Part of Lady Darby Mysteries, book 14
First published 2026
It is July 1833, and Lady Kiera Darby has filled Bevington Park in Warwickshire with family and friends. The occasion is happy: her brother Trevor has fallen in love, and Kiera wants to see the match made. She has invited the woman's family to join the summer gathering, hoping goodwill will smooth the way. It does not. The prospective bride's brother is unpleasant, her mother abrasive, and her father, the industrialist Jeremiah Birnam, is rude to nearly everyone he meets. Then Birnam's secretary turns up dead, and Birnam himself is found standing over the body. Most of the guests are content to let him hang for it. Kiera and her husband Sebastian Gage are not. They believe Birnam is innocent, and they cannot watch a man go to the gallows for a crime he did not commit. The deeper they dig, the more enemies Birnam turns out to have, any one of whom might have killed the secretary to strike at him. As threats begin to reach people Kiera loves, she faces a hard question: solving the murder might cost Trevor the future he wants.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, adult-fiction, mystery-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, elegant, intricate, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, married-couple-detective-team, murder-mystery, secrets-and-lies
Setting: Bevington Park, Warwickshire, England
Period: 1833, July 1833, 19th century
384 pages · Paperback · Berkley
Content warnings: death, murder