To Jane Austen's surprise, her visit to the snowy Hertfordshire estate of young and beautiful Isobel Payne, Countess of Scargrave, is far from dull. She has scarcely arrived when the Earl - a gentleman of mature years - is felled by a mysterious and agonizing ailment. His death seems a cruel blow of fate for the newly married Isobel. Yet the bereaved widow soon finds that it's only the beginning of her misfortune . . . as she receives a sinister missive accusing her and the Earl's nephew of adultery - and murder.
Desperately afraid that the letter will expose her and Viscount Fitzroy Payne, for whom she bears a secret tendresse, to the worst sort of scandal, Isobel begs her friend Jane for help. Which is how Jane finds herself embroiled in an investigation that will soon have her questioning the motives of Scargrave Manor's guests, stumbling upon the scene of a bloody murder, and following a trail of clues that leads all the way to Newgate Prison and the House of Lords - a trail that may well place Jane's own person in grave jeopardy.
With her lively mind and acerbic tongue, Jane Austen is a sleuth to the manner born; stylishly sophisticated and marvellously entertaining.
