AustLit

'A high society amateur detective at the heart of Regency London uses her wits and invisibility as an 'old maid' to protect other women in a new and fiercely feminist historical mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman.

'Welcome to the secret life of the Colebrook twins: unnoticed old maids to most, but unseen champions to those in need - society be damned.

'Lady Augusta Colebrook, 'Gus', is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.

'The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. With Lord Evan injured and unconscious, the sisters have no choice but to bring him on their mission to save Caroline. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.

'And so begin the beguiling adventures of the Colebrook twins ...' (Publication summary) 

'Lady Helen has retreated to a country estate outside Bath to prepare for her wedding to the Duke of Selburn, yet she knows she has unfinished business to complete. She and the dangerously charismatic Lord Carlston have learned they are a dyad, bonded in blood, and only they are strong enough to defeat the Grand Deceiver, who threatens to throw mankind into chaos. But the heinous death-soaked Ligatus Helen has absorbed is tearing a rift in her mind. Its power, if unleashed, will annihilate both Helen and Carlston unless they can find a way to harness its ghastly force and defeat their enemy.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Summer, 1812

'After the scandalous events at her presentation ball in London, Lady Helen has taken refuge at the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, where she is training to be a Reclaimer with the covert Dark Days Club.

'As she struggles to put aside her genteel upbringing and take up the weapons of a warrior, Helen realizes that her mentor, Lord Carlston, is fighting his own inner battle. Has the foul Deceiver energy poisoned his soul, or is something else driving him towards violent bouts of madness? Either way, Helen is desperate to help the man with whom she shares a deep but forbidden connection.

'When Mr Pike, the hard bureaucratic heart of the Dark Days Club, arrives in Brighton, no one is prepared for the ordinary evil he brings in his wake. He has a secret task for Helen and Mr Hammond, and the authority of the Prince Regent. They have no choice but to do as he orders, knowing that the mission will betray everyone around them and possibly bring about Lord Carlston's annihilation.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Combining Jane Austen's high society and Cassandra Clare's supernatural underworld, Alison Goodman's Lady Helen trilogy will delight fans of historical fiction and fantasy. Now readers can enjoy an exclusive insight into Lord Carlston's world and his initial perceptions of much-loved heroine Lady Helen in this novella. London, April 1812. Lord Carlston, a man of dubious reputation and infuriating manners, has recently returned from the Continent. He is in London to assess whether Lady Helen Wrexhall has inherited her mother's Reclaimer abilities, which would mark her as a protector of society. These abilities would also take Lady Helen from the glittering ballrooms and bright lights of her first Season into a world of demonic creatures and deadly power. Not the usual aspirations for a young lady in Regency society... Perfect for longstanding fans and readers new to the series, the novella also includes a chapter from The Dark Days Club, so you can experience the same scene from Lady Helen's point of view.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'London, April 1812. Lady Helen Wrexhall is set to make her debut at the court of Queen Charlotte and officially step into polite Regency society and the marriage mart. Little does Helen know that step will take her from the opulent drawing rooms of Mayfair and the bright lights of Vauxhall Gardens into a shadowy world of missing housemaids and demonic conspiracies.

'Standing between those two worlds is Lord Carlston, a man of ruined reputation and brusque manners. He believes Helen has a destiny beyond the ballroom; a sacred and secret duty. Helen is not so sure, especially when she discovers that nothing around her is quite as it seems, including the enigmatic Lord Carlston.

'Against a backdrop of whispered secrets in St James's Palace, soirees with Lord Byron and morning calls from Beau Brummell, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club is a delightfully dangerous adventure of self-discovery and dark choices that must be made ... whatever the consequences.'

source: Publisher's blurb.

Young-adult fantasy novels set in Regency England.

'Shooting your first film can be murder...

'Hannie Reynard has landed every aspiring filmmaker's dream: a hefty grant to make her documentary, Freaks or Frauds. But the groundbreaking film that is meant to launch Hannie's career may kill her first.

'Blowing the grant money on a lost weekend in Paris was bad enough, but now the 'stars' of her film - women who share a unique genetic trait - have stopped talking...and started disappearing.

'Blackmailed into accepting a burned out colleague as her cameraman, Hannie follows a perilous trail that leads her and her crew toward a powerful puppet master with a deadly obsession.' (Publication summary)

'Joss Aaronson has two loves in her life: playing the blues and training to jump through time.

'Then Mavkel, the first alien student on Earth, selects her to be his time-travel partner and Joss’s life gets a lot more complicated. There’s an assassin on campus, an anti-alien lobby group chanting slogans, and Joss is constantly being tracked by the tight security around her new friend.

'Life with Mavkel is not all bad, though. Music-loving Joss is fascinated by him and his people, the Chorians, who communicate through song.

'But Mavkel is pining for his lost twin, and his will to live is draining away. Joss wants to help him, and that means going back to the petri dish where it all began. She’s playing with history, but if Mavkel doesn’t survive, then Joss could really be singing the blues …'

Source: Author's website.