London -- fiction

Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter and biographer of obscure writers, is contacted by a world-famous author who wishes to tell her long-hidden life story. Margaret travels to Yorkshire to interview the dying writer, walk the ruins of a burned-out mansion, and verify a tale involving abandoned babies, a governess, and a story collection whose thirteenth tale is missing.

"Celia - housewife, mother, wonderful cook - lives in Bedford Park, London, where the major worries are dailies, private schooling and the misplaced zeal of neighbourhood watch vigilantes. She is celebrating her 40th birthday. The armpit of the English bourgeoisie never felt snugger."
(Known in the U.K. as Parlour Games)

When famed Italian artist Canaletto ventures to England on a business jaunt, he encounters more difficulties than just the language barrier. Upon arriving, Canaletto is attacked and robbed twice in the same day by a relentless pickpocket. When he is left for dead in a dark alley, the young woman who helped Canaletto earlier rescues the artist again. The visitor to England meets Jane Austen at dinner, helps uncover a spy, and finds that he has a talent for detective work.