a Nat Frayne mystery Series

Victorian-era police detective Nat Frayne leans more toward fists and fast dealing than the strict letter of the law. But in these three cases Frayne goes up against adversaries who may be even tougher and slicker. In The Case of Dancing Kali, the apparent appearance of a murderous gang of Indian thuggees terrorizes London. Frayne, however, follows his own instincts, which lead him into most surprising areas of English society. When a blackmail scheme turns to murder in The French Medium, Frayne investigates a beautiful mesmerist, who leads him into haunting visions of his dead wife. The Dread Men sees London invaded by the notorious New York Irish gang the Dead Rabbits. When they move in on Covent Market, where Frayne's parents still sell produce, the conflict between him and the gang leader turns personal.

Why would a supposedly upright missionary die of an overdose of opium in a respectable Mission home? From upper-crust Mayfair parlors to opium dens down on the Limehouse docks, gaslight-era detective Nat Frayne investigates a tangled web of intrigue suggesting that China's bloody Teiping Rebellion has spread to London. Join him for a jaunt through murder, kidnapping, corruption and drug-smuggling in Victorian England.

Detective-Inspector Nat Frayne of the London Metropolitan Police has seen numerous hanging victims, both official and self-staged. But never one so well-dressed, right down to the topper tilted slightly askew by the noose. In fact the victim's flash attire mark him as one of the Swell Mob, London's criminal elite. And the marks of brass knuckles on his face mark this as murder. But who in London dares challenge the Swell Mob? Only one candidate springs to mind. The newly-arrived Dead Rabbits, a havoc-prone Irish gang from New York City now seeking to expand their brutal form of enterprise to London. If the Dead Rabbits gain a foothold, they can recruit from the thousands of Irish who came to London fleeing the Hunger, and finding only poverty and scorn, remain hungry still. The Rabbits must be stopped. So proclaim the Voices From On High. But as to exactly how, they'd rather not know. Just the sort of job Scotland Yard reserves for its favorite ask-me-no-questions-and-I'll-tell-you-no-lies detective, Nat Frayne.

Lord Under London When a methane explosion in the London sewers spews up a much-mangled body, Victorian-era Detective Inspector Nat Frayne finds an ancient Hunter watch pointing to the mysterious disappearance of an aristocrat from an age before the tunnels even existed. As he investigates further a string of fresh corpses start to turn up. Forced to descend back into the depths, Frayne must confront a modern terror born of a century-old crime. And Make Not Dreams Your Master Did a missionary found dead in Presbyterian House with an opium pipe in his hand really die of an overdose? So say the police. Ashleigh Booker-Hyde and his impetutous sister Melisande don't agree. So they call in former Detective Inspector Nat Frayne, now a private inquiry agent since his suspension from the Met, to nose around. Frayne's typically two-fisted methods soon land all three in a violent struggle against an opium smuggling ring ready to enforce its ambitions with a bevy of Chinese assassins. Perfidious Albion Dismissed from the London police, Nat Frayne finds himself unexpectedly recruited by the Foreign Office as bodyguard for an aging diplomat. The man's final mission: to deliver a vital letter to the head of the Egyptian government. But an apparently simple enterprise soon grows dodgy as Frayne discovers the involvement of an old and bitter enemy. Soon cloak and dagger vie in a bloody and intricate dance amid the exotic sun-baked streets of Alexandria. Set amid the steambath politics of the late-19th century middle East, Perfidious Albion will force Nat Frayne to put his life on the line as he confronts a past he has struggled to forget.

When a methane explosion in the London sewers spews forth a much-mangled body,  Detective Inspector Nat Frayne finds an ancient Hunter watch still tangled in the bones. It identifies the corpse as an aristocrat who disappeared in mysterious circumstances nearly a century ago. Or does it? The find sets off a spectacular round of litigation between branches of the family, to the delight of the press. Even better, more corpses keep turning up. Freshly killed this time. When his superiors order Frayne to clear up the case at once, there is nothing for it but to leave the light of day once more behind.

As a spate of ritual murder/mutilations spreads across the city, London fears an invasion of Thuggee assassins. Detective Inspector Nathaniel Frayne, however, digs in his heels against tromping around beating confessions out of Hindus the way the newspapers and his superiors demand. Instead Frayne employs his customary shady methods to investigate an exotic brothel so exclusive its members form half of Debrett's Peerage. His problem: the last two murders took place only a short way down the street. Dozens of people heard a shot. Dozens of people saw the bodies. No one saw the killers. They just disappeared. And the deeper Frayne digs, the more that becomes just the simplest part of a case that will challenge all the conventional beliefs of English society.

In Victorian London the French Mesmerist Madame Davignon claims to unite the bereaved with the spirits of their loved ones. A simple enough swindle. To start. But when the game mounts first to blackmail, then murder, Detective Inspector Nat Frayne poses as a client, hoping to entrap the medium. Instead, the hunter becomes the hunted when she unites him with the spirit of his lost wife. Illusion. It must be illusion. Yet he cannot tear himself away.  

Dismissed from the London police, Nat Frayne finds himself unexpectedly recruited by the Foreign Office to act as bodyguard for an aging diplomat. The mission: to deliver a supposedly vital letter to the head of the Egyptian government. But Frayne finds the mission growing right dodgy when he recognizes the man in charge as an old and bitter enemy. Soon cloak and dagger vie in a bloody and intricate dance amid the twisting, sun-baked streets of Alexandria. Set amid the steambath politics of late-19th century Egypt, Perfidious Albion will drive Nat Frayne and its other actors right to the depths of their spirits. And surprise them with what they find there.