Murder at Crossways
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3.7 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries…
In late August 1898, reporter Emma Cross attends the final fête of the Newport social season and discovers the party's over for a visiting prince . . .
The approaching end of summer means it's time for the Harvest Festival, the last big event of the season, held by Mamie Fish, wife of millionaire tycoon Stuyvesant Fish, at their grand “cottage,” Crossways. The mansion is decked out in artificial autumn splendor and an extravagant scavenger hunt will be held. But the crowning jewel of the evening will be the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria.
As acting editor-in-chief of the Newport Messenger, Emma had hoped to leave her days as a society reporter behind her. But at the last moment, she must fill in at the Harvest Festival. With nearly every eligible daughter of Newport high society in attendance, Emma can almost hear romantic dreams shattering like glass slippers when the prince finally appears—as a corpse in the garden.
The prince was stabbed in the same manner as another man recently found on nearby Bailey's Beach, who strongly resembles a relation of Emma's presumed dead for nearly thirty years. It’s up to Emma to find a connection between the two victims—before a killer slips away like the fading summer . . .
“Another tricky mystery set against the backdrop of some great real-life mansions.”
—Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The discovery of a stabbing victim on a beach propels Maxwell's tightly plotted seventh Gilded Newport mystery (after 2018's Murder at Ochre Court). Journalist Emma Cross, now editor-in-chief of the Newport Messenger, thinks it's her half-brother, Brady, before realizing the victim is a much older man. The resemblance makes Emma wonder whether Brady's father, presumed drowned in a sailing accident years earlier, was alive all this time. The next night, she attends a harvest-themed party at Crossways, the lavish Newport mansion owned by Stuyvesant and Mamie Fish. Guests enjoy hunting for jeweled favors while waiting for the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria, to appear. Instead, Otto is found dead on the grounds, stabbed like the beachside corpse. Mrs. Fish provides unexpected assistance as Emma investigates the linked mysteries and copes with sabotage at the Messenger. The irrepressible Mrs. Fish makes an entertaining addition to Emma's investigative team. Maxwell evokes the contrasts of Victorian Newport with her customary insight.
