Her Ladyship's Curse

Her Ladyship's Curse opens Lynn Viehl's Disenchanted & Co., set in an alternate America that lost the Revolutionary War and remains under British rule. Charmian "Kit" Kittredge runs Disenchanted & Co. in the city of Rumsen, making her living investigating magic crimes and exposing the frauds behind them. Kit does not believe in magic herself, which is precisely what makes her good at debunking it.

When Lady Diana Walsh calls on her to investigate the curse she believes is carving hateful words into her own flesh as she sleeps, Kit cannot refuse a woman subjected nightly to such vicious assaults. Investigating the Walsh family convinces her the attacks are part of a larger and more ominous plot, one that may involve the lady's obnoxious husband.

Sleuthing in Rumsen also means skirting the unwanted attentions of the nefarious deathmage Lucien Dredmore and the unwelcome scrutiny of police Chief Inspector Thomas Doyle. Unwilling to surrender to either man, Kit works toward the truth behind her ladyship's curse and uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to turn Rumsen into a supernatural battleground. This is part one of a two-part story and ends on a cliffhanger, continued in His Lordship Possessed.