From the celebrated coauthor of the Nero Blanc Crossword Puzzle Mysteries comes this elegant and richly nuanced new series debut in the tradition of The Alienist, Maisie Dobbs, and Girl with a Pearl Earring. Intrigue, passion, and murder surround the suspicious disappearance of Philadelphia financier Lemuel Beale in the winter of 1842. A victim of accidental drowning, according to the local constabulary, Beale leaves a sinister legacy of political and financial scheming---and a troubled heiress, his daughter, Martha, his only child. Martha Beale is unmarried at twenty-six, in an era when women are expected to become brides before turning twenty. Normally sheltered and shy, she instigates a search for her father, and in so doing, develops a romantic attachment to Thomas Kelman, an assistant to Philadelphia's mayor---and a man whose business is homicide investigation. The inquiry into Lemuel's disappearance uncovers connections between the city's most affluent and most destitute: an escaped inmate from the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary; the freed African-American prisoner, Ruth; the ritual slayings of several young girl prostitutes; and Eusapio Paladino, a conjurer and necromancer who claims to communicate with the dead. Written with exquisite historical detail and fast-paced intrigue, The Conjurer is a thrilling start to an exceptional new series.

The Conjurer: A Martha Beale Mystery

Literature & Fiction

Biddle, Cordelia Frances

United States

Thomas Dunne Books

Critics raved about The Conjurer, the first in Cordelia Frances Biddle’s superb historical mystery series. Now Philadelphian heiress Martha Beale is back in a second thrilling installment laced with fast-paced intrigue and exquisite period detail.
When the daughter of one of Philadelphia’s finest families disappears, Martha Beale becomes the unwilling liaison between the girl’s aloof and aristocratic parents and Thomas Kelman, Martha’s secret beau, who is overseeing the investigation.
What appears to be a kidnapping, however, takes a darker turn, and complex clues implicate rich and poor alike. It is up to Martha and Kelman to unravel the diabolical plot--and the painful disparity of their social classes--as they struggle to unmask the killer.
As in The Conjurer, Cordelia Frances Biddle’s elegant and evocative prose brings to vibrant life mid-nineteenth-century Philadelphia. Deception’s Daughter is a stunning sequel from a multitalented crime writer.

Deception's Daughter (Martha Beale)

Minotaur Books

Intrigue, passion, and murder surround the suspicious disappearance of famed Philadelphia financier Lemuel Beale in the winter of 1842. As his daughter and only child, Martha searches for her father. She begins to develop a romantic attachment to Thomas Kelman, an assistant to the mayor who's been assigned to the case. Kelman has also been investigating the ritual slayings of several young women; a likely suspect appears to be the renowned conjurer and clairvoyant Eusapio Paladino. Could there be a connection between the two cases?

The Conjurer

When Eugenia Axthelm and her wealthy husband embark on a luxurious cruise away from turn-of-the-century Philadelphia, their marriage suddenly is plagued by betrayal and, ultimately, tragedy

Beneath the Wind

Simon&Schuster

Her mother's deathbed words lead Catha Kinsolving Burke to San Simeon, the legendary Hearst castle, and to the mysterious seventy-year-old death of Hollywood producer Thomas Ince

MURDER AT SAN SIMEON: A Novel of Suspense (Lisa Drew Books)

Hearst, Patricia

Scribner

Critics have lauded Cordelia Frances Biddle's historical series featuring heiress Martha Beale. The indomitable heroine returns in Without Fear when a decapitated corpse is discovered at Joseph Bonaparte's palatial estate near Philadelphia. A vanished wife, a former actress with an agonizing secret, and a mill worker accused of murder reveal the dark and convoluted connections between wealth and poverty, and the tenuous link between grief and joy.

Without Fear: A Martha Beale Novel

Literary

BookSurge Publishing

Celebrating 250 years, St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, has witnessed a rich mixture of people and events that reflect critical periods of American political and cultural history. George Washington worshiped here as did abolitionists and slave holders, Whigs, Democrats, and Republicans. St. Peter's was a point of first contact for thousands of immigrants, and the church opened schools for immigrants to help them to acculturate to life in Philadelphia.Opening a window onto colonial Philadelphia and the nation's histories, a"St. Peter's Church"ais a glorious testament to this National Historic Landmark. In addition to the stories and hundreds of black-and-white and color photographs, this handsome volume provides a history of the grounds, the churchyard, and the church itself-a classic example of eighteenth-century Philadelphia design that later incorporated the work of renown architects William Strickland, Thomas U. Walter, and Frank Furness."

St. Peter's Church: Faith in Action for 250 Years

History

Heavens, Alan J.

Brown, Elizabeth S

Peitz, Charles P.

Americas

Temple University Press

Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel

“Powerful and profoundly moving, Saint Katharine is a book of rich and lively scholarship and of deeply felt devotion. You will not be able to put it down.”―Donald Spoto, author of Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi When Katharine Drexel was born in 1858, her grandfather, financier Francis Martin Drexel, had a fortune so vast he was able to provide a loan of sixty million dollars to the Union’s cause during the Civil War. Her uncle and mentor, Anthony, established Drexel University to provide instruction to the working class regardless of race, religion, or gender. Her stepmother was Emma Bouvier whose brother, John, became the great-grandfather of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Katharine Drexel’s family were American royalty. As a Philadelphia socialite, “Kitty,” as she was often called, adored formal balls and teas, rowing regattas, and sailing races. She was beautiful, intelligent, and high-spirited. But when her stepmother died in 1883, and her father two years later, a sense of desolation nearly overwhelmed her. She was twenty-seven and in possession of a staggering inheritance. Approached for aid by the Catholic Indian Missions, she surprised her family by giving generously of money and time. It was during this period of acute self-examination that she journeyed to Rome for a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. With characteristic energy and fervor, she detailed the plight of the Native Americans, and begged for additional missionaries to serve them. His reply astonished her. “Why not, my child, yourself become a missionary?” In Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel, Cordelia Frances Biddle recounts the extraordinary story of a Gilded Age luminary who became a selfless worker for the welfare and rights of America’s poorest persons. After years of supporting efforts on behalf of African Americans and American Indians, Katharine finally decided to follow her inner voice and profess vows. The act made headlines. Like her father and grandfather, she was a shrewd businessperson; she retained her financial autonomy and established her own order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Until her death in 1955, she devoted herself and her inheritance to building much-needed schools in the South and Southwest, despite threats from the Ku Klux Klan and others. Pragmatic, sometimes willful, ardent, and a charismatic leader, Katharine Drexel was an indefatigable champion of justice and parity. When illness incapacitated her in later years, divine radiance was said to emanate from her, a radiance that led to her canonization on October 1, 2000.

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Westholme Publishing

“Powerful and profoundly moving, Saint Katharine is a book of rich and lively scholarship and of deeply felt devotion. You will not be able to put it down.”―Donald Spoto, author of Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi When Katharine Drexel was born in 1858, her grandfather, financier Francis Martin Drexel, had a fortune so vast he was able to provide a loan of sixty million dollars to the Union’s cause during the Civil War. Her uncle and mentor, Anthony, established Drexel University to provide instruction to the working class regardless of race, religion, or gender. Her stepmother was Emma Bouvier whose brother, John, became the great-grandfather of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Katharine Drexel’s family were American royalty. As a Philadelphia socialite, “Kitty,” as she was often called, adored formal balls and teas, rowing regattas, and sailing races. She was beautiful, intelligent, and high-spirited. But when her stepmother died in 1883, and her father two years later, a sense of desolation nearly overwhelmed her. She was twenty-seven and in possession of a staggering inheritance. Approached for aid by the Catholic Indian Missions, she surprised her family by giving generously of money and time. It was during this period of acute self-examination that she journeyed to Rome for a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. With characteristic energy and fervor, she detailed the plight of the Native Americans, and begged for additional missionaries to serve them. His reply astonished her. “Why not, my child, yourself become a missionary?” In Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel, Cordelia Frances Biddle recounts the extraordinary story of a Gilded Age luminary who became a selfless worker for the welfare and rights of America’s poorest persons. After years of supporting efforts on behalf of African Americans and American Indians, Katharine finally decided to follow her inner voice and profess vows. The act made headlines. Like her father and grandfather, she was a shrewd businessperson; she retained her financial autonomy and established her own order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Until her death in 1955, she devoted herself and her inheritance to building much-needed schools in the South and Southwest, despite threats from the Ku Klux Klan and others. Pragmatic, sometimes willful, ardent, and a charismatic leader, Katharine Drexel was an indefatigable champion of justice and parity. When illness incapacitated her in later years, divine radiance was said to emanate from her, a radiance that led to her canonization on October 1, 2000.

The epic fight between Nicholas Biddle and Andrew Jackson over the fate of the Second Bank of the United States comes to vivid life in this compelling biography of political intrigue. The battle that culminated in 1837 riveted and polarized the nation. Jackson accused Biddle of treason; Biddle said the president promoted anarchy. Newly discovered Biddle correspondence alters the financier's place in history.

Biddle, Jackson, and a Nation in Turmoil: The Infamous Bank War

Oxford Southern

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Biddle, Cordelia Frances. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Biddle, Cordelia Frances

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Biddle, Cordelia Frances. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Conjurer: A Martha Beale Mystery

Deception's Daughter (Martha Beale)

The Conjurer

Beneath the Wind

MURDER AT SAN SIMEON: A Novel of Suspense (Lisa Drew Books)

Without Fear: A Martha Beale Novel

St. Peter's Church: Faith in Action for 250 Years

Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel

Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel

Biddle, Jackson, and a Nation in Turmoil: The Infamous Bank War