THE TEXICAN TINKERER

Can they solve the murder before the bride changes her mind?

The Wild West is a new world for Georgia Brunel and her aunt by marriage, Millicent Brunel. Instead of the verdant greens of England, they moor their airship Helena among scrub pines, red mesas, and a sense that the high desert neither forgives nor forgets.

Georgia had been expecting a simpler life as a guest at the van Meere ranch, but instead she finds tangles layered on complications. Her son, Teddy, is perpetually looking over his shoulder for those who would destroy not only the invention he believes in, but its creator as well. He is also involved in an affair of the heart that Georgia cannot support—and neither mother nor son can give in. Meanwhile, Millie and Cornelius van Meere are at loggerheads about their wedding. If every decision means a disagreement, is this really what the bride wants?

But like a knife through wedding cake, all these tangles are set aside when the foreman, who had been courting the daughter of the family on the ranch, is found dead in his cabin. There is no evidence of a struggle. Did he die at a stranger’s hands? Or could there have been a lovers’ quarrel?

When the Texican Rangers can provide no satisfactory answers, Georgia and Millie take the matter into their own hands, if only to delay Millie’s wedding until she makes up her mind. What they do not yet know is that in the high desert, stories are old, memories are long … and vengeance can last forever.

“I found it refreshing to read something where the main characters are ‘women of a certain age.’ Both women have agency and intelligence—and the backbone to use them. Being women and products of their social class, they are limited in their ability to be taken seriously by those in charge, which makes the conflict organic. And look out for the chickens. There are always chickens.” —Fanbase Press

The Texican Tinkerer is the fifth cozy fantasy novel in the Lady Georgia Brunel Mysteries series set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Though the books can be read as standalones, there are threads of love and family, tea and chickens, running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. Enjoy!