The Painted Girl by D K Holmberg (2014) CreateSpace

A paid assassin captures a girl she is to bring back, but decides not to kill the abductor, the girl’s brother.  There is plot within plot and she draws the dangerous man out who would pay her or kill her.  In the end, it turns out that the man’s competitor arranged the whole thing so the assassin would have no choice but to kill the man who hired her.

The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas (2018) Berkley

The third volume of Charlotte Holmes brings her closest friend, Lord Ingram, in danger of the hangman’s noose.  She takes on not just two personalities; herself and Sherlock Holmes, but adds a third, a brother named Sheringford.  It’s a cold and calculated plot that involves characters at all levels of intrigue.  And she makes use of her companion’s contacts to create an elaborate setting to help her oldest sister.  We also get to meet Mrs. Hudson.

The House on the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (2020) Tor Books

A book about how prejudice and hatemongering affect the most innocent of lives.  In a world where there are magical beings, a government branch is responsible for the orphanages where magical children are kept – ostensibly to keep them safe from the world and the world safe from them.  An inspector, who has closed some orphanages because they abused the children, is sent to the most secret of these on an island.  There, he encounters beings like he never has before.  These are considered the most dangerous of magical beings.  But they are all children and they’re just doing what children do; they dream of a better life.