The Adventures of Viola Stewart

A Victorian Steampunk Mystery Series

The Adventures of Viola Stewart – introduces Viola Stewart, a widowed optician with a penchant for detectiving, who stumbles upon a secret Society of Men in Grey. This Victorian Mystery series is set in a steampunk fantasy world and has a gaslamp flavour. Viola’s first three adventures were published May, 2015.

Prefer a Holiday Story?

You asked for it. You got it!

You can purchase Viola’s Christmas adventure (first published in The Illusioneer & Other Tales) as a separate eBook (available now – updated cover coming soon) or in print (Paperback – with updated cover – releases in store 1st July).
Pre-order your paperback copy now (postage before 1st July. Australian addresses only)

It’s Christmas Eve.
A friend is in trouble. A life is in danger. A knock on the door could change everything.
It’s all just a matter of time.
Is it part of another plot by the mysterious Men in Grey? Viola must find out the truth before it is too late

Journal #1: Doctor Jack & Other Tales

The first set of tales are available separately as eBooks: #1: Three Short Stories (mini-anthology) and #2: Doctor Jack (novella), and as a paperback compilation of all four adventures.

Three short stories and a novella by Karen J Carlisle.

When Viola Stewart’s husband died, she had no wish to wear mourning for the rest of her days. Defying convention, she follows her passion for detectiving and stumbles upon a secret Society of Men in Grey. But peril lurks in the gaslit streets.
Someone is stalking the women of London…
Is Jack the Ripper being controlled by a secret society, and part of their nefarious plans to take over The Empire?
Viola is drawn into intrigue and secrets that she may take to her grave. Join Viola Stewart, and her good friend Doctor Henry Collins, in a series of Victorian steampunk mysteries.

Doctor Jack & Other Tales features the short, An Eye for Detail: (short listed in The Australian Literature Review’s Murder-Mystery Short Story Competition, June 2013.)
Paperback edition 3 now available – with bonus excerpt. Also available as eBook (no bonus excerpt).

BUY Your Copy NOW 

Journal #2: Eye of the Beholder and Other Tales

Three more short stories and a novella by Karen J Carlisle.

Viola is detectiving again, chasing secret societies and nefarious plots.
With Doctor Henry Collins at her side, Viola runs foul of mummies and a murder mystery with a twist.
Is she cursed? Is she going slowly insane? Or has she stumbled into yet another plot of the infamous Men in Grey – a secret society set on taking over the Empire?
With the threat of Bedlam looming over her, she must solve the mystery before it is too late.

Paperback edition 2 now available – with bonus excerpt. Also available as eBook (no bonus excerpt).

BUY Your Copy NOW

 

Journal #3: The Illusioneer & Other Tales

Viola Stewart returns for a third set of adventures.

Viola needs a holiday.
But, even at the beach or partying on the Grand Tour of Europe, there are things afoot.
The Gadgeteers are lobbying for merchant rights in the Empire. The Men in Grey are keen to stretch their influence beyond British shores. And Viola is alone.
Her past has returned to haunt her. Is there anyone she can trust?

Each new adventure is longer! – novellette or novella length.

Paperback edition 2 now available – with bonus excerpt. eBook (no excerpt)
Viola’s Christmas adventure – Tomorrow, When I Die – is also available separately as eBook.

BUY Your Copy NOW

CLICK HERE if you need to know book trigger warnings?

READ THE REVIEWS / Watch the Book Trailers
Buy the books 

Related Books:

  • Blood Ties (book 1, The Journals of James Findlay. Doctor Jack spin off series)
  • Cogs and Conspiracies (short stories set in the same steampunk/alternate history world)
  • The Department of Curiosities (book 1, The Department of Curiosities duology. Find out more about the Department mentioned in book 3, The Illusioneer & Other Tales.)

 

Reading Order:

As published/in order of timeline:
  • Doctor Jack & Other Tales (book 1)
  • Eye of the Beholder & Other Tales (book 2)
  • The Illusioneer & Other Tales (book 3)
In order of timeline (with related books in extended steampunk world):
  • 1883: The Department of Curiosities (book 1, The Department of Curiosities duology)
  • 1884:  All that Glitters (short story, Cogs & Conspiracies)
  • 1860-70s: Incoming (short story, Cogs & Conspiracies)
  • 1888: Doctor Jack & Other Tales (book 1)
  • 1888: Blood Ties (book 1, The Journals of James Findlay)
  • 1889: Eye of the Beholder & Other Tales (book 2)
  • 1890: The Illusioneer & Other Tales (book 3)
  • 1890s: Right on Time (short story, Cogs & Conspiracies)
  • 1909: Captured (short story, Cogs & Conspiracies)


Buy art, t-shirt or mug

Subscribe to my newsletter for updates

 

Further Information on Karen’s published books