Showing results by narrator " Joel Froomkin" in All Categories

Returning to London after his honeymoon (For Deader or Worse), Bow Street Runner John Pickett soon discovers wedded bliss is not without its pitfalls, as he finds it galling to be financially dependent on Julia, his aristocratic bride. When he is summoned to the home of Lady Washbourn, Pickett finds he has something in common with the young countess: like himself, Lady Washbourn has married above her station and now finds herself adrift in a world to which she does not truly belong.

When a rash of jewel thefts strikes London, magistrate Patrick Colquhoun deploys his Bow Street Runners to put a stop to the crimes. A Russian princess is to attend a production of Handel’s Esther at Drury Lane Theatre, where she will wear a magnificent diamond necklace. The entire Bow Street force will be stationed at various locations around the theatre - including John Pickett, who will occupy a box directly across from the princess.

Nobody sane would promote Loki to corporate leadership—which is why he has to do it himself. All the better to oversee its downfall from within. But life at the top comes with its own set of challenges as divine tensions become public and Providence's carefully maintained circle of accountability begins to fail. Amid accelerating external threats, murky executive maneuvering, and the loss of a key asset, Loki, Lucifer, and their co-conspirators need the perfect plan. And they need it fast.

Eddie Kensington had certain responsibilities, up until two weeks ago. Dress well, smile in public, uphold the family honor. Be straight. Never talk about being bisexual, or being in love with his bodyguard, Isaac Cole, for nearly 10 years. Protecting his mother and siblings from yet more tabloid scandal in the wake of his parents' high-profile divorce was always more important. Up until two weeks ago, when he was outed by the press. Now he's in the midst of an unscheduled identity crisis, and his entire family seems to be joining in.

I, Ethan Antonio Giovanni Callahan, first son of the former head of the Irish mob, Liam Alec Callahan, and former head of the Italian mafia, ex-governor, Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan, solemnly swear to ruthlessly protect our family name, business, and way of life, no matter the cost to me or anyone else. I shall show no mercy; I shall offer no forgiveness; there will be no peace for those who stand against me. I will live for my family. I will kill for my family. I will marry for my family.

Thomas Clarady is recruited to spy on a group of radical Puritans at Cambridge University. Francis Bacon is his spymaster; his tutor in both tradecraft and religious politics. Their commission gets off to a deadly start when Tom finds his chief informant hanging from the roof beams. Now he must catch a murderer as well as a seditioner. His first suspect is volatile poet Christopher Marlowe, who keeps turning up in the wrong places.

When Sir Donald MacDonald, Baronet of Sleat, meets trews-wearing, musket-wielding, redheaded Mary of Castleton, he's completely flummoxed. Such a woman would never fit in to his aristocratic way of life. And Mary wants nothing to do with her father's wishes for her betrothal. Indeed, the two agree on one thing: They are completely, utterly and inarguably incompatible.

Contains books three and four of Master of Monsters.

After a modest wedding ceremony, Bow Street Runner John Pickett and his bride, Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, set out for a wedding trip to Somersetshire, where Pickett must face his greatest challenge yet: meeting his in-laws. Sir Thaddeus and Lady Runyon are shocked at their daughter’s hasty remarriage - and appalled by her choice of a second husband. Pickett, for his part, is surprised to learn that Julia once had an elder sister: Claudia, Lady Buckleigh, who disappeared 13 years earlier.

William Wells, a gifted but risk-averse US college dropout living an unadventurous life in London, stumbles upon a mysterious timepiece with the ability to alter time. When the Timepiece's previous owner is brutally murdered by unknown assailants, Will flees, only to see his girlfriend, Abigayle, vanish before his eyes when she comes into contact with this remarkable watch. He now finds himself alone in an unfamiliar city, wanted for a murder he didn't commit and the prime suspect in a woman's disappearance.

Convicted of a murder she didn’t commit, sniper Henri Anderson suffers two years of hard time before she’s given a choice - accept an unknown assignment offered by a seedy foreign dignitary or head for home. The decision took all of two seconds. At least that’s what she thinks, until a mysterious Scottish man shows up and offers a deal sweet enough to tempt a saint. But has the rugged, blue-eyed closer met his match?

The deathly silence is about to be broken. She disliked the company of others and death did little to warm her spirit. She had led an independent life and she faced death in much the same way. She was finally alone, finally free from the mindless babble of others, at least that's what she thought. May Elizabeth Trump was the rarest of spirits and she was none too happy about it either. She was a dead medium, a ghost who can speak with the living, and her services were to become in great demand.

The gods are real and incorporated. Providence is a profitable global industry. For Loki, three hundred years is a long time to be trapped in divinity’s answer to crap customer service, especially when the PR machine makes him out to be the bad guy. But that’s what happens when you lose a war. All he has to do to regain his godly powers is avoid the seers, outwit the executives, and win a rematch against public perception. Easy. Too bad he's not the only one playing at espionage.

Mack is hot, popular, and used to getting exactly what he wants … until he sets his sights on the new exchange student from New Zealand. He’s never been one for love at first sight, but this chick has him feeling things he never knew existed within him, and in spite of her feisty rejections, he’s determined to get to know her.

Henry never believed his older sister Alice's fantastic tales about the world down the rabbit hole. When he's whisked away to the bizarre land, his best chance for escape is to ally himself with the person called the Mad Hatter. Hatter - an odd but strangely attractive fellow - just wants to avoid execution. If that means delivering "Boy Alice" to the Queen of Hearts at her Red Castle, Hatter will do what he has to do to stay alive. It doesn't matter if Henry and Hatter find each other intolerable. They're stuck with each other.

Sabine Crowley is adjusting well to her new life at Willow Creek Manor with Remy by her side. That is, until she finds out some devastating news from Bastian. Has Remy been lying all along about his feelings for her? Had she been a fool to believe he really could love her? Remy has been accused of trying to leave Sabine and his responsibilities to Bastian behind.

Having resigned his position at Bow Street in disgrace (at least in his own mind) and failed in his attempt to establish himself as a private agent, John Pickett toils away at a tedious job as a clerk in the city. When he is approached by a man wishing to hire him to extract a young lady being held against her will at an asylum for opium-eaters, Pickett jumps at the chance to prove himself, and has a very reluctant Julia commit him to the institution as a patient. But nothing at the Larches is exactly as it seems.

Astrid Bailey is content living alone, balancing her career as a contract machinist with her true passion: making “felicitation devices” for her discerning female clients. At the upcoming World’s Fair, with its substantial cash prize, there's an opportunity for her to open the shop she’s always imagined and solve her financial woes. With questionable credentials, though, she’s unable to enter without a reputable businessman to vouch for her.

The eighth book in the series finds John Pickett bound for England's scenic Lake District, where an unsigned letter has summoned him for an unspecified reason. Pickett and his wife Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, take a room at the Hart and Hound as the letter instructs him. Once installed there, however, Pickett can do nothing but wait for the anonymous contact to identify himself. A midnight search of the inn's register seems to identify the innkeeper, Ned Hawkins, as his man, but before Pickett can discover the reason for his summons, Hawkins is pushed from a cliff - surviving the fall only long enough to call Pickett's attention to the letter in his pocket.

Smut sells. Michael Rourke learned this the hard way. Struggling to make ends meet as a mystery writer, he sold his soul - and his pride - as he pedaled sex and lust writing under the pen name Christoph Strong. No one knew he was the one behind the steamy stories on the best sellers lists. And he planned to keep it that way. Until he met her.