M. Louisa Locke, a retired professor of U.S. and Women’s History, has embarked on a second career as the author of novels and short stories set in Victorian San Francisco that are based on Dr. Locke's doctoral research on late 19th century working women. In Maids of Misfortune, Annie Fuller, a young widow, goes undercover as a domestic servant to solve a murder, in Uneasy Spirits, Annie and lawyer Nate Dawson investigate fraudulent trance mediums, and in Bloody Lessons, they try to determine who is attacking San Francisco teachers. Deadly Proof, the fourth book in the series, is about women in the San Francisco printing industry, the fifth book in the series, Pilfered Promises, takes Annie and Nate into the world of the new department store. Scholarly Pursuits, the sixth  book in the series, takes Laura Dawson (Nate’s sister) to the UC: Berkeley campus where she faces the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics.  Lethal Remedies​​​​​​​, the seventh book in the series, features women in the medical profession, while Entangled Threadn​​​​​​​, has a family friend go undercover in a woolen mill to help Annie find out who is tryingn to destroy the factory.

​​​​​​​Not just content with writing about the past, under the pen name Louisa Locke, she has recently turned to the future with the Caelestis Series (Between Mountain and Sea, Under Two Moons, Through Ddaera’s Touch, Tides of Acerba) set in the collaborative world of the Paradisi Chronicles. More about Lockes work can be found at http://mlouisalocke.com/