Rose McQuinn returns to her family home in Northumberland and encounters an attractive widower who has a hidden agenda concerning her role as a crime investigator.
"Autumn, 1897. Rose McQuinn's stubborn refusal to give up her job as Lady Detective cost her the love of her ambitious fiance, Jack Macmerry. And now it seems that she is to lose her elusive deerhound, Thane, as well. His rightful owner is a Royal photographer, who lost him while walking on Arthur's Seat three years earlier. As Thane was the beloved pet of Hubert Staines' fatally ill stepdaughter, Kate, Rose cannot refuse to return him." "But when she arrives at the family home near Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, it soon becomes clear that Hubert, an attractive widower of ancient lineage, has a hidden agenda concerning her role as a crime investigator. The family's tragic history unfolds, revealing dark secrets that haunt those involved and a series of suspicious deaths. And in a bizarre and unexpected climax, Rose finds herself a likely candidate as the murderer's next victim." -- BOOK JACKET.