Fran Smith

A dazzling diva. A glittering society dinner. A servant with a terrible grudge.1903. Bookish, bespectacled Vita Carew longs to be left to her scientific studies. But she cannot avoid the event of the season, a gala at Pemberton Hall. This glamorous concert and sumptuous dinner will mark the Pemberton household?s return to society after a run of misfortune.But disaster strikes as soon as the seafood is served. Vita can only offer first aid as elegant guests fall suddenly ill on all sides. Worse still, she suspects a death has been covered up to avoid interrupting the carefully planned soirée.Vita must probe dark secrets behind the country house?s elegant veneer to work out who is to blame. But can she do so in time to prevent the poisoner from striking agai? f you enjoy a stylish mystery with your Downton Abbey, dip into Poison at Pemberton Hall today.

A quiet lodger; a secret vice; a fortune-seeker who will stop at nothing.Cambridge, England. 1905.A neighbour''s quiet lodger dies in an unlucky fall, but Vita finds clues that suggest a complex and dangerous secret life, and doubts his death was an accident.Forced to investigate when the police refuse to listen, she finds a connection with a second sudden death - that of a wealthy and eccentric local lady.As usual, Vita''s discoveries infuriate the police and the murderer, but they also cast doubt on the findings of a police surgeon whose good opinion is vital if she is to continue her own scientific studies.With no one else willing to take on the killer, Vita must act alone.