Four sensual Regency romances—nearly 900 pages—make up this boxed set about six couples set during Christmas. Spending Christmas in a remote hunting lodge with a warm, cozy fire is exactly what Milton, Earl of Torrington, and his new bride, Adele, need. When the coach carrying their trunks—and servants—doesn’t reach its destination, they are left to fend for themselves in THE CHRISTMAS OF A COUNTESS. Meanwhile, Alice and Alonyius are stuck sharing a coaching inn, and her distain for him just seems to further ignite the infuriatingly tempting man’s desire to thaw her chilly disposition. Sir Randolph’s daytime occupation collides with his nocturnal avocation of service to the Crown when he discovers Lady X's hidden stash of bank notes. They might be counterfeit—but are his feelings for her? Meanwhile his sister, Rachel, returns to London after a lengthy absence. Like Randolph, she’s illegitimate, but her father insists she have a come-out. She has other plans, but then so does an admirer in THE KNOT OF A KNIGHT. When a last will and testament reveals her late husband's secret, Elaine succumbs to Edward's advances and discovers a second chance at love is possible at the Soho Club in THE HOLIDAY OF A MARQUESS. A blizzard brings half-frozen Thomas to Katherine's door, but providing hospitality to the man who left her at the altar twenty-five years ago isn’t exactly her idea of a happy Christmas. He hadn't exactly been planning a happy one for himself—until he learns Katherine's secret in THE WINTER KISS OF A ROGUE.

DigiCat presents to you a collection of the greatest mystery cases and puzzles for you to solve and relax with during Christmas and winter holidays: Agatha Christie: The Mysterious Affair at Styles The Murder on the Links The Kidnapped Prime Minister The Million Dollar Bond Robbery The Secret Adversary R. Austin Freeman: Dr. Thorndyke's Cases The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke Dr. Thorndyke's Casebook Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes A Study in Scarlet The Sign of Four The Hound of the Baskervilles The Valley of Fear A. E. W. Mason: At the Villa Rose The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel Mary Roberts Rinehart: The Circular Staircase The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry Tish – The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions More Tish Edgar Allan Poe: The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Mystery of Marie Rogêt The Purloined Letter Charles Dickens: Hunted Down Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone The Woman in White The Haunted Hotel Robert Barr: The Triumph of Eugéne Valmont Jennie Baxter, Journalist The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs The Adventure of the Second Swag E. W. Hornung: The Amateur Cracksman The Black Mask; or, Raffles: Further Adventures A Thief in the Night Mr. Justice Raffles John Kendrick Bangs: Mrs. Raffles R. Holmes & Co Melville Davisson Post: The Sleuth of St. James's Square Edgar Wallace: The Four Just Men The Clue of the Twisted Candle Victor L. Whitechurch: The Canon in Residence Anna Katharine Green: The Leavenworth Case A Strange Disappearance The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow That Affair Next Door Lost Man's Lane The Circular Study G. K. Chesterton: The Innocence of Father Brown The Wisdom of Father Brown The Donnington Affair Ellis Parker Butler: Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective Maurice Leblanc: Arsene Lupin The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin Mabel & Paul Thorne: The Sheridan Road Mystery Marion Harvey: The Mystery of the Hidden Room Grace Livingston Hill: The Mystery of Mary

What did it take to cause the Roman aristocracy to turn to Christianity, changing centuries-old beliefs and religious traditions? Michele Salzman takes a fresh approach to this much-debated question. Focusing on a sampling of individual aristocratic men and women as well as on writings and archeological evidence, she brings new understanding to the process by which pagan aristocrats became Christian, and Christianity became aristocratic. Roman aristocrats would seem to be unlikely candidates for conversion to Christianity. Pagan and civic traditions were deeply entrenched among the educated and politically well-connected. Indeed, men who held state offices often were also esteemed priests in the pagan state cults: these priesthoods were traditionally sought as a way to reinforce one's social position. Moreover, a religion whose texts taught love for one's neighbor and humility, with strictures on wealth and notions of equality, would not have obvious appeal for those at the top of a hierarchical society. Yet somehow in the course of the fourth and early fifth centuries Christianity and the Roman aristocracy met and merged. Examining the world of the ruling class--its institutions and resources, its values and style of life--Salzman paints a fascinating picture, especially of aristocratic women. Her study yields new insight into the religious revolution that transformed the late Roman Empire.

A full account of the Italian nobility in the period after national unification.

He’s royalty. She’s a commoner. Their association has no future. Bronwen Davies is not only disinterested in marrying well, she has turned her back upon society, to live as freely as she can in the wilds of Northallerton, where she lives with her cousin Lilly and Lilly’s husband, Jasper. Jasper’s half-brother, the Archeduke Edvard Christoffer of Silkeborg, arrives at Northallerton without warning, asking for temporary sanctuary from the pressures of his public life. There, he finds Bronwen, a most distracting diversion. Only, Bronwen’s unexpected opinions and forthright manner prove to be far more seductive than a simple distraction should be… Mask of Nobility is the fourth book in the spin-off series following the historical romances of Scandalous Sirens. Scandalous Scions brings together the members of three great families, to love and play under the gaze of the Victorian era’s moralistic, straight-laced society. Reader Advisory: This story contains frank sex scenes and sexual language. This story is part of the Scandalous Scions series: 0.5 Rose of Ebony 1.0 Soul of Sin 2.0 Valor of Love 3.0 Marriage of Lies 4.0 Mask of Nobility …and more to come! A Sexy Historical Romance ___ Praise for the Scandalous Scions series: If you are familiar with the previous series, I am sure you fell in love with the huge family like I did. She is a go to author for me when I need a fix of historical romance. Tracy Cooper-Posey takes us into the staid yet surprisingly bawdy Victorian Era where appearance is everything and secrets are held inside the family. Thanks once again, Tracy Cooper-Posey, for giving us another great story and for giving me back my love of historical romances. I love historical romances and this one filled all my likes, from a dashing, wonderful hero, a beautiful strong heroine, a love story to sigh over, side characters that are interesting, and funny, and move the story along. I can't wait for the next in this wonderful new series. I don't often give books five stars, but I really enjoyed the mystery that puzzled all of the characters in this story. I found the entire extended family intriguing because they, the women in particular, are very aware and careful of what society will think, yet they often have made choices that are deemed semi- scandalous. A wonderful story set in the Victorian era of such strict social conventions and yet the main characters are shimmering with latent sexual tension. What a fabulous juxtaposition! Another great series is starting and it looks like it will be great just like all the other series by this author. ___ Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 90 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award. She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University. She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.

Modern historians have generally approached the study of medieval society through chronicles, charters, and other documents composed in Latin by members of the clergy. Although these records may be satisfactory for studying the affairs of ecclesiastics, kings, and high barons, they are inadequate for assessing the major preoccupations of the aristocracy—living extravagantly, fighting, making love, entertaining, eating and dressing ostentatiously, and, generally, earning the disapproval of the clergy. In Aristocratic Life in Medieval France, the respected medieval scholar John Baldwin undertakes a study of this segment of society using, for the first time in nearly a century, the vernacular romances written exclusively for the amusement of aristocratic audiences. Rather than attempting to encompass all of Middle Age Europe, this study selects two writers, Jean Renart and Gerbert de Montreuil, and their four romances. It focuses with depth and specificity on the discrete area of northern France during a precise period, 1190–1230. Since Jean and Gerbert framed their fictional stories with contemporary and realistic features that could be recognized by their audiences, their works provide a wealth of detail on aristocratic living. Employing such literary techniques as "reality effects" and "horizons of expectations," Baldwin successfully discerns the historical content in these romance narratives.