The Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mysteries

D.E. Ireland is a team of award-winning authors and long time friends, who decided to collaborate on this unique series based on George Bernard Shaw’s wonderfully witty play Pygmalion . . .which also inspired the classic musical My Fair Lady.

All of Shaw’s beloved characters appear, from Eliza and Professor Higgins to Colonel Pickering and Freddy Eynsford Hill. They’ve also added a cast of new characters to flesh out events post-Pygmalion, including Scotland Yard detective Jack Shaw, suffragette Sybil Chase, and the eccentric Duchess of Carbrey. The series debuted in 2014 with Wouldn’t It Be Deadly, which revealed that learning to speak the King’s English can be a dangerous pursuit. The following year, the series went off to the races and Royal Ascot in Move Your Blooming Corpse. Released November 2016, the third book in the series, Get Me To The Grave On Time, has Eliza and Higgins attending four weddings and a funeral – with murder on the wedding menu. And in 2018’s With A Little Bit Of Blood, Eliza and Higgins attend a country house party filled with colorful guests, dead bodies, and a clever killer.

Eliza is not happy when Professor Henry Higgins buys a snazzy roadster. Her misgivings prove correct when he becomes injured in a motor car crash. Forced to play nursemaid, Eliza is thrilled to accept an invitation to a house party from Lord Ashmore and his bride, the former Clara Eynsford-Hill. But upon their arrival at Banfield Manor, Eliza is dismayed to see her sweetheart Freddy arm in arm with a beautiful actress.  Higgins is shocked to learn the woman who once stalked him is also attending the party. Things grow even worse when spiritualist Madame Evangeline arrives and warns of impending danger. Her prediction comes true when someone is killed during the following day’s shoot in the forest.

Higgins and Eliza suspect it wasn’t an accident, but murder. Every guest hides a dark secret that involved the dead man.  But who hated him more? The French aviator, the American cinema actress, a lady novelist, the Austrian count, or a knighted explorer of the Amazon? Madame Evangeline’s seance may reveal what is really going on. But her cryptic words deepen the mystery, especially after another guest turns up dead. Who is behind these murders? And has Higgins himself been targeted? As the day of the fox hunt begins, it seems likely that more than the fox will die. Before that happens. Eliza and the Professor must discover who has a little bit of blood on their hands.

 

Although Eliza still refuses to marry Freddy Eynsford Hill, everyone around her seems headed for the altar. Not only is her cousin Inspector Jack Shaw about to wed his sweetheart Sybil, but Freddy’s younger sister Clara is engaged, along with the niece of Henry Higgins. An even more surprising bride is the Duchess of Carbrey, a longtime friend of the Professor. Having survived two husbands, the lively society matron looks forward to wedded bliss with Husband Number Three, a handsome fellow half her age. These hopes are dashed when the groom is found dead. And while a jealous mistress is blamed for the murder, the death may also be connected to the stolen treasure of an Indian temple.

This spells trouble for Clara’s upcoming wedding since her fiancé Lord Ashmore owns most of the temple treasure. With time running out, Higgins and Eliza must catch the killer before Clara’s bridegroom –  and perhaps the bride herself – get to the grave long before they reach the altar to say “I do”.

Agatha Award Finalist – Best Historical Mystery of 2016

Eliza Doolittle enrages Professor Higgins when she becomes a teaching assistant to his chief rival Emil Nepommuck. Even worse, Nepommuck is publicly taking credit for Higgins’s deed: transforming Cockney flower girl Eliza into a lady. After Nepommuck is found with a dagger in his back, Henry Higgins finds himself Scotland Yard’s prime suspect. However most of Nepommuck’s pupils had a reason to murder the man they called The Maestro. As another person turns up dead and evidence goes missing, the only way to clear the Professor’s name is to discover which of Nepommuck’s many enemies is the killer. When all the suspects attend a performance of Hamlet, Eliza and Higgins have no choice but to find the murderer before the deadly conclusion both on and off stage.

Agatha Award Finalist – Best Historical Mystery of 2014

Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are off to the races as they attend Royal Ascot, the biggest horse racing event of the season. Eliza’s father is now co-owner of a champion racehorse, and Eliza and Higgins are there to cheer the colt on to victory. But the festive outing takes a deadly turn when a man is trampled during the Gold Cup race and someone is found murdered in the stables. With time running out before the upcoming Eclipse Stakes, Eliza and Higgins investigate jealous spouses, suffragettes, and the colorful owners of the Donegal Dancer. But can they outrace the murderer, or will there be another blooming corpse at the finish line?