Death Down the Aisle

Phyllida is delighted to receive an invitation to the wedding of her friend Dr. John Bhatt. It’s a chance to get to know his fiancée, Emily Hartparker, and to explore Coatesworth Manor—the grand seaside estate that belongs to Emily’s distant relatives. Coatesworth is now managed by Lady Artemis Coatesworth and offers ample space for a celebration. But it’s soon clear that some of the guests have intentions beyond cheering on the happy couple.

As is often the case when extended family gathers, there is bickering, not to mention an awkward love triangle between Emily’s lovely cousin Lily, her handsome ex-husband Heath, and his new wife, Tibby. Besides that, some of the other cousins—all of whom are there simply to appease Lady Artemis, who has the power to enact a morals clause in her late husband’s will that could impact the heirs’ inheritances—don’t seem to get along. Discomfiting, certainly. Dramatic for sure.

And the drama gets infinitely worse when a wedding guest is discovered dead in the small chapel only hours after the ceremony.

Phyllida immediately agrees to help discover what happened, and brings some of her staff over from Mallowan Hall, Mrs. Christie’s manor house, for cover. But with plenty of dark secrets and ugly family dynamics, it seems the killer could be any one of the Coatesworths—and that  killer is dangerously motivated to keep the grisly truth from being revealed . . .