An early spring storm freckled the bedroom windows with rain. The smell of coffee was strong outside his nest of blankets. In a second-story flat on the fashionable part of Baldwin Street-close enough to the river that the scent of money still perfumed the air, and close enough to the wharves for good street food and radical conversation-Cyril DePaul pulled himself from beneath a heavy duvet of moiré silk. Amberlough City, eponymous capital of the larger state, was not home to many early risers. Including each other.Īt the beginning of the workweek, most of Amberlough’s salaryfolk crawled reluctantly from their bed-or someone else’s-and let the trolleys tow them, hungover and half asleep, to the office.

As the twinkling lights of nightclub marquees yield to the rising flames of a fascist revolution, these three will struggle to survive using whatever means - and people - necessary. Shielding Aristide from the expected fallout isn’t easy, though, for he refuses to let anything – not the crooked city police or the mounting rage from radical conservatives – dictate his life.Įnter streetwise Cordelia Lehane, a top dancer at the Bumble Bee Cabaret and Aristide’s runner, who could be the key to Cyril’s plans-if she can be trusted. They suit each other: Aristide turns a blind eye to Cyril’s clandestine affairs, and Cyril keeps his lover’s moonlighting job as a smuggler under wraps.Ĭyril participates on a mission that leads to disastrous results, leaving smoke from various political fires smoldering throughout the city. Trust no one with anything – especially in Amberlough City.Ĭovert agent Cyril DePaul thinks he’s good at keeping secrets, especially from Aristide Makricosta. Amberlough by Laura Elena Donnelly Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly is a debut spy thriller that follows a gay double-agent as he schemes to protect his smuggler lover during the rise of a fascist government coup (available February 7, 2017).

Amberlough by lara elena donnelly