The Custodian of Marvels (Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire Series #3)

by Rod Duncan

Overview

Join undercover and patriarchy-bucking PI Elizabeth Baranabus on a third and final mystery adventure through a steampunk-flavored Victorian London
 
You’d have to be mad to steal from the feared International Patent Office. But that’s what Elizabeth Barnabus is about to try. A one-time enemy from the circus has persuaded her to attempt a heist that will be the ultimate conjuring trick.

Hidden in the vaults of the Patent Court in London lie secrets that could shake the very pillars of the Gas-Lit Empire. All that stands in Elizabeth’s way are the agents of the Patent Office, a Duke’s private army and the mysterious Custodian of Marvels.

Rod Duncan returns with the climactic volume of The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, the breathtaking alternate history series that began with the Philip K. Dick Award-nominated The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857665034
Publisher:	Watkins Media
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Series:	Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire Series , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	822,119
File size:	660 KB

About the Author

Rod Duncan is the Phillip K. Dick Award-nominated author of the Fall of The Gas-Lit Empire series. His first novel Backlash was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger, and he has since written three other crime novels (all Simon & Schuster UK), and had his first screenplay produced. His background is in scientific research and computing, and he lives in Leicester.

Editorial Reviews

A series that will amaze and delight.”
—Looking for a Good Book

“Rod Duncan’s writing is a joy because his pseudo late-Victorian narrative runs along the smooth rails of a framework powered by an invisible, but well-oiled word engine that hums away in the background making sure the reader gets all the thrills and spills while retaining a good sense of the story as it relentlessly barrels along.”
—Strange Alliances

Praise for The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series:

“Rod Duncan’s The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter is a magic box pulsating with energy. Compulsive reading from the get-go, the blend of steampunk alternate history wrapped in the enigma of a chase makes for first-rate entertainment in this finely crafted novel.”
—Graham Joyce, author of Year of the Ladybird

“Steeped in illusion and grounded in an alternative history of the Luddite Rebellion, Duncan’s strong supernatural mystery serves ably as both a standalone adventure and the start to a series…Strategically placed steampunk tropes inform but do not overwhelm Elizabeth’s headlong quest to find a missing aristocrat sought by the Patent Office, which is fixated on both achieving perfection and eliminating “unseemly science.” A hazardous border crossing into the permissively corrupt Kingdom of England and Southern Wales provides ample excitement, and a glossary at the novel’s conclusion hints enticingly at a much more involved story to come.”
—Publishers Weekly

“I was completely caught up in her adventure and her plight. I think steampunk readers and fantasy/sci-fi readers will enjoy this one, so I’m recommending it for them even though (and to some extent because) its use of steampunk is a bit different. I found it to be a refreshing change from more formulaic steampunk novels.”
—Popcorn Reads

“The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter is an entertaining book that has some genuine, original touches combined with a clever story and even cleverer characters.”
—SF Book Reviews

From the Publisher