A clingy Yorkie. An idyllic seaside town. And inexplicable murders.It’s been a troublesome start for Valerie Masters’ new wedding planning business. Each event she plans in her hometown of Buckingham Downs, which has become a playground for the very rich, keeps resulting in murder. Val’s inquisitive nature—not to mention her need to save her business from rumors of wrongdoing—won’t let her leave things to the police. She finds herself looking into each crime with the help of her roommates and of course her faithful furry friend, Buttons.Will her attention to detail and nosy nature help Val solve the murders? Or will she risk her business and her life and still lose everything?This box set includes four books in the Valerie Masters Wedding Planner cozy mystery series: White Satin & Murder, Gold Envelopes & Murder, Pink Diamonds & Murder and Ivory Veil & Murder. Each book is a full length novel full of humor, intrigue, friendship and a cozy small town setting, featuring Valerie, a strong female sleuth, and her adorable Yorkie sidekick.

Imported custom-made clothes were usually beyond the financial reach of the average middle-class American woman of a century ago; and store-bought garments were often of inferior quality. This left many women with the options of making their own clothes or hiring a seamstress.While a number of economy-minded women did sew simple housedresses, and clothing for their children, many took favorite fashion plates to a dressmaker who would often consult patterns in a magazine such as The Voice of Fashion. This book, compiled by costume authority Kristina Harris, painstakingly reprints a rich selection of scaled dressmakers' patterns of the 1890s, taken from rare issues of that popular, late-19th century dressmaker's journal. Featuring such fashion elements as leg-o'-mutton sleeves, high-collared necklines, long skirts, and pinched waistlines, the collection includes nearly 500 patterns and illustrations detailing 50 garments for women. Every wardrobe necessity for the Victorian lady is covered — from nightgowns and wrappers for boudoir and breakfast, a riding habit and tennis outfit, to walking dresses for town and visiting, elegant dinner dresses, and elaborate evening gowns.An introd... [Read More]

Notorious raider of the eighteenth century sea lanes, Captain Vallo, a.k.a. The Crimson Pirate, and his band of buccaneers overtake a Spanish galleon filled with guns and ammunition. When he decides to sell the stolen arsenal to rebel leader El Libre on the island of Cobra, the representative of Spain, Baron Gruda, offers Vallo 50,000 florins if he will deliver El Libre instead. Vallo is soon caught between the Spanish, the rebellion, and even the mutiny of his own men. But having allen in love with El Libre's daughter Consuelo, Vallo gains back his crew's trust and leads the island of Cobra to freedom.

A costume. A date. And a gun shot that will change all their lives.Halloween has come to Buckingham Downs, a picturesque coastal town in California. Valerie Masters, her Yorkie, Buttons, and her gang of friends are ready to throw on their costumes and party. And not only on Halloween, since the latest wedding Val is planning has a costume party reception. All sorts of creatures hit the dance floor: gangsters, vampires, a pumpkin and… a knight in shining armor? It seems like the perfect wedding to Val, and everything is finally coming together. But it’s hard to tell who’s who when the masks go on, and this latest murder hits way to close to home. It looks like an accident. Everyone wants to think it’s an accident. But something tells Val that there is more to the situation than the easy explanation. In her desperation to find the truth, Val enters the world of MMA, takes on a stalker and even marches into the office of a local mobster. Can she convince everyone, including Buckingham Downs newest detective, to take her seriously? Or will she just end up planning a funeral instead of a wedding? Ivory Veil and Murder is a full-length cozy mystery novel. It is Book 4 in the Val ... [Read More]

The dressmaker's patterns for the more than 50 different garments included in this volume first appeared in the 1890s in issues of the quarterly The Voice of Fashion. Most of the patterns are for stylish daywear for women, but there are house dresses and nightwear as well, along with a selection of suits and dresses for young boys and girls and several garments for men.Reproduced from rare original issues of The Voice of Fashion, these patterns show that although most ladies' fashions of the 1890s were designed to conceal the body behind high necks, long sleeves, and full, floor-length skirts, a lively interest in revealing the female figure persisted. Elegant hand craftsmanship and the luxuriant draping of rich fabric further enhanced this statuesque idealization of femininity.An informational general introduction to dressmaker's patterns and concise instructions for using them precede this lively parade of fin-de-siècle fashions. Readers will also find over 575 patterns and illustrations detailing the various garments, with individual instructions for making them. Costume enthusiasts interested in re-creating exact copies of vintage clothing will find this book an indispensable ... [Read More]