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The Jacq of Spades: A Future Noir Novel (Red Dog Conspiracy Book 1) Kindle Edition
1899 years after the Catastrophe, Bridges is owned by the Mob.
Jacqueline Spadros seems to have it all. Her father-in-law is the most feared man in Bridges. She lives in wealth and can do anything she pleases.
Except leave.
In an unwilling marriage and without enough money of her own to escape, Jacqui has secretly become a private eye. But a case comes up which threatens to make her nightmares a reality.
Dark, gritty, psychological, multi-layered Victorian-inspired far future detective noir that keeps the reader guessing to the very end.
Lovers of Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Bosch, The Expanse, Dune, or the Sherlock Holmes mysteries will enjoy this first chapter of the Red Dog Conspiracy.
The Jacq of Spades is part 1 of a 13-part serial novel:
- The Jacq of Spades <- you are here
- The Queen of Diamonds
- The Ace of Clubs
- The King of Hearts
- The Ten of Spades
- The Five of Diamonds
- The Two of Hearts
- The Three of Spades
- The Knave of Hearts
- The Four of Clubs (coming October 2023)
Warning: with child abduction, a corrupt government, domestic violence, gore, suicide, and murder, The Jacq of Spades is not for the faint of heart.
The Jacq of Spades was part of the first edition of the Dark Humanity science fiction and fantasy box set, which made #8 on the USA Today bestseller list for February 5, 2017, and #5 on the NY Times bestseller list for February 12, 2017.
Over 20,000 copies of The Jacq of Spades have been sold!
Scroll up, get your own copy, and begin the journey.
Welcome to the Family.
Note: this story will be posted in serial form on Royal Road.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 12, 2015
- File size2.0 MB
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First 3$22.97
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All 11$90.60
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This option includes 11 books.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
From the Author
My vision for Red Dog Conspiracy is that there is a yet undiscovered gender-flipped detective noirminiseries set in a future world - a steampunk dystopia under a dome inthe heart of the former US. This series tells that story.
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B017X29XUU
- Publisher : Red Dog Press, LLC (November 12, 2015)
- Publication date : November 12, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 2.0 MB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 281 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,829,438 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,678 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,734 in Crime & Mystery Science Fiction
- #2,429 in Steampunk Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Patricia Loofbourrow, MD is a NY Times and USA Today best-selling science fiction writer, PC gamer, ornamental food gardener, fiber artist, and wildcrafter who loves power tools, dancing, genetics and anything to do with outer space.
She was born in southern California and currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three grown children.
You can see all her books at pattyloof.com
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging with a good plot and twists. They describe it as an enjoyable read with well-developed characters. Readers praise the writing quality as outstanding, descriptive, and clean.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the mystery and adventure in the book. They appreciate the twists, good plot, and well-developed characters. The story is set in olden times before cars. It's an enjoyable steampunk noir novel with complex characters in a dangerous world.
"...The mystery, thick with tension and backstory, unfolds descriptively from the first page and does not let up until the end...." Read more
"...The Jacq of Spades is an all-around excellent mystery story that should appeal to any lover of mysteries, crime action, or to fans of stories about..." Read more
"...Jacq of Spades Patricia Loofbourrow creates a uniquely noirish post-apocalyptic steam punk world that yet manages to reflect many of the 21st century..." Read more
"...I loved every minute, from getting to know the characters, flashbacks to days gone by and enough mystery that I sometimes forgot where I was as the..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find the mystery well-written and developed, with believable characters. Readers are satisfied until the end, finding it a good steampunk story. While some found the plot a little long-winded at times, overall they enjoyed reading about Jacqui and found it an exciting read.
"...Great world-building. What I also liked about the book was the excellent and skillful editing...." Read more
"...All of the characters are believable and the reader is left satisfied up until the end...." Read more
"...- but the glimpse into this post-apocolyptic world is worth the read. It's a world that feels all too uncomfortably familiar." Read more
"...The world in which the book is described is darkly solid, the characters are elaborate, but there is still work to be done, the writing is good, but..." Read more
Customers enjoy the character development. They find the characters elaborate and strong, with a strong lead character.
"...The characters were skillfully drawn, as were the descriptions of the city itself. Great world-building...." Read more
"...All of the characters are believable and the reader is left satisfied up until the end...." Read more
"...The main character is fantastically portrayed, her emotions and actions and dialogue seamlessly crafted." Read more
"...The world in which the book is described is darkly solid, the characters are elaborate, but there is still work to be done, the writing is good, but..." Read more
Customers praise the writing quality. They find the author's descriptive writing brings the Victorian era to life. The manuscript is clean and well-edited, with no small words added or left out. There are also no textual errors that distract from the story.
"...What I also liked about the book was the excellent and skillful editing...." Read more
"...This story, however, is well written and well edited. I noticed no textual errors to distract me from the story...." Read more
"...me reading despite that fact is a testament to the author's outstanding writing. There were a few things that I didn't care for...." Read more
"...characters are elaborate, but there is still work to be done, the writing is good, but the story of the search for the boy is a little incomplete,..." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2016Jacq of Spades is a mystery in the vein of Arthur Conan Doyle, if Doyle had written steampunk. Jacqueline Spadros is a detective—a female Sherlock Holmes in Bridges, a post-apocalyptic world reminiscent of a Victorian era city, but one that is run by four mysogynistic and brutal crime families.
The mystery, thick with tension and backstory, unfolds descriptively from the first page and does not let up until the end. I noted that this was “Part One”, which I am sure, heralds a Part Two that continues the mystery. I did feel that the mystery was resolved sufficiently to satisfy me at the end.
The characters were skillfully drawn, as were the descriptions of the city itself. Great world-building.
What I also liked about the book was the excellent and skillful editing. In most books I read, I find errors, even if a few, and this book was free of any kind of error. Congratulations, Ms. Loofbourrow, for a job well done! I would highly recommend this book for discerning readers of a steampunk mystery. There is very little, if any, not to like here.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016Bridge is an isolated domed city divided into four quadrants each of which is controlled by a crime family who manufactures and distributes a drug known as “Party Time”. Each of the four quadrants contains affluent areas, areas known as the “pot” which are areas of the city that were destroyed during previous warfare between factions, and the slums where the very poorest people live. The crime families establish the economic systems for their quadrants and large portion of the population are starving. Large scale poverty and continual competition and mistrust among the families make Bridge a proverbial powder keg for violence.
One quadrant is ruled by the Spadros family. Jacqueline Spadros is the twenty-two bride of Spadros heir-apparent Tony Spadros. Jacqui was raised in the Spadros Pot in a brothel and she has a multitude of reasons to mistrust and detest Spadros patriarch Roy Spadros. She knows if anything happened to her husband, Tony, Roy would not allow her to continue as part of the family. Because of this, she has taken on a secret business of her own; that of private detective.
When Jacqui is contacted by a woman whose son, David, has disappeared she is surprised to learn that she knew the woman many years earlier and that the death of her older son plays a key role in Jacqui’s nightmares. Although the woman does not recognize Jacqui at first, Jacqui cannot resist trying to find David for his mother, partly to ease her own guilt left over from the death of the older boy.
What transpires is a mystery story of the first order in the best tradition of Sherlock Holmes. Jacqui is a young woman in a precarious position who must uphold a social image, deal with her husband’s and the family patriarch’s expectations, deal with inter-familial politics, run a household, find David and stay alive in her spare time. How she manages this is remarkable and makes a first-rate mystery story.
All of the characters are believable and the reader is left satisfied up until the end. Unfortunately, this book is a serial series; the reader must throw in another nickel for the next installment to achieve any satisfaction as far as finding out who did it. I am not a fan of serial series and strike the names of authors who use that method off my reading list. This story, however, is well written and well edited. I noticed no textual errors to distract me from the story.
The Jacq of Spades is an all-around excellent mystery story that should appeal to any lover of mysteries, crime action, or to fans of stories about life in dystopian cultures. The end is a letdown for those, like me, who think readers deserve to know who did it in the end. That of course is the nature of the serial series and that, alone, will cost it a star.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2016With The Jacq of Spades Patricia Loofbourrow creates a uniquely noirish post-apocalyptic steam punk world that yet manages to reflect many of the 21st century's concerns: gang violence, class struggles, the disenfranchisement of the poor, and - certainly not least - women's rights. A child of the 'Pot' slums, the narrator Jacquie has for some unknown reason been selected to marry the gentle son of her Quarter's gang lord. Unwilling for reasons of her own to bear children, Jacquie risks life and her husband's family's reputation to pursue her need to investigate mysteries. Only one of her mysteries just may get them all killed. It's unfortunate that the book leaves the resolution of the mystery to the next book (or books?) in the series; I would vastly have preferred to see at least this stage of the overall story wrapped up satisfactorily - but the glimpse into this post-apocolyptic world is worth the read. It's a world that feels all too uncomfortably familiar.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2017This was a tough review for me due to the book being outside my usual genre. Had it been more of my usual flavor, I might have given it 4 stars, because I'm a pretty picky reader. The fact that it kept me reading despite that fact is a testament to the author's outstanding writing. There were a few things that I didn't care for. There are frequent flashbacks that give is insight to our heroine's past mixed in with the narrative. The use of bold instead of italicized words to denote emphasis on a word was odd and a little distracting. The manuscript was very clean but not spotless. I found a couple of minor typos but nothing egregious. The story is about a woman raised from the slums to become the wife of a major mafia family head. Apparently, she does some side business as a detective of sorts, in this instance, to find a missing boy. The main character is fantastically portrayed, her emotions and actions and dialogue seamlessly crafted.
Top reviews from other countries
- Rosemary HughesReviewed in Australia on April 7, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars I was originally put off by the Title, but found it a fantastic tale!!
I enjoyed the audio rendition of this book, which I had been given an advanced copy of and had never wanted to read, purely because of the title. This I now regret, as I quickly became engrossed, by this futuristic tale of a world where crime families once again rule, and the general population is mere servants to those in power. However, it is difficult to leave your roots behind and although now Mrs Spadros, Jacqui had been a "gutter rag" , what was classed as the lowest in this society. She had been enforced into her marriage, but still wanted to help those that could not help themselves
Yes, an interesting yarn, with much intrigue and drama. I cannot wait to see what the next episode reveals.
- Daryl J BallReviewed in Canada on September 18, 2017
4.0 out of 5 stars ... book which uses a Neo-Victorian setting was an absolute delight. There's an intricate plot and complex characters which ...
This book which uses a Neo-Victorian setting was an absolute delight. There's an intricate plot and complex characters which helps make the world feel bigger especially since it's the first book in a series.
It's clear from the outset that the author had a great deal of fun in creating the characters and their world, how they speak, how everything is done and it's especially evident in the names of major characters.
Choosing to introduce us to the longer arc and this world through the character of Jacqueline Spadros is an excellent choice. She moonlights as an investigator for the less well off, a life she was born into but is also married to the heir of one of the big four "families" that run the city. As such she's the perfect character for us to see everything through.
When the younger brother of a childhood friend is abducted, she gets called into investigate but it becomes a much bigger situation than she was ready for. It seems to just be the beginning as more threats arise and put everything in danger for her and those she cares for.
- JulianReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2017
4.0 out of 5 stars Steampunk mystery.
A futuristic steampunk city, somewhere in what used to be America, ruled by four Families named after the card suits. The protagonist is married into one of these families - an arranged marriage - but has a sideline as a private investigator, unknown to her husband at least.
One of the interesting things about the book is that we are thrown into the middle, as it were, with very little background. The author gradually reveals some elements - but by the end we still klow very little about the city of Bridges and its history. (There is a prequel which adds a lot of the missing history but it's not essential reading - and there is a wealth of online material as well, for those who care to search it out.)
An intriguing plot which is essentially resolved - but enough threads are left dangling for at least one sequel.
- Mig BardsleyReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2019
3.0 out of 5 stars Not sure about this
Put it this way, I remember the book (which I read about a month ago) I remember the characters (strong and interesting) and I remember bits of the plot (very complicated). I also remember good world building and a strong sense of place and time. And a tight but slightly disjointed writing style.
However, I can't remember how it ended and I haven't looked for a sequel. Is there one?
- M CoxReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Loved it unusual story line kept me reading well into the night/early morning would definitely recommend