Lady Adelaide Mystery

England, 1924. Lady Adelaide Compton has recently (and satisfactorily) interred her husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, hero of the Somme, in the family vault in the village churchyard. Rupert died by smashing his Hispano-Suiza on a Cotswold country road while carrying a French mademoiselle in the passenger seat. With the house now Addie's, needed improvements in hand, and a weekend house party underway, how inconvenient of Rupert to turn up-not in the flesh, but as a spirit! Rupert has to perform a few good deeds before becoming welcomed to heaven-or, more likely, Addie thinks, to hell. Before Addie can convince herself she hasn't completely lost her mind, a murder disrupts her careful seating arrangement. Which of her twelve houseguests is a killer? Her mother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Broughton? Her sister, Cecilia, the born-again vegetarian? Her childhood friend and potential lover, Lord Lucas Waring? One of the others? Rupert has a solid alibi as a ghost and now an urge to investigate. Enter Inspector Deven and Hunter from the Yard, an Anglo-Indian who is not going to let some barmy society beauty, witnessed talking to herself, derail his investigation. Something very peculiar is afoot at Compton Court, and he's going to get to the bottom of it-or go as mad as its mistress trying.

London, 1925. Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter finds himself in the middle of a series of upper-class deaths in London. Bright Young People are being extinguished in their favorite night spots, from a sleazy private jazz club to the Savoy ballroom. Dev knows just the person to help him navigate the treacherous society waters: Lady Adelaide Compton, a marquess's daughter and widow of a Great War hero. Unfortunately, he has put her in jeopardy once before, nearly leading him to turn in his warrant card. But when her sister is nearly one of the victims, Addie turns to Mr. Hunter, offering her help, and it soon becomes clear that the two of them working together again could lead to much more than merely solving crime.

Gloucestershire, 1925. A week-long house party in the country-why not? Lady Adelaide has nothing else to do, now that her year of mourning for her unfaithful husband is up and her plans to rekindle her romantic life have backfired. But when her hostess is found dead on the conservatory floor, Addie knows just who to call-Detective Inspector Deven - and Hunter of Scotland Yard. Dev may not want to kiss Addie again, but he's anxious to solve the crime. Who would want to kill Pamela, the beautiful wife of one of Britain's Great War heroes? Certainly not her devoted and wheelchair-bound husband, Sir Hugh Fernald. The other guests seem equally innocent and improbable. But despite all appearances, something is very wrong at Fernald Hall-there's a body buried in the garden, and the governess has fallen down the stairs to her death. Who's next? Addie and Dev must work together to stop another murder, and they have some help thanks to Rupert, Addie's late and unlamented husband. Rupert needs to make amends for his louche life on earth, and what better way to earn his celestial wings than catch a killer?

Lady Adelaide Compton had prepared herself to say goodbye forever to Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter. It would be a welcome relief not to get mixed up in any more murders, even if it meant never working alongside the handsome detective again... wouldn't it? But then Addie's prim and proper mother, Constance, the Dowager Marchioness of Broughton, is accused of murdering her secret lover, and there can't be enough gentlemen detectives on hand to find the truth. The dead Duke of Rufford appeared to lead a blameless life, but appearances can be deceiving. And unless Addie and Dev work together, Constance will hang-which is no one's idea of a happy ending.