A war widow back in the world for one night. A constable in a hurry for a culprit. One manor house nobody may leave.

Violet Vickers, Mistress of the Vickers Estate and Doctor’s Widow turned Amateur Sleuth. Violet has lived alone in her Hampshire manor since the Great War, a doctor’s widow whose husband never came home from the front. She wants to be part of the world again, and to discover the truth about the dead man in her study. Constable Thornton asked for her husband and has no use for a widow’s view of a wound.

Lucy, Lady’s Maid and Party Organizer at the Vickers Estate. Lucy arranged the evening to coax her mistress out of mourning, then spent it laughing with Henry Grant, the young writer now dead in the study. She wants Violet back among the living, and her own name kept clear. Half the guests saw her with Henry, and the constable likes a story with a maid in it.

Every guest is kept in the parlor until Constable Thornton has his culprit, and he picks suspects by how guilty they look. Violet picks hers by what the body tells her. If the easy answer sticks, the wrong guest answers for the killing and the killer leaves with the rest.

Every guest came by invitation. So did the killer!

– amateur sleuth — a doctor’s widow who checks the pulse before the constable arrives

– 1920s country house murder — one manor, one party, every guest kept in

– war widow heroine — her first evening in company since the Great War

– lady and maid sleuthing duo — a mistress and the maid who will not let her grieve alone

– bumbling constable — a policeman who asked for the man of the house

– closed-circle whodunit — nobody goes home until the constable says so

– post-war England — a country still counting what the war took

– party guests with secrets — not everyone came for the wine

– clean historical cosy — no profanity, nothing graphic, a faith-friendly tone

Perfect for fans of 1920s English country-house whodunits, war-widow amateur sleuths with a doctor’s eye for a wound, and lady-and-maid cosy mysteries with a faith-friendly heart.

Begin the Violet Vickers 1920s Cosy Mysteries with Violet’s first case today.

Heat Level: Closed Door (no on-page intimacy)

Tone: Cosy · Atmospheric · Hopeful

Series Type: Book 1 of 12 in the Violet Vickers 1920s Cosy Mysteries series — each book reads as a standalone

Ending: Hopeful close

POV: Single POV · Third Person

Content Notes: off-page death, grief, war trauma, mild peril

Inspirational Theme: Hopeful · faith-friendly tone