This Victorian mystery with twists and turns will keep you gripped until the very last page: "Prim and petticoated and poisonous" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Lancelot Jones was on his way to his first job—as tutor to an Indian Rajah's son. But the Rajah's ancient plane and incompetent pilot dropped him in the middle of a desert. The wrong desert, at that. Seeking shade, he finds the only dwelling of any size within miles and its curious owner, an old Englishwoman named Alva Hine. Taking him into her home, Alva begins to tell Lancelot an incredible tale. She tells him a strange story of a summer fifty years ago, of love and hate and murder in a respectable middle-class Victorian household . . . And as the afternoon wears on, Alva's story begins to take on an increasingly sinister note for the weary Mr. Jones. Soon, he has more than one reason to want to hear the end of the story . . . "[An] amazing...

"Excellent character drawing" and "a thrilling climax" propel a suspenseful mystery from the author of An Afternoon to Kill (The New York Times). Linda Campion, a mother to four children, is looking forward to her husband returning from the war. Yet immediately after his return, Linda's body is found at the bottom of the stairs at the Hawkswood Estate. Everyone's first instinct—she fell. But when the cause of death is found to be something much more sinister, everyone becomes a suspect. With no known enemies, and a house full of people who adore her, the police are clueless as to who might be the killer. As mysteries unravel and skeletons come out of the closet—including a cheating husband, a jealous mistress, and a man whose affections remain unreturned—the chilling truth is slowly revealed . . . Praise for Shelley Smith "Brilliant." —The Observer "Stylish...