One of my favorite novels of all time is THE WOMAN IN WHITE, by Wilkie Collins. It came out in the 1860s and was a monster hit, the foundation of the sensational novel genre. It made Collins’ fortune, and the heroine, Miss Marian Halcombe, received marriage proposals in the mail even though she didn’t exist except on the page. Why he did not write a sequel is a mystery to me. It seems like a no-brainer, obvious. Well, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. I picked up the ball and ran, not realizing that Marian was a high-octane engine with a lot of adventures to tell. I’m still not quite sure how it happened, but I just kept on writing as she carried on!
The most dangerous woman in Europe meets the greatest danger of all: love.
Marian uses all her wits and wiles she to save her husband Theo Camlet from charges of bigamy and then murder. Women are supposed to be rescued in her world, but Marian fights to rescue everything she loves: her husband and her happiness.
Marian Halcombe Camlet's son has run away from his boarding school, and Queen Victoria's jewels are stolen. Juggling maternity and parenting within the strict confines of Victorian womanhood, Marian attacks with all her customary vehemence.
Walter Hartright returns to Central America to search for the leader of his expedition, and Marian's husband Theo goes along, which leads to problems when they are kidnapped. Marian Halcombe Camlet sails to the rescue with cases of rifles. But it is 1864, a dangerous time to cross the Atlantic when the Union Navy is on the watch for smugglers.
Marian Halcombe Camlet comes to awareness in the Dower House of a grand English country house, but she can't remember how she got there. How did Marian get here, and why? The Earl of Brecon and Stowe has a secret, but Marian has forgotten it. She has to discover the lost memory, and then resolve the secret, before she can return home.
Marian Halcombe Camlet had thought her worst enemy was dead. But a dangerous Balkan prince discovers that her husband Theo is his exact double, a handy stand-in for his own assassination. Her journey to rescue her husband and defeat Fosco, and incidentally to save Vaurantania from bloody revolution, takes her to the capitals of Europe and at last a grim castle high in the Alps.
Hidden in the back of an artist's canvas is a golden token that draws Marian Halcombe Camlet into a web of international intrigue. A train crash puts the token into the hands of Marian Halcombe Camlet and Walter Hartright.
When her husband is accused of distributing pornography, Marian Halcombe Camlet is left in London juggling children, business, and a frightening pregnancy. To save her husband's sanity Marian agrees to a false death certificate. But how long can she live as an impoverished widow and mother, when her man has flee to America?
Marian's daughter is heartbroken when her fiance becomes enmeshed in an American religious cult.
Marian and Lottie race off to Virginia to rescue him, carrying with them Marian's profligate nephew Wally, who has become entangled with an adventuress. Wally falls victim to another seductress - a violin - and Marian's daughter learns she must compete with a whole cult full of willing maidens and her fiance's crippling sense of honour. And Marian discovers that the wily Father of the Agapal Fellowship wouldn't mind adding the most dangerous woman in Europe to the roster!
Why does Marian Halcombe Camlet become drawn into the murderous politics of a tiny pirate kingdom in the South China Sea? Because the pirate is tall, dark, and irresistible!
When her husband Theo dies, Marian Halcombe Camlet's heart breaks. Her plan is to wear black and dwindle away into her grave. But then her brother reveals her late husband's deathbed request: Theo wants his beloved wife to be happy. To marry again! Suddenly everyone in her family has a likely prospect to offer, and men are lining up. Fed up with the demands of Victorian society, Marian takes the decision into her own hands by returning to her first love--adventure. She sails halfway around the globe and finds old enemies and new loves. But when she returns to Britain, danger and treachery inexorably follow.
Somewhere in a vast ruinous Italian garden is a treasure, Egyptian gold worth millions. Lester Camlet and her brother William plan to find it.
Lester and William take turns recounting an adventure that took place 25 years ago, when they were but curious children. It was more dangerous than they knew. Treason, a duel to the death, blackmail, a bride compelled to the altar, and the recovery of an Egyptian treasure lurk in the past. But the lessons and weapons of childhood are the foundation for adult valor. William finds love, and Lester sets out on a quest for the biggest villain of the 1890s: Jack the Ripper!
All these years, Marian Halcombe has hidden her stepson Zed, the secret heir to an Asian island kingdom. She swore to fulfil her dead husband's dying wish and set the boy on his throne. But now Zed is of age and he steps forward to fulfill a pirate prince's dream of peace and unity. Marian's greatest adventure is about to begin. Can she guide the Cobra Marked King to the destiny he was born to fulfil?
