Red Dog Conspiracy

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Patricia Loofbourrow. Kidnapping. Murder. Betrayal. Can you ever truly hide from your past? In a far future US, the once-beautiful domed neo-Victorian city of Bridges is now split between four crime families in an uneasy cease-fire. Social disparity increasing and its steam-driven infrastructure failing, a new faction is on the rise: the Red Dogs. 22 year old Jacqueline Spadros was kidnapped from her mother's brothel and sold to the Spadros syndicate ten years ago. The murder of her best friend Air that night as he tried to save her from them haunts her nightmares. Now unwillingly married to one of the city's biggest drug lords, she finds moments of freedom in a small-time private eye business, which she hides in fear of her sadistic father-in-law. Air's little brother disappears off his back porch and the Red Dogs are framed for it. With the help of a mysterious gentleman investigator hired by the Red Dogs to learn the truth, Jacqui pushes her abilities to their limits in hope of rescuing the child before the kidnapper disposes of him.

Obsession. Blackmail. Betrayal. What if your best friend was helping your worst enemy? All is not well in Bridges. Tensions rise between the Four Families, who accuse each other of spying, while Red Dog attacks escalate. Aristocratic jewel merchant Dame Anastasia Louis, styling herself The Queen of Diamonds, hires 22 year-old private eye Jacqueline Spadros to collect from her debtors so she can leave the city. But Jacqui can't leave David Bryce's kidnapping and the murders of her teenage informants unpunished. Convinced the madman Black Jack Diamond was behind the crimes, she pursues ways to prove it. The scoundrel and his crew, however, seem to be one-step ahead: the terrifying man in white is seen lurking outside David's home, forged letters appear across the city, and merchants in the Spadros quadrant report threats from a man who fits his description. When witnesses who can identify David's kidnappers begin dying and evidence emerges that Jacqui's mother is next on the list, Jacqui is forced to make a dreadful choice. Someone will surely die. Will it be Jacqui, or her mother?

The one secret, which could destroy everything... After financial disaster and the zeppelin bombing, the city of Bridges is reeling. Three of the four Families are implicated, and an inquest is called to investigate. After her failure to prove Jack Diamond's guilt in David Bryce's kidnapping and the deaths of her friends, private eye and mobster's moll Jacqueline Spadros has had enough. While she and her former lover Joseph Kerr try to learn who killed their family friend, they also begin making plans to leave the city. But the secrets Jacqui has kept over the years are coming back to cause her serious trouble. Will she be able to escape Bridges? Or will she be forced to face the terrible consequences of her lies and trickery once and for all?

What if the person who hated you most was the only one who could save you? Thousands of gentlemen have gone bankrupt in Bridges and trouble brews between the Diamond and Spadros crime families. Yet the city is united in its desire to exact vengeance for those murdered in the zeppelin disaster. Penniless and alone, private eye Jacqueline Spadros confronts the lowest point of her life. Seen as an accomplice in the financial crisis and accused of a crime she didn't commit, Jacqui faces trial in front of a hostile jury - and could receive the death penalty. Jacqui knows she's been framed by the illusive Red Dog Gang. But will the jury believe her?

1899 years after the Catastrophe, Bridges is owned by the Mob. The Red Dog Conspiracy follows the story of 22 year old small-time private eye Jacqueline Spadros beginning from her first major case: the missing little brother of her best friend, whose murder ten years before still haunts her nightmares. The only clue? A Red Dog Gang stamp across the alley from where the boy was last seen. From the very first page, Jacqui is dragged into a web of lies, secrets, and betrayals which both endangers her life and the lives of those she loves. This contains books 1-3 of a 13-part steampunk crime fiction series: 1. The Jacq of Spades 2. The Queen of Diamonds 3. The Ace of Clubs