The Devious Dr. Jekyll

The second installment of Carr's Electric Empire series (after The Diabolical Miss Hyde) continues the misadventures of crime scene physician Eliza Jekyll as she attempts to survive the dangerous landscape of a London where steampunk technology and strange magics coexist, while an immortal Isaac Newton rules from behind the scenes. When Eliza is called in to investigate a murder in which the victim's face has been stolen, it plunges her into a disturbing case involving a black magic conspiracy and a manipulative alchemist. Even worse, Eliza's dark side, the cunning and unpredictable Lizzie Hyde, is growing stronger and trying to take over their shared body, even as the escaped killer, Mister Todd, obsesses over them from the shadows. Carr expands her dark, weird world by once again drawing on Victorian literature and twisted takes on historical personages%E2%80%94such as a Countess Lovelace sporting mechanical body parts, while wrapping the elements around a solid mystery. The only weak point is the romantic triangle between Eliza, Lizzie, and the Royal Society Investigator Remy Lafayette, due to the lack of chemistry. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency (Oct.)