A Mrs. Jeffries Mystery She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon . . . and keeps him on his toes. Everyone's awed by his Scotland Yard successes--but they don't know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries's polished detection skills are up to the task . . . proving that behind every great man there's a woman--and that a crimesolver's work is never done. Guilty Bystanders After a perfectly decent local woman is killed during a robbery, the Witherspoon household receives a surprising visit from a stranger named Blimpey Groggins. He claims his best buddy was convicted of the crime. He also claims the peaceable chap didn't even know how to fire a gun. And considering he's to be hanged in three weeks, Blimpey's desperate to find the real killer. With the trail cold, the crime allegedly solved, and the evidence mucked up, Mrs. Jeffries and her belowstairs cohorts have their work cut out for them if they want to save an innocent man from the gallows.

Portrait

Emily Brightwell was born in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia. Her family moved to Southern California in 1959 and she grew up in Pasadena. After graduating from CSU Fullerton, she decided to work her way around the world and started in England. She didn't get any further because she met her future husband there, got married, and moved back to California. While living in Long Beach, she decided to pursue her dream and be a writer--despite having two children and a full-time job. She began the Mrs. Jeffries series in 1993 and has written more than thirty more mysteries in the series in the following twenty-plus years. Now that her children are grown and have left home, Emily and her husband live in the Bay Area.