Clan Corporate

The Clan Corporate by Charles Stross is the third instalment of The Merchant Princes series - an energetic saga of multiple worlds. In The Family Trade and The Hidden Family, Miriam got in touch with her roots. Now those roots have begun to strangle her. A young business journalist from Boston, Miriam discovered that her family comes from a parallel timeline, that she is very well-connected, and that her family is way too much like the Mafia for her comfort. She's tried hard to remain her own woman, even going so far to start a profitable (and legitimate) business in a third timeline she has discovered, outside the family reach. There have been murders and betrayals. Now, however, she may be overreaching - if she gets caught, death or worse is around the bend. For instance, there's the brain-damaged son of the local king who needs a wife . . . But they'd never make her do that, would they?