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Authors: Carole Nelson Douglas

Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Women Sleuths, #Traditional British, #Historical

Femme Fatale

Femme Fatale

Sketch by Wilhelm von Kaulbach

By Carole Nelson Douglas from Tom Doherty Associates

MYSTERY
MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERIES:
Catnap

Pussyfoot
Cat on a Blue Monday
Cat in a Crimson Haze
Cat in a Diamond Dazzle
Cat with an Emerald Eye
Cat in a Flamingo Fedora
Cat in a Golden Garland

Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt
Cat in an Indigo Mood
Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit
Cat in a Kiwi Con
Cat in a Leopard Spot
Cat in a Midnight Choir
Cat in a Neon Nightmare

Midnight Louie’s Pet Detectives
(editor of anthology)

IRENE ADLER ADVENTURES:
Good Night, Mr. Holmes
The Adventuress
*
(Good Morning, Irene)
A Soul of Steel
*
(Irene at Large)
Another Scandal in Bohemia
*
(Irene’s Last Waltz)
Chapel Noir
Castle Rouge
Femme Fatale

Marilyn: Shades of Blonde
(editor of anthology)

HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Amberleigh
**
      Lady Rogue
**
Fair Wind, Fiery Star

SCIENCE FICTION
Probe
**
Counterprobe
**

FANTASY
TALISWOMAN:
Cup of Clay
Seed upon the Wind

SWORD AND CIRCLET:

Six of Swords
Exiles of the Rynth

Heir of Rengarth
Seven of Swords

Keepers of Edanvant

*
These are the revised editions

**
also mystery

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

FEMME FATALE

Copyright © 2003 by Carole Nelson Douglas

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Edited by Claire Eddy

Map by Darla Tagrin

Title page art courtesy of California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California

A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Forge
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 0-765-30682-4

First Edition: October 2003

Printed in the United States of America

0  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

For Kathy Henderson,
a true blue friend and supporter for more than twenty years,
with deepest thanks

Contents

Acknowledgments

Cast of Continuing Characters

Prelude: The Dead Departed

1. Duet
2. News from Abroad
3. Foreign Assignment
4. Calling Cards
5. Maiden Voyage
6. Motherland
7. Domestic Disturbances
8. Maternal Musings
9. Crime Seen

10. Unwelcome Baggage

11. Old Lang Syne

12. Of Freaks and Frauds

13. Smoke Rings

14. Curtains!

15. Smoking Ruin

16. Unburnt Bridges

17. Origin of the Species

18. The Dictating Detective

19. A Deeper Solemnity of Death

20. The Show Must Go On

21. All Fall Down

22. Ashes, Ashes

23. The Detective in Spite of Himself

24. Not Her Cup of Cocaine

25. Playing Parts

26. No Place Like Home

27. Small Luck

28. Fairy Godmothers

29. The Woman in Black

30. Perfidy in New Jersey

31. The Body of Evidence

32. Unjust Desserts

33. Desserted

34. Inhuman Nature

35. A Sinister Surname

36. The French Conjunction

37. No Woman Is an Island

38. Babes in the Woods

39. French Medicine

40. Unwanted Mother

41. The Wickedest Woman in New York

42. A Mesmerizing Experiment

43. Double Death

44. Maidenhair

45. Social Secretary

46. The Delectable Detective

47. Women in Black

Coda

Selected Bibliography

A Reader’s Guide

About the Author

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