Description: Cambridgeshire, September 1813: Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods are lured to an isolated estate in the deadly marshland surrounding Ely, to investigate a murder.
But nothing is as it seems at the mysterious Willow Marsh Manor. They soon realize they've come across this feuding family before--in the direst of circumstances. With no dead body and no sign of the woman who summoned them, Woods fears someone has planned a murderous revenge. Meanwhile, Lavender dreads the disclosure of his greatest secret. A secret that, if revealed, will destroy both his career--and his relationship with Woods. Haunted by ghosts from the past, Lavender and Woods must tread a careful path through this watery and dangerous terrain in order to solve one of the most perplexing mysteries of their career.Brief description: Karen Charlton is the bestselling author of the Detective Lavender Mystery Series which is set in Regency London and features Bow Street's Principal Officer, Stephen Lavender and his humorous side-kick, Constable Ned Woods. In addition to this, she has written a stand-alone historical novel, Catching the Eagle based on the true story of her notorious criminal ancestor and a genealogical book, Seeking Our Eagle that explains how she and her late husband tracked down the jail-bird in their family tree. A former English teacher, with two grown-up children, Karen lives in a Yorkshire fishing village and now writes full-time.