Nefarious Schemes to Murder Lady Midnight (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780645752601)

From the author:

"Nefarious Schemes is not much in terms of fine literature. It's a head-hopping, fluid-omniscient viewpoint orgy of characters, ideas and events that's my attempt at cramming as much information as possible into the most dense cake you've ever eaten. What the book does is it reveals and expands on our album in every way imaginable, to the extent you're probably justified in calling it gratuitous and over-the-top. That's the point. It's excessive, detailed, dizzying, and it's a world that I thoroughly enjoyed writing in."

A devastating plague grips France 1893, while a tumultuous election campaign dominates the headlines. An impressionable young woman arrives in the small town of Bellvoir with nothing but a letter of inheritance, handed to her by a mysterious clown.

In the gutter, rats feast on the sick, and the sick feast on promises of salvation from the enigmatic Raven Man. The famous Black Dime Cabaret, a haven for witches, opens it maws to the folk of the town who are oblivious to the secrets it contains.

And presiding over all, the most beautiful and feared woman in all of France: Lady Midnight.