First published 1991
Major General Ransom Jarvis faces forced retirement as a new president takes office. At Washington's exclusive Beaux Arts Ball, the decorated Army officer encounters Virginia Allan, a striking blonde harboring dangerous secrets. The mysterious Frenchman Leo Montaigne also draws Jarvis's suspicion. When Jarvis begins investigating the capital's power brokers, murder strikes the city. His son Jimmie, a first-term congressman, teams up with the family's sharp-eyed Scottish housekeeper Mrs. Norris to conduct their own dangerous inquiry. They navigate a Washington crawling with patriots, intelligence operatives, and ruthless political climbers. This prequel to the Mrs. Norris Mystery series plunges the crime-solving housekeeper into deadly intrigue among the nation's elite. Dorothy Salisbury Davis weaves political conspiracy with personal stakes as three generations of the Jarvis family risk everything to uncover the truth.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, political-thriller
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Beaux Arts Ball, Washington DC
Period: 20th Century
Paperback · G K Hall & Co