Flowers Stained With Moonlight - Tapa dura

Four years have passed since Vanessa Duncan's life was turned upside down: a country girl fascinated with academia but unable to attend university, she moved to Cambridge to become a schoolmistress. Apart from missing her twin sister Dora, all appeared to be going well -- until a man she had befriended, Arthur Weatherburn, was accused of being a serial killer. Using her own powers of observation and intuition, and defying the social conventions of the late 1880s, Vanessa turned detective and discovered the true identity of the murderer, saving young Arthur Weatherburn's life. Vanessa's act of courage did not go unnoticed. When the mother of a suspected murderer turns up on her doorstep, Vanessa's talent for proving the innocence of the wrongly accused is again called upon. It seems that Mrs. Bryce-Fortescue's daughter, Sylvia, is suspected of killing her unaffectionate husband in the grounds of their manor home. But could the weak and apparently vulnerable Sylvia really be capable of such a crime? As Vanessa's investigation progresses, she is carried on a perilous journey from the beautiful English countryside to the bright lights of Paris. But with her intelligence and nerve pushed to the limit, will she be able to save the day again?

CATHERINE SHAW is an academic who has published four novels featuring Vanessa Duncan. "The Library Paradox" and "The Riddle of the River" are published by Felony & Mayhem in the US.