Guilty Knowledge - Hardcover

Curzon, Clare

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312261691 ISBN 13: 9780312261696

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2000

Synopsis

Clare Curzon turns aside temporarily from Inspector Mike Yeadings and crime in today's Thames Valley to bring us to Edwardian England. In this tale of bygone evil and present-day deceit, Curzon demonstrates that she is as adept as delivering a page-turner in a different time period as she is in spinning a tale of crime in present-day Wales.

This is a story about two titled women, Lady Isabelle Delmayne and Eugenie, Countess Crowthrowne, who share a dark past. Implicated in two vicious murders seven years earlier, they both have histories of naked ambition, duplicity, moral blackmail and betrayal. Inescapably locked together in their knowledge of one another's secrets, they struggle desperately for the upper hand, each aware that a betrayal of the other's past could bring them her down along with her enemy.

The tension climaxes when a summer storm breaks the terrible heatwave of 1908 and the body of a foreigner, bludgeoned to death, is found in the river near the home they unfortunately share. The discovery and the ensuing police inquiry opens the floodgates of their joint and separate pasts, with all its dangerous ghosts and new evidence of a similar death that took place when they were together on a tour of Europe.

In the face of these shocking revelations, police and family members contend over whether the women can be held accountable at this date, or whether, as the family wishes, the whole sorry picture can be conveniently swept under the carpet. It is in this infighting, as well as the crimes that come to light, that Curzon holds the reader's attention until the very last page.

About this title

About the Author

Clare Curzon lives in Buckinghamshire, England. She is the author of nearly 30 novels and has also written under the pseudonyms Rhonda Petrie and Marie Buchanan.

From Publishers Weekly

Departing from her successful Thames Valley mystery series, Curzon tells with her usual elegance an intriguing tale of two very different women at the turn of the 20th century. Eugenie, Viscountess Crowthorne, and her sister-in-law, Lady Isabelle Delmayne, share an intricate seven-year relationship involving intimate secrets, blackmail and murder. The discovery of the body of an unknown foreigner near the family estate forces Eugenie to reflect on the possibly tragic consequences of the past. Fresh from school, Eugenie had accompanied the newly widowed Isabelle on a tour of the Continent. Only a few months go by after this tour before Eugenie learns the extent to which Isabelle will go to protect her own reputation at the expense of others, sacrificing even Eugenie's budding romance with an army officer in Egypt. The deceitful Isabelle blackmails Eugenie into helping disguise an illicit pregnancy and later into covering up the possible murder of an Italian doctor who knows too much. When Isabelle's child, Lucy, whom Eugenie adores, becomes a bargaining chip, Eugenie must make some painful personal decisions. The despicable Isabelle retains a few redeeming qualities, while the na?ve Eugenie develops into a discerning young woman. The identity of the dead man and his murderer, revealed at the climax, is almost secondary to the fascinating character study.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312261691
• ISBN 13: 9780312261696
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288