After her bruising encounter with the law, Angela Marchmont has vowed to give up detecting, and is doing her best to forget the events of last winter and the terrible lie she told to save herself. So when a letter arrives from beyond the grave requesting her help and reminding her of the past, she is anything but pleased. Drawn reluctantly into one final case and spurred on by her guilty conscience, Angela soon discovers a viper's nest of family betrayals and hidden enmities which have lain undisturbed for years, and which may have led to the deaths of more than one person. Despite her unwillingness to reopen old wounds, Angela knows she must put aside her own feelings and solve the mystery if she is ever to find peace. Can she get to the heart of the matter, right the wrong she has done and be happy at last? Each of the Angela Marchmont books contains a standalone mystery which is resolved at the end. However, if you are new to the series, please note that Book 10, The Shadow at Greystone Chase, contains spoilers from Book 9, The Scandal at 23 Mount Street and is to some extent a sequel, and we therefore advise reading the two in order.
After her bruising encounter with the law, Angela Marchmont has vowed to give up detecting, and is doing her best to forget the events of last winter and the terrible lie she told to save herself. So when a letter arrives from beyond the grave requesting her help and reminding her of the past, she is anything but pleased. Drawn reluctantly into one final case and spurred on by her guilty conscience, Angela soon discovers a viper's nest of family betrayals and hidden enmities which have lain undisturbed for years, and which may have led to the deaths of more than one person. Despite her unwillingness to reopen old wounds, Angela knows she must put aside her own feelings and solve the mystery if she is ever to find peace. Can she get to the heart of the matter, right the wrong she has done and be happy at last? Each of the Angela Marchmont books contains a standalone mystery which is resolved at the end. However, if you are new to the series, please note that Book 10, The Shadow at Greystone Chase, contains spoilers from Book 9, The Scandal at 23 Mount Street and is to some extent a sequel, and we therefore advise reading the two in order.
The honeymoon was an accident—but the dead body isn’t. Angela Marchmont is back for a new adventure! Not-quite-newlywed Angela Marchmont is having a belated honeymoon on the idyllic Greek island of Rhodes, but has barely even unpacked her bathing-suit before an unwelcome encounter with the dead body of a young archaeologist draws her into a tangled web of murder and blackmail. Everyone thinks Roy Cavell drowned accidentally, but after receiving a cryptic note under her door Angela isn’t so sure. Cavell had fallen in love with his employer’s beautiful wife Sophia Delisi, leaving a heartbroken fiancée behind him and creating tensions up at the local archaeological dig. Mrs. Delisi is thought to bring bad luck: superstition has it that any man who gets close to her dies. Was Cavell the latest victim of the curse? But then why has someone been searching his luggage? Who is signalling from up at the acropolis? And why is somebody trying to put Angela out of the way? When a second body turns up Angela becomes even more determined to find out the truth—despite the additional complications of a rival detective she can’t shake off, a would-be blackmailer who knows the secrets of her past life, and a husband she’d trust more if only he didn’t keep disappearing in the middle of the night. Investigating a murder wasn’t in Angela's plans, but if she wants to survive her honeymoon she has no choice.
It is Hogmanay, and Angela Marchmont is at Fives Castle, the Scottish seat of the Earl of Strathmerrick, to see in the start of 1928. But when she finds out that the Foreign Secretary, the American Ambassador and the Head of British Intelligence are also among the guests, Angela begins to suspect that something momentous is afoot. Before long, they are all snowed in and a body is discovered, and Angela soon finds suspicion directed against herself...
‘I knew in the first couple of pages that this story was going to make me cry and I was right... So emotional... I was left speechless. I absolutely loved every minute... One of the best historical fictions I’ve read.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Italy, 1944: Stella stared at the envelope addressed to her, dated from the day of his death. With a trembling hand she opened it, tears rolling down her cheeks. She read the letter that should have made it to her years ago – the letter that had been ruthlessly stolen from her. It held his last words, and it changed everything. 1938: When Stella arrives in Italy, it’s love at first sight. She is wowed by the rolling hills dotted with olive trees, the buttermilk villas with shuttered windows and terracotta roofs that glow gloriously in the sunlight. Even the breeze holds the scent of freedom – freedom from England, where the shadow of her past haunted her. Then there is Ted, an American journalist who is wild and mischievous, with an arrogance bordering on rude. Stella is infuriated by him – yet she cannot deny the lure of the danger and excitement he promises. But there is something dark under the bright surface of this beautiful country, with unspeakable tragedies just around the corner. When the Nazis take control of Italy, Stella and Ted – and whatever dreams the future held for them – are ripped apart. Ted is torn away, to report from the perilous frontline. Meanwhile, Stella is paralysed with fear as screeching bombs descend, destroying everything in their wake. There is nothing left to do but sit in darkness, praying to see tomorrow. And it seems that even in Italy, Stella’s past has found her. Somewhere in the winding streets of Florence there is a letter that will change the course of her fate. Unknown to her, it holds a secret with the power to rewrite her past, and everything she has been running away from. But will it come too late? And with the odds stacked against her, will she ever see Ted again? This totally gripping and heartbreaking tale is about the impossible tragedies of war and the miraculous possibilities of love. Fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, Rhys Bowen’s The Tuscan Child, and The Letter by Kathryn Hughes will be utterly captivated by this spectacular historical page-turner. Readers absolutely love The Stolen Letter: ‘Oh my word I honestly cannot express how much I loved this book. A historical fiction book that was just simply brilliant. The story and the characters were fantastic and I read this book in one day it was that good. I will be recommending this book to everyone who loves reading, it is a must-read.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Breathtaking and heartbreakingly beautiful… Be prepared to go on a very emotional journey where your heart will be ripped out and patched up over and over again. The characters are captivating and relatable. The twists and turns throughout the story are truly unforgettable. Clara Benson is an author that I would love to read over and over again.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Oh my, what a gem of a story… I cannot recommend this book highly enough nor write a review that can justify why you should read it. Historical fiction at its best. This book has it all… Such a good book. High 5 stars!!!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I loved this book… It was so good I didn't want to stop reading, I read way too late into the early morning… Heartbreaking.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This novel is truly amazing… Stole my heart from the very beginning with this beautiful story… I could not put it down… Not one to miss.’ Breakfast w Rachel, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So gripping – started reading and couldn't put it down.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I loved this book… You won't be able to put this book down.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Heartbreaking… Hooked me from the very first page… Captivating and brilliantly written.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Brilliant… Out of this world… Loved it.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Maria Lucas is quite resigned to never marrying, but when a new family comes to live at Netherfield Park, she suddenly finds herself with not one suitor, but two. As a friend schemes against her and misunderstandings abound, can Maria avoid the unwelcome advances of the man all Meryton expects her to marry, and win the heart of the man she truly loves? NB: If you’re looking for an Elizabeth and Darcy fix, keep looking, because you won’t find it here! There are no Bennets in this book.
When an unwelcome figure from her past turns up unexpectedly, Angela Marchmont has no idea that she is about to become the most notorious woman in Britain. Forced to reveal secrets she has kept to herself for many years and which she had thought were safely buried, Angela faces a fight for her very life which she looks almost certain to lose without the help of the man she loves. But what hope does she have when the one man who can save her is the one man who has every reason to abandon her to her fate?
While holidaying in Italy, Angela Marchmont is persuaded to postpone her trip to Venice and go to Stresa instead, to investigate a pair of spiritualists who are suspected of defrauding some of the town’s English residents out of their money. But what starts out as a minor matter swiftly becomes more serious when one of the residents in question is found dead in the beautiful gardens of his home, having apparently committed suicide. Seduced by the heady sights and scents of the Italian Lakes, and distracted by an unexpected encounter with an old adversary who seems bent on provoking her, Angela sets out to find out the truth of the affair and resume her journey to Venice before she forgets herself and loses her head—and her heart.
It's 1929, and Ticky Maltravers is the toast of London high society, adored by everyone—or so it seems, until somebody poisons him over dinner. Now it turns out that numerous people with secrets to hide had every reason to wish him dead. But which of them murdered him? For Freddy Pilkington-Soames, newspaper reporter and man-about-town, the question hits a little too close to home, thanks to an unfortunate drunken encounter with Ticky's corpse which he'd much rather the police didn't find out about—and thanks also to his exasperating mother Cynthia's seeming determination to get herself arrested by tampering with the evidence. But a pretty girl with big blue eyes is demanding his help in solving the mystery, so what can he do but agree? Now all he has to do is hide the wrong clues, find the right ones, and unmask the murderer before the police discover what's really been going on. That ought to be easy enough. If only people didn't keep getting killed...
