Gaslamp Gothic

The Daemoniac: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 01

by Kat Ross. 

It's August 1888, just three weeks before Jack the Ripper will terrorize Whitechapel, and another murderer is stalking the streets of New York. His handiwork bears the hallmarks of a demonic possession—but amateur sleuth Harrison Fearing Pell is certain her quarry is a man of flesh and blood. And she hopes to make her reputation by solving the bizarre case before the man the press has dubbed Mr. Hyde strikes again.

From the squalor of the Five Points to the high-class gambling dens of the Tenderloin and the glittering mansions of Fifth Avenue, Harry follows the trail of a remorseless killer, uncovering a few embarrassing secrets of New York's richest High Society families along the way. Are the murders a case of black magic—or simple blackmail? And will the trail lead closer to home than she ever imagined?

The Thirteenth Gate: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 02

by Kat Ross. 

Winter 1888. At an asylum in the English countryside, a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper kills an orderly and flees into the rain-soaked night. His distraught keepers summon the Lady Vivienne Cumberland—who's interviewed their patient and isn't sure he's a man at all. An enigmatic woman who guards her own secrets closely, Lady Vivienne knows a creature from the shadowlands when she sees one. And he’s the most dangerous she's ever encountered.

As Jack rampages through London, this time targeting rare book collectors, Lady Vivienne begins to suspect what he's looking for. And if he finds it, the doors to the underworld will be thrown wide open…

Across the Atlantic, an archaeologist is brutally murdered after a Christmas Eve gala at the American Museum of Natural History. Certain peculiar aspects of the crime attract the interest of the Society for Psychical Research and its newest investigator, Harrison Fearing Pell. Is Dr. Julius Sabelline's death related to his recent dig in Alexandria? Or is the motive something darker?

As Harry uncovers troubling connections to a serial murder case she’d believed was definitively solved, two mysteries converge amid the grit and glamor of Gilded Age New York. Harry and Lady Vivienne must join forces to stop an ancient evil. The key is something called the Thirteenth Gate. But where is it? And more importantly, who will find it first?

A Bad Breed: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 03

by Kat Ross. 

Pricolici.

A creature out of folklore. And nightmare.

January 1889. When a Romanian village suffers a series of brutal attacks, occult investigator Anne Lawrence is dispatched to the forests of the Old Country to hunt the killer – only to vanish without a trace.

The trail leads her mentor Vivienne Cumberland deep into the Carpathians to a remote monastery. As a blizzard rages outside, trapping them all with the pricolici, Vivienne risks sharing the fate of the woman she came to find. But is the culprit truly a werewolf … or something even more dangerous?

A man bent on revenge. And a love that was never meant to be.

Imprisoned in a decaying castle, Anne finds herself ensnared in a web of dark enchantment, at the mercy of a mysterious captor with a beast inside – and a memory as old as the ancient legends.

As the weeks pass, Anne learns his real identity, and slowly uncovers a complex and deeply passionate man. But is she willing to pay the price for falling under his spell?

The Necromancer's Bride: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 04

by Kat Ross. 

Forgiveness is not Gabriel D’Ange’s strong suit.

A self-appointed soldier of God with a penchant for ruthlessly punishing his enemies, he vanished after Anne Lawrence stabbed him with his own dagger. The smart thing would be to let him go. Unfortunately, Anne’s life isn’t just lonely without Gabriel. It’s insufferably boring.

Determined to heal the rift between them, she goes in search of her tempestuous former lover, black parasol in hand and daeva magic crackling at her fingertips. But Gabriel has his own plans afoot and Anne finds herself drawn into one of his tangled webs, much against her better judgment. Gabriel’s nemesis has reappeared in Brussels, a vile slaver who’s plundering the Congo Free State with the blessing of King Leopold. Gabriel might be willing to give Anne a second chance, but not until Jorin Bekker’s head is lying at his feet.

Back in London, the quasi-reformed necromancer Balthazar sets his sights on the same quarry. He holds a very personal grudge against Bekker — and killing him might be the only way to keep Gabriel D’Ange from Balthazar’s own throat. When the hunters collide at a lavish gala thrown by the king, Anne learns just how far she’ll go to save the man she loves.

Dead Ringer: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 05

by Kat Ross. 

A poisonous secret...

A terrifying curse...

And a client she’d just as soon see dead in a ditch.

Harrison Fearing Pell hoped for adventure when she signed on with the Society for Psychical Research as an occult investigator.

Slogging through New York’s sewers in pursuit of a “mud man” wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

But the reeking monster terrorizing the dance halls of the Tenderloin leads her to an even more peculiar mystery — and the last man on earth Harry wishes to become entangled with.

James Moran is a prodigy in music, mathematics ... and crime. Harry’s older sister, the famed detective Myrtle Fearing Pell, has vowed to put him behind bars.

But Harry owes Moran a personal debt so when he demands her aid, she can hardly refuse. It turns out that the brilliant black sheep of New York Society is part of a secret club at Columbia College whose members have started dying in bizarre ways that may not be accidents.

Thus begins one of the strangest cases of Harry’s career, a tale of murder, cold-blooded revenge and fairytale bogeymen to make the Brothers Grimm shudder. As the bodies pile up, each preceded by sightings of the victim’s doppelgänger, Harry and her stalwart friend John Weston must race against time to save a man who arguably deserves his macabre fate.

Balthazar's Bane: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 06

by Kat Ross.

A bungled murder.

A ridiculous quest.

And a hero with extremely dodgy credentials.

New Year's Eve, 1889. Count Balthazar Jozsef Habsburg-Kohary tries to lead a simple life. Oh, he has a few hobbies. Collecting ancient Egyptian artifacts. Impersonating dead Hungarian nobility. Seducing an endless string of women who never suspect the price of the count's attentions.

But considering what Balthazar used to be like, these pursuits are harmless. And surely he deserves a reward for assassinating the elusive necromancer John Mortlake in the middle of Cairo's teeming bazaar. What could be better than a holiday cruise up the Nile with his secretary Lucas Devereaux?

Unfortunately for Balthazar, he just killed the wrong necromancer – one with a vengeful daughter and huge debts to some very shady djinn. To get his mojo back, he and Lucas must find a legendary sword and liberate a desert kingdom of magical misfits. For centuries, the people of Al Miraj have sought a valiant champion willing to face the wrath of the arch demon Fulad-zereh!

What they get is Balthazar. But the gods always did like a good joke.

The Scarlet Thread: Gaslamp Gothic: Book 07

by Kat Ross.

Bloody Mary Worth.

Say her name thirteen times in a mirror and you might see the face of your future husband.

Or, less happily, your own shrieking demise.

December 1889. When society girls start dropping like flies at the start of the Winter Ball Season, Harrison Fearing Pell lands her first juicy case since she was suspended from the Society for Psychical Research. And the prime suspect is the very same client who landed her in the soup last time—criminal prodigy and all-around nuisance James Moran.

The victims appear to have been scared to death. But is the real culprit the ghost of a vengeful dead girl—or something even worse? As Harry digs deeper into Mary’s unsolved murder thirty years before, the icy hand of the past reaches into the present. What is the significance of the scarlet thread wound around the victims’ fingers? Is there a connection to the mesmerism fad sweeping New York? And if he’s innocent, why is James still such an insufferable bastard?

Moran’s connections to the city’s seedy underworld might be the key to untangling the mystery—assuming Harry can find the answer before she ends up killing him herself.