M. Louisa Locke

ALLi Author Member

Location: United States of America (the)

Genres: History, Humour, Writing & Publishing, Crime, Fantasy/SciFi/Speculative, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Short/Flash Fiction Collection, Womens Fiction

Skills: Speaking Engagement/Lecture, Self-publishing Workshop/Training, Press/Media Interview

M. Louisa Locke, a retired professor of U.S. and Women’s History, has embarked on a second career as the author of novels and short stories set in Victorian San Francisco that are based on Dr. Locke's doctoral research on late 19th century working women. In Maids of Misfortune, Annie Fuller, a young widow, goes undercover as a domestic servant to solve a murder, in Uneasy Spirits, Annie and lawyer Nate Dawson investigate fraudulent trance mediums, and in Bloody Lessons, they try to determine who is attacking San Francisco teachers. Deadly Proof, the fourth book in the series, is about women in the San Francisco printing industry, the fifth book in the series, Pilfered Promises, takes Annie and Nate into the world of the new department store. Scholarly Pursuits, the most recent book in the series, takes Laura Dawson (Nate’s sister) to the UC: Berkeley campus where she faces the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics.

Not just content with writing about the past, Locke has recently turned to the future with the Caelestis Series Trilogy (Between Mountain and Sea, Under Two Moons, Through Ddaera’s Touch) set in the collaborative world of the Paradisi Chronicles. Locke is active in the Alliance of Independent Authors and the Historical Fiction Authors Cooperative. More about her work can be found at http://mlouisalocke.com/

M. Louisa Locke's books

Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (Book 1)

It's the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie's husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt.

Annie Fuller also has a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco's most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl's clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe it is suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen.

Nate Dawson has a problem. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to believe that Matthew Voss didn't leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior.

Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco.

Uneasy Spirits: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (Book 2)

In this sequel to Maids of Misfortune, it is the fall of 1879 and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, has a problem. Despite her growing financial success as the clairvoyant Madam Sibyl, Annie doesn't believe in the astrology and palmistry her clients think are the basis for her advice.

Kathleen Hennessey, Annie Fuller's young Irish maid, has a plan. When her mistress is asked to expose a fraudulent trance medium, Arabella Frampton, Kathleen is determined to assist in the investigation, just like the Pinkerton detectives she has read about in the dime novels.

Nate Dawson, up-and-coming San Francisco lawyer, has a dilemma. He wants to marry the unconventional Annie Fuller, but he doesn't feel he can reveal his true feelings until he has a way to make enough money to support her.

In this cozy historical mystery of romantic suspense, Annie delves into the intriguing world of 19th century spiritualism, encountering true believers and naïve dupes, clever frauds and unexplained supernatural phenomena. She will soon find there are as many secrets as there are spirits swirling around the Frampton séance table. Some of those secrets will threaten the foundation of her career as Madam Sibyl and the future of her relationship with Nate Dawson, and, in time, they will threaten her very life itself.

Bloody Lessons: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (Book 3)

In Bloody Lessons, it's the winter of 1880, and the teachers of San Francisco are under attack: their salaries slashed and their competency and morals questioned in a series of poison pen letters.

Annie Fuller, the reluctant clairvoyant, has been called in to investigate by Nate Dawson, her lawyer beau, and the case becomes personal when they discover that Laura, Nate's sister, may be one of the teachers being targeted.

In this installment of the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, readers will find the same blend of a cozy mystery and romantic suspense, played out against the historical backdrop of late 19th century San Francisco, that they found in Maids of Misfortune and Uneasy Spirits.

If you are new to this series, you will still enjoy spending time with the lively residents of Annie Fuller's boarding house and visiting San Francisco when Golden Gate Park was filled with horse-drawn carriages, politics were controlled by saloon-keepers, and kisses were stolen under gaslight.

Victorian San Francisco Stories

This book is a collection of four short stories from the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. Madam Sibyl's First Client was written specifically for this collection and it finds Annie Fuller, the young widowed boarding house keeper, just starting her career as a pretend clairvoyant. In Dandy Detects, the Boston terrier that lives in Annie Fuller's boarding house helps uncover a crime, and in The Misses Moffet Mend a Marriage, two elderly boarders use their dressmaking skills to avert a domestic tragedy. Finally, in Mr. Wong Rights a Wrong, a Chinese manservant from the first mystery in the series, Maids of Misfortune, makes another appearance and helps Annie Fuller solve a serious problem. As a bonus, there is an essay, Historical Tidbits, which provides insight into the historical research that went into these stories.

Deadly Proof: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (Book 4)

It's the summer of 1880, and once again the lovely and inquisitive businesswoman, Annie Fuller, is helping San Francisco lawyer and beau, Nate Dawson, with a troublesome case. Nate's client, a female typesetter accused of murdering her boss, refuses to help in her own defense. Complicating matters, Nate's sister Laura insists on getting involved in the potentially dangerous investigation, while Laura's friend Seth Timmons, troubled Civil War veteran, finds himself a witness for the prosecution. Will Nate be able to win his first big case? Will Laura and Seth find some way of staying friends? And finally, will Annie and Nate's upcoming nuptials be derailed by their attempts to track down a killer?

Old friends and new readers alike will enjoy Deadly Proof, this fourth installment of the cozy Victorian San Francisco Mystery series that blends light romance, suspense, and a glimpse into the lives of late 19th century women who worked.

Pilfered Promises: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

It is November of 1880, and the future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate’s law practice is taking off. Annie has made the transition from pretend clairvoyant to a successful financial consultant, and as a couple, they are looking forward to spending their first Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together.

For Robert Livingston, the owner San Francisco’s newest grand emporium, the holidays are shaping up to be a dismal failure if he can’t figure out how to stop whoever is stealing from his department store, the Silver Strike Bazaar. When he hires the Dawsons to investigate, Annie and Nate discover that behind the doors of Livingston’s “Palace of Plenty,” nothing is quite what it seems.

Pilfered Promises, by USA Today bestselling author, M. Louisa Locke, is the fifth full-length historical mystery in the cozy Victorian San Francisco mystery series featuring Annie and Nate Dawson and their friends and family in the O’Farrell Street boarding house. Locke’s shorter works, found in Victorian San Francisco Stories and Victorian San Francisco Novellas, feature minor characters from the series.

Scholarly Pursuits: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

“Something is rotten in the state of Berkeley”
--1881 Blue and Gold Yearbook, University of California: Berkeley

In Scholarly Pursuits, the sixth full-length novel in the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco mystery series, Locke explores life on the University of California: Berkeley campus in 1881, where Laura and her friends face the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics.

While Annie and Nate Dawson and friends and family in the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse await a blessed event, Laura Dawson finds herself investigating why a young Berkeley student dropped out of school in the fall of 1880.

No one, including her friend Seth Timmons, thinks this is a good idea, since she is juggling a full course load with a part-time job, but she can’t let the question of what happened to her friend go unanswered. Not when it means that other young women might be in danger.

This cozy historical mystery of romantic suspense is set in the period immediately after the fifth book in the series, Pilfered Promises, and two novellas, Kathleen Catches a Killer and Dandy Delivers. However, it can be read as a stand-alone.

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