When newly-weds Sir James and Lady Cecilia Branstoke come to the aid of a new-made widow, somethings don’t add up about the death of her young lord husband. Worse, a man who won’t state his purpose, but is obviously military, wants a carte blanche to search the dead man’s library! The sheer effrontery!

Their search for answers takes the Branstokes and the widow to the white cliffs of Dover and a search for answers from Folkstone to Dover. Is this a murder, or a ruse? And if a ruse, Why?

A husband murdered...
A widow's ruse to find the killer...
A nobleman's curiosity...
Lead to a white slavery ring destroyed and a love found...

Although her marriage to George Waddley has been passionless, the beautiful widow Cecilia Haukstrom Waddley vows to unmask the man responsible for her husband's murder. Suspecting the culprit traveled in society circles, she diverts attention from eavesdropping and prying with constant and tiresome complaints of illness.

But nothing is as it seems...

For the past six months, since solving the thefts of England’s subsidies meant for its war allies, Lady Cecilia and Sir James Branstoke have concentrated on renovating their estate in Kent. But with most of the work done, and winter approaching, Lady Cecilia is restless. She doesn’t want to hibernate like a bear for the winter. Her husband, Sir James Branstoke, cautions her to be careful of what she wishes for.

As Lady Cecilia Branstoke convalesces after a severe bout of influenza, an urgent plea for assistance arrives from their friend, Mrs. Montgomery: The Earl of Soothcoor languishes in a goal in Lincolnshire, accused of murder. The victim? Mrs. Montgomery’s husband, Malcolm, reported dead over two years ago!

"Holly Newman is a hidden gem." — Tanya Anne Crosby, New York Times Bestselling Author

They are not Inquiry Agents. But when murder knocks at the drawing room doors, Sir James and Lady Cecilia Branstoke are more than equal to the sleuthing challenge. From the glittering ballrooms of London to the halls of a sanatorium, the Branstokes find themselves drawn into mysteries no respectable couple should have to solve. But fate—and a certain talent for curiosity—have other plans. In this collection of four riveting historical mysteries, follow the Branstokes as they confront:

Two deaths. One village. Countless secrets buried beneath the Downs.

When tragedy strikes the peaceful village of Mertonhaugh, grief turns swiftly to suspicion. The magistrate’s spirited daughter dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances. Days later, the vicar’s wife is found at the base of the cliffs—an apparent suicide.