Heavy-handed foreshadowing lessens, rather than heightens, George Mortimer, an old army friend of Lord William, claims to have seen someone strangled, the body of Burton Spencer, an estate worker, is found, but Spencer was bludgeoned to death, not asphyxiated.

Members of the household view the death of Aristotle, who choked on a piece of porcelain, as a harbinger of doom, a superstition buttressed by several murders on the estate, which the duke asks Violet to investigate discreetly. In 1869, Violet is summoned to “the most magnificent estate she’d ever seen, owned by the most eccentric man she’d ever met, to care for the most bizarre corpse she’d ever been called upon to undertake.” The estate is the enormous Welbeck Abbey the owner, Lord William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, the fifth Duke of Portland and the corpse that of his raven, Aristotle. This novel’s execution doesn’t do justice to its intriguing plot, Trent’s fifth to feature British undertaker Violet Harper (after The Mourning Bells). Learn more about Christine at or follow her on Facebook at. In addition to six novels and three short stories in the LADY OF ASHES series, Christine has also written several historical novels about women in unusual professions, including THE QUEEN'S DOLLMAKER (a dollmaker to Marie Antoinette), A ROYAL LIKENESS (an apprentice to the great waxworker, Madame Tussaud), and BY THE KING'S DESIGN (a draper to the Prince Regent). Harris, and Anna Lee Huber, and follows the travels of a cursed pocket watch through time. THE DEADLY HOURS is an anthology written with Susanna Kearsley, C.S. On September 1, 2020, Sourcebooks will release Christine's latest entry in the LADY OF ASHES historical mystery series featuring Violet Harper, a Victorian undertaker with a passion for her macabre work. The year 2020 marks 200 years since Florence's birth. In addition to six novels and three short stories in the LADY OF ASHES series, Christine has also written several historical novels A MURDEROUS MALADY, Book 2 of the Florence Nightingale mystery series, was published on May 7, 2019, during National Nurses Week, which is always the week leading up to Florence's birthday on May 12th. A MURDEROUS MALADY, Book 2 of the Florence Nightingale mystery series, was published on May 7, 2019, during National Nurses Week, which is always the week leading up to Florence's birthday on May 12th.

Lady of Ashes by Christine Trent