The Hidden Family (The Merchant Princes #2) by Charles Stross

"Stross weaves a tale worthy of Robert Ludlum or Dan Brown." - Publishers Weekly

THE MERCHANT PRINCES
CHARLES STRODD

Charles Stross's thrill-a-minute saga of multiple worlds:

The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Cruinmarkt from behind the scenes, a mixture of nobility and criminal conspiracies whose power to walk between their world and ours makes them rich in both.

Miriam, a hip tech journalist from Boston, discovered her alternate world relatives with explosive reults that shook three worlds. Now, as the prodigal Countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, she finds herself ensnared in schemes and plots centuries in the making. She is surrounded by unlikely allies, lethal contraband, and, most dangerous of all, her family.

To avoid a slippery slope down to an unmarked grave, Miriam must build a power-base of her own -- with unexpected consequences for three different time-lines, including the quasi-Victorian one exploited by the hidden family.

"Stross gives us an escape fantasy that is most seductive, indeed."