A Wishing Shelf Book Award Finalist

Surviving the 1915 Lusitania sinking was only the beginning for Rachel Williams. Two years later, at a war fundraiser, she is reunited with fellow survivors, Fred and Rudy. The best friends battle for Rachel’s affections. Torn between two marriage proposals, Rachel chooses one of the men and her decision triggers an unimaginable and unpredictable journey lasting thirty years.

The dominoes collapse around Rachel, affecting family, friends and strangers alike. Is it fate or is there a sinister force at work? Or both? Ultimately, will Rachel regret her decision when she learns how it impacted others?

Set in both America and Europe, history and fiction intertwine. Events like the Russian Revolution, Prohibition, the Great Depression and the world wars influence the characters’ lives and their decisions to love, betray, forgive and reconcile.

#1 Amazon Bestseller - Contemporary British Fiction

#1 Amazon Bestseller - International Mystery & Crime

"A modern interpretation of a golden age detective novel, in the spirit of Agatha Christie and other writers of crime of the interwar period. A very satisfying homage." –Paul C.W. Beatty, award-winning author of Children of Fire and member of the Crime Writers' Association

It’s 1927 and Great Britain is sweltering in an unprecedented heatwave. On the morning after her eightieth birthday party, Lady Fitzhugh is discovered bound and butchered in her bed, with her family and staff the prime suspects...

Whilst holidaying at nearby Meadowford Village, Detective Dermot Carlyle is asked to help investigate the brutal murder. The clues all point to a robbery gone wrong, but Dermot suspects that there is more to the horrific crime. The Fitzhughs’ secrets take Dermot along a path linking some of the biggest events of the British Colonial Empire – from India to Africa, to the dark days of the Great War itself.

As more murders take place, Dermot is racing against time to discover the killer’s identity. What are the family hiding, why did Lady Fitzhugh have to die, and what horror was committed in the colonies that led to this trail of death and deceit?