Book excerpt: Young widow Annabel Chalfont, Countess of Fellbridge, has two small sons to raise, a mountain of her late husband’s debts to pay off, and a secret: she’s a shadow-shaper, able to manipulate shadow as anyone else might clay. She and six other high-born ladies with equally extraordinary abilities defend England against supernatural crime—but the world knows them only as the Lady Patronesses of Almack’s, Regency London’s most exclusive social venue. Annabel reluctantly goes to Brighton to investigate the suspicious behavior of her fellow Lady Patroness, Frances, and evade the advances of Lord Glenrick, now the Duke of Carrick. Once there, she finds herself even more reluctantly chaperoning a royal teenager through the high season in the most sophisticated town in England. But keeping a spoiled princess out of trouble is nothing compared to uncovering treason, as the Ladies will discover…