The Queen of Swords

April 17, 2017
Belcher’s enjoyable third historical fantasy (after The Shotgun Arcana) employs considerable imagination to drop readers into a fully formed world of magic and mysticism, drawing on ancient cultures and rituals while serving up exciting action sequences. It’s 1870, and Maude Stapleton has returned to Charleston, S.C., from the Nevada mining town of Golgotha. She’s determined to get custody of her 14-year-old daughter, Constance, and claim her rightful inheritance. Distractions abound as Constance is attacked by assassins who serve the evil Sons of Typhon, but Maude is a member of the Daughters of Lilith and has trained for this very eventuality. Meanwhile, in 1721, the pirate Anne Bonny breaks out of jail, gives birth to her son, and sets off to discover the secrets of a mysterious chest and find her fortune. The tastiest tidbits lie in Anne’s story line, which takes her from the raging sea to the heart of Africa, where nuanced characterizations transcend some pulp adventure clichés. Fans of the Golgotha series will adore this, and new readers will find a rich new world to fall into as well as two very strong heroines to root for. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency.

May 15, 2017

Maude Stapleton has temporarily left the frontier town of Golgotha, NV, to deal with some family business. Her father has taken control of her money and custody of her daughter Constance in a bid to get Maude to return to Charleston, SC, and behave like a proper widow. But Maude is no ordinary Victorian. She is a Daughter of Lilith, an assassin endowed with special skills that she will need to use to rescue Constance after she's kidnapped by enemies. Alternating with Maude's story is the equally entertaining tale of her ancestor, the notorious pirate Anne Bonney. Both tales are exciting, action-packed adventures, with some additional emotional punch in Maude's struggles to gain the understanding of the father she once adored. VERDICT The shift of setting from the Weird West of the first two books (Six-Gun Tarot, The Shotgun Arcana) makes this an ideal place for new readers to jump into the series. Belcher hints that Maude will be heading back to Golgotha and her budding romance with a certain local deputy.--MM

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