Links: John Berlyne's July 2008 Review / Show Article /

George Mann begins a new series of mysteries featuring Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Veronica Hobbs. Set in 1901 London, the novel Affinity Bridge, a steampunk novel, also has paranormal elements. Steam powers ground trains that run on roads, airships to fill the skies, and medical devices. The novel depicts Queen Victoria in a wheelchair on a life support system, but still in control of the Empire.

From back of book: Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Air ships soar in the skies over the city, whilst ground trains rumble through the streets. Clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists.

But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side. Queen Victoria is kept alive by a primitive lige-support sytem while her agents Sir Maurice Newbury and his delectable assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, do battle with enemies of the crown, both physical and supernatural. Newbury and Hobbes are called in to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot, whilst attempting to solve a string of strangulations attributed to a mysterious glowing policeman and dealing with a zombie plague that is ravaging the slums of the capital.

(Source: Tor Books)