“Under the Comet” which covers the period August 1853 to February 1854 and is partly set during the Preston Lock-Out. A charity hospital, the Caritas, is run by the Palmer family and was founded by the head of the family, the philanthropist Doctor Louis Palmer, the seventh Earl of Carmeldale. The title was conferred on the family for loans to the Government in the seventeenth century with money made from slavery. The family broke with the slave trade in the 1780’s and Louis Palmer, a veteran of the Peninsular War and Waterloo, sold the family home, Ambrose Hall, in 1817 to buy a town house and set up the hospital in Preston. The comet in the title is that the Great Comet which was visible in the northwest sky from June to October 1853, even during the day. In times past, comets had the reputation of bringing ill fortune. Other main characters are Louis’s own children, Harriet and Tom, and two adopted children of similar age, Henry and Ellen. Through their father’s influence all four of them are very intelligent and well educated in science based subjects. They are also ambitious and confident without being overbearing.
The novel features attacks on the hospital, a delicate Victorian love affair, a psychotic murderer and a vengeful ghost. The action takes place in Preston, where conditions of the town and the people are described, and Anglesey where characters use their ingenuity to achieve their ends. “Under The Comet” is lively and credible, weaving fiction with fact and has a cinematic quality to its narrative. Occasionally the action is promoted by diary entries and letters.
A second, completed novel carrying on the story will be published shortly.
Solve a murder, save her mother, and stop the apocalypse? No problem. She has a foul-mouthed troll on her side. For Austin homicide detective Leira Berens, happy is running down bad guys and solving crimes. And she’s damn good at it. Which is why when the Light Elf prince is murdered, the king breaks a centuries old treaty and crosses between worlds to seek her help. Wait a min...
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