A Grave Concern

Identifying the murderer of the Chancellor of the University is not the only challenge facing physician Matthew Bartholomew. Many of his patients have been made worse by the ministrations of a 'surgeon' recently arrived from Nottingham, his sister is being rooked by the mason she has commissioned to build her husband's tomb, and his friend, Brother Michael, has been offered a Bishopric which will cause him to leave Cambridge. Brother Michael, keen to leave the University in good order, is determined that the new Chancellor will be a man of his choosing. The number of contenders putting themselves forward for election threatens to get out of control, then more deaths in mysterious circumstances make it appear that someone is taking extreme measures to manipulate the competition. With passions running high and a bold killer at large, both Bartholomew and Brother Michael fear the very future of the University is at stake.

Inspector Vanessa Robin was tormented by one thing more than anything else from her past: that her ruthless pirate husband was held in a top security jail for his crimes. Until she stood face to face with the man who had led her through years of murder and mayhem, she would never feel truly free. Vanessa's attempt to gain access to the prison's remote location would have deadly repercussions reaching all the way to Junker's Moon.

“An entertaining romp with quirky characters that would make Mark Twain proud . . . I couldn't put this imaginative page-turner down.” —Margaret Coel, New York Times-bestselling author of Buffalo Bill's Dead Now In the Old West, legends die hard—and so do witnesses. But that won't stop psychic-turned-detective Ophelia Wylde from finding fresh graves, digging up clues, and catching wanted criminals—with a little help from the dead . . . Dead Men Tell No Lies The Civil War is over, and many a young widow has turned to spiritualism to contact a husband on “the other side.” But Ophelia Wylde won’t be fooled twice. After wasting her money on a phony psychic, she decides if she can’t beat ’em, join ’em. She leaves New Orleans and heads west, selling her services as a spiritual medium who speaks to the dead. By the time she reaches Dodge City, business is booming. Except for a handsome but skeptical bounty hunter named Jack Calder, no one suspects Ophelia of running a con game—until an unfortunate “reading” of a girl who’s still living exposes her to a town full of angry customers. As punishment, the mob drags Ophelia to Boot Hill and buries her alive in a fresh grave overnight. That’s when the dead start speaking. To her. For real. And for dead people, they’ve got lots to say . . . “Masterful.” —True West

When Maximillian Wilder hides his noble identity and joins the notorious body snatchers known as the London Supply Company, the last thing on his mind is love. He’s worried about Madeline, his vanished half sister, who was last seen in the company of Jack Hurtsill, the gang’s conscienceless leader. Raiding graveyards, stealing corpses, and selling them to medical colleges as dissection material is dirty work, but Max knows he must gain Jack’s trust. He’s determined to find out what happened to Madeline—and to bring Jack to justice if she was murdered for the coin her body could earn. Beautiful, spirited Abigail Hale, daughter of the surgeon at Aldersgate School of Medicine, detests the challenging, hard-bargaining Max almost as much as Jack. But she must procure the necessary specimens if she is to save the college and her father’s career. She believes she is going to be successful—until Jack double-crosses her. Then she’s swept into a plot of danger and intrigue, one where Max must intervene to protect her, no matter the risk to his plan…or his heart. “Novak expertly weaves powerful characters into a complex plot set in a skillfully crafted 1830s London underworld.... (An) entertaining page-turner.” —Publishers’ Weekly on A Matter of Grave Concern “[F]ascinating... a danger-rich, deliciously sexy thrill ride that will have readers hooked from the first page to the last.” —Booklist on A Matter of Grave Concern