Esme Quentin Mystery

Esme Quentin is devastated when her sister Elizabeth is assaulted and left unconscious, miles from her home. Two days later Esme discovers that Elizabeth has a secret past. Desperate for answers which the comatose Elizabeth cannot give, Esme enlists the help of her friend Lucy to search for the truth, unaware of the dangerous path she is treading. Together they unravel a tangle of bitterness, blackmail, and dubious inheritance, and as the harrowing story is finally revealed, Esme stumbles upon evidence of a pitiful crime.

Esme Quentin's arrival in north Devon is marred by the gruesome discovery of a fatally injured woman at the foot of Warren Cliff. Esme is troubled by the woman's final words and curious about the old photograph clutched in her hand. The police, however, dismiss Bella Shaw's death as accidental. But Bella's daughter, Neave, has her own questions and approaches Esme for help. The subsequent trail leads Esme back to the brutal penal history of nineteenth century England and the mystery of a Devon convict girl transported to Australia for her crime.

Esme Quentin is reminded of a painful past when Max Rainsford, a journalist colleague of her late husband Tim, turns up unannounced asking about a story Tim reported on thirty-five years ago—the murder of an old soldier. Esme, wary of Max's motives, declines to get involved.

When Esme Quentin is engaged to research the history of an ancient mill owned by her client, Anna Brannock, she stumbles upon a bitter family feud, tales of witchcraft and a century-old allegation of murder. As Esme digs deeper, the past begins to converge on the present, when Anna becomes the target of a disturbing campaign, echoing menacing events from many years before. Can a nineteenth century curse still wield its formidable power? What connects Anna with the twenty-four-year-old mystery concerning the whereabouts of the charismatic Ellen Tucker?

The discovery of a 100-year-old murder in a client's family history leaves Esme Quentin bewildered by her client's curious reaction. But with no instruction to find out more, Esme instead turns her attention to clearing the dilapidated outbuilding at her new cottage. Amongst the junk she finds a seventeenth-century map associated with the name Chalacombe, a local family with an intriguing and mysterious history.