M. Louisa Locke Books In Order

Publication Order of Victorian San Francisco Mystery Books

Publication Order of Victorian San Francisco Mystery Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Caelestis Books

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

M. Louisa Locke is a USA Today bestselling American writer of historical fiction, mystery, and science fiction stories. She is a former professor of US and Women’s History and is particularly famous for writing the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series. After retiring from her 30-year long career as a professor, Locke embarked on her second career as a writer of historical fiction. The main protagonists of her mystery series include a boarding house owner named Anne Fuller and a San Francisco based lawyer named Nate Dawson. Together, they investigate criminal activities and murders in the city. In addition to writing full-length mystery novels, Locke has written a few novellas and short stories in which she has given a chance for her secondary characters to get involved in the minor mysteries of their own. Under the pen name of Louisa Locke, she has penned a coming of age science fiction series. However, she mostly gained popularity for her historical fiction stories.

Author Locke is a member of the Independent Authors Alliance and the founder of Paradisi Chronicles. She is also a Historical Fiction Author’s Cooperative’s Director. Author Locke was brought up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While growing up, she had set the goals of writing novels and teaching history. Subsequently, she obtained degrees from Kent State University and Oberlin College in history. After this, she began teaching history at the high school level. With the women’s movement’s arrival, Locke set higher goals and moved to the west with her husband to earn a doctorate from U.C. San Diego in history. In between, Locke spent time in reading historical fiction and the growth in the number of women who wrote science fiction and mysteries. All the while, she daydreamed about writing her own stories someday.

In 1979, Locke came across a passage in a diary while working on her doctoral dissertation on the late 19th century working women of the west. The passage was written by a domestic servant and contained a setting for a ‘locked room’ mystery that seemed a perfect cozy mystery setting to Locke. This setting led to the development of her first novel, Maids of Misfortune. Locke spent the next 10 years of her life completing her doctorate, bringing up her daughter, and teaching at several colleges, and working on the first draft of her debut book. In 1989, Locke got a full-time teaching job at the Mes Community College in San Diego. In the next 20 years, Locke taught US and women’s history. As she was actively involved in teaching during this period, she put her goal of fiction writing on hold. In 2009, Locke took semi-retirement from teaching and began focusing on her writing goal. Initially, she worked on light, suspenseful, romantic fiction. Also, she rewrote her first book in the same year and published it in the ebook format. With the high sales of the book, Locke decided to fully retire from teaching and began writing on a full-time basis.

A couple of years later, she came up with the second novel of her career. In all, Locke has penned six novels, four short stories, and three novellas. One of her books, Deadly Proof, achieved the first place in 2018 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Award. Many of her other books have also been finalists of various prestigious awards. Today, Locke spends time with her loving family and her assorted animals during her spare time. She enjoys being an author and loves to hear from her fans on through various literary and social media platforms.

The Victorian San Francisco Mystery series written by author M. Louisa Locke began in 2009. This series is set in San Francisco in the late 1800s and features Annie Fuller in the role of a boarding house owner, who also poses as Madam Sibyl. The other essential characters mentioned in the series include Matthew Voss, Nate Dawson, Barbara Hewitt, Kathleen Hennessey, Laura Dawson, Seth Timmons, Robert Livingston, and several others. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘Maids of Misfortune’. It was released in 2009 by Createspace Independent publication. Locke has set this novel’s plot in 1879 in San Francisco. Initially, Annie Fuller is introduced as a young widow living in San Francisco. She faces trouble when creditors start threatening for the recovery of the loan her late husband had taken from them before he committed suicide 5 years ago.

One creditor threatens her to take the ownership of her boarding house if she fails to pay off the debt in time. Annie Fuller secretly works as a business consultant under the name of Madam Sibyl. One of her clients, an exclusive clairvoyant named Matthew Voss has died recently. Annie thinks that he was murdered by the person who stole his assets, but the police declare Matthew’s death as a suicide. Nate Dawson is the family lawyer of the Voss family. He is also desperate to find the reality of Matthew’s death. When Annie and Nate come across each other and realize that both of them have the same motive, they join hands to investigate Matthew’s death. As they pursue the truth, sparks begin to fly between them.

The second installment of the series is known as ‘Uneasy Spirits’. It was self-published by Locke in 2011. This book also takes place in 1879. Kathleen Hennessey is introduced as the young Irish maid of Annie Fuller. Despite her financial success as Madam Sibyl, Annie hardly has any trust in the palmistry and astrological advice she gives her clients. When Annie Fuller is given the task of exposing a fraudulent astrologer named Arabell Frampton, Kathleen shows an interest in assisting her. Nate Dawson goes through a dilemma of his own. He wishes to marry Annie Fuller, but he does not have the courage to tell her what he actually feels for her until he has earned enough money for supporting her. The intrigue of this historical mystery story takes Annie Fuller into the world of 19th-century spiritualism, where she encounters naive dupes, true believers, unexplained supernatural happenings, and clever frauds. And as Annie unravels the secrets of the swirling spirits, she faces the threat of getting her secret role as Madam Sibyl revealed. If that happens, Annie fears that her relationship with Dawson might get spoilt and she cannot afford to let that happen.