Something Strange and Deadly - Susan Dennard (Paperback)

• In an alternate nineteenth-century Philadelphia, Eleanor Fitt sets out to rescue her brother, who seems to have been captured by an evil necromancer in control of an army of Undead.
• A debut installment in a planned trilogy introduces 16-year-old Eleanor Fitt, who enlists the help of motley Spirit-Hunters and handsome inventor Daniel when her brother goes missing at the same time Philadelphia is overcome by a Dead uprising. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.

Sixteen-year-old Eleanor Fitt&;s brother is missing. And when she discovers that the Dead are rising in Philadelphia and wreaking havoc throughout the city, she knows that her brother is involved.

So Eleanor enlists the help of the Spirit-Hunters. This motley crew, hired to protect the city from supernatural forces, is after the necromancer who has been reanimating corpses. Their skills can save her brother. But as Eleanor spends time with the Spirit-Hunters, and their handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. Now not only is her reputation at risk, but her very life may hang in the balance.

In Something Strange and Deadly, the first book in a trilogy, Susan Dennard weaves together vividly imagined scenes of action, adventure, and gorgeous Victorian fashion to create an entertaining steampunk tapestry of humor, horror, and romance. Readers who love Cassandra Clare&;s Infernal Devices series will be intrigued from the start.

The Dead are on her heels. Her life is on the line. And time is running out.

After her father dies and her brother mysteriously goes missing, Eleanor Fitt is left to deal with her family's declining financial state. And with her controlling mother trying to marry her off, sixteen-year-old Eleanor doesn't think life could get more complicated.

But then the Dead start walking.

Desperate to solve the mystery of her brother's disappearance, Eleanor ventures into the private lab of the elusive Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. Always a social misfit, Eleanor finally feels at home among the intelligent Joseph, feisty Jie, and extremely stubborn yet gorgeous Daniel. But the more time she spends with them, the more dangerous her life becomes.

Susan Dennard is a writer turned marine biologist turned writer again. The Something Strange and Deadly trilogy is her debut. Among the traits she shares with her heroine Eleanor are a weakness for Shakespeare quotes, a healthy appetite for baked goods, and an insatiable curiosity. Sadly, Susan does not get to wear a corset or wave a parasol on a daily basis.