The Brass Cipher at Tinker’s Folly

About this book

In the tiered, brass-and-fog metropolis of Oakhaven Reach, thirty-eight-year-old Silas Vance seeks only the quiet isolation of his antiquarian puzzle shop. A former master locksmith haunted by a career-ending thermal vault collapse and a resulting nerve-spasm tremor, Silas avoids all civic entanglements. However, when his estranged colleague, master inventor Clara Vance, is found dead beside an unregistered automaton known as the Aegis Dial, the Steam Constabulary dismisses it as a tragic boiler failure. Through his highly calibrated tactile senses, Silas recognizes the machine's internal tension ratios as a deliberate cipher. To prevent Omni-Foundry's corporate liquidators from seizing Clara's patents and starving the city's independent artisans, Silas must reluctantly team up with two estranged former rivals: meticulous pneumatic cartographer Maeve Linnet and debt-ridden gear-smith Jace Corwin. Together, they must navigate escalating intellectual trials and repair their fractured friendships to unlock the truth.

Book details

Genres:

Cozy Mystery, Steampunk, Puzzle Mystery

Language:

en

Published:

2026-05-05

Content rating:

PG-13