Jewel of the Golden West — Lisa Mason

Lily is not quite a typical woman in Toledo, Ohio, 1896. She may be repressed and dependent on her husband, but she supports the vote for women and has a mind of her own. When Johnny Pentland is found dead at a notorious brothel, Lily discovers her husband is not the man she thought he was.

Pursued by Pentland's enemies, Lily embarks on a journey that will take her across the country to San Francisco and across the ocean to Imperial China as she unravels a web of murder and corruption reaching from the opium dens of Chinatown to the mansions of Nob Hill.

Her journey becomes one of the heart when she crosses paths with Jackson Tremaine, a debonair, worldly-wise physician. Lily and Jackson begin a conflicted, passionate relationship as they encounter the mysterious Celestial Girl and her dangerous entourage.

In Book 2, Jewel of the Golden West, Lily arrives in San Francisco and discovers the murder of an immigration official connected with the Celestial Girl. She and Jackson are compelled into a dangerous murder investigation and a contract for murder is taken out on Lily's life.

From the author of The Garden of Abracadabra, Summer of Love, A Time Travel (a Philip K. Dick Award finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book), and The Gilded Age, A Time Travel (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book).

Of Lisa Mason's The Gilded Age, the New York Times Book Review said, “A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.”