A story of automatons, dirigibles, the plague, Queen Victoria, murder, and much foul play.Newbury and Hobbes are brought in on a string of murders in Whitechapel, but are soon redirected by the Queen herself, to discover why an airship has crashed into a park in the heart of London.Established bu...
Dull stuff really. None of the characters were developed and there was a lack of period feel. None of the steampunk devices seemed to add to the plot which was really a rather generic thriller which could have been placed in any set of circumstances. The writing increases that feeling with the in...
I said, as we tucked into a hearty breakfast of poached eggs and bacon the following morning, “another case successfully concluded. I don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve been in a position to say that.” “Indeed, Watson. I had thought my days as a consulting detective were long behind me, bu...
‘On the gravel. Walk on the mud instead.’The Doctor looked at her as if she were mad. ‘But then my boots would get filthy,’ he said. ‘It’ll get all over the TARDIS. Who’s going to clear it up? You?’Cinder rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, if I must. Just do it. It’s better to have muddy boots than to be lyi...
He was alone in a hostile country, his head full of state secrets, and he knew the authorities were on to him. That much had been made clear by the reaction of the British embassy when he'd tried to report in earlier that day. They had denied all knowledge of his existence, refusing to let him in...
“Would I be here if I weren’t?”They were sitting in a hansom cab at the foot of the long gravel driveway that curled, snakelike, across the grounds of the Grayling Institute. Veronica peered out between the window drapes. The glass was filthy with spattered grime, but she had a reasonable view of...
The Filament itself was a huge cylindrical brass stove that sat on the edge of the swimming pool. It was covered with complex dials and switches, and had a hinged brass door in its belly that allowed access to the furnace. Henry, earlier, had rolled up his sleeves and shoveled in sack-loads of co...
Her eyelids were heavy and she had the bizarre notion that she was floundering underwater, her senses dimmed, her breathing thick and uncomfortable. She gasped at the air, striking out with her hands, encountering only hard, rough panels in all directions. Her heart was racing in her chest. Probi...
She’d half expected to discover the three men—Newbury, Bainbridge, and Angelchrist—already ensconced in the drawing room, deep in conversation. Instead, she found the two old friends hunkered down over a brandy, and couldn’t help but smile as she was instantly reminded of old times.She stood in t...
And here’s me thinking you had a distaste for corpses.” “I do,” growled Donovan, chewing on the end of his unlit cigarette. He was back in Vettel’s laboratory, staring at the milky-white corpse of an overweight mobster. This one had been in the morgue for well over a week, chilling in one of the ...
Always the damn flies. Harrison slapped at the insects buzzing incessantly around his face and checked his rifle for the fifth time that hour. The heat was proving even more oppressive than usual and the hair at the nape of his neck was damp with perspiration, his uniform tight and uncomfortable....
Slowly, tentatively, the figure came to life, shifting its position to better observe the courtyard on the other side of the broken balustrade. It moved with a practised silence, resting the nose of its bolt pistol on a fragment of the shattered stairwell, its jaw set firm with grim determination...
It seems as if only a few months have passed. I’ve been astounded by people’s response to the series, by how many people have found something to enjoy in these madcap tales of derring-do and adventure in the dark streets of a Victorian London that never was. When I set out to write The Affinity B...