In this novella, Annie and Nate Dawson, the amateur sleuths from M. Louisa Locke’s cozy Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, are visiting Nate’s family at their ranch near San Jose, California. What was supposed to be a pleasant romantic interlude for the two of them, plus a chance for Annie to get to know Nate’s family better, turns serious when a crime is uncovered. And, as in Locke’s short stories from this series, Annie gets help in resolving the crisis from a very unexpected quarter. Violet Vanquishes a Villain comes right after Deadly Proof, the fourth book in the series, although it can certainly be read as a stand-alone story.
This collection brings together three novellas by USA Today bestselling author, M. Louisa Locke: Violet Vanquishes a Villain, Kathleen Catches a Killer, and Dandy Delivers. These shorter works contain the light romance, humor, and suspense of the novels in her cozy Victorian San Francisco mystery series and are an excellent introduction to the gas-lit world of late 19th-century San Francisco. Violet Vanquishes a Villain: In this novella set in August of 1880, Annie and Nate Dawson’s trip down the San Francisco peninsula to San Jose was supposed to be a pleasant romantic interlude and a chance for Annie to get to know Nate’s family better. When the visit takes a serious turn, Annie races to expose a criminal who could ruin a young man’s life, getting help from an unexpected quarter. The events in Violet Vanquishes a Villain come right after Deadly Proof, the fourth book in Locke’s Victorian San Francisco mystery series. Kathleen Catches a Killer: As 1880 comes to a close, the O'Farrell Street boardinghouse servant, Kathleen Hennessey, expects to spend a quiet week while her employers, amateur sleuths Annie and Nate Dawson, are off spending the Christmas holidays with Nate's family. However, when she agrees to help out one of her friends, Kathleen discovers that a simple case of a servant being dismissed without notice has turned into a complicated and dangerous puzzle that she is determined to solve. The events in Kathleen Catches a Killer come right between those in Pilfered Promises and the third novella in this collection, Dandy Delivers. Dandy Delivers: It’s January, 1881, and while the grown-ups in Annie and Nate Dawson’s San Francisco O’Farrell Street boardinghouse are busy with their own affairs, two boys and a dog find their own adventure. Ian Hennessey, a poor boy from South of Market, who is trying to shoulder a man’s responsibilities, gets in trouble, and his best friend, Jamie Hewitt, does what he can to help. But it is Jamie’s young Boston Terrier, Dandy, who saves the day.
This is the second volume of short stories by USA Today bestselling author, M. Louisa Locke, set in the gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco. The first story, Beatrice Bests the Burglars, finds Mrs. O’Rourke, the O’Farrell Street boarding house cook, home alone and in danger. In Dandy’s Discovery, something odd is happening at the boardinghouse, but Dandy, the Boston Terrier, discovers the culprit and all is well. In Mrs. O’Malley’s Midnight Mystery, a poor widow’s determination to investigate the strange behavior of her neighbors has unexpected consequences. In the fourth short story, Tilly Tracks a Thief, it’s Christmas, and the young Irish boarding house servant decides to find out who’s stealing from houses in the neighborhood before the thefts ruin the holidays for everyone. This collection of short stories can be read as an introduction or a companion to the full-length novels in the cozy historical Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, and chronologically it comes between the events of the sixth full-length mystery, Scholarly Pursuits, and the seventh full-length mystery, Lethal Remedies.
It is the winter of 1880, and the future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate’s law practice is taking off. Annie has made the transition from pretend clairvoyant to a successful financial consultant. And they are looking forward to spending their first Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together. For Robert Livingston, the owner San Francisco’s newest grand emporium, the holidays don’t look so promising. Not if he can’t figure out how to stop whoever is stealing from his department store, the Silver Strike Bazaar. However, when he hires the Dawsons to investigate, they discover that behind the doors of his “Palace of Plenty,” nothing is quite what it seems. Pilfered Promises, a sweet cozy historical mystery, is the fifth novel in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series featuring Annie and Nate Dawson and their friends and family in the O’Farrell Street boarding house.
It’s the summer of 1880, and once again the lovely and inquisitive businesswoman, Annie Fuller, is helping San Francisco lawyer and beau, Nate Dawson, with a troublesome case. Nate’s client, a female typesetter accused of murdering her boss, refuses to help in her own defense. Complicating matters, Nate’s sister Laura insists on getting involved in the potentially dangerous investigation, while Laura’s friend Seth Timmons, troubled Civil War veteran, finds himself a witness for the prosecution. Will Nate be able to win his first big case? Will Laura and Seth find some way of becoming friends? And finally, will Annie and Nate’s upcoming nuptials be derailed by their attempts to track down a killer? Old friends and new readers alike will enjoy Deadly Proof, this fourth installment of the cozy Victorian San Francisco Mystery series that blends light romance, suspense, and a glimpse into the lives of late 19th century women who worked.
Annie and Nate Dawson, joined by family and friends from the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse, investigate crimes in books 5-7 of the romantic and suspenseful Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. This boxed set includes Pilfered Promises, Scholarly Pursuits, and Lethal Remedies. Pilfered Promises: The future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate’s law practice is taking off, Annie has made the transition from pretend clairvoyant to a successful financial consultant, and they are looking forward to spending their first Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together. Then Robert Livingston, the owner of the Silver Strike Bazaar, hires them to figure out who is stealing from him, and they discover that behind the doors of his “Palace of Plenty,” nothing is quite what it seems. Scholarly Pursuits: While Annie and Nate Dawson await a blessed event, Nate’s sister, Laura, who is attending the new university across the bay, encounters fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics as she investigates what caused the death of a young Berkeley co-ed. “Something is rotten in the state of Berkeley”--1881 University of California Blue and Gold Yearbook. Lethal Remedies: Annie has a beautiful child, a loving husband, and a well-run boardinghouse, but she’s feeling restless and unhappy. When she is hired to solve the financial and legal difficulties facing the Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children, San Francisco’s first female run clinic, she finds that getting back into the business of investigating crimes is exactly the remedy she requires. This boxed set of three cozy, historical mysteries, set in late nineteenth-century San Francisco, is appropriate for teens to adults, and it is a welcome companion to Locke’s Victorian San Francisco Mysteries: Books 1-4, and her Victorian San Francisco Stories: Volume 1 and 2 and Victorian San Francisco Novellas, which feature beloved minor characters.
In Bloody Lessons, it's the winter of 1880, and the teachers of San Francisco are under attack: their salaries slashed and their competency and morals questioned in a series of poison pen letters. Annie Fuller, the reluctant clairvoyant, has been called in to investigate by Nate Dawson, her lawyer beau, and the case becomes personal when they discover that Laura, Nate's sister, may be one of the teachers being targeted. In this installment of the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, readers will find the same blend of a cozy mystery and romantic suspense, played out against the historical backdrop of late 19th century San Francisco, that they found in Maids of Misfortune and Uneasy Spirits. If you are new to this series, you will still enjoy spending time with the lively residents of Annie Fuller's boarding house and visiting San Francisco when Golden Gate Park was filled with horse-drawn carriages, politics were controlled by saloon-keepers, and kisses were stolen under gaslight.
In this sequel to Maids of Misfortune, it is the fall of 1879 and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, has a problem. Despite her growing financial success as the clairvoyant Madam Sibyl, Annie doesn’t believe in the astrology and palmistry her clients think are the basis for her advice. Kathleen Hennessey, Annie Fuller’s young Irish maid, has a plan. When her mistress is asked to expose a fraudulent trance medium, Arabella Frampton, Kathleen is determined to assist in the investigation, just like the Pinkerton detectives she has read about in the dime novels. Nate Dawson, up-and-coming San Francisco lawyer, has a dilemma. He wants to marry the unconventional Annie Fuller, but he doesn’t feel he can reveal his true feelings until he has a way to make enough money to support her. In this cozy historical mystery of romantic suspense, Annie delves into the intriguing world of 19th century spiritualism, encountering true believers and naïve dupes, clever frauds and unexplained supernatural phenomena. She will soon find there are as many secrets as there are spirits swirling around the Frampton séance table. Some of those secrets will threaten the foundation of her career as Madam Sibyl and the future of her relationship with Nate Dawson, and, in time, they will threaten her very life itself.
This USA Today bestselling boxed set brings together the first four books in the romantic and suspenseful Victorian San Francisco Mystery series: Maids of Misfortune, Uneasy Spirits, Bloody Lessons, and Deadly Proof. Maids of Misfortune introduces Annie Fuller, a young widow who runs the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse and supplements her income by giving financial and domestic advice as Madam Sibyl. When one of Madam Sibyl’s clients dies in mysterious circumstances, Annie goes undercover as a domestic servant to find out the truth about his death. Against his better judgment, Nate Dawson, the Voss family lawyer, finds himself drawn into helping in her investigations, alternatively fascinated and frustrated by Annie’s independent nature. Uneasy Spirits finds Annie Fuller and Nate Dawson, assisted by the boardinghouse maid, Kathleen, delving into the world of 19th century Spiritualism in order to expose a fraudulent trance medium. They will soon find there are as many secrets as there are spirits swirling around the séance table and some of those secrets will threaten the foundation of Annie’s career as Madam Sibyl and the future of her relationship with Nate Dawson, and, in time, they will threaten her very life itself. In Bloody Lessons, Annie Fuller has been asked by her beau, Nate Dawson, to find out who has been sending poison pen letters to tarnish the reputations of San Francisco public school teachers. The case becomes personal when they discover that Nate’s sister Laura may be one of the teachers being targeted. In Deadly Proof, first place winner of Chanticleer’s 2018 Mystery and Mayhem historical mystery award, Annie helps her fiancé, Nate Dawson, with a troubling case—defending a female typesetter who is accused of killing her employer. Complicating matters, Nate’s sister Laura decides to take the investigation into her own hands. This collection of four cozy, historical mysteries, set in late nineteenth-century San Francisco, are appropriate for teens to adults, and it is a welcome companion to the fifth book in the series, Pilfered Promises, and Locke’s Victorian San Francisco Stories and Victorian San Francisco Novellas, which feature beloved minor characters.
In this novella, Annie and Nate Dawson, the amateur sleuths from M. Louisa Locke’s cozy Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, are visiting Nate’s family at their ranch near San Jose, California. What was supposed to be a pleasant romantic interlude for the two of them, plus a chance for Annie to get to know Nate’s family better, turns serious when a crime is uncovered. And, as in Locke’s short stories from this series, Annie gets help in resolving the crisis from a very unexpected quarter. Violet Vanquishes a Villain comes right after Deadly Proof, the fourth book in the series, although it can certainly be read as a stand-alone story.
