A House Divided

Stranded at a house party - when a murderer strikes!
May 1861, Victorian England. When Matthew and Harriet Rowsley are invited to a house party at Clunston Park by Matthew's cousin, Colonel Barrington Rowsley and his wife Lady Hortensia, Harriet is nervous - surely the aristocratic guests will snub her? After all, they are but mere servants in their eyes! Her fears are realised on their first evening when the only person who deigns to speak to her is the spiteful Gräfin Weiser and confirmed when she commits a major faux-pas at the cricket match the following day.
But there's no escape! The cricket match is abandoned due to a storm, and flooding leaves the house guests stranded. Things worsen when Gräfin Weiser is found murdered and the finger is quickly pointed at Clara, an eleven-year-old maid as the culprit. Convinced that she cannot be guilty, Harriet and Matthew agree to investigate.
The aristocratic facade begins to crumble under their scrutiny, and they start to unlock the secrets of Clunston Park. Why does the Colonel allow his bullying friend Major Jameson so much leeway? Is there more to the befuddled Lord Pidgeon than meets the eye? Harriet and Matthew must uncover the truth, before they find themselves in deadly danger.

Judith Cutler has been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger and the Barry Award, Judith Cutler's prize-winning short stories appear regularly in anthologies and leading crime fiction magazines. She is married to fellow crime-writer Edward Marston and is sometimes referred to as Birmingham's Queen of Crime!