Lady Worthing Mysteries

Discovering a body on her property presents Lady Abigail Worthing with more than one pressing problem. The victim is Juliet, the wife of her neighbor, Stapleton Henderson. Although Abigail has little connection with the lady in question, she expects to be under suspicion. Abigail's skin color and her mother's notorious past have earned her a certain reputation among the ton, and no amount of wealth or status will eclipse it. Abigail can't divulge that she was attending a secret pro-abolition meeting at the time of the murder. To her surprise, Henderson offers her an alibi. Though he and Juliet were long estranged, and she had a string of lovers, he feels a certain loyalty to his late wife. Perhaps together, he and Abigail can learn the truth. Abigail, whose marriage to Lord Worthing was not a love match, knows well how appearances can deceive. For all its surface elegance, London's high society can be treacherous. Yet who in their circle would have killed Juliet, and why? Taking the reins of her life in a way she never has before, Abby intends to find out - but in the process she will uncover more danger than she ever imagined...

Pressed into a union of convenience, Lady Abigail Worthing knew better than to expect love. Her marriage to an absent lord does at least provide some comforts, including a box at the Drury Lane theater. Abigail has always found respite at the theater, away from the ton's judgmental stares and the risks of her own secret work to help the cause of abolition-and her fears that someone from her past wants her permanently silenced. But one evening everything collides, and the performance takes an unwelcome turn . . . Onstage, a woman emits a scream of genuine terror. A man has been found dead in the prop room, stabbed through the heart. Abigail's neighbor, Stapleton Henderson, is also in attendance, and the two rush backstage. The magistrate, keen to avoid bringing more attention to the case, asks Abigail not to investigate. But she cannot resist, especially when Henderson offers his assistance. Abigail discovers a tangled drama that rivals anything brought to the stage, involving gambling debts, a beautiful actress with a parade of suitors, and the very future of the Drury Lane theater. For Abigail the case is complicated further, for one suspect is a leading advocate for the cause dearest to her heart-the abolition of slavery. Uncovering the truth always comes at a price. But this time, it may be far higher than she wishes to pay.