Overview

Edmund Symme, a stuffy London barrister, finds himself increasingly fed up with his every-day cares and decides to get away to his country estate in Yorkshire. There, he is confronted with visions of a beautiful woman who addresses him by name. When she appears in his library, he's sure he's going mad. Worse, he finds himself enjoying the ethereal presence. She's French, she knows wine, she smells of gardenia, she's jealous, and she wants him to avenge her murder. She seems to know more than he does about his own family. To complicate matters, Remy, the estate's housekeeper (whom Edmund dismisses as ""just a servant"") also sees visions of the ghostly woman. Employer and employee are therefore thrown together in uncharted territory. Is this ghost more than a figment of their imaginations? Can they believe her story of murder? How do their long-ago ancestors fit into her tale? Can Edmund shake himself out of his traditional male attitude to recognize his housekeeper as a vibrant, intelligent woman? And what about the ominous poignard en pierre-the dagger in stone? An enjoyable tale for romance, history and mystery aficionados.

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9780971411487

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Reviews

Sweet, scary, sexy--a darn fun read!I was immediately immersed in the British countryside and life in and around an ancient manor house. I was transported by the language and setting, and especially by the characters--whether the servants and their lives a la ""Upstairs, Downstairs"", or the aristocrat that finds his humanity through mystery and love. A fun, fast-paced British mystery worthy of a BBC-1 series! DVL A ghostly romp! You will be captivated by these characters as soon as you start reading. The plot is smoothly laid out to carry the reader along on a mysterious journey. The book was hard to put down - I couldn't wait to find out what happened next! The ghostly and the earthly are woven together in a way that made me consider that there might actually be ghosts! Treat yourself to this fun and engaging book! Kathryn Weber

Author Information

This story began with a hike up Ring Mountain in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Mike and BJ found a large boulder embedded in the hillside with a crack that looked just like a dagger. There's a photo of BJ sitting next to that rock. A story had to emerge from that cracked boulder, and BJ wanted it to be a ghost story. It took a number of years for the cast of fascinating characters to emerge and tell their stories.After a decade of developing the manuscript, the story was within a hair's breadth of completion when BJ unexpectedly passed away (in November of 2023). To honor her memory, the rest of us in her writing group (husband Mike, daughter Becky, and fellow writer Eva) decided to finish the project and publish it. And now here it is: BJ's ghost story, finalized by her three ghost writers. B.J. was a human resources consultant for many years, advising private companies and non-profits how to build and maintain the most productive workforces, how to deal with employee issues that arise, and how to keep them from arising in the first place. Mike Van Horn writes science fiction with a strong female heroine: a sassy singer who befriends aliens and must choose between her singing career and gallivanting off into space. This follows his consulting career during which he has published two dozen how-to books for small business. ""Writing sci fi is a heck of a lot more fun,"" Mike says. He lives in Northern California.

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