Fortune's Fool

Book One, The Psychic Socialite Series 
When her husband dies and leaves her penniless, a 1930s Memphis socialite becomes a fortuneteller, only to discover she has the true sight. In 1933, a fourth of Americans are unemployed, John Dillinger grabs headlines knocking off banks, FDR is in the White House promising a New Deal for the country, and Boss Crump reigns supreme over Memphis.
 Nell Marc­hand has never worked a day in her life. When her phi­lan­der­ing skunk of a hus­band sud­denly drops dead, leav­ing her with­out one red cent to her name, she lands smack dab in the mid­dle of the hard times she has only heard about in news­reels. Nell tries to find a job to sup­port her­self and the house­hold that depends on her, really she does. Her typ­ing is a dis­as­ter, she cuts off every call in her one day as a tele­phone oper­a­tor, and laun­dress leaves her back aching. There has to be an eas­ier way. A reluc­tant visit to pros­per­ous Joseph Cal­en­dar, her flighty mother-in-law's medium, per­suades Nell that there are for­tunes to be made in, well, telling for­tunes. As soci­ety for­tuneteller Madame Nelora, she is soon the toast of Mem­phis. But when a des­per­ate father begs Nell to find his daugh­ter, she has a true vision of the miss­ing girl. Ter­ri­fied that she's los­ing her mind, Nell turns to Cal­en­dar. She may sus­pect he's a char­la­tan, but he is the only man who can help her embrace her gift and the respon­si­bil­ity it entails. To find the girl-and unravel a secret from her own past-Nell must out­wit a cor­rupt banker and his gang­ster pals who will do any­thing to keep her hidden. Fortune's Fool was an RWA 2010 Golden Heart finalist.