City of time and magic / Paula Brackston.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Xanthe meets Brackston's most famous heroine, Elizabeth Hawksmith from The Witch's Daughter , in this crossover story with all the "historical detail, village charm, and twisty plotting" of the Found Things series ( Publishers Weekly ).

City of Time and Magic sees Xanthe face her greatest challenges yet. She must choose from three treasures that sing to her; a beautiful writing slope, a mourning brooch of heartbreaking detail, and a gorgeous gem-set hat pin. All call her, but the wrong one could take her on a mission other than that which she must address first, and the stakes could not be higher. While her earlier mission to Regency England had been a success, the journey home resulted in Liam being taken from her, spirited away to another time and place. Xanthe must follow the treasure that will take her to him if he is not to be lost forever.

Xanthe is certain that Mistress Flyte has Liam and determined to find them both. But when she discovers Lydia Flyte has been tracking the actions of the Visionary Society, a group of ruthless and unscrupulous Spinners who have been selling their talents to a club of wealthy clients, Xanthe realizes her work as a Spinner must come before her personal wishes. The Visionary Society is highly dangerous and directly opposed to the creed of the Spinners. Their actions could have disastrous consequences as they alter the authentic order of things and change the future. Xanthe knows she must take on the Society. It will require the skills of all her friends, old and new, to attempt such a thing, and not all of them will survive the confrontation that follows.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

To find and follow her next mission in Brackston's City of Time and Magic, fourth in the time-traveling "Found Things" series, Xanthe must choose between the songs sung to her by a mourning brooch, a writing slope, and gem-encrusted hatpin; she also hunts for the missing Liam and seeks to block the Visionary Society from using the Spinners maliciously (50,000-copy first printing). In A Man of Honor, prequel to the 1979 megahit A Woman of Substance, Bradford tells the story of Blackie O'Neill, who travels from County Kerry to England as a young orphan and begins his rise in the world while meeting Substance's Emma Harte, still a kitchen maid (75,000-copy first printing). Jago follows up The Northern Lights, winner of the National Biography Prize, with the 17th-century-set debut novel A Net for Small Fishes, drawing on real-life events: when Frances Howard, the miserable wife of the Earl of Essex, meets the widowed Anne Turner, they form a friendship that leads to something radical (35,000-copy first printing). Driven to act after Pearl Harbor, new Steel heroine Audrey Parker and friend Lizzie join the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, Flying Angels who regularly wing their way into enemy territory to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Harriet Szász once appeared in vaudeville with sister Josie as The Sisters Sweet, posing as conjoined twins at their parents' behest, but when Josie betrays the scam and runs off to Hollywood, Harriet must decide what to do with her life. In-house love for Weiss's debut.

Publishers Weekly Review

Brackston's expansive installment of the Found Things series (after The Garden of Promises and Lies) continues the story of a time-traveling spinner and antiques dealer. Xanthe Westlake is desperate to find her boyfriend, Liam, who is trapped in the past (when, exactly, Xanthe doesn't know) after a failed attempt to join Xanthe in the present. During an appointment with a client, she acquires three objects that "sing" to her, including a writing slope, hoping one of them will take her to Liam. At home with the antique lap desk, she travels to Victorian London, where she lands on a far more urgent mission than finding Liam: protecting the future from the Visionary Society, a group of spinners who disregard the rules and norms that bind most time travelers. After having had Xanthe keep her time traveling a secret for most of the first three books, Brackston's decision to have her heroine tell her family and friends about her journeys pays off here, as does the introduction of the Visionary Society. Brackston repeats the formula from the past installments, but she does so without letting the story feel dull; it's fast-paced throughout, and features a new, unexpected twist. Series fans will enjoy. (Nov.)

Booklist Review

As she returned from her previous mission through time (in The Garden of Promises and Lies, 2020), Xanthe's boyfriend, Liam, was kidnapped by her mentor, Lydia Flyte. In Brackston's latest addition to the Found Things series, after some desperate leaps into the past searching for Liam, Xanthe realizes she must follow her usual process of finding an object that sings to her, hoping that the mission will lead her to Liam and Lydia. Xanthe's growth as a Spinner takes her beyond simple missions and embroils her in the politics and morality of Spinners and the spin-off group called Time Steppers. She learns that a pair of Spinners in the Victorian era are using their abilities as a business opportunity, leaping into the future to determine worthy investments and selling the knowledge to greedy opportunists, passing off the information as the result of séances. This delightful addition to the series includes new world building, with special abilities beyond time-stepping becoming known, and reasonable character growth in Xanthe and her burgeoning collection of allies.