Agatha Award–winning author Dianne Freeman returns to Victorian England, as

the future Mrs. George Hazelton, American-born Countess of Harleigh,

encounters a young French woman with the shocking claim that she is the

rightful Mrs. Hazelton …

For Frances Wynn, widow to the late Earl of Harleigh, life has a cosmopolitan

flavor of late. No sooner has she sent her mother and daughter off on a shopping

trip to Paris than she and her fiancé, George Hazelton, are socializing with visiting

members of the Russian royal family. Yet amid this whirlwind, scandal also comes

calling when Inspector Delaney turns up outside Frances’s house with a young

French woman with a shocking claim: she is Mrs. George Hazelton.

As the future Mrs. George Hazelton, Frances assumes the woman is either lying or

demented. “Mrs. Hazelton,” aka Irena, makes other outrageous statements.

Among them, she insists that she is the illegitimate daughter of Russian royalty,

that she has been abducted and held for ransom many times, and that someone is

sending her threatening letters. When George arrives, he clarifies that he is

certainly not married to Irena—though he can confirm her royal parentage. But

even as he agrees to investigate whether Irena’s life is in danger, her claim proves

tragically true. Irena is found strangled in Frances’ garden.

To uncover a killer—and clear their own names—Frances and George must

determine which of Irena’s outlandish stories were based in fact, and who stood

to benefit from her death. And as the search reaches a shocking conclusion, they

may find that villainy lurks all too close to home …