Darcie Wilde

A Useful Woman, published by Berkley in 2016, introduced Rosalind Thorne, a gentlewoman left without money after her father's disgrace who makes herself indispensable to London hostesses, running their households and quietly settling their difficulties. The death of a young man in the ballroom at Almack's leaves her with a suspect list that takes in the club's patronesses and Devon Winterbourne, the suitor she once lost. Behind the Darcie Wilde name is Sarah Zettel, born in Sacramento in 1966 and resident in Michigan for many years, who had already published widely in science fiction, fantasy and young adult work. Her debut Reclamation earned the 1997 Locus Award in the first-novel category, Fool's War was named a New York Times Notable Book, and Bitter Angels, issued as C. L. Anderson, won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2010. Rosalind Thorne has since carried several sequels, among them The Secret of the Lost Pearls.