Death and the Barbary Coast

by T.E. MacArthur

There's something nasty lurking in the thick fog of San Francisco, roaring in the dark, waiting to be unleashed. Leave it to lucky Tom Turner to have to find out, but first he must evade being shanghaied in the Barbary Coast, destroyed by the murderous ambitions of former Confederate "gentlemen," or punished as a consequence of his own past. Mechanical monstrosities show up on every gaslit street corner and in every suspicious warehouse, threatening the very fabric of his country. Civil War veteran, witness to Krakatoa's deadly eruption, and survivor of Robur the Conqueror's madness, Turner's luck finally seems to be failing as he is thrust back into a war to save the Union. The Volcano Lady, Volumes I and II, told only part of Tom Turner's story. Now The Yankee Must Die - Gaslight Adventures of Tom Turner (in three novellas) reveals the rest of his adventures. Can he escape his past or will he die at the hands of bio-mechanical assassins? Turner dreams of the day he might be reunited with the only woman to capture his heart - Victorian volcanologist Lettie Gantry - if only he can survive again and again, against all chances. This is T.E. MacArthur's latest installment from the Volcano Lady universe: an exciting blend of historical fact and steam-powered fiction - plus a healthy dose of Jules Verne himself.

132 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2013

About the author

T. E. MacArthur, author, artist, historian, amateur cat whisperer, and parapsychologist wannabe lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She wrote the standout Steampunk series, The Volcano Lady, and the classic, one-shilling serial, The Gaslight Adventures of Tom Turner.

A Place of Fog and Murder is her Noir-Punk mystery, bringing a fantasy sci-fi 1930s San Francisco to life with her tough-as-nails femme-fatale-detective, Lou Tanner P.I., through exciting car chases and Chandleresque witty repartee. She’s even written for several specialized publications, anthologies, and was an accidental sports reporter for Reuters News.

Her storytelling dramatically shifted direction recently to embrace the paranormal, her lifelong obsession, with the creation of her newest novel, The Skin Thief, set in the Four Corners region of Colorado, not too far from where she grew up.

You can find her on Facebook, Goodreads, TikTok, or at www.TEMacArthur.com.

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book picks up where the previous volume "The Yankee Must Die: Huaka'i Po (the Nightmarchers)" left off. Turner finds himself in San Francisco and his life just keeps getting more interesting, but of course ends with another cliffhanger ending that should be resolved in the next installment and set things up for the 3rd volume of the Volcano Lady series.

This series is the continuation of the further adventures of Tom Turner, a central character in the author's Volcano Lady series, is featured in his own series done in the format of the "Penny Dreadful," a book style prevalent in Victorian Britain. Tom Turner is from the world of Jules Verne (the author's source of inspiration).