The Blackstone Key
Number 1 in series
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- 3,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
1795, and a young woman called Mary Finch travels in haste from Cambridge to the Suffolk coast. She has been invited to meet her wealthy uncle - and so end a twenty-year estrangement. But before she reaches her destination she discovers a dying man on the road. He is a stranger, and yet he is carrying an oddly familiar watch bearing her uncle's initials. He also seems to know who Mary is, and hints that she is in terrible danger.
His whispered warning soon exposes Mary to a ruthless conspiracy that threatens not only her family's reputation, but her very life. Far from home, Mary must learn quickly how to distinguish friend from foe. Can she trust the two men who want to help her? What is their interest in the mysterious Blackstone Key? Does it guard a secret treasure, or might it have a more sinister purpose...?
The first in an exciting new mystery series, The Blackstone Key is a gripping and vivid historical adventure that will appeal to fans of such classic tales as Jamaica Inn.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Melikan's lively, intelligent debut, set in England in 1795, genteel Mary Finch welcomes the chance to escape Mrs. Bunbury's academy, where she teaches young ladies, and visit White Ladies, her wealthy uncle Edward's Suffolk estate. En route, the unconventional Mary, who has a strong interest in the law, meets a dying stranger who in best gothic fashion gives her a mysterious warning. At White Ladies, Mary hopes to resolve some conflict between her father and her uncle, but soon becomes embroiled in smuggling intrigue. The unusual men she encounters include West Indian planter Paul D prez, who fled to England after the French overran his plantation, and Captain Holland, an impoverished artillery officer. In the end, Mary must use her intuition to assess the motives of the people around her and her special knowledge to try to upset a French plot. Readers will eagerly look forward to the second and third volumes in this historical trilogy.
