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Heather Blackwood
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Hounds of Autumn: A Steampunk Mystery Kindle Edition

by Heather Blackwood (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 521 ratings
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They say that the moor has eyes. It is 1890, and the windswept moors hold dark secrets. Chloe Sullivan is an amateur inventor whose holiday takes a dark turn when her friend and colleague, one of the few female mechanical experts in the British Empire, is murdered.

A black mechanical hound roams the moors, but could it have killed a woman? And what secrets are concealed within the dark family manor?

Accompanied by her naturalist husband and clockwork cat, Chloe is determined to see her friend’s killer found.

But some secrets have a terrible cost.
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  1. Print length
    322 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    December 15, 2013
  5. File size
    760 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AZMU8W8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Triple Hare Press (December 15, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 15, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 760 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 322 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 521 ratings

About the author

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Heather Blackwood

Heather Blackwood

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Heather Blackwood tells lies to strangers for money. She is an American author of urban and historical fantasy, steampunk and mystery. Her books include Hounds of Autumn and the Time Corps Chronicles.

She enjoys playing Celtic harp, writing and reading historical fiction, fantasy, mystery and science fiction. Her obsessions include historic cemeteries, cuckoo clocks, tea, nesting dolls, old books, time travel and stained glass.

She graduated with a BA in literature with a minor in history and has worked as a high school English teacher, a marketing copy editor, technical editor and an engineering technical writer at a Fortune 500 company. She is now a full-time novelist.

Find out about current books and upcoming publications at www.heatherblackwood.com.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
521 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful book.
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2024
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The characters are fantastic and complex. The plot is twisty and interesting. The world building is superb. I'm looking forward to reading more books from this author!
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Parity Animal
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book! Needs a little editing.
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2017
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It's a fairly well moving, gripping steam punk detective story. I liked it very much.

Others have already commented on the plot.

One commented about some of the women not acting like Victorian women should act, and, while I'd agree totally with that, I think it was part of the whole point of the book. Women don't have to be totally submissive and act like proper Victorian women, and these women realized that and made more of themselves.

I'd agree with the comments about misused words though, and highly recommend a professional editor.
2 people found this helpful
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Ian Keller
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Female Heroine, loved the setting, and everything else too!
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2013
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I’ll admit it, I love the steampunk genre, and this book doesn’t disappoint. In addition, this book is very compelling murder mystery story in its own right. In fact, the murder mystery is really what drives the story. The mystery is compelling, interesting, and puzzling right up until the end.

The hero of the book, Chloe Sullivan, is the perfect example of a strong female heroine. She is resourceful, intelligent, and strong-willed. The police seem to be botching the investigation of her friend’s death, so Chloe takes it upon herself to do a little investigation of her own.

Now, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I won’t say any more. I will say I read this book in a single day, staying up until the wee hours of the morning because I was so engrossed in the story.

Five stars. This book will appeal to both fans of mystery novels and to fans of steampunk. I’m definitely going to look for more by this author.
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Diane Malkowski
5.0 out of 5 stars Great first outing!
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2013
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I sometimes despair of e-publishing. It seems like it's just too easy for authors to get published these days and I've seen a lot of books of late that should never have made it to print.

Then I run into books like this one and my faith in reading gets renewed.

"Hounds of Autumn" is a great blend of mystery, romance, and murder set in a beautiful Gothic setting in Dartmoor. The steampunk elements blend in perfectly...it's not a mechanist's dream but neither do the machines run away with the story.

Chloe, her mechanical cat Giles, and her husband, Ambrose, are off to the Moors to visit some of Ambrose extended family. But the run into murder when one of Chloe's friends turns up dead. Meanwhile it seems things are not quite as respectable in the Aynesworth house as the family makes themselves out to be.

While this story does draw some inspiration from Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles, it's not a rewrite of that story by any stretch of the imagination. There are plenty of suspects to shift through, secrets to uncover and scandals to be brought to light, all the while the police content themselves with seeking out the mechanical hound they feel to have caused the death of Camille Granger.

I read this in one day - I didn't want to put it down - and I'd love to see more of Chloe and Giles in future stories. Heather Blackwood did a fabulous job on her initial offering, and I can't wait to see her next story!
2 people found this helpful
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Michelle Parkins
4.0 out of 5 stars Weird and utterly wonderful
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2014
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I don't think I read the blurb about the book... it was well reviewed, in my favourite genre and was long enough to interest me so I got it...

The whole mechanical aspect came as a complete surprise to me and yet didn't seem like fantasy at all. I actually had to stop and ask myself if somehow they did perhaps design little mechanical toys in that era. Had I read something about that before and not remembered? Either was it was delightful. (Forgive me for sounding like a geriatric here, but I WAS fascinated and delighted).

The entire story from beginning to end (apart from the wonderful mechanical animals and objects) was gripping. I love period pieces. I love murder mysteries and I love well written books. I was one very happy reader
2 people found this helpful
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Neil Mitchell
3.0 out of 5 stars but there is no great shock at the incongruity
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2015
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Curate's egg. The steam-punk aspects are central to the story line, but there is no great shock at the incongruity, whilst the technical challenges - how do you build AI in a steam punk context? - are simply avoided. The homages to Conan Doyle and Hardy are comforting, there is a general lightness of touch, but the author's use of victorian melodramatic convention produced, for me, the reactions melodrama always does.
3 people found this helpful
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Pope Mel
5.0 out of 5 stars A Steampunky Mystery
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013
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"A woman violates the precepts of nature at her own peril."

Their airship has docked. Chloe Sullivan and her husband, Ambrose, have just arrived in Dartmoor, a rather desolate and atmospheric place, surrounded by moors. Ambrose, a naturalist, plans to work on his latest book while visiting with relatives. And Chloe? She hopes to finally meet the friend and fellow scientist whom she's been corresponding with for years.

Chloe is an inventor and a builder of mechanicals, a fairly unusual pastime for a woman in 1890.
Everyone seems to delight in telling her to mind her place, and not embarrass her husband.

"Oh, but there are plenty of things for a lady to do here," Alexander said. "We are not without amusements. We have a withdrawing room with a piano, you can embroider, draw, paint, or you can even get a book from the library."

(As long as it's NOT that "dreadful" book by Mr. Darwin!)

But other than a trip to the pastry shop, Chloe loves nothing more than "tinkering" with machines and making her "baubles."

At least her friend will understand.

But Camille Granger is dead. The police seem to think she was killed by her mechanical hound. Chloe thinks otherwise, and sets out to find the real killer.

This book is a wonderful mixture of steampunky goodness and a plain, old-fashioned mystery. It was loads of funny spending time with this plucky, intrepid heroine, who also happens to be "built like a teapot." I enjoyed, too, the rather complex relationship that exists between Chloe and her much-older husband.

Miss Blackwood, please put aside your more "lady-like" pursuits and write more soon!
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Catherine L. Vickers
5.0 out of 5 stars I think I've found myself a new Agatha C.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2015
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Absolutely fantastic book. This author has it all: murder-mystery, romance, monsters on the moors, sadness and I'm saying no more as I don't want to give anything away. All I can confirm is that, for me, it is definitely a page turner.

I'm normally a fantasy fan, but this book falls under my second favorite category of historical British crime and it did not let me down, not one bit.

Will definitely be looking into other books by this author.
One person found this helpful
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brienneselwyn
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Steampunk novel with bittersweet end
Reviewed in Germany on January 3, 2014
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My Expectations
I read a lot of Steampunk novels in the past years and based on that I have common expectations. Steampunk elements should be part of the story and no decorative parts. I like either a Victorian background or an alternate history setting. Romance is not really my cup of tea. Therefore I hoped that romance would not play an important and extended role.

The Delivery
The 270 pages are divided into 20 consecutively numbered chapters. This is quite short compared to the books I normally read. I know that quantity does not say anything about quality.

When I read the words hounds and moor, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came immediately up in my mind. But beside hound and moor there are no further similarities. Hounds of Autumn is a unique story.
The title of the book can be interpreted either as the shortest possible summary or as a synonym for Chloe and Ambrose Sullivan who both play important roles. In fact Chloe is the main character. She is young, at least 20 years younger as her husband. I will come back to that fact later.
Chloe is an extraordinary person for her time. England in 1890 means Victorian England.

"When a Victorian man and woman married, the rights of the woman were legally given over to her spouse. Under the law the married couple became one entity where the husband would represent this entity, placing him in control of all property, earnings and money. In addition to losing money and material goods to their husbands, Victorian wives became property to their husbands," [Source]

One could say women have been the slaves of her husbands.

How did middle and upper class women spent their time?

"Women's leisure activities included in large part traditional pastimes such as reading, embroidery, music, and traditional handicrafts." [Source]

Author Heather Blackwood shows her talent in many ways. Her vivid presentation of the Victorian society is excellent and matches superb with the unique and fresh main characters in in form of Chloe and Ambrose Sullivan.
Ambrose has been a good friend of Chloe's family and the marriage - including a contract - gave Chloe the opportunity to do something outrageous for a Victorian woman: to read what she wants and to invent and build mechanicals. Her latest invention is the mechanical cat name Giles which is always good for a surprise.
Ambrose admires Chloe's intelligence, straightforwardness and endurance. He defends/saves her whenever necessary. Chloe enjoys a freedom which stands in conflict with society rules. They respect and also love each other which is shown in small gestures, something your recognise when you keep an eye on long term married couples who are still in love.
Without this unorthodox marriage the story would miss a lot.

While reading this charming story - don't get me wrong, there are scenes where Heather Blackwood pulls no punches - I enjoyed the balanced delivery of information which always light your imagination and avoids information overload.
I do not want to draw the curtain over the fact that humor, superstition, sense of responsibility and fog found their appropriate place within the book.

Finally I must admit that all my educated guesses to identify the murderer before the final revelation failed. I highly appreciated that the reader most of the time does not know more than Chloe.

The Inevitable

It was exactly my cup of tea. An intelligent heroine, a most entertaining story with twist and turns, a mystical touch, an excellent description of Victorian society and a bittersweet end,

The writing style supports the story at all points. Within seconds I forgot my surroundings and followed Chloe and Ambrose Sullivan on her way to the story.

If you look for a good Steampunk book which
- delivers suitable action beyond airship battles
- denies the endless ostentation of Steampunk gadgets
- present you an extraordinary woman her tries to hold her ground in Victorian society
- ends bittersweet
- bewitch with emotion and eerily-beautiful moments

then you should give Hounds of Autumn a try.

These are my totally subjective closing words
For me Hounds of Autumn cries for a sequel starring the extraordinary and inimitable Chloe Sullivan written by the talented and convincing Heather Blackwood !!!
3 people found this helpful
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Mandy Walkden-Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling read.
Reviewed in Australia on April 1, 2016
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I was a little wary about reading this as I was worried it wouldn't come up to the standard of The Time Corps Chronicles series, but it certainly does. Silly me.
One dearly hopes there may be more coming about Chloe and her mechanical constructions. And Giles, the mechanical cat. I want one please.
Set in 1890s, but with air ships and mechanical marvels. It's a joy to read.
Skilfully written. Eerie location of the Dartmoor moors as a background.
A great mix of murder, mystery and quaint characters against a genteel steampunk background.
It's worth its weight in mechanical cats ... and hounds.
Highly recommend.
Not sure why one reviewer I'd fixated on three typos. That few is rare in any book. A touch bizarre.
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MR P A BRIGGS
4.0 out of 5 stars A very good read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2016
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Interestingly different. A very good read.
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AotearoaGemini
4.0 out of 5 stars Really fascinating
Reviewed in Australia on April 13, 2014
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I haven't read a story in this genre before, and really enjoyed the creativity and commentary on women and social issues of the time.
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