Mollie Hardwick Books in Order

Michael and Mollie Hardwick assemble a reference to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, combining plot outlines, character entries, and biographies of Holmes and Watson. Quotations and discussion of their creator connect the fictional detective's world with its literary origins.

The Hardwicks examine Arthur Conan Doyle's life through parallels with Sherlock Holmes, considering occasions when the writer acted as an investigator himself. Passages from the detective stories accompany a biographical account that links the creator with his most famous character.

Charles Dickens appears here through the recollections and observations of his family, friends, and contemporaries. Their perspectives form a portrait of the novelist as others encountered him, offering personal testimony alongside the public image preserved by his writing.

This biography introduces Alfred Deller, the English countertenor associated with the revival of early vocal music. Michael and Mollie Hardwick present an account of the singer's life, accompanied by John Ward's illustrations and a foreword by Michael Tippett.

The Hardwicks gather accounts of maritime puzzles from different eras and oceans, including the disappearance of the Mary Celeste's crew. The collection considers strange events at sea through the stories of ships and people caught in unexplained circumstances.

Hardwick examines Emma, Lady Hamilton's life and her relationship with Lord Nelson. The biography considers the woman behind her disputed reputation, following a tumultuous personal history shaped by love and the circumstances surrounding a celebrated public figure.

Michael and Mollie Hardwick explore English places connected with Charles Dickens's life and fiction. Illustrated with Michael's photographs, the book links the writer's homes and familiar surroundings to literary landmarks and the nineteenth-century world that informed his work.

This novelization of Billy Wilder's film sends Holmes and Watson from Baker Street to Scotland after a rescued woman seeks her missing husband. An engineer's disappearance, enigmatic monks, and strange activity near Loch Ness complicate the detective's investigation.

Hardwick recounts the life of Mary Anne Disraeli, Viscountess Beaconsfield, focusing on the woman married to Benjamin Disraeli. Her biography places that marriage within Victorian Britain and considers a political spouse's life alongside her husband's public career.

This reference surveys Charles Dickens's life and writing through entries on characters, plot outlines, and inventories of places and buildings. Michael and Mollie Hardwick provide a way to trace connections across the novelist's stories and their settings.

Four Sherlock Holmes cases become plays in this collection, taking the detective through the Norwood mystery, Lady Frances Carfax’s disappearance, Shoscombe Old Place, and an illustrious client’s troubles. The stage versions adapt Doyle’s investigations for performance.

Michael and Mollie Hardwick bring together reference material on Bernard Shaw, including biographical information, plots, and quotations. The companion provides readers with an organized guide to the playwright's life and dramatic work through concise entries and supporting material.

The Bellamys and their servants face upheaval in their London household as Lady Bellamy undertakes a fateful voyage. Romantic complications, political trouble, and an inexperienced servant's indiscretion unsettle the distinctions and routines that have held their world together.

The First World War transforms life for the Bellamys and their servants at Eaton Place. Richard's political responsibilities expand, James returns to military service, and Hazel joins the home-front effort as public duty and private strains reshape the household.

Emily Hart grows up in a strict Manchester household without understanding her origins. Summoned to Lady Hamilton's London home, she enters fashionable society and finds apparent family connections, but changing fortunes threaten both her independence and her search for the truth.

Louisa Trotter enjoys success running the Bentinck Hotel when her former lover Charlie resumes his residence there. A challenge to his reputation and an unexpected proposal force her to confront feelings she believed were settled and decisions business skill cannot resolve.

Louisa Leyton's ambition to become a great cook takes her from domestic service into London's powerful circles. Royal attention, an unhappy marriage, and the purchase of a hotel place her livelihood at risk as she struggles to secure an independent future.

Using the Bellamy household as a starting point, Hardwick explores British social history from the turn of the century to the Depression. Illustrations and discussion connect the television drama's privileged family and servants with the wider changes of their era.

In 1745, newly married Dorothy Beaumont follows her husband's commitment to the Stuart cause. Her fascination with Bonnie Prince Charlie draws her into the rebellion's turbulent fortunes, testing her marriage and her understanding of what she truly wants.

Louisa Leyton begins as a scullery maid determined to become an exceptional cook. Her talent and ambition carry her into the company of aristocrats and royalty, while personal relationships complicate the independence she seeks in London's world of service and hospitality.

Louisa's successful Bentinck Hotel faces the disruptions of the First World War, while Charlie's return revives their old attachment. His enlistment and London's bombing raids test her resilience as she works to preserve both her business and hopes for their future.

Former chauffeur Thomas Watkins and housemaid Sarah leave service at Eaton Place to pursue their own fortunes. This novelization follows the couple's early adventures beyond the Bellamy household, where their resourcefulness and relationship face the uncertainties of making an independent living.

Four performers meet during a London pantomime in 1813, each carrying private hopes and disappointments. As their work takes them from city theaters to provincial stages, ambition, loneliness, and attraction intertwine their lives beyond the characters they play.

Joe Atkinson returns to Lancashire determined to improve conditions in cotton production, challenging his uncle's expectations and a ruthless mill owner. Romantic tensions among his cousins and the return of an estranged relative threaten to reopen old wounds between two families.

In Victorian Lancashire, Joe and Dove Atkinson face strains on their marriage as their children seek uncertain futures. Deception at the cotton mill and threats to the family’s livelihood test the security they have built together.

Long confined after a childhood injury, Lilian de Wentworth falls for an under-gardener on her uncle's estate. Sent to London after scandal follows, she enters a Pre-Raphaelite circle where an artist's glamour threatens to draw her away from that first love.

Laura Diamond's beauty brings unwanted attention and restrictions from her mother. A disappointed romance leads to a hasty marriage, then life among wealthy admirers, forcing her to confront the costs of turning the appearance she resents into a means of escape.

In industrializing Lancashire, the Atkinson and Bateman families are bound by marriage but divided by ambitions and resentment. Ephraim's conflict with a ruthless mill owner, Francis's hidden past, and reckless choices among younger relatives threaten their fragile domestic peace.

Three love stories unfold across medieval, Tudor, and Victorian England, connected by hints of reincarnation. Women facing unwanted relationships and political pressures are drawn toward other loves, while recurring memories suggest that the attachments may reach beyond a single lifetime.

Tom Lacey returns to his family's Warwickshire castle as England moves toward civil war. His Royalist loyalties clash with his sister's Parliamentarian marriage, dividing the household as military duty, political conviction, and love pull its members in different directions.

Raised by stern grandparents who forbid talk of the stage, Miranda Heriot discovers theater during a secret trip to Stratford. Joining a troupe gives her a path beyond home, but romantic disappointment complicates her pursuit of a life shaped by performance.

French orphan Jacquette Valency grows up with a kindly English widow in the sixteenth century. Faced with a wealthy merchant and a poor traveling entertainer as potential partners, she must consider security, love, and the artistic life her father once followed.

Doran Fairweather finds comfort in a Kent village, her antiques business, and a relationship with its vicar. A sinister newcomer's arrival unsettles the community, and his murder leaves her determined to uncover the killer despite the relief felt by others.

A young woman seeks a place in nineteenth-century London’s music halls as a magician’s assistant. Her pursuit of success onstage becomes intertwined with hopes for financial security, recognition, and love in the city’s theatrical world.

Antiques dealer Doran Fairweather distrusts her partner’s explanation for acquiring a rare clock and sets out to return it. Traveling with her vicar companion, she encounters a mysterious warning that turns their excursion toward danger.

Ambitious Thomas Boleyn places his surviving children at European courts to advance the family’s standing. Mary and Anne’s relationships with royalty draw them into Tudor power struggles, where their father’s designs collide with Henry VIII’s desires.

Antiques dealer Doran Fairweather attends an appraisal event at Caxton Manor, now a hotel. Two murders and a snowstorm trap her among experts and staff, while an old romance and a questionable jewel complicate the investigation.

A parish production intended to save a church tower turns deadly when an unpopular actress is murdered. Antiques dealer Doran Fairweather investigates fellow performers while tensions in her marriage and police hostility complicate the case.

Doran Fairweather buys a carved cherub to celebrate her baby’s birth, then refuses competing offers for it. Burglaries and her son’s kidnapping reveal the object’s dangerous appeal, forcing Doran to investigate a collector’s relentless pursuit.

Hoping to revive her antiques business after personal losses, Doran Fairweather acquires rare Pre-Raphaelite drawings. When bodies appear posed like Rossetti’s figures, her fascination with the artwork becomes entangled with an eccentric stranger and murder.

Doran Fairweather rents a London flat during a separation from her husband, only to encounter an intimidating maid and a murdered owner. A cursed historic house draws her toward a centuries-old revenge that threatens her family.