Gail Daley's Blog, page 9

Magic and Manners (An Austen Chronicle Book 1) (Kindle Edition)

Author: CE Murphy

This is a delightful re-telling of a much loved story that has been re-made into movies more times than I can count. If you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice you are going to love this book. Adding a touch of paranormal was great.

From Amazon Description

It is a truth universally accepted that well-bred members of Society are not beleaguered with magic.

For Elsabeth Dover and her sisters, that truth means living in a perpetual state of caution, never using their sorcerous gifts in public. Elsabeth chafes under the stricture, but not enough to risk the possibility of good marriages for her sisters…until she meets handsome, arrogant Fitzgerald Archer.

Elsabeth, attracted to Archer’s wit and offended by his manner, strives to keep her youngest, impetuous sister’s use of magic in check so that their eldest sister, Rosamund, might find happiness with Archer’s wealthy friend Mr Webber. But when Elsa fails to keep young Leopoldina in line, Archer’s disapproval of the family taint means an abrupt end to Rosamund’s hopes, and leads to a terrible discovery about the price of magic…

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Dispelled (A Null for Hire Novel Book 1) (Kindle Edition)

This would have been a good mystery without the magic. With it, it just adds another dimension to the story. I gave it five stars because the story itself was so well written. The heroine is tough and smart

From Amazon Description

They call me an abomination. A mutant. A curse on their kind.

I don’t let it bother me. Much.

My name is Holly James, and what they say is true. I’m a freak of nature–a null. My mere presence zaps the magic from Others, rendering them powerless. That’s why they hate me. But here’s the kicker: I’ve found a way to profit from my lack of mojo.

Whether it’s acting as a mystical wet blanket in a dispute between pyromancers or keeping hormonal shifters from changing during a sweet sixteen party, I provide a highly specialized service. For a hefty fee.

When a young witch turns up dead, clutching an amulet cursed with black magic, my estranged grandfather asks for my help. In return for nullifying the necklace, Gramps promises to find my missing mother–a witch who vanished after my birth. Of course there’s a catch. He wants me to assist Cade McAllister, the arrogant sorcerer in charge of investigating the case.

Cade resents my existence, let alone my attempts to help. Still, I’ll do whatever it takes to find my mom. For my own peace of mind I have to know what happened to her, and I won’t allow anything to get in my way. Not even this crazy, irrational longing I feel for a hot sorcerer with the sexiest scowl I’ve ever seen.

***Warning! This book contains a snarky heroine and a brooding hero. If you like magic, mystery, humor, and sizzling romance-this book may be right up your alley.***

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The Other Lady Vanishes

By Jayne Ann Krenz

Well now. I confess the heroine in this one was NOT who I expected it to be, although she does appear as a secondary character. Krenz (excuse me Quick) has used a variation of this plot line (heroine goes into hiding after having been committed to an asylum and kept there against her will). It’s a prime example of adapting a basic premise to different plot lines for different eras. 

We are so used to and dependent on technology that we modern readers sometimes forget how easy it used to be to disappear and create a new identity for yourself.

This story involves drugs, spies, Hollywood Stars, fortune tellers, blackmail…

From Amazon Description

“Quick conjures up a celluloid world that will be catnip to fans of that era evoking the sensation it was plucked straight from the Warner Bros. vault.”–Entertainment Weekly

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Knew Too Much sweeps readers back to 1930s California–where the most dazzling of illusions can’t hide the darkest secrets…

After escaping from a private sanitarium, Adelaide Blake arrives in Burning Cove, California, desperate to start over.

Working at an herbal tea shop puts her on the radar of those who frequent the seaside resort town: Hollywood movers and shakers always in need of hangover cures and tonics. One such customer is Jake Truett, a recently widowed businessman in town for a therapeutic rest. But unbeknownst to Adelaide, his exhaustion is just a cover.

In Burning Cove, no one is who they seem. Behind facades of glamour and power hide drug dealers, gangsters, and grifters. Into this make-believe world comes psychic to the stars Madame Zolanda. Adelaide and Jake know better than to fall for her kind of con. But when the medium becomes a victim of her own dire prediction and is killed, they’ll be drawn into a murky world of duplicity and misdirection.

Neither Adelaide or Jake can predict that in the shadowy underground they’ll find connections to the woman Adelaide used to be–and uncover the specter of a killer who’s been real all along..

Milkmaid

I have always been fond of goats and my Family history with these clever, funny animals comes from my favorite Uncle who raised them on what would these days be considered a “hobby farm”. He actually started out raising cows, but switched to goats when I was about 6 or 7. As a child, I loved visiting his place because of the variety of animals he and my aunt kept. I learned to milk the family of goats, feed them, groom them and after the meat returned from the local butcher, to eat them as well. . It caused quite a family ruckus when the family discovered he was naming his nanny goats after his female relatives. After my mother threatened to name the dog after him, he switched to using a baby name book. Uncle Swede had a rule, if he named a goat it was destined for the dairy and it was safe to become fond of it; unnamed goats were destined for the table.

Goats are exceptionally curious and intelligent. Goats are very agile and widely known for their ability to climb and hold their balance in the shakiest of places. My first horse was a Shetland pony I called Little Red. My Uncle Swede boarded him for us on his farm when we moved into the city of Fresno. Horses are sociable animals who love company so Little Red very much enjoyed rooming with the goats, who liked to ride on his back. I have an old black and white photo of a couple of my Uncles goats in which one of them was riding him and the other waiting her turn on an enormous wooden box placed in the pen for their climbing enjoyment.

One day a stranger driving by saw the goats riding the pony, and was so astonished he drove off into an irrigation ditch. As my uncle was pulling his car out, he kept trying to explain what had caused his accident.

Uncle Swede, who loved a good joke, looked him dead in the eye and asked, “Man, what have youbeen drinking?”

Due to their agility and nosiness, goats are also notorious for escaping their pens by testing fences and enclosures; for his goat pens, my uncle used hog wire with a small electric wire on the outside of it to ensure they stayed where they were supposed to be. Due to extreme stubbornness and the tasty rose bushes my aunt grew along the fence, each goat had to try to stick her head out the holes in the fence and then be rescued before they learned not to try to escape that way.

Goats are one of the oldest domesticated species, and have been used for their milk, meat, hair, and skins over much of the world. There are over 300 distinct breeds of goats;Dairy goats are generally pastured in summer and may be stabled during the winter. As dairy does are milked daily, they are generally kept close to the milking shed. Their grazing is typically supplemented with hay and concentrates. Stabled goats may be kept in stalls similar to horses, or in larger group pens.

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Goats vs. Cattle:Except in the United States, 65% of the milk consumption worldwide is from goat’s milk, and this popularity hasn’t come about due to high profile marketing campaigns or big-budget advertisements. “All milk is not created equal.” The differences between cow’s milk and goat’s milk may not seem apparent to most of us as both look like white liquid. But a closer look will show us how milk matches up with the human body in its various stages. A human baby is created to be fed entirely upon mothers’ milk for at least the first six months of life. There is no other food in the world better than mothers’ milk as studies have shown both in the laboratory and the real world. After we are weaned from the breast or bottle most of us obtain our milk supply from the local grocery, many of which are only now beginning to stock goat milk as well as cow’s milk. Why would someone choose goat’s milk over the far more popular and accessible cow’s milk?  Well there is something called “lactose Intolerance” an allergy that can be blamed on a protein known as Alpha s1 Casein found in high levels in cow’s milk. The level of Alpha s1 Casein in goat’s milk is about 89% less than cow’s milk.  In fact, a recent study of infants allergic to cow’s milk found that nearly 93% could drink goat’s milk with very few side effects! Goat’s milk has smaller fat globules and does not contain agglutinin allowing it to stay naturally homogenized. All milk contains certain levels of lactose or ‘milk sugar.’ A relatively large portion of the population suffers from a deficiency (not an absence) of an enzyme known as lactase that is used to digest lactose. Lactose intolerance can cause painful gas episodes and, In addition, Cow’s milk is designed to take a 100-pound calf and transform it into a 1200-pound cow. Goat’s milk and human milk were both designed and created for transforming a 7-9 pound baby/kid into an average adult/goat of anywhere between 100-200 pounds. Consequently, more of the goats’ milk is absorbed by the human digestive system and not converted into painful gas.

The Serpent Garden

Judith Merkle Riley

This is my favorite of all Riley’s books, perhaps because the heroine is an artist like myself. Susana Dallet is left the widow of a painter at a time when artist Guilds didn’t allow women to paint no matter how talented they were. Since her husband was murdered when he was committing adultery, he was no loss. 

He also departed the world leaving Susana broke and with no means of supporting herself. On the advice of the widow (of another dead painter) downstairs, Susana finishes a commission taken by her dead husband, pretending his ghost came home and finished the work so she would have money for his funeral. The widow downstairs tells her that she has supported herself for several years by selling her dead husbands paintings of a naked Adam and Eve. However she is running out of them, so she suggests Susana paint more Adam and Eves adding miniatures by HER husband and they split the money. So Susana becomes two dead painters. 

Her work draws the attention of Cardinal Worsley and hr recruits (blackmails) her to travel with King Henry VIII’s sister when she travels to France to marry it’s aging king. 

This book is full of ironic humor, fun and adventure without straying from the mores existing at the time. There are plots, subplots, conspiracies; even one involving a conflict between the angel Hadrial (in charge of inspirations, arts and music —don’t ask) and a demon prince who is out to make as much trouble as he can while he fulfills-the last command put on him before he was imprisoned. 

Don’t worry—Everything ends well. 

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Gilded Latten Bones

Garrett P.I. #13

Author Glen Cook

The first part of this book is a glimpse into the dark future if Garrett & Tinnie had remained a couple, and in an effort to remake her world to suit her family, Tinnie had remained in control of their mutual destiny because Garrett was too lazy to fight about it. Fortunately, when Belinda Contague tells Garrett Morley has been hurt and needs his old pal to help keep him alive, Garrett agrees, leaving Tinnie pitching a royal fit. This in turn forces Garrett to examine what has been happening in his life, and he chooses self respect over pleasing Tinnie and the life she had chosen for them both.

This isn’t a conventional Garrett paranormal mystery. It’s low on Garrett action for one thing, since he only hears about it secondhand as he is stuck looking after Morley for the first half of the story.

Of interest also is the return of the Windwalker, Furious Tide Of Light from a previous book, who is not only still interested in making Garrett her main man but is so much pleasanter than Tinnie that most of Garrett’s friends and family vote in her favor. Not that she doesn’t come with drawbacks—she does: a teenage daughter too smart for her own good, some murderous in laws who are apparently cutting up corpses to stay young, a father with incestuous designs on her daughter, etc. When Tinnie gets a chance to star in  theatre drama, Garrett suddenly realizes how little the two of them really know about each other, and they come to a mutual parting of the ways, semi-approved by the Tate clan.

On top of everything else, Prince Rupert, that bastion of law and order, suddenly doesn’t want anyone including Garrett and the new home guard investigating who tried to kill Morley and keep Garrett from ferreting out the culprit.

I liked this tale, even though I figured out who the bad guys were early on, the character development kept me interested in the story. And I do admit it was nice to read about Garrett finally having the kind of woman in his life, who instead of throwing a jealous fit in the middle of a case, would Call down the lightning’s to defend him.

A Vision of Light – Margaret of Ashbury 1 By Judith Merkle Riley

A Vision of Light: A Margaret of Ashbury Novel (Paperback)

e-book:

The first book in the series, this bestselling novel introduces Margaret of Ashbury, a fourteenth-century Englishwoman with mystical abilities

Women in the middle ages did not have a good life. Margaret starts out being forced to marry a man who terrorized and “punished” his 1st wife into killing herself. She survives him, the plague, the inquisition (twice), joins a group of players; the most outrageous band of tricksters and frauds ever imagined, and ends up happily married. Then she is widowed, taken prisoner by her villainous sons-in-law, and rescued by knights.

Unlike fairy tales, however, the “Knights in shining armor” who rescue Margaret and her children demand a price for their service–She must marry one of them. Fortunately for her, she does get to pick which one because her new father-in-law has decided she is a “girl breeder” so although he wants the money her rich husband left her, he decides she would make a good prospect for providing for his younger son…

*From Amazon descriptions:

Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task.

As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

Series:   A Vision of Light

In Pursuit of the Green Lion

The Water Devil

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Limited Time discount offer. Available June 11 thru Aug 31.

Excerpt from To Love & Honor – Handfasting Book 5

 

The morning the group from the reception was to tour the Silver Samurai, Tom invited himself to breakfast again. It didn’t surprise Lucinda. Yesterday she had overheard him arguing with his supervisor in the warehouse about sending a crew to repair the downed power pole she and Mira had found. Tom wanted to send a crew, but the supervisor didn’t want to waste the manpower. She was sure Tom really wanted an excuse to check out the area for smuggler activity.

Agra was just finishing off her morning breakfast of nuts, breadfruit, chopped vegetables and meat and she chirped a messy welcome when Lucinda opened the door.  Lucinda was dressed like a diplomat’s daughter this morning since she was acting in Juliette’s place with the tour group. Instead of casual clothes, she wore a soft blue, cowl-neck blouse of Dragonest silk and a darker blue vest and trousers with grey half boots. Agra had donned one of her jeweled collars. Lucinda’s uniform was folded and hung in a bag behind the pantry door along with Agra’s uniform collar. She planned to put it in her locker at work and change there until after the tour.

“Good morning,” Tom said. “Wow, you look good. Going somewhere special?”

She gave him a scorching glance. “Oh, and I look bad if I don’t make a special effort?”

“No, that isn’t what I meant. I just—you’re all dressed up today,” he said. “Can I have a shovel to dig myself out with?”

Lucinda took a filled plate from the Robo-chef and set it down in front of Tom with a cup of steaming Cafka.

“I don’t want to take yours,” he protested.

“You aren’t. I’ve finished,” she informed him. “Somehow, I just knew you’d be coming by this morning to try to get information about the downed power pole from me—Whoops!” she caught Agra, still dribbling breadfruit juice, as she tried to leap onto Tom’s shoulder.

“Let me wipe your muzzle before you get Tom as messy as you are,” she said, wiping down the Dactyl’s face and front paws.

“But in answer to your question, I dressed especially nice because the home greeting committee is taking a tour of the Silver Samurai today and I’m representing Mom and Juliette,” she told him. “I’ll change for work afterward.”

He frowned. “Isn’t that Delgado’s ship?”

“Yes, it is, and there is a group of us going. I don’t want to hear any smart remarks about it.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t shoot. I was just wondering if I could tag along,” he said, with his best winning smile.

“If you don’t do anything to embarrass me you can come, but I doubt if we will be shown what you’re looking for,” she warned him.

“What am I looking for?” he asked blandly.

Lucinda snorted. “Evidence of smuggling? Listen, I don’t mind if you’re discreet about poking around. This is an honor for Juliette to be included on this committee and I don’t want to mess it up for her by causing a ruckus if you get caught with your nose somewhere they don’t want it.”

“I’ll be good,” he promised, scraping his plate into the recycler and putting it into the dishwasher. “What time does the tour leave?”

“You’ve got an hour. We’re meeting at the Spaceport. I won’t wait for you so be there on time.”

Agra hummed happily when he dropped a kiss on Lucinda’s mouth before dashing out the door.

“Don’t bet on it,” Lucinda told her. “We’re just useful to him, that’s all it is.”

Lucinda put her uniform in her work locker when she arrived at the Spaceport offices. She didn’t recognize the two PRS night-shift officers on duty. Knowing they would be curious why she was there so early so she stopped to pass the time of day with them.

They were nattering about the latest gossip when she heard Sesuna’s shrill voice and Priestess Ispone Klam’y’s deeper one getting louder as she protested to the duty officer.

“Sorry, got to take care of this. I’ll catch you guys later.”

She turned and went quickly to the arch separating the Patrol offices from PRS. This time it wasn’t Twilya on duty, but a tall-dark-haired woman in the black and red Patrol Uniform who was holding a plastia sheet and stabbing it with a finger for emphasis.

Lucinda leaned against the arch with her arms crossed, watching the show. Sesuna looked up and saw her and immediately ran over to her.

“Shogun O’Teague can you help us? That woman won’t let mother have her medicine. She says it’s contr—Contra—”

“Contra-banned?” Lucinda asked.

The girl nodded vigorously, dragging Lucinda over to the desk.”

“Tell her!” she said. “It’s for the baby!”

Ignoring the Officer glaring at her, Lucinda turned to the Priestess. “My Lady, is there something I can help you with?” Lucinda asked. She was shocked to see that Priestess Klam’y’s soft grey skin had acquired a shinny greenish cast, and her black eyes were red rimmed.

“This is Patrol business. It doesn’t matter what this woman says young lady,” the woman, whose name tag read ‘Abdul’,  snapped, pointing at Lucinda. “This item isn’t allowed. It’s on the restricted list, and I’m confiscating it.”

Still ignoring her, Lucinda put a supporting hand under the Priestess’s elbow. “Sesuna, get your mother a chair so she can sit down,” she ordered. Easing Ispone into the chair the girl brought, she knelt in front of her holding her hands. “My lady, in your condition you must take better care of yourself. Will you let me help you?”

Ispone Klam’y nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered, leaning back and closing her eyes.

Lucinda stood up and held out her hand for the vial the Patrol officer had seized. Reluctantly, the woman showed her the label. “They’ve given it a different name, but the chemical compounds are the same as these,” she said, showing Lucinda the plastia.

Lucinda, frowned at her. “That is quite true, however, a combination of these are proscribedin diluted form for some pregnant Trellyan women. That bottle has a physician’s symbol. Did you check with her doctor?”

The officer gave her a look of pure dislike. “I don’t need to; it’s on the list! Who are you anyway? What business is this of yours?”

“I am Lady Lucinda O’Teague, daughter of Lady Katherine of Veiled Isle, Clan O’Teague. I am a friend of Priestess Klam’y and her daughter. I strongly suggest you get a healer out here to tend to Lady Ispone as soon as possible. She isn’t well.”

Still scowling, the Patrol Officer put in a call to the Spaceport Healer, a brisk, bright-eyed little man who arrived several minutes later with six student healers trailing him.

“Oh, my. Yes indeed,” he exclaimed, taking in Ispone’s situation after a brief examination. “You should not have traveled off world in your condition. You there!” he pointed at two of his students, “Help me get her onto a Medi-lift.” Spying the bottle still clutched in the Patrol Officer’s hand, he snatched it away from her. “Is this hers?”

“Yes,” Lucinda replied.

“Hey!” Abdul said, “Give that back!”

The doctor ignored her, stuffing it into one of his commodious pockets, and turned to give instructions to his students about not jostling the patient.

Before they took her to the infirmary, Ispone caught at Lucinda’s hand. “The child, I don’t want Sesuna to see if—”

“Why don’t I keep her with me today? We’re going to tour one of the Free Trade ships.”

“Thank you,” Ispone whispered.

“What possessed you to come off planet without your physician?” The doctor demanded as they left.

Lucinda put a hand on Sesuna’s shoulder. “They’ll take good care of her,” she promised.

“Yes, Shogun,” the girl sereptiously wiped her eyes. Pretending not to see, Lucinda handed her a box of tissues.

“I’m reporting this,” the Patrol Officer announced. “That woman tried to smuggle in illegal drugs! I’m reporting you too! I don’t care who your mother is!”

Sesuna whirled around, fists clenched, a snarl on her mouth. “My mother isn’t—” she began furiously.

Lucinda checked her. She pulled out her badge and thrust it at the officer. “Here,” she said brightly, “I wouldn’t want you to not have all the information for your report.”

“This say’s you’re a cop!” Abdul exclaimed. “Do you realize you are aiding and abetting a smuggler? Your superiors aren’t going to like this!”

“Aren’t going to like her promoting interplanetary relations by showing compassion to a woman who is ill?” inquired Odette entering the room, followed by half a dozen other clansmen and another woman in the Patrol’s black and red uniform.

“Officer Abdul, may I speak to you privately in my office?” inquired the older woman. After a glance at her, the Officer turned on her heel and left.

“I’m Nova Cicereli,” she said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“You might explain to Officer Abdul the difference between smuggling contraband and carrying drugs proscribed for you by your doctor,” Lucinda said dryly.

She turned to Odette, “Hope you don’t mind, but we’ve got an extra on the tour. This is Lady Sesuna Klam’y, daughter of Fire Priestess Ispone.”

“How do you do, Lady Sesuna?” Odette smiled a welcome to her.

“Very well, thank you,” Sesuna replied politely.

“We’ve got another addition as well,” Odette whispered to Lucinda. “Your boyfriend asked me if he could join the tour and I said yes. I think he’s jealous of Delgado.”

Lucinda felt her face heating up when she met Tom’s eyes. He had apparently gone home and changed his clothes. He was good at blending, she thought. Today, he looked like any other young aristocrat. She had the urge to deny the relationship but realized blaming Tom’s jealousy of Delgado would cause less comment if he got caught snooping and kept her mouth shut.

“Who are you?” Sesuna demanded suspiciously of Tom when he sat beside them on the robo-tram taking the group out to the Silver Samurai.

“I’m Tom Draycott,” he told her. “I’m a friend of Lucinda’s too. How did you meet her?”

“I stopped her playing chicken with the cargo-bots,” Lucinda said. “I warn you,” she added, “If you get caught snooping, you had better be willing for the Duc to say you asked me to get you on this tour.”

Agra, of course, fluttered over to Tom and purred a welcome in his ear. Lucinda gave her pet a disgusted glance, and muttered, “cream pot love,” under her breath. Sesuna giggled.

Delgado hadn’t been especially pleased when Odette had converted his tête-à-tête with Lucinda into a group tour, but he met them at the door to the shuttle, every inch the gracious host.

Silver Samurai’s shuttle wasn’t really outfitted for to carry fifteen people; like most of the Free Trade shuttles used to land on a planet, it was designed for carrying goods and cargo, not passengers. To save room, Delgado was doing his own piloting.

The tour was interesting, Lucinda admitted to herself. The only other Free-Trade ship she had been aboard had been Captain Heidelberg’s ship the Dancing Gryphon, on the trip to Vensoog from Fenris. The Silver Samurai was smaller and more compact.

“We were lucky,” Delgado boasted. “We weren’t large enough to carry military troops, so we were able to continue our trade route without being confiscated by the navy.”

“Where did your route take you?” Odette asked innocently.

Delgado shoot a playful finger at her. “Now, pretty lady that would be telling trade secrets! If I told you, it might get to some of our competitors, and they might jump our Trade line.”

“Is it really that competitive?” Lucinda asked. “I thought the Patrol prevented trade wars.”

He shrugged. “Oh, they try, but some Free Trade routes take a ship outside Confederation Territory.”

“The Karamine sector, for instance?” Lucinda innocently suggested, watching his face.

She caught a flash of anger before he smiled blandly at her question. “No, not before the war and certainly not while it was taking place; Karamines are much too aggressive for a single ship to attempt to land on one of their worlds.”

“This is our control room; as you can see, it isn’t large,” he said, as the tour group each poked a head into the small pilot area.

“Now here is where the off-duty crew spends most of the time,” he gestured down the hall and they entered what was obviously one of the largest common areas of the ship; a combination recreation and eating area.

Just then, a crewman approached the group. “Excuse me, Captain but the doctor would like to see you in the infirmary. Jacobsen sprained his foot again on the exercise machine.”

He frowned a little, “Of course, please excuse me ladies and gentlemen. Officer Tenako will continue the tour. The engine room next Tenako, then join me back in the lounge.”

Tenako, a short, rotund man with laugh lines around his eyes stepped forward. “This way please. I’m afraid we will need to enter the engine room a few at a time; like our control center it is stripped to bare necessities.”

When she stopped in the doorway of a small square room, Lucinda saw Tom slip away. Dammit! She thought. She was even more exasperated to see Sesuna following him.

The engine room was round, lined with various control panels and screens. A large quartz lattice made its way from floor to ceiling. This was the actual engine, powered by Azorite crystals. To Lucinda’s untutored eye, the crystals looked oversized for the ship. Just now it was dim, because a tech with a fat mane of glossy red hair tied back, had a panel partway open working on it.

“As you can see, we are only running on minimal power, Tenako explained. “Engines occasionally need cleaning and fine tuning because the crystals will get dirty. Will Thayer, our chief engineer says an engine is only as good as it’s Maintence.”

“How’s it going Will?” Tenako asked.

The thin, blond man who had been entering information on a data cube, looked up and smiled. “We’ll be ready by the time the Captain orders lift off. Lorian is almost finished with the cleaning.”

Lucinda was almost the last one out. She had never been in a ship’s engine room before; It had been off limits to passengers on the Dancing Gryphon.

Thayer caught her eye as she thanked the crew for their time. He followed her into the corridor. “Miss? Excuse me Miss, could I speak to you a moment?”

She stopped and looked at him. “Well I can’t lag too far behind the tour, but I have a minute, while everyone is using the sanitary facilities. How can I help you, Engineer Thayer?”

“Are you—is it possible you are from Fenris?” he asked.

Her eyebrows rose. “Yes, I was in a placement center on Fenris before I was adopted by Lord Zack and Lady Katherine.”

“Was your mother Darla Lister? Because if it was, I think I might be your father.”

Lucinda stiffened. In fact, she had been one of Grouter’s ‘designer’ children, and had no idea who if any, her biological ancestors might be.

“As far as I know,” she said icily, “I am no relation to that coldhearted bitch. If I were you, I wouldn’t claim too close an acquaintance with her; she was a thief and a murderer.”

“She was brave and beautiful!” he said. “I loved her! I was almost sure she was carrying a child when she left me. I—”

“If Darla Lister had gotten herself with child,” Lucinda said brutally, “she would have rid herself of it at the first opportunity.”

“I knew it!” Lorian Thayer had appeared in the doorway, her entire body quivering with anger.

“I deal with you later!” she told her husband. She turned on Lucinda. “You’re the daughter of that bitch Lister, are you? Well she didn’t get my husband, and I won’t have any whelp of hers hanging around—You get me?”

Lucinda looked her up and down. “Certainly, I understood you. Half the quadrant must have heard that screech. As I just told your husband—Lady Katherine and Lord Zack are my parents. I don’t need or want any interlopers. You might be surprised to learn that—”

What else she was about to say was lost as Lorian Thayer with a snarl of rage leaped at her, fingers turning into claws. Lucinda half-stepped to the side, grabbed one of Thayer’s wrists, and using the woman’s own momentum, tossed her over her hip. She let go at the height of the toss, and Thayer flew several feet down the narrow hallway before she landed on her back and slid into a wall.

Lucinda jumped when Tom clapped.

“Wow! Can you teach me to do that?” Sesuna asked, excitedly. Lucinda noticed the girl was wearing Tom’s jacket and seemed to have something wiggly tucked into her shirt. ‘I just hope nobody but me spots it, ‘she thought grimly, as Tom and Sesuna followed her back to the shuttle bay for the trip back to the port. Behind them, she could hear Thayer fussing at his wife and calling for a medic.

When Tom had taken advantage of the engine room tour to slip away, he headed for the locked cargo bay. It was too good a chance to miss getting inside it to check for smuggled goods.

He was bent over, using his code cracker on the door, when Sesuna whispered, “What are you doing?”

He jumped. “What the Void are you doing here? Did anyone see you?”

She shrugged. “I followed you. Nobody saw us. Why are you breaking in there?”

He scowled at her. “I’m an investigator. I want to take a few vids of their cargo bay.”

He got the door open, and after checking the interior, he yanked Sesuna in with him. “Don’t touch anything,” he ordered, taking out a small vid-cam and snapping vids.

Sesuna was a little bored. She had thought this would be exciting, but all he had done was take vid scenes. Suddenly, she felt a trickle of hunger, cold and pain at the edge of her psyche. Curious to know where it was coming from, she looked around. There, over against the back wall were a series of animal cages. All but one of the animals were in stasis. When she got closer, she discovered it was a Trellyan Fire Indri. The stasis cube lay in a broken mess below the cage. It was obvious it had been broken while loading the cargo. The Indri was exhausted, dehydrated, and close to dying. She was also starting to whelp.

“Oh, you poor darling!” Sesuna whispered. “Let me get you out of there.” She bent and undid the clasp holding the cage closed. Shifting her hands under her, she was struck by how cold the little body was. “Stupid Traders!” she said. “Don’t they know you need to be extra warm during delivery?” Hastily, unbuttoning her blouse, she stuffed the Indri into her shirt and re-buttoned it. The blouse was a little too big for her; it had belonged to her older sister who had been taken in a Jack raid just as the war ended. Sesuna wore it to remind her of Eloyoni.

“You have to be very quiet,” she told the Indri softly, rubbing her back. The little creature made a helpless burrowing movement, shivering against her.

“I told you not to touch anything!” Tom had come up behind her.

“I wasn’t going to!” Sesuna snapped. “This is a Trellyan Indri. It’s forbidden to sell it off-world. Besides, another few hours and she would have died. They haven’t fed her or given her water, and she’s cold and about to whelp!”

“Oh, Hell,” he said, pulling off his jacket. “Here put this on and keep it wrapped around you. If anyone asks, you’re cold, and I gave you my jacket.”

He opened the door cautiously and looked out. “It’s still empty. C’mon, we need to get back to the others.”

They arrived back at the group, just in time to see Lucinda throw Lorian Thayer across the room.

“What is going on here?” Delgado demanded, stepping out of his office.

“Sorry,” Lucinda told him. “I think your engine tech needs a checkup. She jumped me, I dodged, and she ended up a casualty.”

“Why would she jump you?” he asked, frowning.

“She accused Lady Lucinda of being someone named Lister’s daughter,” Odette had joined the conversation.

“See here Talon,” Lucinda told him. “I don’t have a clue who my biological parents were, and I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, Lady Katherine and Lord Zack are myparents. Darla Lister made herself a nasty byword when Lewiston sent her to invade my home. Lister went after my sister Juliette, and Mom killed her. So as far as being related to her—No Thanks!”

“My apologies,” Delgado told Odette. “I am very sorry your tour ended on such a bad note. How can I make it up to you?”

Odette slipped her arm through his, “Lets talk about that,” she purred, giving Lucinda a wink over her shoulder.

“You hang around when we get back,” Lucinda told Tom grimly, when they were once more seated in the shuttle. Agra fluttered over to Sesuna and sniffed the front of Tom’s jacket. She crooned softly in comfort and extended a wing over Sesuna’s chest.

As soon as she could reasonably get rid of Odette and her crew, Lucinda hauled both Tom and Sesuna into the employee lounge, which fortunately was empty,

She glanced at the girl’s worried face and decided to start with her.

“Alright, what did you steal?” she asked, eyeing the front of Sesuna’s blouse which was moving. Slowly the girl un did a couple of buttons and lifted out a small animal. It was about half again as big as Agra, four legged, with a smushed in face, and a pink button nose. It was covered in soft purple fuzz, with a feathery plume of a tail. It was obviously still cold, because it shivered When Sesuna uncovered it.

“It’s a Fire Indri,” the girl said. “I couldn’t leave her there! She hungry and cold and about to whelp. They were killing her!”

“Fire Indri’s are also illegal to export for sale off Trellya,” Tom interjected.

Lucinda sighed, “Of course you couldn’t leave her there,” she told Sesuna. There had been a few times lately when she had really wished Katherine were here to advise her, but her mother was eight hours away on Veiled Isle. Well Lucinda would just have to muddle along on her own. She pulled out her com and contacted Glass Manor.

When Mira answered, Lucinda asked to be put through to the animal husbandry chief.

“Karen,” she told her, I’ve got a pregnant Fire Indri from Trellya here who is about to whelp. She’s hungry, cold, and I would guess dehydrated. Can you help?”

 

NOTE FROM GAIL: As everyone can see the Fire Indri used in this excerpt is really a type of bat. However, by the time the artist gets through with it, it will look quite different. Most of the critters in the Handfasting universe have an earth animal as a base.

 

 

A Different View Of Victorian England

The Deeds of the Disturber (The Amelia Peabody Murder Mysteries)

by Elizabeth Peters

Gail Daley‘s review
May 20, 2018  ·  edit


This book could be considered an aberration in this series as it takes place entirely in England instead of Egypt, but it has some notable features. For one thing readers are introduced to Amelia’s nephew Percy for the first time as a secondary baddie and a foe for Ramses. Percy, as readers of the series know, appears as the villain in several of the later books