Showing results by publisher "Bear West Books" in All Categories

When the Circus Salmagundi sails into Union Bay, Miss Rose Ivy looks forward to a week of nightly shows, entertaining the families who live in a sleepy seaside village. Instead, the tattooed lady discovers a community divided by bitter rivalries, lies and deceit, which have culminated in a woman left dead on the beach.

A thief haunts the Circus Salmagundi, stealing bits of silver and cheap jewelry from the performers, and Rose the Tattooed Lady is determined to unmask the culprit before anything valuable is stolen. However, when the circus sails into Port Alberni, the burglar leaves the boats to strike again, nabbing an ancient coin from an eccentric French historian. The theft sparks a series of accusations that spiral out of control, giving strength to interpersonal feuds while tarnishing the Circus Salmagundi's reputation.

When disaster strikes the Circus Salmagundi on their way to Nanaimo, Miss Rose Ivy finds herself stuck on a listless ship with a most unlikely crew. They must wait for help to arrive, but they’re safely moored by an uninhabited island. What could go wrong? Then a strange, half-starved stowaway climbs aboard, raving that his missing wife has been kidnapped by a cult of fanatics. He insists: they need to flee! But the engines are dead and there’s no way to escape. Rose needs to use her cunning to buy time, but where has the missing woman gone? Is she a prisoner?

After the rigors of the Great War and Spanish Flu pandemic, Miss Rose Ivy is eager to leave tragedy behind and enjoy a new career as Circus Salmagundi’s tattooed lady. But their engagement in the quiet town of Esquimalt is cut short when a housekeeper is bludgeoned to death, a nightmarish devil mask is stolen from a private art collection, and Rose is accused of both murder and theft. To clear her name, Rose must root out the real killer. Her investigation unravels a seedy history of stolen artifacts, forgotten folklore, and hidden identities.