Changeless

This second installment in the "Parasol Protectorate" by Gail Carriger finds Alexia Tarabotti now firmly ensconced as Lady Maccon and Muhjuh to Queen Victoria. Something very strange is going on because all the supernaturals in a part of London have lost their powers. Vampires and werewolves are suddenly mortal and the ghosts they rely on for information have all been exorcised. This epidemic or weapon becomes the focus of Alexia's and her husband's investigations and takes them to Scotland, his former home. We learn about his former pack and why he left them, bereft of an alpha--a seemingly unforgivable act. We meet his great great great grandaughter who desperately wants to be converted and tries to enlist Alexia's help to convince Connall to do it. We also meet a mysterious female French scientist, Madame Lefoux, commissioned by Lord Maccon to create an extraordinary parasol for Alexia, who dresses like a man and seems quite attracted to Alexia. You really need to read the first book, Soulless, to have a good handle on this one,  and you will be rewarded by greater depth of characterization and an engrossing storyline here. The wonderful cast of ancillary characters--Lord Akeldama, Miss Hisselpenny, Professor Lyall-- are all still present and accounted for. This book qualifies as steampunk with its infatuation with machanical, pseudo-scientific gizmos and machines. Alexia takes her first, and almost fatal, trip in a dirigible and learns to operate an aetherograph machine. There is a twist in the plot at the end that surprise and distress you--fortunately the sequel, Blameless, is already in the works.