Bøger af Michelle Black

Enter the world of the Victorian occult... Before Flynn Keirnan bought an antique photograph at an estate sale, she had never heard of spirit photography, but when the bidding on eBay for the strange old photo soars past a thousand dollars, she knows she must discover the story behind mysterious picture before the auction ends. She soon learns the eerie images of a young woman and two men posed in the photograph were the subjects of a sensational murder trial in 1875 Chicago. A young architect was accused of killing his wife and his best friend in what the local press dubbed The Free Love Murders. Flynn tracts the story through many sources, including the trial transcript, a journal kept by one of the victims, and notes from a jailhouse interview with the husband conducted by none other than feminist firebrand Victoria Woodhull for her radical newspaper. Since Victoria Woodhull was a spiritualist before she became the first female candidate for president and the most widely known proponent of Free Love, she was asked by the accused husband to contact the spirits of his wife and friend to find out how they really died. Were the deaths a double homicide, as the prosecution claims, a double suicide, as the distraught husband fears, or a murder-suicide and, if so, who killed whom? As the jury deliberates the husband's fate, Victoria finds herself embroiled in a dangerous web of fraud and intrigue that will take much more than a seance to unravel. Before it is over, she will even come to rethink her commitment to the doctrine of Free Love. Flynn Keirnan discovers the key to solving the Free Love murders lies in the provenance of the spirit photograph itself and when she does, like Victoria, her own views on love will change.

The healing waters of the Solomon Spring hold no miracle cure for murder... - A child custody battle turns deadly on a windswept winter prairie in 1878. - A man begins a quixotic search for lost love in an effort to mend his shattered life. - A sacred Native American shrine is about to be defiled, but not if one determined woman can stop it. These three seemingly unrelated stories collide at the Solomon Springs natural wonder held sacred for centuries because of its legendary healing properties. Murder shatters the spiritual calm that is Solomon Spring. Seeking solace from the turbulent life she has led, Eden Murdoch returns to the Solomon Spring. The tranquility of this timeless place will soon be corrupted by a local businessman who plans to exploit the sacred waters of the Spring. Eden's earnest fight to prevent this sacrilege is interrupted by her own past. Brad Randall, her one-time lover, arrives with the astounding news that the infant son Eden lost fourteen years before has been located and is living nearby. The joy of her reunion with her son and with Brad, is clouded by the reappearance of her long-estranged husband, Lawrence Murdoch, who seeks sole custody of the boy and of the prosperous ranch the boy will inherit from his adoptive father. The warring couple engages in a vicious battle, both legal and emotional, with an unexpectedly deadly outcome. ********************* Praise for Solomon Spring "The strong characters, the vivid details of life in the West in the late 1800s, and an engaging plot combine to make this an absorbing historical mystery."- Booklist "Credible and engaging characters, particularly the fearless and feisty heroine, Eden Murdoch, together with a well-paced, suspenseful plot make for a fine historical adventure yarn in a this sequel to Black's An Uncommon Enemy." - Publishers Weekly

"There is no word in the Cheyenne language for forgiveness." On the day after Thanksgiving, 1868, George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry attack a sleeping Cheyenne village on the banks of the Washita. Ironically, it later becomes known that the village attacked was that of Black Kettle, the foremost peace chief of the Cheyenne Nation. Amidst the heartless and senseless slaughter of men, women, and children, the Seventh Cavalry discovers a white woman living among the Cheyenne. Her name is Eden Murdoch, and she was presumed dead years before. While the army expects to use her for propaganda purposes and to refute the accusations that the Cheyenne village posed no threat to white settlers, Eden refuses to take part in any such propaganda: to acknowledge that the army "rescued" her from a "savage" society. Eden avoids giving the details of her story to any of the officers; she will say only that she considered her Cheyenne husband and his other wives family. Custer's young and inexperienced aide-de-camp, Captain Brad Randall, is assigned the task of looking after Eden and locating her family. Beginning to doubt Custer's actions and struggling to act honorably, Brad is both fascinated and perplexed by Eden's eccentric behavior. He becomes obsessed with learning the truth behind Eden's bizarre journey, and when Eden begins to reveal it to him, his own future changes. Eden and Brad unexpectedly set in motion events that will echo all the way to the Little Bighorn.

This is a novel about a man exploring his female side and the people and adventures he has.

In the American West of 1880, Leadville, Colorado, is the wealthiest mining district on earth and by far its richest mine is the Eye Dazzler. When Lucinda Ridenour, the notorious widow-heiress to the Dazzler, chooses young Kit Randall to be her lover, Kit thinks he has the world at his feet. But when their affair sinks into depravity, he must rediscover himself and find out if he has the character to survive in a society that has more money than morals.After waking up from an absinthe-created hallucination in which unspeakable acts seem to have taken place, Kit angrily leaves the house of Lucinda and her twenty-year-old son, Christopher, feeling betrayed and exploited. Then, Lucinda is found stabbed to death.In the midst of this turmoil and of Leadville''s anxiety over its labor unrest and the impending arrival of the railroad, Kit''s uncle, Brad Randall, and his fiancé, Eden Murdoch, arrive in the boomtown planning to celebrate their wedding, but are instead shocked to learn Kit is the primary suspect in the sensational murder. Eden resolves to learn the truth and clear Kit Randall''s name. To do so, she forms an uneasy alliance with Bella Valentine, Kit''s former girlfriend and a dabbler in the occult. With this unlikely ally Eden uncovers shocking secrets of the Ridenour family just as Leadville''s first labor strike brings the town to an armed and dangerous standstill.The Second Glass of Absinthe is a dazzling glimpse of the Victorian West and a riveting murder mystery set in the dizzying world of a boomtown where lusts-for gold, for power, for flesh-intoxicate all who come in contact with it.

Ellie and the Sunflowers is for children to ignite imagination, build confidence, and facilitate positive experiences when situations or environments may prompt anxiety or fear, experienced as fight, freeze, or flight. Imagination is enlivened through the story of Ellie and the metaphor of the sunflowers to help her experience a new setting. Underpinning the story is the science-neurology, biology, and psychology of emotions. It is science that informs the actions to counter unpleasant feelings of anxiety and fear, activating a calm state and confidence to initiate and to self-manage situations or environments that children may find challenging. My vision for children all over the world is for them to engage in the story and apply what they learn to foster confidence and new experiences to enjoy. Parents, teachers, family members, care givers, counsellors, cousins, and friends can leverage the story to engage children and help them to build confidence to stand up tall, to imagine, thrive and independently self-manage anxiety or fear in a simple and effective way.