seek could upend the British government--and the secrets Malcolm and Mélanie uncover hit unexpectedly--and dangerously--close to home...

In the glittering world of Regency London, where gossip is exchanged--and reputations ruined--with the tilt of a fan, Mélanie Fraser is the perfect wife. Devoted to her husband, Charles, the grandson of a duke, she is acknowledged as society's most charming hostess. But just as the elegant façade of Regency London hides a dark side, Mélanie is not what she seems. She has a secret: one that could destroy her perfect jewel-box life forever . . . and the cost to keep it is an exquisite heirloom ring surrounded by legend and power. The search for it will pull Mélanie and Charles into a gritty underworld of gin-soaked brothels, elegant gaming hells, and debtors' prisons. In this maze of intrigue, deception is second nature and betrayal can come far too easily . . .