The second book chronicling the mysteries of the dashing Earl of Moriston.
Sometimes the truth is closer to home than we dare to imagine…
‘You’re not going to be best pleased. It’s a case of murder.’
With these words from a Bow Street Runner, that nonpareil of Regency London, Charles Edward Graham Dornay, fifth Earl of Moriston, finds himself entangled with the violent and mysterious death of a lady of easy virtue.
The prime suspect?
His own secretary, saturnine Francis Mervyn.
His lordship’s first move is to interview the murdered girl’s best friend, that dazzling star of the operatic firmament, Miss Katharine Kenwood.
He expects to meet a highly-strung lady of doubtful respectability, but instead finds himself falling headlong irretrievably in love.
But he speedily discovers that it is no easy task to woo a hostile and suspicious lady on the one hand and to try to solve a murder on the other.
If he takes his eye off the ball for a second, disaster could strike.
And with the clock ticking, can he solve the case in time?
The Melancholy Virgin marks the second appearance of one of fiction’s most attractive heroes, the Earl of Moriston — aristocrat, diplomat, and occasional detective.
Readers who enjoyed the high spirits and stylish good humour of The Reluctant Heiress will find even more to please them in this adventure, which interweaves the high glamour of the Prince Regent’s world with a story of page-turning suspense.
’A jaunty Regency mystery with romantic underpinnings, a high-spirited cast, and some delightful research into the period's theatrical lows. – Kirkus Reviews
Annabel Laine is the pseudonym of bestselling author Reay Tannahill, whose work, published in Britain and the United States, has also been translated into French, German, Dutch and Japanese. One of her recent historical studies was a main choice of the American Book-of-the-Month Club. Annabel Laine is Scottish by birth and, most of the time, by inclination. She is married and lives in the Highlands.
Sometimes the truth is closer to home than we dare to imagine…
‘You’re not going to be best pleased. It’s a case of murder.’
With these words from a Bow Street Runner, that nonpareil of Regency London, Charles Edward Graham Dornay, fifth Earl of Moriston, finds himself entangled with the violent and mysterious death of a lady of easy virtue.
The prime suspect?
His own secretary, saturnine Francis Mervyn.
His lordship’s first move is to interview the murdered girl’s best friend, that dazzling star of the operatic firmament, Miss Katharine Kenwood.
He expects to meet a highly-strung lady of doubtful respectability, but instead finds himself falling headlong irretrievably in love.
But he speedily discovers that it is no easy task to woo a hostile and suspicious lady on the one hand and to try to solve a murder on the other.
If he takes his eye off the ball for a second, disaster could strike.
And with the clock ticking, can he solve the case in time?
The Melancholy Virgin marks the second appearance of one of fiction’s most attractive heroes, the Earl of Moriston — aristocrat, diplomat, and occasional detective.
Readers who enjoyed the high spirits and stylish good humour of The Reluctant Heiress will find even more to please them in this adventure, which interweaves the high glamour of the Prince Regent’s world with a story of page-turning suspense.
Praise for Annabel Laine
’A jaunty Regency mystery with romantic underpinnings, a high-spirited cast, and some delightful research into the period's theatrical lows. – Kirkus Reviews
Annabel Laine is the pseudonym of bestselling author Reay Tannahill, whose work, published in Britain and the United States, has also been translated into French, German, Dutch and Japanese. One of her recent historical studies was a main choice of the American Book-of-the-Month Club. Annabel Laine is Scottish by birth and, most of the time, by inclination. She is married and lives in the Highlands.
