2017 finalist International Book Awards Mystery/Suspense, finalist 2017 Reader's Favorite Historical Mystery, finalist 2016 Chanticleer Goethe Awards for Historical Fiction, finalist 2016 Murder & Mayhem Awards.

Revolutionary terrorists, a dead British agent, a man-eating tiger, and the Commander of the British Army cavorting with a Russian spy.

Since the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881, the oppression of the Russian people has increased dramatically under the rule of the new Czar, Alexander III, fueling the flames of revolution. Cirque d'Hiver,the Parisian Circus, becomes a hotbed of anti-czarist activity in France. An undercover British agent is the target of a gruesome tiger attack. If that isn't enough, the Commander-in-Chief of the British army (and the Queen's cousin) cannot be dissuaded from romancing a circus barebacked rider and wanders into the middle of a known spy ring.

Now we have a national emergency.

Despite being a master of disguise, Sherlock Holmes is unable to infiltrate the circus as the tiger trainer's female assistant, finding that he is neither attractive nor convincing in tights. Enter Sherlock's laboratory assistant and chief bottle washer, Mirabella Hudson, whose youth and gender are her protection against suspicion.

While Sherlock enjoys a lavish Parisian hotel, solving the case in comparative luxury, and Dr. John Watson romances a circus beauty and supposed Russian spy, Sherlock orders Mirabella to face man-eating tigers. She becomes a circus performer overnight in the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris investigating anti-czarist espionage activity, searching for a lost Zulu princess, solving the murder of a British agent, and protecting the world from the leakage of British military secrets to Russia.

Monarchies are collapsing daily and the world is on the brink of revolution. But most importantly, the game is afoot!

ELLA CORRIGAN'S despair at being jilted pales in light of what follows after she makes the hasty decision to marry a man she has long avoided. Unaware that a friend's secret act of jealousy is responsible for her bitter heartache, she enters an existence never imagined during sweeter days as Mistress of her father's Savannah River plantation - where a mystery is building around the family's phenomenal natural spring, Corrigans' Pool. . . . The South is embroiled in a bloody Civil War by the time Ella discovers that Corrigans' Pool, on her family's property, is much more than the exquisite pond she had thought it to be all her life, but by the time she learns its dangerous secret, she is trapped by a secret of her own, blackmailed, and powerless against one man's unspeakable evil. Haunted by the threat of scandal, she struggles against the horrors of her new existence, an existence she must keep private even from the very people who could help her. Her life comes full circle when the past she has long blamed for her wretchedness steps unexpectedly out of the darkness to face her . . . FIVE STAR FOREWORD CLARION REVIEW (EXCERPT): Ryan's storytelling ability and masterful use of setting, dialogue, and characterization, adds up to an exquisite piece of historical fiction. Corrigans' Pool manages to blend romance, mystery, humor, and tragedy with flawless precision. The romance is moving but subtle, the mystery is suspenseful, and the story flows smoothly to a dramatic and satisfying conclusion. Readers are sure to be enthralled with this exceptional novel. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Award Winner, the 2017 Readers' Favorite Awards.
Jana Petken presents The Scattered Flock, a suspenseful, compelling sequel to the multi award winning, The Errant Flock

David Sanz’s journey south is halted abruptly after a devastating turn of events. In a tense battle for survival against thieves and the militia he has been fleeing from, he finds himself shackled and incarcerated in the prison he once guarded.

The Duke of Sagrat’s brother, Rafael Perato, has survived the war, and the royal court’s treacherous intrigues, but when news of his brother’s death reaches their Most Catholic Majesties his life is thrown into turmoil. Banished by the king, and tasked with carrying out insurmountable missions, he becomes entangled in a web of deadly plots and subterfuge, which threaten not only Sagrat but his very life.

In this fast paced epic, David Sanz and Rafael Perato face adversaries more devious and powerful than themselves, and it is only faith, courage, and unlikely alliances, that may save them both from the Inquisitor and the deadly marauder, Alejandro.

Editorial Review
Readers' Favorite, Five Stars

Readers' Favorite

The Scattered Flock is the second novel in The Flock Trilogy by Jana Petken. Set in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, the book immediately struck me as incredibly well researched and thought out in terms of the historical elements built into the story. The author has a very natural writing style as she develops her characters and the plot itself. David Sanz is the lead character, who is re-introduced following the first book, and is a Spanish Jew who has endured many tragedies in his life to date. We are then introduced to a second protagonist, Rafael Perato, leading a much more regal existence, who gives the reader a definite contrast to the life and times during this era. Both, however, are on their own quest for justice during what is evidently a cruel and torturous period of history.

Jana Petken writes a real page turner in The Scattered Flock, and I didn’t feel that I had missed out by not reading the first book in this series. This is the art and quality of a good writer, one who allows a reader to pick up any novel in any order, but at the same time, leaving me, as the reader, wanting to go back to the start and read the first book in this intriguing and cleverly written trilogy. I congratulate Jana on her style, poise and passion, and whilst the story line can be graphic at times, she does this with grace, making me feel like I was there watching every moment in her characters’ lives. Truly deserving of its five star rating, The Scattered Flock is a fantastic read! Really excellent story - I literally could not put it down, reading from cover to cover!

In this second book of the series, Henrietta and Clive delightfully rewrite Pride and Prejudice―with a hint of mystery!

Newly engaged, Clive and Henrietta now begin the difficult task of meeting each other’s family. “Difficult” because Clive has neglected to tell Henrietta that he is in fact the heir to the Howard estate and fortune, and Henrietta has just discovered that her mother has been hiding secrets about her past as well. When Clive brings Henrietta to the family estate to meet his parents, they are less than enthused about his impoverished intended. Left alone in this extravagant new world when Clive returns to the city, Henrietta finds herself more at home with the servants than his family, much to the disapproval of Mrs. Howard―and soon gets caught up in the disappearance of an elderly servant’s ring, not realizing that in doing so she has become part of a bigger, darker plot.

As Clive and Henrietta attempt to discover the truth in the two very different worlds unraveling around them, they both begin to wonder: Are they meant for each other after all?

Autumn 1763. Alec, Lord Halsey is sent on a diplomatic mission to Midanich, imperial outpost of the Holy Roman Empire, to bargain for the freedom of imprisoned friends. Midanich is a place of great danger and dark secrets, a country at civil war ruled by a family with madness in its veins. For Alec it is a place of unspeakable memories from which he barely escaped and vowed never to return. But return he must, if he is to save the lives of Emily St. Neots and Sir Cosmo Mahon.
In a race against time, Alec and the English delegation journey across the icy wasteland for the castle fortress where Emily and Cosmo are imprisoned. The severe winter weather is as much an enemy as the soldiers of the opposing armies encamped along the way. Awaiting him at his destination is the Margrave and his sister, demanding nothing less than Alec’s head on a pike. 

Reviews

“Deliciously complex, immensely readable, & completely un-put-down-able. If you’re looking for an intelligently written and skilfully crafted historical mystery look no further than Deadly Peril. I promise you won’t regret it.” Rated Desert Isle Keeper. — Caz Owens, All About Romance

“My first encounter with Lucinda Brant’s work was mere months ago and I have now read all her full-length books. Every one is worthy of five stars, but I think Deadly Peril is possibly the best yet. It is, quite simply, a perfect combination of mystery, romance, and history.” — Lady Wesley, Romantic Historical Reviews

Awards for this Book

• Desert Isle Keeper, All About Romance

Book Details
Series: Book 3 in the Alec Halsey Mystery series
Classification: Parental Guidance Recommended (mild violence)
Length: Full-length novel (130,000 words)
Edition: First print edition Style: Character-driven amateur sleuth

Connecting Books
Many readers enjoy Lucinda Brant's books as part of a wider series since her characters inhabit the same meticulously-researched 18^th Century world with people and events cross-referenced throughout. You can explore the details and delve deeper into the history within each book by visiting LucindaBrantAuthor on Pinterest. Should you wish to read each series in chronological order, here is the sequence:

Alec Halsey Mystery Series
Spring 1763 DEADLY ENGAGEMENT (Country house murder and mayhem)
Autumn 1763 DEADLY AFFAIR (A poisoned vicar and the mysterious Miranda)
Winter 1763 DEADLY PERIL (Bloody intrigue abroad)
Summer 1764 DEADLY KIN (Evil lurks in Edinburgh) In progress

Salt Hendon Series
1763 SALT BRIDE (Magnus and Jane)
1767 SALT REDUX (Antony and Caroline)
1767 A FAIRY CHRISTMAS (Kitty and Tom); a short story in SILVER BELLS COLLECTION, a Timeless Romance anthology

Roxton Family Saga
1740s NOBLE SATYR (Renard and Antonia)
1760s MIDNIGHT MARRIAGE (Julian and Deb)
1770s AUTUMN DUCHESS (Antonia and Jonathon)
1770s DAIR DEVIL (Dair and Rory)
1770s PROUD MARY (Mary and Christopher) In progress
1780s SATYR’S SON (Henri-Antoine and Lisa) In progress
ETERNALLY YOURS: Roxton Letters Volume One (A Companion to the Roxton Family Saga Books 1–3)
FOREVER REMAIN: Roxton Letters Volume Two (A Companion to the Roxton Family Saga Books 4–6) In progress

How would you feel if you found out one day that your mother wasn't your mother and nobody had a clue who your father might be? This is what happens to Isa, a cynical party girl from Paris whose life is abruptly changed. When Mara, her real mother dies in front of her eyes without saying a word, Isa wants to find out what Mara was searching for in 1991, before she went into a coma. But Isa soon discovers that she is not the only one searching for answers, and that her life is in danger. What is the secret that people are prepared to kill for? As Isa is drawn into a dark labyrinth of mysteries, she uncovers four lost-and-found stories related to a tarot deck from 1389. Four stories have to be told, twenty-four tarot cards have to be united and one great secret has to be revealed. She was looking for her mother's secret. Instead, she found the world's greatest secret.
This book is a hybrid adventure novel, swinging across Europe between history, mystery and fantasy. Not only that, you will gain historical knowledge about tarot and see the first tarot deck ever: the book includes images of the twenty-four cards. It will leave you amazed at the possibilities it unfurls, intrigued by the history of the tarot and staggered at revelations you might develop a taste for.

When the papal apartments are burgled in 1901, Sherlock Holmes is summoned to Rome by Pope Leo XII. After learning from the pontiff that several priceless cameos that could prove compromising to the church, and perhaps determine the future of the newly unified Italy, have been stolen, Holmes is asked to recover them. In a parallel story, Michelangelo, the toast of Rome in 1501 after the unveiling of his Pieta, is commissioned by Pope Alexander VI, the last of the Borgia pontiffs, with creating the cameos that will bedevil Holmes and the papacy four centuries later. For fans of Conan Doyle's immortal detective, the game is always afoot. However, the great detective has never encountered an adversary quite like the one with whom he crosses swords in "The Vatican Cameos.."

Henrietta Von Harmon works as a 26 girl at a corner bar on Chicago’s northwest side. It’s 1935, but things still aren’t looking up since the big crash and her father’s subsequent suicide, leaving Henrietta to care for her antagonistic mother and younger siblings. Henrietta is eventually persuaded to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall―and just when she’s beginning to enjoy herself, the floor matron turns up dead.

When aloof Inspector Clive Howard appears on the scene, Henrietta agrees to go undercover for him―and is plunged into Chicago’s grittier underworld. Meanwhile, she’s still busy playing mother hen to her younger siblings, as well as to pesky neighborhood boy Stanley, who believes himself in love with her and keeps popping up in the most unlikely places, determined to keep Henrietta safe―even from the Inspector, if need be. Despite his efforts, however, and his penchant for messing up the Inspector’s investigation, the lovely Henrietta and the impenetrable Inspector find themselves drawn to each other in most unsuitable ways.

Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2016

CHICAGO, 1921: When talented young musician Eve Riser is caught in a drive-by shooting that kills the bootlegger standing next to her, she forms an unlikely friendship with the bootlegger’s sister. Eve is looking for her missing stepsister, a popular night club singer, and Lena wants to solve the mystery of who killed her brother and why. Together these two women navigate the back alleys and speakeasies of the Roaring Twenties, encountering charismatic managers, handsome musicians, romance, and a mysterious gangster called the Walnut who seems to be the key to it all.

As they fight racial barriers trying to discover the truth, Eve and Lena—two strong women fighting for their families—must learn to rely on each other and trust no one else. SUGARLAND mixes the excitement of the 1920s with the darker side of Prohibition in a gripping story with “real suspense for anyone who likes a good mystery.” (Kirkus Starred Review)

Winner of multiple awards, including Readers' Favorite Book Award, and the EPIC Award Winner in Mystery.