Rona Randall

A successful film actress, Lisa had the world at her feet; but all she really wanted was the man she loved.

When lovely, high spirited Olivia Penrose entered the household of the Duke of Queensford she could readily believe the legends of amorous conquests that had sprung up around this handsome and wickedly fascinating man. But although she felt a powerful attraction to him she refused to let her heart rule her head. When the Duke offered her the dubious honor of becoming his ward's governess, educated Olivia would not allow herself to be tempted by this hollow victory and was determined to become his legal wife. But she soon learned that there was more than one step to the mating dance, and that a penniless girl cannot call the tune unless she's prepared to pay the piper.

Convinced that she is facing death from the illness that has slowly stripped her of her beauty and her career, aging chanteuse Christina Duval has secreted herself in a cliffside castle on the coast of Brittany. She has set for herself the final task of attempting to discover how she has affected the unlikely retinue no gathered around her. Her husband, Gilbert, a faded womanizer, is accompanied at his wife's retreat by his most recent mistress, a young Parisian posing as a maid. Ernestine, an actress coarsened by her own self-indulgence, is Christina's closest friend and most bitter enemy. Paul Dupuis, a man who, for complex reasons, abandoned his career to serve Christina as secretary and majordomo. And finally, her ward, Darney, who, as a winter storm rages and relationships grow taut, watches helplessly until it seems that only in the tower room of Châtement can she retain touch with reality. But with the arrival of three men—Christina's son from whom she has long been alienated; Andrew, the young representative of a London publishing house who has been falsely led to believe that Christina will allow him to write her biography; and finally, Christina's brother, an old man who brings with him memories of a past she has tried hard to forget—violence comes to Châtement and murder follows murder, bringing one woman's search for the meaning of her life to a sudden and electrifying conclusion.

A trespasser who changed her life. When a film company descends on the quiet town of Elmwood, its effect is like a thunderbolt in a quiet meadow.

When Fenella Gilmore disappears with Mark Lawson, following his notorious trial, the tapestry of a happy family life is severed abruptly. Jason, her brilliant and devoted husband, withdraws into a dark world of his own; Michael, their son, changes from a good-natured boy into a disillusioned and reckless youth, and eighteen-year-old Karen - sensitive and emotional - flounders between bewilderment and the fear that she is by nature as promiscuous as her mother. Into their lives come Dr Dave Radnor and his elder cousin, Honor. Their influence on the Gilmore home is unpredictable and far-reaching. What happens when the threads of family life are re-woven by outsiders? And what will happen when the missing Fenella is found and brought back?

Dulcima Howard, former Gaiety Girl, madame of a fashionable card salon, and mistress of young Lord Ashleigh, yearns for marriage and respectability. But Justin Ashleigh seeks more violent pleasures, for he has inherited the pale amber eyes and the insanely sadistic streak that runs through his family. Deborah York, Dulcima's niece and daughter of a Sussex vicar, falls in love with archaeologist Simon Davidson. But he is still married to Justin's faithless, headstrong sister Caroline. Delia Davidson, Simon's daughter, is infatuated with Peter Maynard, the artist. But he only has eyes for Deborah. These are the ladies of Hanover Square, and the story of how their tangled loves unfolds against the transitory splendour of Edwardian society.

AN EXQUISITE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND EVIL Elizabeth was a woman apart from all others of the Scottish Highlands - her beauty spoke of delicate heather and dark moors; her intelligence guided her family's weaving mill to success and wealth; and her clairvoyant vision touched the future with prophecy... and the present with danger. Calum was heir to the haunting Castle Faillie, a tract of shrouded moor that seemed to be forever under the spell of the past - of an ancient Latin manuscript, of a forgotten tartan weave, and of the memory of a woman not long dead.

AN OLD MAN DIED - AND THE CURTAIN ROSE ON AN EERIE DRAMA... Orphaned Janet Bewleigh had become an heiress overnight - the unexpected reward for an act of kindness - and now the once-locked doors of her beloved Knight's Keep were open to her. But there was an aura of evil at the stately manor house; it weighed on Janet like an invisible shroud. She wondered about Lord Ashford, her enigmatic, strangely attractive host, and about the sad, dead girl whose ghost still hovered over the Keep. And then Janet read the ancient family inscription, and knew that the final act would soon be played: "REPELLE, DOMINE, VIRTUTEM DIABOLI" DRIVE BACK, O LORD, THE POWER OF THE DEVIL...

After a tragic accident for which he is unjustly blamed, Dr. David Henderson says goodbye to medicine - and to Helen, the nurse who has not only defended him, but fallen in love with him. When they meet again on a luxury liner, Helen is the ship's nurse - but David is now occupied with film star Lola Montgomery.

A gothic romance novel set in the Scottish Highlands, centered around Elizabeth MacArthur, a woman with clairvoyant abilities, and her involvement with Castle Faillie and its laird, Calum Huntly. The story explores themes of prophecy, danger, and the past's influence on the present.

Young Dr. John Curtis opened his children's clinic near Monte Carlo, not only because it was the ideal place for his work, but because it gave him a fresh start in life. The past was behind him -- and so was Catherine, the nurse who had jilted him for his best friend Peter, who, she said, had the right ambition. But Peter's fashionable practice failed and, out of the blue, she wrote to John begging him to employ them both. As he needed trained help badly, he agreed -- but once they took up residence at the clinic dangerous undercurrents were set in motion....

The curtain rose and the players, invisible to the audience, took their places. Their names were Suspicion, Intrigue, and Violence. When beautiful, malevolent Maxine Culver died after a fatal fall backstage, the cold finger of suspicion touched Susan Howard, whose career she had wantonly stifled, and Dr. David Radcliffe, the husband she had long ago deserted. Drawn together by their mutual predicament, Susan and David discovered they were falling in love. But how much did the frightened girl really know about the man Maxine had rejected? Had smoldering bitterness created a murderer? If so, Susan’s life was endangered by her love. And if not, could she be sure that the shadow of the diabolical Maxine wouldn’t someday wedge itself between them?

A brilliant and terrifying Gothic, DRAGONMEDE begins in London in the late 1800's, a time when nobility was the golden key that opened all doors. To Eustacia Rochdale, life was exciting, if uncertain. Her mother, beautiful and talented, courted the rich and titled who came to her Bloomsbury home to gamble and relax. Luella always managed to win enough from her guests to support herself comfortably, but she was determined that her daughter achieve the respectable upper-class marriage that she herself could never attain. When Eustacia meets Julian Kershaw--heir to Dragonmede, a title, and a family fortune--Luella is delighted. Desperately gambling on the young man's unskilled passion for cards and his obvious attraction toward Eustacia, she succeeds in arranging their engagement. Eustacia arrives at Dragonmede as Julian's new bride, unaware of her mother's manipulations. She is met with hostility and suspicion, and when Julian himself becomes cold and withdrawn, she begins to wonder if the various accidents occurring since her arrival are not indeed attempts on her life.

A story about a poor young, orphaned girl who arrives in New York to an unknown future. She was not prepared for the rough and tumble life as a hotel maid! Love, hate, great poverty and great wealth along with Mafia underworld.