Carla Simpson

London 1889 — Murder, mystery, and two people in a most unlikely partnership. She's an unconventional lady who has traveled the world, practices the art of self defense most excellently, and has an interesting tattoo in, ahem... a very unusual place. He's a former member of the Metropolitan Police, now a private investigator, who grew up on the poverty ridden streets of Edinburgh and has worked the dangerous back alleys of London's notorious East End. A vicious murder brings them together in a race against time that takes them from the sordid back streets of London into the elite private clubs of the powerful and rich, to find the killer before he strikes again and prevent a deadly scheme. A scandalous affair, deceptions, and secrets will challenge what they know and what they believe. Come along as the lady and the detective join forces in an amazing time of new inventions, startling discoveries, and unexpected revelations, where a young woman who doesn't rely on anyone is forced to trust the irascible Scot who is a tough as they come and just might learn a thing or two from her... if they both don't end up dead!

Sir James Redstone has recently returned from abroad. He is handsome, well-educated, heir to the Redstone title and family fortune, and a fellow traveler of Mikaela Forsythe. He is also a member of the royal inner circle, close friend of the Prince of Wales, and well known to Mikaela’s aunt, Lady Antonia Montgomery. In the past he and Mikaela traveled in the same group to Egypt and the Far East. They share the experience of that adventure that she has written about in her first novel. Now, Redstone has returned with tales of other travels that Mikaela might have made if not for the recent change in her relationship with Brodie. Redstone is everything Brodie is not as far as society is concerned, and it drives a wedge between the two when he becomes suspicious of the man’s activities—a series of telegrams covertly sent and received, meetings in the middle of the night in places that are dangerous and frequented only by foreigners. Is it jealousy and envy? Or are Brodie’s suspicions valid? At the same time, Mikaela has noticed undeniable changes in Sir James—a forgotten experience aboard a ship they were on, an encounter with Bedoins in the desert, and the death of a fellow traveler. Small things to other people, but it raises her own suspicions of the man who has the appearance and manners of Redstone, and yet...Is it simply the intervening years and other travels that have dimmed the memories, or is it something more? Lily, now Mikaela’s ward, who is young and far more worldly than she should be, makes a startling claim about Redstone, well-learned from her previous experiences at that brothel in Edinburgh. Then a member of the royal inner circle is found dead, last seen in the company of Redstone, and both Brodie and Mikaela are forced to look at their own suspicions of the man. Is he who he claims to be? Or is he an impostor? If so, how and what does that death mean? Who will be next? It’s a race against time for Mikaela and Brodie to set aside their suspicions of one another, follow the clues no matter where it takes them, and discover a horrifying deception that reaches beyond London and could change the course of everyone’s lives.

Murder, betrayal, revenge... and two people bound together across oceans, and time. She has had the dreams since she was a small child, her parents killed in a shipwreck in the treacherous waters off the coast of Cornwall. The dreams are from another time and place, and a man who waits in shadows. They are an elusive memory that leave her with questions but no answers. Now a young woman, on the eve of her marriage to a man she doesn't love, a mysterious stranger enters her life. He's dangerous, with secrets of his own, but it's as if he's stepped out of her dreams... out of that other life. He's known as the Raven, the symbol that flies above his ship. He has a ruthless reputation and he's responsible for the loss of English ships and cargo across the English Empire. Now, he's arrived in London, taking the disguise of a titled gentleman, with one purpose--revenge, the name of the ship he sails. But she is a woman from his past, a past life, lost a long time ago. She represents everything he hates and has sworn against. Fate and time have set a different course for them, a collision course of hearts and souls where choices will have to be made about what they believe...

A photograph taken of the daughter of one of London’s most prominent citizens in a private setting sets Brodie and Mikaela off on a new inquiry case to find out who took the photograph and then sent it to the family. The case begins simply enough until the young woman goes missing. Days later the distraught family receives another photograph of their daughter lying in a pool of blood, and that simple inquiry has now become an investigation of murder. But this is no routine investigation to follow the clues as another photograph is received, and another body is found. Then another, and Brodie and Mikaela must confront the fact that the murderer is brilliant, talented with those startling even beautiful images, and quite possibly insane as the murders do not appear to be for the usual reasons of robbery, blackmail, or an assault. What then is it that drives a cold-blooded killer to pick his victims, take those enigmatic photographs that catches them so perfectly? Then take another photograph once they are dead? Brodie has his own thoughts from years of experience with the MP of London as an investigator, while Mikaela has an entirely different take on the murders. Their inquiries take them from the struggling photographer who takes iconic photos around London then sells them for the stereopticons that have become so popular in Victorian London, to the casual photographer on the street with his box camera, and into the galleries where photo exhibits are shown. All the while they are exploring the next step in their relationship. As the murderer becomes bolder, the photograph of his next victim appears in the Times of London, setting off even more inquiries, and prominent London families fear the worst. Then, Brodie receives a photograph of Mikaela…

A THIRTY YEAR OLD MURDER... Old Town, Edinburgh, in a squalid tenement where poverty, rats, and disease are rampant, a young woman who worked in a local tavern lies dying. Just another number and bound for a pauper's grave in Greyfriar's kirkyard A BOY FOUND STANDING IN HIS MOTHER'S BLOOD... Alone, his grandmother the only family left, young Angus Brodie hides in the shadows nearby, the bronze medallion his dying mother pressed into his hand clenched in a tight fist as the constables carry her body from the tenement. And a name overheard--the man who was there that night, seen by the woman who collected the rents. A VOW MADE, A PROMISE TO BE KEPT... As his mother lay dying, Angus Brodie vowed that he would find the one responsible for her death no matter how long it took.

What is real or only an illusion? Ghostly images that appear and float across the stage, objects that levitate into the air, and a beautiful assistant who disappears inside a glass box, then reappears inside a second glass box. All while the audience at the Crystal Palace, including amateur investigator Mikaela Forsythe, watch the performance. Is it real? Can the audience believe what they see? Then, an evening with her friend, Theodora Templeton while attending the one-night performance by master illusionist, Jean Luc Betard, takes a ghastly turn and plunges Mikaela headlong into murder when the illusionist's young assistant is found dead at the end of his newest stunt. The police, specifically Chief Inspector Abberline, who is also in attendance, declare it a tragic accident in an illusion gone wrong. But after making her own observations Mikaela is not convinced and places a call to Private Investigator Angus Brodie. Their's is a complicated partnership, more so with his latest work with the Special Services organization at the conclusion of their previous case, and that particularly complicated conversation he insisted on having with her. Irritating man! Never the less, Mikaela is certain there is more amiss than merely a tragic accident, and Brodie is forced to admit that she may be right, pulling them together once more, personal feelings aside. Or possibly not... That certainty takes both of them on a dangerous trail of clues that appear and then just as quickly disappear much like the illusionist's tricks. The case is no slight of hand, but a series of dangerous illusions meant to deceive both Mikaela and Brodie, and perhaps make them both disappear for good, while the murderer goes about his deadly scheme. And then, there is that conversation that she walked out on before, but he insists on having, even in the midst of murder. Oh my!

London, 1890: It's a New Year, but murder never takes a holiday. The past reaches out to the unlikely investigative team of Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe when a man Mikaela was once engaged to seeks her assistance to find his young runaway son. What starts out as a seemingly simple case of following the clues becomes far more as the search unravels secrets Mikaela’s former fiancé intended to keep hidden. Mikaela is determined to find the answers they need, but Brodie can’t keep his mind off of his own set of questions…questions about this woman who is too darn independent; who aggravates him to no end with her lists, theories, and ideas; who puts her life at risk too often; and who may still have feelings for the man she might have once married…questions that complicate this already complicated partnership of theirs. When the boy's father is found dead, everything they thought they knew about the case is turned on its head and new motives start to take form. It's a race against time when the boy's school jacket is discovered with a note, and Mikaela and Brodie must work side by side with his mother—a woman who makes no attempt to hide her dislike for Mikaela and is determined to protect her late husband's legacy at all cost—sending them into a place where the hunters become the hunted and they must work together once more in order to survive.

A severed foot. Fingerprints left on a wine glass. A secret cypher code. The scent of orange and cinnamon left behind by the murderer. Mikaela Forsythe, adventuress, author, and now private investigator, is back, pulled into a deadly case that may just see her friend, actress Theodora Templeton, sent to prison for murder when that severed foot is found in her bed and a high-ranking official has gone missing. But is it a crime of passion or something far more sinister? There is only one person who can assist--former police inspector Angus Brodie, the irascible Scot who challenges her at every turn. But Brodie is reluctant to take the case of a woman who communicates with the dead and keeps a four foot iguana as a pet. Until there is another murder, and then another. As the body count rises Mikaela and Brodie are forced to undertake a dangerous scheme to expose the murderer. But secrets lie in wait, and desperate people will take desperate measures to protect those secrets. All the while Mikaela's great aunt has decided to go on safari, the Mudger and Rupert are caught up in the case, and a brilliant young man--Bloody hell! Another Scot!-- has joined the team. Then there is that undeniable attraction to deal with that lies simmering just beneath the surface for two people who could not be more different... What is an independent lady to do?