The Vanishing Volume: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #2
()
About this ebook
A best-selling author.
A missing manuscript.
The readers of London are raging...
The popular but reclusive author E.C. Spruce has outdone himself with a delicious new three-volume novel, The Fifty Shades of Udolpho, and all of London—including Annabel and the Lady Patronesses of Almack's—are devouring it. That is, until the third volume begins vanishing from bookshops and bedside tables alike, leaving readers desperate to know how the story ends.
Suspecting supernatural forces are at play, Annabel and her fellow Lady Patronesses investigate the literary loss. A clever trap reveals an unexpected (and smelly) culprit, but it appears that plot twists aren't always reserved for the page. Will they be able to bring the thieving mastermind to justice? And could the Marquis of Quinceton actually be more of a help than a disconcerting hindrance?
The Vanishing Volume is the second book in The Ladies of Almack's series by Marissa Doyle.
CLICK 'BUY NOW' TO FOLLOW THE LADY PATRONESSES ON THEIR NEXT INVESTIGATION!
Marissa Doyle
Marissa Doyle graduated from Bryn Mawr College and went on to graduate school intending to be an archaeologist but somehow got distracted. After working in a nursing home, in fundraising, and as a stay-at-home mom, she finally figured out what it was she really should be doing (apart from the mom part), and started writing a romance novel. Three books later a perceptive contest judge told her that her story would make a great young adult book, and she hasn’t looked back since.Her young adult books Bewitching Season, Betraying Season, and Courtship and Curses, all from Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan, blend history (remember that archaeology background?) with a dash of magic and a heaping tablespoon of romance, and have won multiple awards and recognition in both the romance and children’s literature worlds. She lives in her native Massachusetts with her family, including a bossy pet rabbit, and loves making quilts, sailing, and antiques.Please visit her at her website, www.marissadoyle.com, and at NineteenTeen http://nineteenteen.com.
Read more from Marissa Doyle
Murmurs in the Dark: Thirteen Ghostly Tales from Book View Cafe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies Beneath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Between Silk and Sand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charles Bewitched Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarquis of Secrets: The Ladies of Almack's Omnibus No. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetrayal at Brighton: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Vanishing Volume
Titles in the series (8)
The Forgery Furore: a Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLyrics and Larceny: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vanishing Volume: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cursed Canvases: A Light-Hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurmoil on the Thames: A Light-Hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Event at Epsom: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Missing Missives: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetrayal at Brighton: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
The Vanishing Volume: A Light-Hearted Regency Fantasy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Widow's Tale & Other Stories: "Many love me, but by none am I enough beloved" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMerkland or, Self Sacrifice: "There is nothing so costly as bargains" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Megiddo Mark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTower to Tower: The Enchanted Castle Archives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLyrics and Larceny: A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy: The Ladies of Almack's, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiss Meredith: 'You were of earth, not Heaven'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRuled by Passion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cordelia - A Cornish Pixie in Whitinsville: A Cornish Pixie in Whitinsville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarquis of Secrets: The Ladies of Almack's Omnibus No. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Young Wife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Caught by Darcy: Sinful Secrets, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Remedies and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackfire: The Books of Bairnmoor, Volume I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Widow's Tale and Other Stories - With an Introductory Note by J. M. Barrie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Peacock Feast: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5New Prints In Old Calico: Calico Brides, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnne of Windy Poplars by L. M. Montgomery (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe End's Beginning: Krinics Series: Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts of Wind and Shadow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Precarious Journey into Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSins of the Father: A Lady Marmalade Mystery, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Perks of Loving a Scoundrel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Witch of Little Italy: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thistle and Rose: A Story for Girls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dubliners 100: Fifteen New Stories Inspired by the Original Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Falling for the Scandalous Lady Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Painted Veil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Fantasy For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote: [Complete & Illustrated] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Vanishing Volume
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Vanishing Volume - Marissa Doyle
About the Book
Young widow Annabel Chalfont, Countess of Fellbridge, has two small sons to raise, a mountain of her late husband’s debts to pay off, and a secret: she’s a shadow-shaper, able to manipulate shadow as anyone else might clay. She and six other high-born ladies with equally extraordinary abilities defend England against supernatural crime—but the world knows them only as the Lady Patronesses of Almack’s, Regency London’s most exclusive social venue.
In the second installment of The Ladies of Almack’s series, all of London is enthralled by E.C. Spruce’s latest three-volume novel, The Fifty Shades of Udolpho…until the third volume begins vanishing from bookshops and bedside tables alike, leaving readers dangling and desperate to know what happens next. The Lady Patronesses of Almack’s investigate, with unexpected results—and an unexpected new friendship for Annabel…or perhaps two friendships, if she’ll only admit it…
I was sold as soon as I saw 'Lady Patronesses of Almack’s with magic.' Characters and situations--sheer delight!
—Sherwood Smith
The Vanishing Volume
A Light-hearted Regency Fantasy
(The Ladies of Almack's Book 2)
Marissa Doyle
King Street Books
in association with
Book View Café
www.bookviewcafe.com
Book View Café Edition
April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63632-040-3
Copyright © 2022 Marissa Doyle
For Scott
Chapter One
London, late April 1810
A Monday Morning
On Monday morning Annabel, Lady Fellbridge, left for the weekly meeting of Almack’s Lady Patronesses a little early in order to accomplish an important errand. She was slowly clopping around the corner onto Old Bond Street (or rather, her carriage was) when she noticed a familiar figure hurrying in the same direction on the pavement.
Pull up, please, Thomas,
she called to her coachman, then more loudly, Frances! May I offer you a ride?
Lady Frances Dalrymple, one of Annabel’s fellow Lady Patronesses, looked up and smiled. Annabel! Thank you, but I’ve a stop to make before I go on to King Street.
She held up a book. I must just run into Hookham’s.
Annabel held up her own book. So must I.
Frances’ smile widened. "The Fifty Shades?"
What else? Climb in!
As the groom helped Frances up, Annabel glanced at the blue sky above the buildings around them. Sometimes, being in London on a warm day in late April just seemed wrong. Back at home, my narcissus beds are probably in their glory,
she observed with a small sigh.
"Back at my home, the flowerbeds—not that we have many because my father doesn’t approve of them—might still be under six inches of snow. Of course, that’s Scotland for you," Frances added philosophically.
Why doesn’t your father approve of flowerbeds?
Flowers make him sneeze. And…
Frances hunched her shoulders. Flowerbeds would mean hiring more gardeners than are needed to just keep the grass scythed and the kitchen gardens growing.
Ah.
Annabel could sympathize with that. Only the knowledge that their families would likely starve if she didn’t keep the gardeners at Chalfont employed had prevented her from reducing the outdoor staff.
But I know what you mean,
Frances continued, hurriedly. Spring does seem rather wasted on the Season, doesn’t it? Then again, if we were in the country, neither of us would likely have a circulating library close by. I do hope they have two copies of the third volume available,
she added, patting her book.
So do I, or one of us will have to call the other out. Pistols at dawn and everything.
Annabel chuckled. Except that our seconds will be too busy themselves, fighting over who gets to read it first.
It had been more than a week since her sons Will and Martin and their friend Gus had returned to Eton, and to keep from missing them too much, Annabel had plunged into an orgy of novel-reading in her free time, visiting Hookham’s Circulating Library almost every other day. Emily Cowper had told her she simply had to read E.C. Spruce’s latest, The Fifty Shades of Udolpho, which had come out just a few weeks before and had taken the reading public of London by storm.
"Have you read The Fifty Shades yet? had replaced
good morning" as a greeting among her acquaintances. Conversations everywhere, from chance encounters in the street to dinners in the houses of the Ton, revolved around whether the lovers Ermentrudina and Osberto would be able to escape the horde of dread phantoms—the Fifty Shades
of the title—that plagued the ruinous Apennine castle in which they had taken refuge whilst fleeing Ermentrudina’s sinister suitor, Count Atroccio, and her equally sinister stepmother, the Marchesa dell’Obesa. Annabel had devoured those first two volumes in two days, and was now bent on the devouring the third, as was Frances…hence the threat of pistols at dawn if only one copy were available.
As they drew up in front of Hookham’s Circulating Library, Frances glanced at the watch at her waist. We should just have time before the meeting starts…and wasn’t I clever, being on the right side of the street just as your carriage went by? Because now I can get out and into Hookham’s first!
Annabel laughed. ‘O, thou fiend! O, I am undone!’
she quoted. They were the last words of volume two, uttered by Ermentrudina as the Count bundled her into a antique coach at the height of a furious tempest, while the Marchesa lured Osberto into a death-like stupor with her seductive but poisonous perfume.
"Do you think he’ll ravish her?" Frances asked anxiously as they entered the shop.
Who? Osberto? I’m not sure he’d be capable at the moment—
Frances giggled. No, silly! The Count and Ermentrudina.
"Oh. I shouldn’t think so. An old, badly sprung traveling carriage is hardly a conducive setting for a ravishment. On the other hand, the use of the word ‘undone’ does make one wonder about the state of her stays… But this is E.C. Spruce, so who knows?"
They approached the counter, where a harried-looking young man was talking to another subscriber, an older woman in a velvet turban adorned with down-sweeping lavender-dyed ostrich feathers. What do you mean, you don’t have it?
the lady was saying, her plumes quivering with the force of her indignation.
I’m sorry, your ladyship, but they’re all out. Several are overdue, in fact. If you wish, I shall add your name to our list to be informed as soon as a copy is available—
But you do not understand—I cannot wait that long!
her ladyship cried. "Or rather, it’s…it’s my elderly mother. Yes, my dearest mama. She is on her deathbed, you see, and only my reading The Fifty Shades of Udolpho to her can soothe her dying sufferings! Will you condemn my poor mama to such a fate? I must have a copy now!"
The clerk looked appropriately sympathetic, but Annabel noticed the way his lips twitched before he mastered his expression. Madam, were it in my power, I should provide it to you immediately. But I cannot give you what I do not have. I am certain a copy will come in later—or tomorrow. Perhaps these ladies—?
He looked at Annabel and Frances hopefully.
They shook their heads. Volume two,
Frances said, raising her book.
Ah.
He turned back to the woman. In the meanwhile, perhaps your mother might enjoy a nice book of sermons? In such extremity, they might prove a comfort—
The woman drew herself up. If you will not have mercy on a dying woman, perhaps another library will.
She turned and swept toward the door, barely allowing her footman time to open it for her and get out of her way.
Oh, dear,
Frances said, coming up to the counter after she was gone. We could not help overhearing—
The clerk struggled manfully for a moment, then grinned. "That was the best