China Bohannon

The gay 1890s aren't always. Gay that is. Sometimes life is dangerous, especially if you're next on someone's murder list. In 1896, there aren't many career choices for a young lady. China Bohannon has fled one bad situation, and is looking to start her life over as a strong, independent woman in the wild and woolly town of Spokane, Washington. Convincing Gratton Doyle to take her seriously as a bookkeeper is hard enough, and when it comes to working as an investigator in the Doyle & Howe Detective Agency, it's well-nigh impossible. But what if China is able to solve a murder case no one, including the police, wants to take on, that of a young girl found dead, her body thrown in the river? maybe Gratton will hire her then. But first, China has to avoid becoming the murderer's next victim.

Smart and sassy 1890s bookkeeper turned sleuth China Bohannon is a magnet for danger. Assigned to office duties in the Doyle & Howe detective agency, she lands smack in the middle of the detective's latest murder case when a suspicious character tries to bribe her-and she takes the bribe! In an adventure that is destined to go downhill from there, China is thrown overboard from a steamboat into Coeur d'Alene Lake to drown. Escaping that, while hot on the trail of the murderer, she's arrested on charges of prostitution in the wild mining town of Wallace, Idaho. Worse, her handsome boss, Gratton Doyle, doesn't see eye-to-eye with her when it comes to determining the leading suspect. Proving her point takes getting shot when, bloodied though unbowed, China wins a fight more suited to skid road loggers than a proper Victorian lady.

China Bohannon may be a modern 1890's career woman, but her uncle, Montgomery Howe, and his partner, Gratton Doyle haven't turned her loose on an investigative case of her own just yet. With her name newly added to the roster-though in small print-China is champing at the bit. China's friend Porter Anderson hires the agency saying his uncle has disappeared and a Johnny-come-lately timber baron claimed the family homestead. What's more, he has a bill of sale for it that Porter knows his uncle didn't sign. The problem is proving it-or so it would seem. Monk takes the case from China. He believes a fine young lady like his niece is out of her league. Now no one has heard from Monk in days and China, with help from a few of her disreputable friends, sets out to discover his whereabouts as the dry lightning of summer sets the woods ablaze. What China finds is a trail of lies, theft, and murder, with her uncle Monk slated as the next victim. China takes some wild chances with her own life, but places her faith in Gratton to get them through the fire as they rush to shut down a killer and rescue her uncle.

Smart and sassy bookkeeper China Bohannon is a modern 1890s career woman who'd rather sleuth than type. China is in charge of the Doyle & Howe Detective Agency office on the day a fourteen-year-old girl shows up seeking the detectives' help in a case of what she's calling murder. Neva Sue O'Dells jockey brother has been killed during a race, the horse he was riding ̶ the dead-on Derby favorite ̶ lamed. Neva claims her mother and grandfather are involved, having been paid a lot of money to rig the race. Who paid them? Neva doesn't know, but she wants China to find out and somehow bring those who harmed her brother to justice.

Sepp Amsel, a fabulously successful gambling hall and saloonkeeper entrepreneur, is about to become the bridegroom in the most public wedding ever to take place in wild and woolly Spokane, Washington. He wants to engage China's detective services when his fiancée's sister is kidnapped, and a substantial ransom demanded. There's just one problem. The client thinks it's possible he's being bamboozled because things don't quite add up. Only days remain for China to figure out why the sister was snatched and not the bride. But the clock is ticking. Worse, it isn't long until murder becomes part of the equation. First a bellhop, then a tailor. Who will be next? China had better find out soon, before she, too, becomes a target for murder.

China Bohannon, 1890s bookkeeper turned sleuth, is branching out...Although still working with her uncle's detective agency, Doyle & Howe Investigations, she's almost given up on becoming a partner and is turning to providing security services, something her uncle, Montgomery Howe, and his partner, Gratton Doyle, aren't interested in. Suitable applicants are hard to find, but she settles on a trustworthy old acquaintance, a somewhat iffy person who likes his booze, and a handsome stranger. When an important job comes up, she has to go with the available crew. China is an excellent investigator. The who, what, and why, of this vendetta becomes clear and, as is China's experience so far, she discovers a woman directly behind the crime.