Alyssa Maxwell

Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, are preparing for a wedding, but it may not be the happy occasion everyone hopes for . . . Since the Great War, the Renshaw family fortune has suffered. Now Julia Renshaw is under pressure to marry for money--and has settled for Gilbert Townsend, a viscount and wealthy industrialist. He is decades older than Julia, and it's clear to her sister, Phoebe--and to Eva, who has been like a surrogate mother--that this is no love match. Nevertheless, the wedding takes place--and in a hurry. At the reception aboard the groom's yacht, there appears to be tension between Gil and several guests. The bride is also less than pleased to discover her honeymoon will be more crowded than expected--with Gil's pretty secretary, among others, coming along. Worse, that very night, Julia is injured during a hot-tempered outburst on her new husband's part . . . The next morning, Gil's body is found in the water--and Phoebe and Eva must discover who pushed him over--before the Renshaws' social standing is irreparably stained by Julia's arrest for his murder . . . "Maxwell, who always puts an interesting spin on her country-house mysteries set between the great wars, delivers once again in this tale of love, hate, revenge, and country houses in peril." --Kirkus Reviews

In late August 1898, reporter Emma Cross attends the final f te of the Newport social season and discovers the party's over for a visiting prince . . . The days are getting shorter as summer's end approaches, which means it's time for the Harvest Festival, the last big event of the season, held by Mamie Fish, wife of millionaire railroad tycoon Stuyvesant Fish, at their grand "cottage," Crossways. The neocolonial mansion is decked out in artificial autumn splendor, and an extravagant scavenger hunt will be held. But the crowning jewel of the evening will be the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria. As acting editor-in-chief of the Newport Messenger, Emma had hoped to leave her days as a society reporter behind her. But at the last moment, she must fill in and attend the Harvest Festival. With nearly every eligible daughter of Newport high society in attendance, Emma can almost hear romantic dreams shattering like glass slippers when the prince fails to appear. The next morning, he is found dead in the side garden at Crossways, making it clear a murderer crashed the party. The prince has been stabbed in the same manner as another man, recently found on nearby Bailey's Beach--who strongly resembles Emma's half-brother Brady's father, presumed dead for nearly thirty years after a yachting mishap. As Emma investigates a connection between the two victims, she is joined on the hunt by Mamie Fish herself. But they must hurry--before the killer slips away like the fading summer . . .

In the sobering yet hopeful years following the First World War, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, find their summer plans marred by an instance of murder . . . Phoebe and her sister Julia are eager for a summer getaway at High Head Lodge, the newly purchased estate of their cousin Regina. But they are not the only houseguests. Regina's odd friend, Olive, is far from friendly, and Regina's mother and brother--bitter over the unequal distribution of her father's inheritance--have descended on the house to confront Regina. In addition to the family tension, Eva is increasingly suspicious of Lady Julia's new maid--wondering why she left her former employer so suddenly. And why does Regina seem ill at ease around the maid, as if they were previously acquainted? But things go from tense to tragic when their hostess meets an untimely end--murdered in her bed with no signs of struggle. Now, with suspects in every room, Lady Phoebe and Eva must uncover secrets hidden behind closed doors--before a killer ensures they never leave High Head Lodge . . . alive. "An unusual twist rooted in the recent horrors of World War I adds interest to a typical country-house mystery." --Kirkus Reviews

Late nineteenth-century Newport, Rhode Island, is home to some of America's wealthiest citizens. For society reporter Emma Cross, a less well-heeled cousin to the illustrious Vanderbilts, trailing gossip and glamour will lead her straight into murder . . . Covering a polo match for the Observer, Emma's job is to take note of the real players off the field--Newport's well-bred elite. But the fashionable fa ade is breached when a woman in gaudy clothing creates a scene demanding to speak to the wife of Senator George Wetmore--until she is escorted off the grounds by the police. The next morning, police detective Jesse Whyte asks Emma to meet him at the Wetmores' Bellevue Avenue home, Chateau sur Mer, where the senator's wife, Edith, has mysteriously asked to see her. Upon entering the mansion, Emma is confronted with a crime scene--the intruder from the polo match lies dead at the foot of a grand staircase. To avoid scandal, Edith Wetmore implores Emma to use her reporter skills and her discretion to investigate. When Emma learns the victim was a prostitute--and pregnant--she wonders if the senator was being blackmailed. As Emma peels back layers of deception and family secrets, she may have met her match in a desperate killer who will trample anyone who gets in the way . . .

Good deeds build good character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe -- with the tireless assistance of Eva -- has organized a luncheon at the school to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks do more than spoil the broth -- they add up to a recipe for disaster when the school's headmistress, Miss Finch, is poisoned.

Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, encounter an uncharitable killer at a charity luncheon sponsored by a posh school for girls . . . Good deeds build good character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe--with the tireless assistance of Eva--has organized a luncheon to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks add up to a recipe for disaster when the school's headmistress, Miss Finch, is fatally poisoned. The girls at Haverleigh all come from highly respected English families, none of whom will countenance their darling daughters being harassed like common criminals by the local police. So Lady Phoebe steps in to handle the wealthy young debutantes with tact and discretion, while Eva cozies up to the staff. No one is above suspicion, not even members of the school's governing body, some of whom objected to Miss Finch's "modern" methods. But Lady Phoebe and Eva will have to sleuth with great stealth--or an elusive killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson . . . "Colorful information on the postwar period is combined with plenty of suspects, all neatly wrapped up in the style of a classic mystery." --Kirkus Reviews

With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder and a disappearance. . . Responding to a frantic call on her newfangled telephone from her eighteen-year-old cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Emma Cross arrives at the Marble House mansion and learns the cause of her distress--Consuelo's mother, Alva, is forcing her into marriage with the Duke of Marlborough. Her mother has even called in a fortune teller to assure Consuelo of a happy future. But the future is short-lived for the fortune teller, who is found dead by her crystal ball, strangled with a silk scarf. Standing above her is one of the Vanderbilts' maids, who is promptly taken into police custody. After the frenzy has died down, Consuelo is nowhere to be found. At Alva's request, Emma must employ her sleuthing skills to determine if the vanishing Vanderbilt has eloped with the beau of her choice--or if her disappearance may be directly connected to the murder. . .

Clues lead Emma from posh Bellevue Avenue across the bustling seaport to the modest Point neighbourhood where she grew up, and to suspects who hail from America's most powerful families. While being the granddaughter several generations removed from Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt gives her the connections she needs to investigate high society, it's her Newport roots that will provide her with the stubbornness and fortitude to confront a murderer.