The Deadly Hours
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3.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
"Charming... Four interconnected visits to a world of danger, wit, beauty and genuine romance. Treat yourself!"—ANNE PERRY, internationally bestselling author
Four bestselling authors. A cursed timepiece. One unforgettable, time-spanning mystery.
What if a single object could carry darkness through generations?
The Deadly Hours unites four of today’s most beloved historical mystery authors to tell a chilling, emotionally resonant tale spanning over two centuries. At its heart: La Sirène, a gold watch whose cursed legacy brings misfortune and death to all who possess it.
From the elegance of 18th-century Italy to the shadows of Victorian London to the uncertainty of World War II, each era reveals new lives irrevocably altered by the watch’s presence. Their stories interlock, revealing a centuries-long fight for justice, redemption, and release from fate’s cruel grasp.
Unlike traditional anthologies, The Deadly Hours reads as one seamless novel-in-stories, with each narrative layered into a unified, atmospheric arc of suspense, emotion, and historical richness.
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Susanna Kearsley and acclaimed writers C.S. Harris, Anna Lee Huber, and Christine Trent, The Deadly Hours is a genre-defying triumph that blends time-slip fiction, historical mystery, and gothic suspense in a tale that will grip fans of Outlander, The Winter Sea, The Thirteenth Tale, and The Shadow of the Wind.
More praise for The Deadly Hours:
"A fantastic read."—Tasha Alexander, New York Times bestselling author
"What a treat!"—Victoria Thompson, USA Today bestselling author
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A gold watch rumored to be cursed links the plots of the four novellas in this superior anthology. Kearsley starts things off with "Weapon of Choice," set in 1733 Italy, where Scots travelers Hugh and Mary McPherson get drawn into an effort to foil the assassination of the Duke of Ormonde, who's been targeted by a loyalist working "for the English Crown." Meanwhile, the two meet a pirate who possesses a timepiece, La Sirene, made from gold said to have been cursed after it was plundered from a cathedral. A surprising death follows. The watch reappears in 1831 Edinburgh, where Huber's series sleuth, Lady Darby, is consulted by the head of the city's largest criminal gang, who believes that it was responsible for a fatal illness that decimated his family. Trent's entry, "A Pocketful of Death," set in Edinburgh four decades later, is the standout, as La Sirene stopped working just before three deaths, an impossibility that proves to have a logical explanation. Harris's contribution, "Siren's Call," set in 1944 1945 England, adds the least to the saga. This is a solid introduction to authors who deserve a wider readership.
