Welcome to the Fractured Conclave
Hunting down fugitives is her job, until she becomes the hunted.
In this contemporary fantasy world, the elite run the show. Common folk like Hallie Talbot are left to get by as best they can, and try to avoid any attention from their rulers.
Estranged from her blood family, but still owing allegiance and part of her pay cheque to the wider family vine, Hallie Talbot is working towards gaining her freedom. Her plans keep getting derailed. To start with, she's a prime suspect in the murder of one of the elite and things only get more complicated from there.
Fractured Conclave will be a six book series following Hallie as she navigates her world from the grimy streets of low city to the refined and beautiful halls of the elite, finding danger wherever she goes.
As with my other series, it's designed to be read in order. Later books contain spoilers for previous books. I've tried to avoid too many spoilers in the book descriptions below, but if you're like me and you prefer to follow the story from beginning to end, reading in order is definitely recommended.
More information about the individual books can be found below as available.
The series will be available as both e-books and paperbacks through Amazon, with audio book versions available more widely.
A Usual Suspect
Fractured Conclave - Book 1
She can see the truth, but when she's accused of murder, no one believes she's innocent.
Hallie works as a skip tracer - hunting down people wanted by the law, for one reason or another. It's not glamourous, and it doesn't pay all that well. But it's legal work, and that's hard to come by in low city.
When her best - and only - friend calls her in a panic, Hallie goes to help and gets a lot more than she bargained for. One of the elite has been murdered and the city police and special investigators are looking for someone to blame.
The moment Hallie is near a dead body of one of the ruling class, her hard work and clean record count for nothing. She just becomes a usual suspect. Worse, the real killer also wants Hallie dead.
Can she stay ahead of the investigators long enough to find the real killer and bring them to justice?
A Broken Contract
Fractured Conclave - Book
2
A promise broken. Her future torn up. But she still has a job to do.
Betrayed by her blood family, all Hallie's plans for her future are in ruins. She has no time to lick her wounds as Special Investigator Girard wants her help looking for some members of the elite who have gone missing in Hallie's territory.
Furious and hurt at the destruction of her plans, the last thing Hallie wants to do is look for spoiled rich kids. But then she and Girard start finding bodies and a simple hunt for missing persons turns into a deadly game with a ruthless and deadly opponent. Hallie and Girard will have to work together if they are going to survive to have any future at all.
A Lost Treasure
Fractured Conclave - Book 3
How do you find something no one wants to admit even exists?
With her life turned upside down, it's almost a relief for Hallie to be asked to work a case. She is tasked with helping the Conclave Investigators follow up on a suspected theft, and also help track down one of their own - Special Investigator Girard Abbot has gone missing.
But nothing is straightforward. The supposed victim of the theft doesn't seem interested in helping with the investigation. No one seems to know what's been stolen. Girard may not just be missing, but also injured - or worse. And then Hallie senses the stirring of ancient magic, powerful enough to threaten her entire city.
Hallie will need all of her resources, from her own magic to the allies and friends she's gathered over the years, to try and save her city from ruin.
A Lost Treasure will be available from the end of March 2025.
