Alice Duncan
Mercy Allcutt Mysteries
Lost Among the Angels
1920s, Los Angeles, CA
New to Los Angeles, Mercy Allcutt lands employment as secretary to Ernie Templeton, Private Investigator. Mercy’s thrilled, and she’s sure, with time and help, she’ll become an invaluable asset to Ernie’s business. Ernie doesn't yet share Mercy's sunny optimism, but nothing tests the resolve of a new employee quite like murder.
Angels Flight
1920s, Los Angeles, CA
Mercy is learning the ropes of her new job when she opens the door and discovers her mother on the doorstep. Even more surprises lay ahead for the aspiring sleuth: a couple of phony spiritualists, a Hollywood gossip columnist who gets bumped off during a séance, a semi-famous starlet, and several other colorful characters. Soon Mercy finds herself in very deep waters.
Fallen Angels
Welcome to sunny Pasadena, California, just a stone's throw from Hollywood. The 1920s are in full roar. Prohibition isn't stopping anybody, and Daisy Gumm Majesty is getting by the best way she knows how - catering to the rich and famous as a medium who put the "con" in conjuror.
Angels of Mercy
1926, Los Angeles, CA
Former Boston Brahmin Mercy Allcutt is excited to be renting suites of rooms to deserving working women in her new Bunker Hill home. She considers it an act of good-heartedness, no matter how skeptical her boss, private investigator Ernie Templeton, is about her endeavor.
Thanksgiving Angels
1926, Los Angeles, CA
Former Boston Brahmin, Mercy Allcutt, moved from Boston to Los Angeles specifically to get away from her overbearing mother and father. Therefore, she’s upset when her boss, P.I. Ernie Templeton, gives her the entire Thanksgiving week of 1926 off so that she can spend the holiday with her parents in their new winter home in Pasadena, California.
Angels Adrift
Mercy Allcutt's imagination is more exciting than her job as secretary to P.I., Ernie Templeton. As usual, she has nothing to do except gaze out the office window overlooking Pasadena and imagine the plots of stories she plans to write someday.
Christmas Angels
1926, Los Angeles, CA
Mercy and Lulu visit one of Ernie Templeton's favorite Chinatown dives, a silken items shop owned by Ernie's friend, Charley Wu.
Their Christmas shopping plans take a chill when they witness a young Chinese woman being dragged kicking and screaming into the shop by its proprietor. Even more chilling is the woman's plea for help as she passes Lulu and Mercy.
Hollywood Angels
Los Angeles, California, January 1927
Mercy Allcutt’s friend, Lulu LaBelle, has an unwelcomed encounter with an alleged talent scout, producer, and director in the burgeoning motion-picture business in Los Angeles.
