Available again at last: the first volume in the acclaimed Gilded Age mystery series.
The summer of 1895 promises to be a success in tony Newport. The wealthy have returned to their palatial "cottages" by the sea, glittering balls and entertainments have been planned, and marriages are being arranged. There is just one problem. Maids are being murdered on the famous Cliff Walk. Good help is so hard to find.
For Newport detective Matthew Devlin, the case is both dismaying and baffling. A life-long Newport resident, he views the wealthy cottagers with distrust and disdain, especially when they refuse to cooperate with his investigation. Things change, though, when it is discovered that one of the murdered girls is not a maid. She is, in fact, Rosalind Sinclair, a debutante, and her death shakes Newport as nothing else could.
Matt finds an unexpected ally in Brooke Cassidy. Once he and Brooke, herself the daughter of a cop, had been the closest of friends. Now she lives with her relatives in one of the most palatial cottages. She has never forgotten her background, however, and she is as shocked by the deaths of the maids, as by Rosalind's. When her uncle is arrested for a fifth murder, she joins forces with Matt to solve the crimes, and to unmask a cold, cunning killer who just might come from Newport's elite...who might pose a danger to Brooke herself.