Description: DEADLY SECRETS FROM A TAINTED PAST ...
Esme Quentin's arrival in north Devon is marred by the gruesome discovery of a fatally injured woman at the foot of Warren Cliff. Esme is troubled by the woman's final words and curious about the old photograph clutched in her hand. The police, however, dismiss Bella Shaw's death as accidental. But Bella's daughter, Neave, has her own questions and approaches Esme for help. The subsequent trail leads Esme back to the brutal penal history of nineteenth century England and the mystery of a Devon convict girl transported to Australia for her crime. As evidence of betrayal and duplicity are revealed, Esme discovers Bella's link to events in the past--a link which now endangers Neave and, by association, Esme. A legacy of hatred which has festered for generations in the "land beyond the seas" now threatens to spill over on to Devon soil with devastating consequences.Brief description: Wendy Percival's interest in genealogy was stirred by the time honored "box of old documents in the attic" and became the inspiration behind her Esme Quentin mystery novels. Wendy shares the intriguing, sometimes shocking, discoveries in her own family history on her website blog and has had several articles published in Shropshire Family History Society's quarterly journal and in Family Tree magazine. She lives in a thatched cottage with her husband in South West England, in a dream location for a family historian-next door to a churchyard.