Anne M Kennedy is a writer of historical mystery thrillers set in Baku, Azerbaijan. The City of Winds is a series of five novels that span the years 1890 – 1920. The first novel, The Baku Inheritance, was released in October 2024.
Anne grew up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. She trained as a teacher of History at Homerton College, Cambridge and accepted her first teaching post in Norfolk. She obtained a Bachelor of Education in History, an MSc in Computer Science, and an MA in English Literature with several modules in creative writing. Inspired to work overseas, she embarked on an international career which spanned North Yemen, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Bermuda. It was in Baku, while teaching a class about the 19th century oil barons, that she conceived the idea to write The City Of Winds series.
She currently lives in Cornwall.
More Books by
ANNE M KENNEDY
Anton knew something was wrong the moment he stepped ashore …
1890: The ancient city of Baku on the outermost edge of the Russian Empire.
Anton Sabroski has come home. But the once-beautiful mansion on the shores of the Caspian Sea is silent and dark, a decaying relic in a bustling city. Upstairs, his father lies dying, his oil empire in ruins, his friends gone, his only bequests to his son a jewelled Faberge egg containing a coded message and the care of Klara, a mysterious, hostile girl.
Unable to accept that his father was responsible for the loss of his family’s fortunes, Anton begins to investigate. But Baku is a city of many faces and even old friends are not always what they seem. And what of Klara - infuriating, intriguing Klara - who is as at home in a back street opium den as she is in a grand drawing room?
But when Anton is brutally attacked by oil spies, he realises that if he’s to survive he will have to place his trust in his enigmatic new houseguest …
THE BAKU INHERITANCE
ANNE M KENNEDY
Hunted by oil spies, a bankrupt oil baron inherits a priceless jewel and a runaway girl.
Book Excerpt or Article
Chapter One
Baku, Azerbaijan. South-west outpost of the Russian Empire.
November 1890.
Klara knew to be on her guard because Nikolai had warned her. He’d be carrying something valuable, the old man had said. Something men will kill for – it was why he’d given her the Smith ’n’ Wesson revolver. The weapon felt heavy in her pocket, solid metal banging against her leg as she moved. You are the last man in the world I want to meet, Anton Nikolayevich Sabroski. She drew a shawl over her hair and draped it over her thin shoulders as she glanced about. The man who had been outside the house had followed her. Overweight, ill-dressed, lumbering along in her peripheral vision, a glowing red dot between his fingers. There were others, but she’d grown used to the masquerades: the Okhrana secret police, the gendarmes, the oil spies, pickpockets (she’d been one herself) and assorted villains. The man who caught her interest was tall and well-built and overly muffled – something about the way he held himself seemed familiar.
She took a deep breath. Dusk had crept over the Baku harbour, the crescent-shaped bay filling up with fishing boats and steamers making ready for the night. Being out at night was a risk for a young, unaccompanied, European female. But Klara was used to keeping to the shadows. The ancient city of Baku, on the edge of the Caspian Sea, was ideal for anyone who wanted to remain unseen, perfect for outcasts and runaways and those hiding from hunters. A call to prayer arose from a mosque, then another, then another, until the dusk was filled with the overlapping of songs.
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