Ministry of Curiosities

Victorian London: For five years, Charlotte (Charlie) Holloway has lived as a boy in the slums. But when one theft too many gets her arrested, her only means of escape lies with a dead man. Charlie hasn't raised a spirit since she first discovered she could do so five years ago. That time, her father banished her. This time, she brings even more trouble upon herself. People are now hunting Charlie all over London, but only one man succeeds in capturing her. Lincoln Fitzroy is the mysterious head of a secret organization on the trail of a madman who needs a necromancer to control his newly made creatures. There was only one known necromancer in the world - Charlotte - but now there appears to be two. Lincoln captures the willful Charlie in the hopes the boy will lead him to Charlotte. But what happens when he discovers the boy is in fact the young woman he's been searching for all along? And will she agree to work for the man who held her against her will, and for an organization she doesn't trust? Because Lincoln and his ministry might be just as dangerous as the madman they're hunting.

When bodies go missing from the cemetery, Lincoln and the Ministry of Curiosities investigate. But not Charlie. As a housemaid at Lichfield Towers, she doesn't get involved in Ministry business. Instead, she conducts investigations of her own. She searches for details about her real mother, and makes inquiries into Lincoln's background. What she learns has the power to destroy the fragile trust they've built, or bring them closer together. As secrets are revealed, and investigations don't go as planned, Charlie finds her necromancy sucking her into a whirlpool filled with betrayal, lies and danger.

At the request of Lady Harcourt, Charlie and Lincoln begin searching for her missing stepson. Still recovering from her ordeal at the hands of a diabolical villain, Charlie is supposed to be resting. But resting is dull, so she throws herself into the task at hand, much to Lincoln's frustration. The search leads them down a dark path littered with family secrets and titillating scandal. Using her necromancy to expose those secrets, Charlie unwittingly raises a spirit with the power to override her control. With a dead body on the loose in London, Charlie and Lincoln must work together to send it back before havoc is unleashed, and the committee members find out. Because if they do, they will have more ammunition in their fight to send Charlie away from her home and everyone she loves.

Charlie's life is perfect. She has everything her heart desires. Until it all goes horribly wrong. Charlie and Lincoln return to London to find two supernaturals have been murdered, and Charlie might be next. As if that wasn't bad enough, the man who adopted her has escaped from prison, and the committee members have just learned some news that infuriates them. Now there's talk of sending Charlie away again. Far away. But the worst is yet to come. Charlie is kidnapped and forced to summon one of the murder victims – but she's unable to send him back. With an angry dead supernatural on the loose and the committee determined to get rid of her, Charlie's time with the Ministry of Curiosities, and Lincoln, is in grave danger of coming to an end.

Charlie is gone, and Lincoln finds that Lichfield Towers offers no sanctuary. With reminders of her at every turn, and employees threatening to mutiny, he must try to find the murderer who is killing supernaturals on his own. And keep the murderer away from Charlie. When the strongman from the visiting Barnum and Bailey's circus is murdered, Lincoln suspects a link, but piecing together the clues becomes dangerous and difficult work. He can't afford to be distracted, yet he finds he can't concentrate fully on the task. Even worse, Seth's mother, the incomparable Lady Vickers, has come to stay. ASHES TO ASHES is a bonus novella-length story, told entirely from Lincoln's point of view. It is shorter than the rest of the books in the Ministry of Curiosities series.

When Charlie returns to Lichfield, she steps into chaos. The killer is still on the loose, Lady Harcourt's secret is out, Seth and Gus are gone, and Lady Vickers has come to stay. But nothing compares to the chaos inflicted on Charlie's heart by seeing Lincoln every day. Despite their frequent clashes, Lincoln and Charlie manage to work together to narrow their list of suspects. No one can be trusted, especially not the members of the committee who are not what they seem. Long buried pasts are dug up as Charlie and Lincoln attempt to restore peace to Lichfield. But when danger enters her home, Charlie's world is shattered.