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(0)Alice Duncan
January, 1925
Daisy Gumm Majesty, her family and fiancé, Sam Rotondo—detective with the Pasadena Police Department—are leaving the Tournament of Roses Parade when Daisy is struck by a passing motorcar. Although scratched, bruised and with a dislocated shoulder, the outcome could have been much worse...
—Pasadena, California, 1926—
While conducting a séance for a client with more money than sense, Daisy Gumm Majesty is surprised when a seemingly real spirit makes contact. Eddie Hastings, an attorney in life, wants Daisy to prove his death was not a suicide, but murder.
Curious, and a little afraid, she can't reveal...
Silent film star Brenda Fitzpatrick has supported her family via her beautiful face since she was twelve, carefully hiding her keen mind behind a well-crafted featherheaded-blonde facade. Then Brenda lands her dream job—the lead in Martin Tafft's latest romantic flicker—and encounters Colin Peters.
Tafft's newest research assistant, Colin is a scientist, not a sentimentalist. The fact that Brenda Fitzpatrick turns his head only means
...It's the height of the Silent Film era and Marigold Pottersby is trying to hang on to her father's failing silver mine when producer Martin Tafft offers a hefty sum to use the mine in his latest flicker. Mari quickly agrees but balks when the film crew insists she stop mining. Then Mari meets Tony Ewing.
Tafft's heaviest investor and a dyed-in-the-wool Easterner, Tony arrives to investigate the film's progress. He has no use for the West, or
...It's 1905, early in the Silent Film era, and orphan Amy Wilkes is "discovered" by producer Martin Tafft at a Pasadena Health Spa. Whisked away to the movie-making set, Amy is glamorized and placed before her leading man: a rugged, oh-so-handsome Arizona cowboy named Charlie Fox.
Charlie, another "natural", needs money for his ranch, not the naive attentions of a beautiful starlet no matter how far she turns his head.
On screen, sparks fly between
..."Author Alice Duncan whisks the reader to 1924 in a way that will have you wishing for skinny dresses and cloche hats." ~Deborah L. Rogers, Verified Reviewer
Nothing interrupts a good lover's spat like a dog – Daisy Gumm Majesty's Dachshund, Spike, in particular. Of course,...
—1925, Pasadena, California—
Angie Mainwaring moves to Pasadena to start a new life and atone for her past by rescuing former "sporting" girls and housing them in a mansion in her orange grove just down the street from Daisy and her folks.
Unfortunately,...
It's 1924 and spiritualist-medium Daisy Gumm bands with friends Flossie and Harold to help Lily Bannister, whose abusive husband nearly killed her.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Pinkerton—Daisy's best client—is in a tizzy, insisting Daisy use her spiritualist talent to end the engagement between her daughter and a most unsuitable man.
To Daisy's surprise, the two cases collide, catching her in the middle. Can she prove Lily's husband and Mrs.
...It's the 1920s and Daisy Gumm Majesty is doing her part to support her family as a medium by holding séances and interpreting tarot cards for the rich and famous.
When the wealthy Mrs. Kincaid comes to Daisy to help solve her husband's disappearance, Detective Sam Rotondo isn't far behind.
Sam isn't fooled by Daisy's choice of "vocation" and blackmails her into spying on the Kincaids.
Then Daisy reads Sam's cards... and the tables turn.
AWARDS:
Romantic
...People are dropping dead after communion services at Daisy's church, Detective Sam Rotondo has finally professed his love for Daisy, and Daisy sees swaying trees in her crystal ball, a prop in which she doesn't place any faith.
But when the crystal ball's image leads Daisy to her client's missing butler, and then a bunch of bootleggers, Daisy unknowingly bumps into the man responsible for the parishioners' deaths. She doesn't recognize him, but
...11) Ancient Spirits
Daisy Gumm Majesty has put her Ouija board aside, following her husband's passing. Only when Mrs. Pinkerton's daughter is arrested does Daisy pick it up again, and is immediately rewarded with useful information.
Mrs. P is so delighted she pays Daisy an enormous amount of money, which comes in handy when Mrs. P's son (and Daisy's best friend) insists Daisy accompany him on a trip to Egypt.
Arriving in Cairo, Daisy makes an innocent purchase
...12) Dark Spirits
The Ku Klux Klan has opened a chapter in Daisy Gumm Majesty's home town of Pasadena, California. Worse, Klan members are harassing Joseph Jackson, the gatekeeper for Daisy's best client, Mrs. Pinkerton.
When Mrs. Pinkerton also becomes a target of vicious pranks, Daisy tries to get Detective Sam Rotondo, her new leading man, involved.
Sam isn't thrilled. Worse, the bodies are piling up, and now he needs Daisy's help speaking to some of the
...13) Her Leading Man
Christina Mayhew doesn't consider herself a gifted thespian. Acting in Silent Films is simply a means to earn money for medical school so she can become a physician like her beloved father. Thankfully her gentlemanly producer, Martin Tafft, understands.
While Martin is happy to discuss feminism and women's suffrage with Christina, his inner reaction to her secret goal is one of crushing disappointment. With moving pictures developing a sordid
...14) Hungry Spirits
Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to people with more money than sense, is asked by a Salvation Army captain to teach a cooking class for immigrant German ladies. Since Daisy's only culinary talent is burning water, she's is sure the captain is nuts.
But Daisy steps up and forces herself to confront her own prejudices about Germans, whom she blames for her veteran-husband's war illness.
Then one of her students disappears and Daisy discovers
...15) Spirits United
It's 1924 and spiritualist-medium Daisy Gumm and her fiancé, Detective Sam Rotondo, discover a dead body tucked away in the Pasadena Public Library's bibliography stacks.
Worse, Daisy's old friend, Mr. Browning, is holding the bloody knife, putting him at the very top of Sam's suspect list.
But Daisy is not convinced, and sets out to exonerate her friend, only to stumble into a professor's geological study, encounter a mad scientist, and uncover
...Meet Daisy Gumm Majesty: spiritualist to folks with more money than sense.
The 1920s may be roaring among Pasadena's wealthy, but Daisy must earn a living for her family. When Daisy is approached by Mrs. Bissel about exorcizing a ghost from her basement, Daisy is tempted to back out until Mrs. B puts up one of her famous dachshund puppies as payment.
Hoping the basement ghost is not a skunk, Daisy begins snooping only to discover the matter
...17) Spirits Onstage
Daisy Gumm Majesty, Pasadena's spiritualist-medium to folks with more money than sense, is talked into playing the role of mean Katisha in her church's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, The Mikado.
As rehearsals progress and Daisy falls into her role, the producer's wife experiences a mysterious decline in health, a cast member claims someone is trying to kill her, and the husband of another cast-member is murdered.
Knowing Detective
...18) Genteel Spirits
The movie biz has come to Pasadena and Daisy Gumm Majesty is up to her ears in trouble. Spike is in obedience training, a spoiled actress wants Daisy as her very own spiritualist and someone is sending poison-pen letters to the Leading Man.
Worse, the motion picture folks claim that Germans are out to steal their new invention being used on the set.
Butting heads with Detective Sam Rotondo, assigned to the movie-set as security, Daisy is on
...19) High Spirits
Daisy Gumm Majesty's talent as a "medium" catches the attention of a dangerous mobster. Vicenzo Maggiori wants to get in touch with his dead godfather. And he wants to do it in his own speakeasy.
When Daisy receives Maggiori message through her wealthiest client, Mrs. K, whose daughter is in Maggiori's clutches, Daisy can't say no.
Then, as the séance begins, Maggiori's speakeasy is raided by Detective Sam Rotondo. Arrested with everyone else,
...—1925, Pasadena, California—
Already irked about having to participate in an exercise class with some church chums, Daisy is horrified when her beloved Aunt Vi—the greatest cook in Pasadena—goes missing...