The Glass Books Series by Gordon Dahlquist

It began with a simple note: a letter of rejection from Miss Temple’s fiancé, written on crisp Ministry paper and delivered on her maid’s silver tray. But for Miss Temple, Roger Bascombe’s cruel rejection will ignite a harrowing quest for answers, plunging her into a mystery as dizzying as a hall of mirrors—and a remote estate where danger abounds and all inhibitions are stripped bare... moreIt began with a simple note: a letter of rejection from Miss Temple’s fiancé, written on crisp Ministry paper and delivered on her maid’s silver tray. But for Miss Temple, Roger Bascombe’s cruel rejection will ignite a harrowing quest for answers, plunging her into a mystery as dizzying as a hall of mirrors—and a remote estate where danger abounds and all inhibitions are stripped bare.Nothing could have prepared Miss Temple for where her pursuit of Roger Bascombe would take her—or for the shocking things she would find behind the closed doors of forbidding Harschmort Manor: men and women in provocative disguise, acts of licentiousness and violence, heroism and awakening. But she will also find two allies: Cardinal Chang, a brutal assassin with the heart of a poet, and a royal doctor named Svenson, at once fumbling and heroic—both of whom, like her, lost someone at Harschmort Manor. As the unlikely trio search for answers—hurtling them from elegant brothels to gaslit alleyways to shocking moments of self-discovery-- they are confronted by puzzles within puzzles. And the closer they get to the truth, the more their lives are in danger. For the conspiracy they face—an astonishing alchemy of science, perverted religion, and lust for power—is so terrifying as to be beyond belief. less

Here begins an extraordinary alliance—and a brutal and tender, shocking, and electrifying adventure to end all adventures.It starts with a simple note.Roger Bascombe regretfully wishes to inform Celeste Temple that their engagement is forthwith terminated... moreHere begins an extraordinary alliance—and a brutal and tender, shocking, and electrifying adventure to end all adventures.It starts with a simple note.Roger Bascombe regretfully wishes to inform Celeste Temple that their engagement is forthwith terminated.Determined to find out why, Miss Temple takes the first step in a journey that will propel her into a dizzyingly seductive, utterly shocking world beyond her imagining—and set her on a collision course with a killer and a spy—in a bodice-ripping, action-packed roller-coaster ride of suspense, betrayal, and richly fevered dreams. less

A mystery as dazziling as a hall of mirrors.A seductive, terrifying, all-too-real world.A beguiling, erotic literary adventure.Discover why readers everywhere are enthralled by this “marvelous confection of a book.”*In which the astonishing adventure to end all adventures continues—and the excitement doubles.Like every other honest man, an assassin has his reputation to consider. So it is with Cardinal Chang... moreA mystery as dazziling as a hall of mirrors.A seductive, terrifying, all-too-real world.A beguiling, erotic literary adventure.Discover why readers everywhere are enthralled by this “marvelous confection of a book.”*In which the astonishing adventure to end all adventures continues—and the excitement doubles.Like every other honest man, an assassin has his reputation to consider. So it is with Cardinal Chang. A brutal killer with the heart of a poet, Chang is no longer able to trust those who hired him. Disconcerted, he sets out on the trail of a mystery like no other, in a city few have traveled to—featuring three unlikely heroes with a most intriguing bond. *Philadelphia Inquirer less

Awakening from a fevered delirium, Celeste Temple finds herself in a fishing village on the remote Iron Coast. She has no idea where her companions, Cardinal Chang and Doctor Svenson, might be—nor whether any of her enemies survived the dirigible crash that marked her last conscious moment. And while her body seems intact, she cannot say the same for her mind... moreAwakening from a fevered delirium, Celeste Temple finds herself in a fishing village on the remote Iron Coast. She has no idea where her companions, Cardinal Chang and Doctor Svenson, might be—nor whether any of her enemies survived the dirigible crash that marked her last conscious moment. And while her body seems intact, she cannot say the same for her mind. For she must contend not only with the possibility that peril awaits her but with the memory of her traitorous fiancé’s murder at sea…along with thousands of other memories that now live within her—courtesy of a bewitching glass book.Hunted by murderous opportunists and cruel mercenaries of every kind, Miss Temple, Chang, and the Doctor are soon propelled into a quest that will draw them one by one into a realm of reckless, lawless terror. At every turn lies another enigma—and the stench of indigo clay, the raw material used to enslave even the most steadfast soul. Now they alone stand in the path of a diabolical conspiracy involving the books—one that will mean an alarming new world where once-free-roaming minds are wiped completely clean… if they live long enough. As Miss Temple, Cardinal Chang and Dr. Svenson uncover the devilish schemes of their deadly enemies, the terrifying secrets contained in The Dark Volume will be revealed one by one. For the blue glass is more lethal than they’d ever imagined—and those who possess it, as well as those who pursue it, are playing with fire. less

The adventure continues in G.W. Dahlquist's "The Chemickal Marriage", the follow up to the popular "The Glass Book of Dream Eaters" and "The Dark Volume". Miss Temple, young, wealthy and far away from home, never wanted to be a heroine. Yet her fiance is dead (admittedly, by her own hand), her companions slain and her nemesis, the terrifyingly wicked Contessa Lacquer-Sforza, escaped. It falls on her tiny shoulders to destroy a deadly cabal whose alchemy threatens to enslave the world... moreThe adventure continues in G.W. Dahlquist's "The Chemickal Marriage", the follow up to the popular "The Glass Book of Dream Eaters" and "The Dark Volume". Miss Temple, young, wealthy and far away from home, never wanted to be a heroine. Yet her fiance is dead (admittedly, by her own hand), her companions slain and her nemesis, the terrifyingly wicked Contessa Lacquer-Sforza, escaped. It falls on her tiny shoulders to destroy a deadly cabal whose alchemy threatens to enslave the world. Miss Temple plots her revenge. But Dr Svenson and Cardinal Chang are alive, barely - their bodies corrupted by the poisonous blue glass. Wounded and outnumbered, Miss Temple, Dr Svenson and Cardinal Chang pursue their enemies through city slums and glittering palaces as they fight to prevent the cabal's crushing dominion and unholy marriage between man and machine. Dahlquist's rip-roaring adventure sees an assassin, an heiress and a surgeon battle against the world's most unholy evil, in their final quest. "Fantastic. Somewhere between Dickens, Sherlock Holmes and Rider Haggard. I was in seventh heaven". (Kate Mosse, author of "Labyrinth on The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters"). G. W. Dahlquist is a novelist and playwright. When he fell asleep during a snowstorm, his first book "The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters" came to him in a dream. This is his third novel. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he now lives in New York. less