~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
Matter of Grave Concern
by
Brenda Novak
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
When
Maximillian Wilder joins the notorious body snatchers known as the
London Supply Company, the last thing on his mind is love. He’s
worried about Madeline, his vanished half sister, who was last seen
in the company of Jack Hurtsill, the gang’s conscienceless leader.
Raiding graveyards, stealing corpses, and selling them to medical
colleges as dissection material is dirty work, but he has to gain
Jack’s trust. He’s determined to find out what happened to
Madeline—and to bring Jack to justice if she was murdered for the
coin her body could bring.
Beautiful,
spirited Abigail Hale, daughter of the surgeon at Aldersgate School
of Medicine, detests the challenging, hard-bargaining Max. But she
must procure the necessary specimens if she is to save the college
and her father’s career. She believes she is going to be
successful—until Jack double-crosses her. Then she’s swept into a
plot of danger and intrigue, one where Max must intervene and protect
her, no matter the risk to his plan . . . or his heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
It was a
perfect specimen. Almost.
Abigail
Hale took a steadying breath and stooped into the cool, dark alley to
examine the bloodless gash on the cadaver’s high forehead. The
injury was a minor flaw, really. Nothing to worry about, although she
intended to use that imperfection to best advantage when haggling
over price.
Straightening,
she opened the door wide and motioned the five figures surrounding
the body inside. “Quickly!”
Three
men followed as two, their features distorted by the flickering light
of her lamp, hefted the sack containing the corpse into her father’s
office and dropped it with a thud as solid as though it contained
nothing more than so many rocks.
Abigail
squared her shoulders and crossed to the desk adjacent to her
father’s. Although she had dealt with resurrection men during the
last school year, thrice, she had never done business with this
particular gang. The sheer number of them took her off guard. Usually
a couple of gravediggers or sextons showed up, regular men who didn’t
look nearly so unsavory.
Hoping
to keep the “sack ’em up” men from seeing how badly her hands
were shaking, she clasped them behind her back.
A
behemoth of a man, marked with the smallpox and dressed all in black,
stepped forward. “When I saw the name on your letter, I assumed we
were dealin’ with the good surgeon himself,” he said with a thick
Cockney accent. “So who the bloody hell are you?”
“Who I
am doesn’t matter so long as you get paid. Am I correct,
Mr.…Hurtsill?” She was guessing at his name. This was the first
time she had ever met him, but he seemed in charge and had referenced
her letter.
“This
is some risky business we’ve got going here, little lady. I have to
trust you and you have to trust me. And that means who you are
matters more than you might think.”
Since he
didn’t correct her, she assumed she had accurately identified him.
“Fine. I am steward of the household accounts here, if you must
know.”
He
picked a piece of food out of his teeth. “The surgeon’s daughter,
eh?”
Apparently,
he knew more about the school than she had expected.
“Does
your father know you’re doin’ this?” he asked.
If they
didn’t get on with it, he would find out. And she couldn’t have
that. “Time is money, Mr. Hurtsill. How—”
“Big
Jack,” he interrupted.
“I’m
sorry?
“Call
me Big Jack.”
“Fine.
Mr…er…Jack, then. How much do you want for…um…” Abigail
nodded toward the sack.
Author Bio and buy links
New York
Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak is the author
of more than fifty books. A four-time Rita nominee, she has won many
awards, including the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s
Best, the Book Buyer’s Best, the Daphne, and the Holt Medallion.
She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every
May at www.brendanovak.com (her youngest son has this disease). To
date, she’s raised over $2 million. For more about Brenda, please
visit www.brendanovak.com.
Follow
me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brenda_Novak
Like me
on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Brenda-Novak/120794854630624
I must say it was a weird premise for me at first when I started reading about the body snatching but I found myself oddly intruiged
ReplyDeleteI liked that i'm now in suspense and can't wait to read the book. Not my typical type of book but this one seems like it would keep you fully interested until the end.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll give it a try, Danielle. Thanks for taking the time to read the excerpt!
DeleteGood luck with the release!
ReplyDeletevitajex(At)Aol(dot)com
I just look forward to reading the book & discovering more about the players
ReplyDeleteSo glad it intrigued you. Let me know what you think of the whole thing!
DeleteThanks a million for helping me get the word out about my new book. I'm sorry I couldn't post before now. Just got home after being out of the country for two weeks, where I had very limited access to internet. But I appreciate your efforts on my behalf and wanted to make sure you know that.
ReplyDelete