1920s Mysteries
for 21st Cantury Readers
Series One:
The Lucas Rathbone
Mysteries
Lucas Rathbone can see dead people - and that's only the start of his problems.
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Amid solving murders, the reluctant sleuth must navigate a complicated love life, avoid an untimely death at the hands of killer criminals, and untangle whatever chaos his sweetheart's not-so-secret admirer seems to drag in his wake.
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There are nine books in the main series, which can be read as standalone (but are best read in order), plus eight short stories, which can be read entirely standalone.
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Below are all the titles in the Lucas Rathbone Mysteries, along with links. If you would prefer all the links in a list, Click Here
Main Series
Lucas Rathbone sees dead people.
And they want him to solve their murders.
He wishes they didn’t, though.
He’s perfectly happy with his dead-end newspaper job in a dead-end village in a dead-end part of England at the end of the Roaring Twenties, which have mostly passed him and his dead-end life by.
Then, Lucas made a split-second decision that may see him and the girl he adores land on mortuary slabs.
And though that moment of testosterone-fuelled insanity impressed Clara Jenkins right into his arms, and his stagnant existence finally has the vital vim and vigour it’s been lacking, getting his name on a hit list was never on the plan.
After all, he’s supposed to help spirits find justice, not join them in death.
Vengeance is sought.
Forgiveness was never an option.
And the sins of the father will be atoned for...
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Lucas Rathbone is desperate.
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He must be, to put his trust - and the life of the woman he loves - into the hands of a man with no known morals and a taste for walking in life's shadows.
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Because despite his criminal connections and questionable ethics, Tommy Kilbourne is the only one who can help find her.
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Leaving Lucas no choice.
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But nothing is as it seems, and now the psychic sleuth must scramble to not only save Clara's life, but that of a man who deserves no mercy.
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Time is running out - and this avenging angel will be pitiless.
Can a life be mended when it was shattered by a lie?
Tommy Kilbourne is missing, presumed...
Well, Lucas Rathbone has no idea, actually, and the latest ghost to demand the reluctant psychic's help suggests his missing frenemy has done something criminally — and potentially fatally — stupid this time.
As Tommy lacks any other friends, it's up to Lucas and fiancée Clara to find the wretched man before either the police or a vengeful gang do. Neither would let the silly devil live to see Christmas, which would only upset Clara and Lucas couldn't stand that.
That and he's almost starting to like the fellow these days. Almost.
All right, so maybe Kilbourne isn't as bad as Lucas first thought, and the spirits giving him a heartbreaking insight into the man's fractured soul are perhaps, perhaps helping him see why Tommy is the way he is...
But that won't matter if they can't find him in time, will it?
Finding a ghost on the doorstep isn't exactly unusual for Lucas Rathbone.
Except this one is very much alive - and has brought the young man's world tumbling down.
But before he can catch his breath, Lucas receives another piece of shattering news.
To help bridge the gap between him and this "ghost" from his past, the stern but loving spirit who mentors his unwilling psychic career asks Lucas to do what he does best: solve a murder.
Hers.
But solving this decades-old mystery will take her away from him... forever.
Mrs Charity Murphy dealt in blackmail –
and paid with her life.
Now, ten years on, her spirit is back in the close-knit village she kept under her thumb.
And only one man can unravel the mystery of her death.
But, with a suspect list filled with friends, neighbours, and his own mother, reluctant psychic Lucas Rathbone fears this is one murder he's rather not solve…
An ancient curse burnt into a dead man's skin.
An impossible snakebite.
And a local newspaper reporter who really wishes he couldn't see ghosts...
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Lucas, Clara, and Tommy are on on an all-expenses paid trip to the opening of the infamous Professor Adams's latest Ancient Egyptian exhibition.
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The crowd is suspiciously small, but the champagne is flowing and, despite the appearance of a three-thousand-year-old spirit, a rather tipsy Lucas is actually enjoying himself.
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Until a much fresher spook appears before his very eyes, and whether it's an ancient curse or a modern murder, Lucas and co find themselves dragged into the investigation...
Solving a murder was never on Lucas Rathbone's Christmas list.
But when the festivities turn fatal, the reluctant psychic finds a freshly minted ghost in the kitchen – leaving him no choice but to pause his own cosy celebrations and turn sleuth.
Not that the deceased man is much help, insisting everyone loved him and no one could possibly want him dead.
Which is why he can now walk through doors without opening them first… obviously.
As Lucas unravels the mystery, he discovers family secrets better best forgotten, scandal splashed across the front pages, and heartaches that are more than enough motive for the killing.
Murder, ghosts, and psychic frauds. Not what Lucas Rathbone expected on his first day of a new job.
At least this case should be easy to solve.
In fact, there is no case. The victim's husband confessed to her murder, so whatever the dearly departed Lady Clementine has to say about it, there's nothing for the reluctant psychic sleuth to investigate.
Lucas has never been happier.
However, troubling questions remain.
So, against his better judgement, Lucas follows the clues, and uncovers a tangled web of love, lust, and lies that drags him into the dangerous world of fake psychic mediums.
And what he finds there might shatter his sanity.
Solving this murder has consequences far beyond any he's faced before – and failure isn't an option.
Lucas Rathbone's wedding preparations are spiralling out of control, meaning a murder investigation is a welcome distraction.
Because Lucas's future brother-in-law just stepped off the train, followed by three gatecrashers and a ghost.
A spirit demanding his unique help would ruin any other day, but with an increasingly fraught fiancée and two friends getting more despondent each time the impending wedding is mentioned, for once Lucas is keen to help.
But when it becomes clear there's only four possible suspects, and one is the bride's brother, Lucas faces a dilemma:
Would he rather maintain family harmony and fail in his duty to the spirits, or let his brother-in-law hang for murder?
