First book in the USA Today bestselling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. It’s the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie’s husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt. Annie Fuller also possesses a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco’s most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl’s clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe his death was suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen. Nate Dawson wrestles with a difficult decision. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to prove that Matthew Voss didn't leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior. Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted, cozy historical mystery set in the foggy, gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco. Maids of Misfortune is the first book in M. Louisa Locke’s USA Today bestselling Victorian San Francisco mystery series, followed by Uneasy Spirits, Bloody Lessons, Deadly Proof, Pilfered Promises, Scholarly Pursuits, and Lethal Remedies. Locke’s shorter works, collected in Victorian San Francisco Stories: Vols 1 and 2, and Victorian San Francisco Novellas, feature beloved minor characters from the series. There are also two boxed sets of the novels, Victorian San Francisco Mysteries: Books 1-4 and Victorian San Francisco Mysteries: Books 5-7.

Exciting secrets are waiting to be revealed in a new story arc set in a manor in the heart of Paris in the seventh book of this fascinating historical fiction series. Camille LeClerc has just moved into the grand estate Rousseau—one of the largest and most beautiful manor homes in all of Paris—with her mother, the cook. Living in the manor is a dream come true for Camille and brings her closer to the wealthy Rousseaus, with whom she has always believed she shares a special bond, despite her mother’s constant urging to remember her place. Soon Camille is right at home inside the manor, and it’s not long before she stumbles upon family treasures that have been hidden away for many years. Treasures that might be the key to unlocking secrets of the manor’s past…and her own.

For everyone who loves Jane Austen . . . a marvelously entertaining new series that turns the incomparable author into an extraordinary sleuth! On a visit to the estate of her friend, the young and beautiful Isobel Payne, Countess of Scargrave, Jane bears witness to a tragedy. Isobel's husband—a gentleman of mature years—is felled by a mysterious and agonizing ailment. The Earl's death seems a cruel blow of fate for the newly married Isobel. Yet the bereaved widow soon finds that it's only the beginning of her misfortune . . . as she receives a sinister missive accusing her and the Earl's nephew of adultery—and murder. Desperately afraid that the letter will expose her to the worst sort of scandal, Isobel begs Jane for help. And Jane finds herself embroiled in a perilous investigation that will soon have her following a trail of clues that leads all the way to Newgate Prison and the House of Lords—a trail that may well place Jane’s own person in the gravest jeopardy. Praise for Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor “There’s plenty to enjoy in this crime-solving side of Jane. . . . [She] is as worthy a detective as Columbo.”—USA Today “Happily succeeds on all levels: a robust tale of manners and mayhem that faithfully reproduces the Austen style—and engrosses to the finish.”—Kirkus Reviews “Splendid fun!”—Star Tribune, Minneapolis

“Something is rotten in the state of Berkeley” --1881 Blue and Gold Yearbook, University of California: Berkeley In Scholarly Pursuits, the sixth full-length novel in the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco mystery series, Locke explores life on the University of California: Berkeley campus in 1881, where Laura and her friends face the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics. While Annie and Nate Dawson and friends and family in the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse await a blessed event, Laura Dawson finds herself investigating why a young Berkeley student dropped out of school in the fall of 1880. No one, including her friend Seth Timmons, thinks this is a good idea, since she is juggling a full course load with a part-time job, but she can’t let the question of what happened to her friend go unanswered. Not when it means that other young women might be in danger. This cozy historical mystery of romantic suspense is set in the period immediately after the fifth book in the series, Pilfered Promises, and two novellas, Kathleen Catches a Killer and Dandy Delivers. However, it can be read as a stand-alone.

As tensions mount between Christians and Jews in Europe at the end of the 16th century, deadly consequences ensue. To seek the truth and prevent injustices, a wandering Talmudic scholar and an accused witch become unlikely partners, traveling together and solving a series of murders in this continuation of the award-winning novel The Fifth Servant.

Young Tabby Aykroyd has been brought to the dusty mansion of Seldom House to be nursemaid to a foundling boy. He is a savage little creature, but the Yorkshire moors harbor far worse, as Tabby soon discovers. Why do scores of dead maids and masters haunt Seldom House with a jealous devotion that extends beyond the grave? As Tabby struggles to escape the evil forces rising out of the land, she watches her young charge choose a different path. Long before he reaches the old farmhouse of Wuthering Heights, the boy who will become Heathcliff has doomed himself and any who try to befriend him.

Maid: The Role-Playing Game is a comedic take on a uniquely Japanese cultural icon: The fetishized modern maid. Injecting the concept of Maid with 50ccs of anime and comedy, the players take on the roles of maids, serving the master (played by the GM). Sheets are left unfolded and mantelpieces undusted when giant robots crash through the mansion, ninjas attack and kidnap the young master, and a demonic pit to Hell opens up in the pantry... and all before teatime! Play in the modern comedy setting, or mix it up with 9 additional settings including Victorian era, old Edo period, fantasy and post-apocalypse; and 6 genres including romance, horror, and action. Due to the rules system and random events that form the backbone of the Maid RPG, the game practically runs itself: Go from opening the book to playing a game with friends within just minutes! Three game styles in one: The traditional scenario-type; the random event-driven type; and the "favor race," a race to the master's heart! Make characters and start playing the game within minutes of opening the book. Everything about the game gears it for Fast Play, Now. Optional character types including player-character masters and butlers, and optional rules for seduction and romantic tragedy. 11 complete adventure scenarios. 3 complete "replays," actual play scenarios in screenplay format. Great for learning the feel of the game. The first ever Japanese tabletop role-playing game to be released in English! ...which, when you think about it, totally makes sense in a weird sort of way. Hundreds of optional items, costumes, genre and setting events, all presented in a way to easily bring them into the game! Combines the original Japanese core book and two supplements into one huge, complete edition of the game in English. A $75 value!

Explicitly political, The Screens is set within the context of the Algerian War. The play's cast of over fifty characters moves through seventeen scenes, the world of the living breaching the world of the dead by means of shifting the screens--the only scenery--in a brilliant tour de force of spectacle and drama.

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.

Noveller. These tales of women on the edge show the darkness beneath the surface of the Jazz Age