American Marina Weston, just turned 20, is left orphaned and penniless in London, England. Saddled with her father's debt and tainted by the stigma of his suicide, Marina has only three options open to her in 1866: hire out for service; become a prostitute, or starve. With the help of caring friends, Marina is offered a unique opportunity and begins to build a productive life. But fate intervenes when she runs afoul of some very powerful and unscrupulous men. Marina finds herself at their mercy, thrust unknowingly into a diabolical plot that will put her sanity, and her very life, at risk. She must find the strength to overcome the evil conspiracy, but when one's very identity has been undermined, what is left to hold onto? Will Marina emerge with her sanity-and her identity-intact, or will she end as a pawn in someone else's game?
Susan Tuttle is a professional editor, writing teacher and the slightly twisted author of 5 suspense and paranormal suspense novels, and a comprehensive 6-volume Write It Right: Exercises to Unlock the Writer in Everyone workbook series based on her writing classes, for fiction writers of all levels. Susan is past president of SLO NightWriters and the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and is presently the newsletter editor for both organizations. Her work has garnered numerous awards and has appeared in Mind Prints Literary Journal, Tolosa Press, If & When Literary Journal and The Feathered Flounder Literary Journal, and three anthologies: Best of SLO NightWriters, Somewhere in Crime and Deadlines: Murder and Mayhem on the Central Coast. She lives on the Central Coast of California with her imaginary cat in a house filled with her (mostly unfinished) handmade quilts and (mostly finished) knitted scarves. Find her on Facebook ( susanwriter), Twitter (stuttlewriter), and her website, www.SusanTuttleWrites.com.