A fallen hero.
A defaced family heirloom.
A buried secret that refuses to die.
When war hero and heir to the Dunfermline Earldom, Roderick Melville, is killed in the trenches in 1916, his family is lost in grief. Four years later, on the anniversary of his death, a shocking and seemingly senseless act of vandalism shatters their fragile healing. As suspicions ripple through the grand estate and the surrounding village, old wounds are reopened, and long-buried truths edge closer to the surface.
For new governess Claire McKinley, the Melville household offers both a new start and a fascinating puzzle. But as she's drawn deeper into the horror of murder and betrayal, she discovers that the dead don't like puzzles.
Who would dare desecrate a hero's memory and who wants Claire McKinley gone, no matter the cost?
