Love, Lust, & Murder in the Gilded Age ...
The Avenging Angel Detective AgencyTM Mysteries by Robert Brighton
A Murder in Ashwood
An Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mystery
New and Now Available for Pre-Order!
This immersive psychological thriller novel - the second in the Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries - by award-winning author Robert Brighton is as much a 'whydunit' as it is a 'whodunit' ...
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Special Hardcover Collector's Limited Edition
Named BookLife Reviews "Editor's Pick" - “Setting this series apart from other historical mysteries is Brighton’s deft hand at capturing the dishy lives of long ago … has the feel of a great cocktail party … the tangled mysteries compel … a polished, rewarding page-turner …”
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“Brighton spins a tale of murder and revenge … it’s hard to resist the detailed and authentic world [he] creates … time and place are fully realized in this murder story … a fascinating period piece … - Kirkus Reviews
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A lush and immersive historical award-winning mystery inspired by a 'true crime of the century' that shocked the world.
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New Year’s Day, 1902: Ashwood awakens to a foul murder …
Buffalo, New York … as the remains of the great Pan-American Exposition are swept away, and the bitter memories of William McKinley’s assassination begin to fade … the city reels again, at the sensational murder of successful businessman Edward Miller, bludgeoned to death in his cozy den, in one of the city’s most fashionable enclaves: Ashwood.
But for all its glitz and glamor, Ashwood guards the dark secrets of its fashionable residents … including those of Edward’s estranged wife Alicia, her lover Arthur Pendle, and would-be detective Sarah Payne. Soon, they will all face a hurricane of courtroom drama, public outrage, and the behind-the-scenes scheming of cold and corrupt District Attorney Terence Penrose.
Meanwhile, those caught up in the most scandalous crime of a new century have reputations to protect … skeletons best kept hidden away in the tidy closets of trendy Ashwood … and plenty of reasons to keep the motive behind Edward Miller’s murder from ever seeing the light of day - a motive that only the victim and his killer knew …
Can justice be done … and the truth uncovered by Sarah’s fledgling Avenging Angel Detective Agency … before a killer strikes again?
Find out in award-winning A Murder in Ashwood … the second novel in the Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries from Robert Brighton, acclaimed author of The Unsealing.
It’s as much a 'whydunit' as a 'whodunit' in a page-turning story that leaves readers wanting more.
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Contains three original interior scratchboard illustrations by noted artist Mark Summers.
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Join Robert Brighton on a journey into the real Gilded Age in an electrifying tale of scandal, love and murder.
Get your copy today!
The casebound (hardcover) version is a Collector's Limited Edition, and boasts a full heavy dust jacket, which is matte finished to prevent fingerprints from marring the commissioned art on each cover (and feels so great in readers' hands). Spot gloss highlights important elements of the design. The boards are stamped in gold foil; the endpapers are of quality moiré selected specially for each edition. Inside, the paper is sustainable heavy acid-free paper, Smyth-sewn in signatures to lie flat when open. It feels good to run the fingers over these quality pages, offset-printed in easy-on-the-eyes Garamond typeface ... no eyestrain for readers who can't put these books down!

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Current of Darkness
An Avenging Angel Detective Agency Mystery
The third novel in the Avenging Angel Detective Agency Mysteries!
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On The Blog
NOTES FROM ROBERT BRIGHTON
A Murder in Ashwood
6/1/2023
Did you know that Amazon.com carries 33 million different books? It’s true … and now there are 33,000,001. That’s because now available for pre-order is A Murder in Ashwood, the second installment in the Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries. This story is quite a wild ride, and I think you'll enjoy it.
READ MORESome Questions & Answers
4/26/2023
Since The Unsealing (finally!) published on February 28th, I’ve been very gratified by all of the attention it’s received from critics and readers alike. Thank you! I’ve also received quite a number of questions submitted via my website and email, which I love getting! I really enjoy hearing from you and I’ll be happy to answer (mostly) anything you ask. So today here are a few of the questions posed, along with my replies. I’ll try to answer all of them in due course, but I try to keep my blog posts short, so it’ll be a few at a time.
READ MOREFlowers and Sexual Tension in the Gilded Age
4/5/2023
Victorians are (rightly) thought to have been more reserved than we are, and certainly were less ‘expressive’ (or explicit) about expressing their views, feelings, and desires, except among family and close friends. Even then, proper etiquette and a degree of restraint were prized as virtues and as evidence of a good upbringing.
READ MORE