Meagan McKinney — The Fortune Hunter

Kensington Books 1998 Hardback, 343pp. "It's 1881, a time when all of New York City is caught up in the spiritualist frenzy, and nothing is more fashionable than attending a seance. In Manhattan, there is no medium more revered than the mysterious Countess Lovaenya. As mysterious as the Countess is, she keeps nothing more secret than her true identity. She wants no one to know she is really Lavinia Murphy, who fled a brutal St. Louis orphanage with four younger "siblings" and learned a spiritualist's ways from the carnies and gypsies she met on the road to New York. But now that she has built a career and a safe haven for her troubled family, Lavinia is confronted by a phantom more fearsome than any she's ever conjured in her shadowy parlor. For Edward Stuyvesant-French, the illegitimate son of Lavinia's best and wealthiest client, has vowed to destroy her. Lavinia strikes an uneasy bargain with the powerful and bitter Edward that will force her into a world of desire and destiny. DJ; Heavy.", (ISBN: 9781575662626). Very Good.