About this ebook
Victoria Steane inherited her father's lumber mill business, and the fortune it bestowed upon her family, but not the knowledge required to run it. That's why long-time manager Henry Frame was entrusted to run the company. Unfortunately, that trust was misplaced. Victoria uncovered Frame's embezzlement scheme and when she confronted him, he committed suicide in shame, drowning himself in a river. But the mysterious circumstances of his death first prompted a murder investigation, with Victoria as the prime suspect.
Long exonerated, Victoria is about to marry Michael Bayne, a manager with her company's West Coast branch, who stood beside her throughout the murder scandal. The Steane family is celebrating Victoria's upcoming nuptials in the company of the soldiers at nearby Camp Blakoe when she's approached by Major John Campbell. Before his conscription, Campbell was the state's attorney trying to convict her of murder. And while he believes Victoria is innocent, he tells her that Frame's death was no suicide.
Then the body of a drowned woman who worked at the army base is found near the Steane estate. Now, the police and military are investigating Victoria's entire family, seeking connections with not only Frame's death but with a potential spy ring. And when another murder victim is discovered, all the evidence points to Victoria.
To clear her name, Victoria will have to look into her family's business affairs, and uncover long buried secrets . . .
"Romance and mystery adroitly blended." — Time
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About the author
Before Agatha Christie ever published a Miss Marple novel, Eberhart wrote romantic crime fiction with female leads. Eight of her books, including While the Patient Slept and Hasty Wedding (1938), were adapted for film. Elected a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in 1971, Eberhart continued publishing roughly a book a year until the 1980s. Her final novel, Three Days for Emeralds, was published in 1988.
