Exploring The Pages of THE UNSEALING

Inspired by a ‘true crime of the century’ that captivated people around the world at the turn of the century, and still captivates the imagination.

Mar 30, 2025

Welcome to the pages here on All That Glitters that talk about my novels! You’re here with me for my debut novel, The Unsealing.

The Unsealing: Love, Lust, and Murder in the Gilded Age

Buffalo, New York, 1901 . . . a muscular, young city, Queen of the Lakes . . . The Electric City . . . where the money that builds Newport mansions and Park Avenue townhouses is made, plays host to the world’s greatest fair, the Pan-American Exposition and its 8,000,000 guests.

And less than a mile from the great spectacle, a web of love, lust, and intrigue is forming among the young, elite Ashwood Set. Alicia and Edward Miller may be one of Ashwood’s most envied couples, but as their marriage curdles, simmering and sultry Alicia falls for dashing, young attorney Arthur Pendle, on whose mysterious income he and his longsuffering wife—facing demons of their own—live fast and high.

But life is never fast enough, or high enough, for the Ashwood Set, who plunge headlong into a deadly whirlpool of official corruption, financial deceit, and infidelity which can only end in disaster, while the fate of beautiful, aspiring sleuth Sarah Payne and her Avenging Angel Detective Agency hang precariously in the balance.

Pitting detective against detective, husband against wife, and set against the backdrop of Gilded Age splendor and excess, The Unsealing is a gripping, psychological tale of forbidden pleasures and fathomless pain.

Q&A With Robert

What would you like people to get out of your novels?

That they can disappear into them, wander around safely, and then come back out when they like. I hope that they will develop a bond with my characters – not that they have to like them all or like what they do, but rather to see them as fully featured human beings that they care about. If the characters become real enough to a reader, the greatest compliment I can be paid is that they will start imagining what Sarah or Alicia or Arthur, et al, might do in a certain situation that is not in one of the books. That means they’ve become as real to the reader as they are to me.

Does a reader need to read the Avenging Angel Mysteries in order?

Absolutely not! The stories are all independent and very different one from another. Some of the characters overlap, so there is always a benefit in reading them in order if you wish to understand the prior history of a given character, but it is by no means required. I write them so that readers can choose whichever story or stories sound most interesting to them.

Reviews and Reception

Here’s a sampling of industry and reader reviews for The Unsealing:

"Brighton deftly captures the champagne ennui of [a] social scene jolted by scandal . . . brittle chatter and secret longings building to a murder . . . written with grace and power, capturing the moment that electricity lit up the world." - BookLife Reviews Editor's Pick

"... A skillful storyteller, the author mixes sardonic commentary and well-scripted dialogue .... An addictive page-turner with rich historical details and vivid characters ..." - Kirkus Reviews

"The Unsealing is a thrilling story that will keep you turning one page after the other from start to finish..." - Literary Titan

Eric Hoffer Award da Vinci Eye Finalist 2023 for superior cover artwork

Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Award 1st Runner Up 2023

BookFest Award 2023

Firebird Book Award Winner 2023

Eric Hoffer New Horizon Award Finalist 2023

Goethe Book Award Finalist 2023

Chanticleer International Book Awards Semi-Finalist 2023

Resources to Explore The Unsealing

For your book club, download the Book Club Kit, complete with discussion questions, recipes, and resources.

About The Avenging Angel Detective Agency

1901 . . . in the shadow of the great Pan-American Exposition, a heinous crime claims the life of someone near and dear to beautiful Sarah Payne, and when the powerful in the city of Buffalo close ranks to prevent justice from being done, Sarah takes matters into her own hands.

In a series of novels set in the late Gilded Age, you'll follow Sarah and her other Avenging Angels as they tackle the cases that no one else will touch ... and become enmeshed in the loves, lusts, and secret intrigues of the fashionable but naughty social scene.

Each Avenging Angel Detective Agency Mystery - while allowing you to build a long-term relationship with recurring characters - is an independent story that invites you to glimpse a facet of a glittering time long ago, one both strange and mysterious and yet eerily familiar . . . while you’re invited to join the collection from the start, you can start anywhere and read these books in any order!