Mrs. Jeffries Pleads the Fifth

Victorian Mysteries

by Emily Brightwell

Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery, Mystery: Historical, Mystery: Cozy

April 1, 2014

ISBN-10: 0425269760

ISBN-13: 9780425269763

Available in: Trade Size

Mrs. Jeffries Pleads the Fifth
by Emily Brightwell

NOW IN ONE VOLUME—THREE VICTORIAN MYSTERIES FEATURING MRS. JEFFRIES

A DETECTIVE IN THE HOUSE

Everyone’s awed by Inspector Witherspoon’s Scotland Yard successes, but they don’t know about his secret weapon. Her name is Mrs. Jeffries, and she keeps house for the Inspector—and keeps him on his toes. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, her polished detection skills are up to the task. Because as she knows all too well, a crimesolver’s work is never done...

Mrs. Jeffries Takes the Cake"A Victorian Mystery #13" (originally published October 1998)
The evidence was all there: a dead body, two dessert plates, and a gun. As if Mr. Ashbury had been sharing cake with his own killer. Now Mrs. Jeffries will have to do some snooping around to dish up clues...

Mrs. Jeffries Rocks the Boat "A Victorian Mystery #14" (originally published September 1999)
Mirabelle had traveled by boat all the way from Australia to visit her sister—only to wind up murdered. Now Mrs. Jeffries must solve the case—and it’s sink or swim...

Mrs. Jeffries Weeds the Plot "A Victorian Mystery #15" (originally published November 2000)
Three attempts have been made on Annabeth Gentry’s life. Is it due to her recent inheritance, or was it because her bloodhound dug up the body of a murdered thief? Mrs. Jeffries will have to sniff out some clues before the plot thickens...

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Emily Brightwell's Bio

Emily Brightwell was born in West Virginia, the middle sister to Nanette and Linda. Her family moved to Los Angeles in the early sixties, where she graduated from Pasadena High School.

After her high school years, Emily went to California State University Fullerton and earned a Degree in American Studies.

On a visit to England in 1975, one January morning in Leeds, Yorkshire she met the Englishman who would become her husband, Richard. They were married in May 1976 and returned to California in September 1977.

In 1988 Emily decided to try fiction writing and make a new career as a writer.

This was always a dream of hers so she began by writing romances and became a member of the Romance Writers of America. After her entry in the "unpublished authors" contest run by the Orange County chapter of the RWA, was a finalist, she was delighted, but the editor who read my manuscript was scathing in her criticism.

She was crushed for a day or so, but it hardened my resolve to continue writing. It was her very next proposal that sold to Silhouette and was published as a Special Edition under the pen name of Sarah Temple.

Emily wrote two more Special Editions for Silhouette but always wanted to write other kinds of fiction so when her agent asked if she would be interested in writing a Victorian mystery series for Prime Crime she jumped at the chance.