The Dancer Wore Opera Rose: A steampunk adventure mystery with amateur women sleuths


Book Description

A chance meeting brings old friends ... and new enemies in the steampunk Wild West ... Daisy Linden and her sister Frederica arrive by airship in Santa Fe, capital of the Texican Territories, determined to search for their missing father. But two surprises await them—the authorities’ baffling refusal to help, and a not-so-chance meeting with snake-oil salesman William Barnicott. To their joy, the Lindens find that their father has indeed been seen in Santa Fe. To their horror, it was an assignation with a cancan dancer in the dead of night. Now the dancer is missing—and their father could be a suspect. There is nothing for it—Daisy and Freddie must find the girl before the authorities do, for only she can tell them where he might be now. But there are forces arrayed against them in Santa Fe ... men in the shadows who have bet too much on a dancer’s disappearance to let two young ladies interfere and raise the stakes ... “Shelley Adina has brilliantly combined steampunk with the ‘clockwork cozy’ in this series in which a young painter solves mysteries. Best of all, the novels feature familiar characters I love from her bestselling Magnificent Devices series. I can’t wait for the next book!” —Nancy Warren, USA Today bestselling author of The Vampire Knitting Club The Dancer Wore Opera Rose is the second novel in the Mysterious Devices series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of romance and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Nancy Warren, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!




The Bride Wore Constant White: A steampunk adventure mystery with amateur women sleuths


Book Description

Daisy and Freddie were supposed to be her bridesmaids. Now they’re solving her murder. In the steampunk Wild West, it’s what friends do. Margrethe Amelia Linden (Daisy to her friends) is a young woman of gentle upbringing, some talent as a watercolorist, and firm opinions that can get her into trouble. Determined to find her missing father, in the summer of 1895 she sets out for the last place he was seen: the Wild West. It’s a rude shock when her younger sister stows away on the airship—such behavior no doubt the result of her unsuitable friendship with Maggie Polgarth and the Carrick House set. On the journey, friendship blooms between Daisy and Miss Emma Makepeace, who is traveling to the Texican Territories as a mail-order bride. When Emma begs the girls to delay their search by a day or two in order to stand with her at the altar, Daisy is delighted to accept. But the wedding day dawns on a dreadful discovery. Within hours the Texican Rangers have their man—but even in her grief, Daisy is convinced he cannot have killed her friend. She must right this terrible mistake before he hangs ... and before the real culprit realizes that two very observant young ladies are not going to allow him to get away with murder ... “Shelley Adina adds murder to her steampunk world for a mysteriously delicious brew! You’ll love watching her intrepid heroine (and unexpected friends) bring justice to the Wild West while pursuing a quest of her own.” —Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder in the Bowery The Bride Wore Constant White is the first novel in the Mysterious Devices series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of romance and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Nancy Warren, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!




Mysterious Devices: Books 1-3


Book Description

This box set contains the first three novels in the Mysterious Devices series of clockwork cozies set in the Magnificent Devices world: The Bride Wore Constant White, The Dancer Wore Opera Rose, and The Matchmaker Wore Mars Yellow. In the Wild West, you always find more than you’re looking for... Daisy Linden is a young woman of gentle upbringing, some talent as a watercolorist, and firm opinions that often get her into trouble. Determined to find her missing father, in the summer of 1895 she sets out for the last place he was seen: the Wild West. It’s a rude shock when her younger sister stows away on the airship, determined to go with her! The search calls for greater courage and ingenuity than their sheltered upbringing has ever demanded, from outwitting a murderer in Georgetown to searching for a lost bride in Santa Fe, to avenging the death of a kind friend in the raucous gold-mining town of Bodie. They find help, loyalty, and even joy in new friends made along the way … but most of all, Daisy and Freddie find themselves to be capable, compassionate, and courageous women. If only they were not always one step behind Papa … and sometimes one step ahead of a killer … “Shelley Adina adds murder to her steampunk world for a mysteriously delicious brew! You’ll love watching her intrepid heroine (and unexpected friends) bring justice to the Wild West while pursuing a quest of her own.” —Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder in the Bowery




The Judge Wore Lamp Black: A steampunk adventure mystery with amateur women sleuths


Book Description

The family circle is all Daisy and Freddie have longed for. But sometimes a circle can close ... and constrict ... and kill. Daisy and Freddie Linden and their friends arrive in Port Townsend, only to be arrested as spies and brought before the most feared man in the Wild West— “Hanging” Judge Wilson Bonnell. But the unexpected intervention of an old friend plucks them out of the frying pan and tosses them into the glittering whirl of local society, where Freddie wonders if she could be in love at last. But they’re still standing too close to the fire—when a long-sought and familiar figure is spotted on the beach, bending over the lifeless body of the judge. Have they finally located their beloved father, only to have him clapped in gaol by the Royal Canadian Airborne Police? In a dizzying descent from society belles to social pariahs, Daisy and Freddie now have only themselves to rely on. And they have less than a week to force the killer into the light before their beloved father hangs for a crime he didn’t commit. “I’ve eagerly anticipated book five in the Mysterious Devices mystery series. After traveling around the Americas with Daisy and Freddie Linden, along with their loyal companions, for so long, they all feel like family." --License to Quill The Judge Wore Lamp Black is the fifth novel in the Mysterious Devices series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of romance and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Nancy Warren, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!




The Matchmaker Wore Mars Yellow: A steampunk adventure mystery with amateur women sleuths


Book Description

Bodie, California. A town so dangerous that the question every morning is, “Has there been a man for breakfast?” This time, it’s a woman. Daisy and Frederica Linden have tracked their missing father to Bodie, the most dangerous town in the Wild West, where bad men murder without guilt and single ladies are as rare and valuable as gold. Here they must depend upon the help of the society of absent friends, that secret network of boardinghouse keepers who know everyone’s business—and make secrets their stock in trade. But some secrets are fatal, and when the local matchmaker pays the price with her life on the night of the Autumn Ball, the ladies of the society beg Daisy and Freddie to help them find the killer of their fallen sister. Aided by Miss Peony Churchill, an intrepid family of aeronauts, and a Rocky Mountain Detective, the Linden sisters must see justice done and unmask a deadly conspiracy. But in a town where murder is more common than spiked absinthe, will they find themselves in the killer’s sights instead? “I finished reading the last page and found myself craving the next mystery in this addictive series. This time, we traveled to Bodie, California - and I knew adventure, mystery and murder couldn't be far behind..” Lori Alden Holuta, author of the Brassbright Chronicles The Matchmaker Wore Mars Yellow is the third novel in the Mysterious Devices series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of romance and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Nancy Warren, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!




The Automaton Empress: A steampunk adventure mystery


Book Description

The Empress of Prussia is quite beside herself … When Lady Georgia Brunel and her Aunt Millie are summoned before the Empress of Prussia, the brilliant young woman does not seem herself. They soon discover the reason—she has been replaced by one of her own inventions, an automaton so lifelike that it seems even the Cabinet has not detected the switch. If the news gets out, there will be chaos in the Empire, and the heir to the throne will be only too happy to put off his next hunting trip to accept the crown. If ever Georgia needed the help of her friend Dustin Seacombe, it is now. But he has gone back to the Fifteen Colonies, leaving her with nothing but memories … and unanswered questions. So it is up to her and Millie to quietly sift truth from lies in an effort to find the Empress—and bring the villains behind the plot to light. When they hear whispers of an underground group of rogue inventors, Georgia wonders whether the Empress has actually abdicated of her own free will … or if her life is about to end in the destruction of an empire. The Automaton Empress is the second novel in the Lady Georgia Brunel Mysteries series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of love and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by C.M. Gleason, Emma Jane Holloway, or Lindsay Buroker, you're in the right place. Enjoy!




The Clockwork City: A steampunk adventure mystery with amateur women sleuths


Book Description

A painting holiday in steampunk Venice. A villa on the canal. A body in the water? Lady Georgia Brunel, widowed a year, has been looking forward to her holiday in the Duchy of Venice with her companion, Millicent Brunel. The clockwork city’s annual art exhibition is in full swing, and old friends and new acquaintances make for an exciting social whirl. The married Lord Somersby would pursue her if he dared. Several members of the nobility, including those with connections to Lord and Lady Dunsmuir, make entertaining companions. And Georgia will never admit that Dustin Seacombe, the disheveled and irritating Texican Ranger who steps on one’s gown and will not confide his business in Venice, is the most interesting of all. And then early one morning, the body of Lord Somersby washes up on the water stairs at the Brunel villa. An empty gondola floats nearby. Many assume it is an accident. The Duchy police assume a lover’s quarrel, with Georgia as their suspect. For there are powerful factions in the city who want this case solved and submerged as soon as possible. Georgia and Millie must act quickly to clear her name and discover the real murderer, before Georgia finds herself dancing with death instead. The Clockwork City is the first novel in the Lady Georgia Brunel Mysteries series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of love and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Blythe Baker, or Rhys Bowen, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!




Sacred Games


Book Description

An enormously satisfying, exciting and enriching book, Vikram Chandra's novel draws the reader deep into the lives of detective Sartaj Singh and Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India. Sartaj, the only Sikh inspector in the whole of Mumbai, is used to being identified by his turban, beard and the sharp cut of his trousers. But 'the silky Sikh' is now past forty, his marriage is over and his career prospects are on the slide. When Sartaj gets an anonymous tip off as to the secret hideout of the legendary boss of the G-company, he's determined that he'll be the one to collect the prize. This is a sprawling, epic novel of friendships and betrayals, of terrible violence, of an astonishing modern city and its underworld. Drawing on the best of Victorian fiction, mystery novels, Bollywood movies and Vikram Chandra's years of first hand research on the streets of Mumbai, this novel reads like a potboiling page-turner but resonates with the intelligence and emotional depth of the best of literature.




S is for Silence


Book Description

S is for Silence is the nineteenth in the Kinsey Millhone mystery series by Sue Grafton. Just after Independence Day in July 1953 Violet Sullivan, a local good time girl living in Serena Station Southern California, drives off in her brand new Chevy and is never seen again. Left behind is her young daughter, Daisy, and Violet's impetuous husband, Foley, who had been persuaded to buy his errant wife the car only days before . . . Now, thirty-five years later, Daisy wants closure. Reluctant to open such an old cold case Kinsey Millhone agrees to spend five days investigating, believing at first that Violet simply moved on to pastures new. But very soon it becomes clear that a lot of people shared a past with Violet, a past that some are still desperate to keep hidden. And in a town as close-knit as Serena there aren't many places to hide when things turn vicious . . .




R is for Ricochet


Book Description

In this #1 New York Times bestseller in Sue Grafton's Alphabet series, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has her hands full when a job that should be easy money takes a turn for the worse. Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institution for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she's about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Her father wants to be sure Reba stays straight, stays home and away from the drugs, the booze, and the gamblers... It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the niceties of her parole. Maybe a week’s work. Nothing untoward—the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good. But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than twenty-four hours when one of her old crowd comes circling round...