An invitation to a country house party at Beaumont Castle provides a perfect solution to Tobias and Lavinia?s most exasperating challenge: how to escape the chaos of London for a remote, relaxing--and above all romantic--retreat from prying eyes and wagging tongues. But the lovers? plans are foiled when their first cozy interlude of the weekend is disrupted by the appearance of a stunning woman from Tobias?s past. Aspasia Gray?s beauty is as haunting...

On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found alone after a gruelling ocean voyage from England to Australia. All she can remember is that a woman she calls the Authoress had promised to look after her. But the Authoress has vanished. So starts the haunting second novel from the author of 'The House at Riverton'.

When a failed entrepreneur is temporarily left in charge of his aunt's huge gothic home, he knows he must be able to make a profit from it somehow. Murder, he decides, is the only way to do it. For Madingley Grange is the perfect venue for a 1930s murder-mystery weekend, and Simon Hannaford - with the reluctant help of his long-suffering sister - soon hatches a plan for money-spinning mayhem. From the conservatory to the claret cellar, the clues are...