Mark of the Magpie

Book Two: The Bucket of Blood Series

When Lizzie Saunders and Chen Shaozhu arrive in the port city of Victoria, BC in September 1898, she dares to imagine a place where they can enjoy a happy future together. With the help of the cantankerous Mr. Fish, Lizzie is soon enjoying a comfortable life of social engagements and high tea.

But when a gruesome murder stirs up ghosts from her past, someone – or something – begins to haunt her through the city’s dark alleys, seedy taverns, wharves and opium dens. Is it her imagination, her guilty conscience, or a killer who knows her secret?

Mark of the Magpie, the sequel to Bucket of Blood, is a gothic mystery of corruption, bitter artistic rivalries, betrayal and clandestine affairs. Here, in a shining seaside city of flowers and fine china, everyone has something to hide and nothing is quite what it seems.