Escape Into Adventure, Romance, Suspense, and Magic This July

Find Your Perfect July Escape

Nominated for RITA (Best Historical)

Penguin
November 2011
On Sale: November 1, 2011
Featuring: Justine DeCabrillac; Hawker
336 pages
ISBN: 0425244539
EAN: 9780425244531
Kindle: B0052RHD06
Paperback / e-Book
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Joanna Bourne

Joanna Bourne
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Attacked on a rainy London street, veteran spy Justine DeCabrillac knows only one man can save her: Hawker, her oldest friend . . . her oldest enemy. London's crawling with hidden assassins and someone is out to frame Hawker for murder. The two spies must work together to find who's out to destroy them...

Excerpt

Nobody noticed her dying. Every door was closed. Every curtain drawn. She passed low walls, punctuated by stone posts. Then she was at Number Seven. She knew the way even when she couldn’t see very well. The door was painted green. The knocker was a bronze rose. She covered it with her bloody hand and banged down hard and went back to holding her blood in. She leaned on the door, her forehead against the green paint. It is strange that it does not hurt. I have been in pain so many times. This final time it does not hurt at all. Really, she was not ready to die. She had a long list of things to do. The door opened and she had nothing to lean upon. The ground crested upward to meet her. The rug was scratchy on her cheek, surprisingly hard. She felt herself rolled over. She was looking up at a woman, not much more than a girl. She didn’t know this one, did she? Hands pushed her own hands away and came down strong around her arm, at the wound. Someone shouted. She could tell it was shouts from the urgency of it. It sounded distant in her ear. When she opened her eyes again, he was there. Black hair and a thin face, dark as a Gypsy. Serious eyes. She said, "Hello, ’Awker." "Hello, Justine," Hawker said.