Saddled with Death

There's murder, an old promise, and a future she doesn't want.

It's 1873 and Emma Haythorne is seeking answers. After all, there was no way she could have refused the request of her friend's terminally ill mother to investigate the murder in the stable on their neighbouring sheep station. But is she in danger of losing her lifelong friends should she have to accuse someone in the family of being a killer? Because she has reason for that fear. It isn't the first time she's played the sleuth.

Emma's grandmother wants her to let it go and allow her dear friend to die in peace, but that dear friend refuses to give in without a fight. She's determined to learn in what state she is leaving her family. Did her husband kill his half-brother during a confrontation? Heaven knows, they've been involved in enough disputes over the years. And what about their sister-in-law and her son – the one who will inherit? Or the French pair who travelled with them from England? Was there a romance blossoming between the widow and the murdered man or are the French pair trying to avoid a scandal of a different sort?

One thing is certain, Emma doesn't believe the dead man died at the hands of horse thieves as the family are proposing. Now they are closing ranks and hampering her investigation, and as if struggling to uncover the killer wasn't enough she finds herself being pressed to honour an old promise she'd much rather forget.

Pushed and pulled in different directions will she be able to put her own problems aside? Because the person who needs the answers is running out of time and with the police far away Emma is all she has. Break a promise or break a heart, can she find a killer and a way out for herself?

Saddled with Death is the absorbing first book in the Murray Valley Mystery series. If you like historical mysteries with a strong female character, authentic settings, and a tight group of suspects then you'll love Irene Sauman's atmospherically rich cozy mystery. Buy Saddled with Death for an unbridled read today!