DEATH AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE

Who’s poisoning the mistress of the house in Victorian London?

Kat Holloway is a cook with unusual connections that are very useful when she encounters mysteries to be solved. While visiting the Crystal Palace, she meets wealthy Lady Covington, a friend of the family she works for, who confides that she’s being poisoned and can trust no one. Although she rules the house where her two stepchildren and her own two children live, she suspects them all except for her beloved youngest son. Kat’s romance with Daniel McAdam, who helps Scotland Yard as a way of working off an unspecified debt, has been slowly developing over the course of several puzzling cases she’s helped him solve, but he’s still an enigma to her in many ways. Bringing a recipe for the cook as an excuse, she visits Lady Covington's home to see if she can discover how and why milady is being poisoned. Luckily, Kat works for eccentric Lady Cynthia, who’s far from the perfect Victorian miss her parents desire—she dresses in men’s clothing and is always willing to help Kat solve mysteries. Meantime, Daniel reluctantly seeks Kat’s help in his quest to expose Fenians plotting to kill British leaders. His request that she pose as the fiancee of the empty-headed fop he’s playing puts her in peril even as she makes headway on the case of the poisoned lady.

Fans will enjoy the continuing exploits of the clever cook, who gets to solve two complex mysteries.