The Frost of Friston Manor: Emily Mansion Old House Mysteries, #4

By Ruby Loren

If you love Agatha Raisin's spark and Nancy Drew's curiosity, The Emily Mansion Old House Mysteries are your next unputdownable read!

Amelia Friston is searching for an heir to her family fortune.

What she finds is a dark family secret and an unsolved murder.

Emily Mansion is keen to reunite Amelia with her long-lost relatives, but the knowledge that she may be on the hunt for a killer makes her wonder if history is sometimes better left in books.

The truth about the unsolved crime must lie in the past… but Emily isn't sure she wants to solve this particular mystery.

*A short and sweet English mystery for light and easy reading!*

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruby Loren
• Release date: Feb 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393028925

Book preview

Introduction

I’m not convinced this is such a brilliant idea after all, a small voice said when Richard Friston jumped off the thick curtain of ivy he’d just climbed down and landed with a light thud.

He looked up at the owner of the small voice and a wild grin stretched across his face. Don’t worry, Eve. The old man’s so busy accounting for every last penny he owns, he probably won’t notice that his only son is missing until at least a month has passed.

The narrow, fair-haired girl wrung her hands and stared down at the buttons on her thick and practical wool coat. We’ll get caught. Someone will come and find us and then… and then… She trailed off, thinking about all that would happen to her if she and Richard were dragged back. He’d probably be accepted back into the family with a slap on the wrist, but she was just a kitchen maid. She’d be fired and never get a reference for the years she’d spent working at Friston Manor. In other words, she’d never work again.

Richard took her face between his hands. She looked up, her blue eyes wide with surprise at how close he was daring to stand. It may be midnight, but they were still in plain view of anyone who cared to look out of one of the manor’s windows.

Stop worrying, he told her. I’ve saved enough money to keep us going for a little while, and then we’ll both work in the baker’s shop I’ve bought in Little Mayton. Your talent for baking will soon have people coming from miles around. I just know it’s going to be a success!

Richard had managed to buy the rundown shop after he’d sold a few trinkets he’d found in his mother’s jewellery box. He’d never seen her wear any of it, and she had so much jewellery, he was fairly sure she’d never notice that what he’d taken was gone.

Eve smiled for the first time. And what are you going to be doing whilst my baking is bringing in the crowds?

Richard grinned a little foolishly. I’ll be doing whatever I can to help. I’ll learn the trade from you! We’ll both be bakers. I can also make sure the finance side of things goes over well. I won’t be using his name anymore, but I suppose that’s the one useful skill my father has passed on to me. Richard’s smile turned into a frown. He looked towards the front of the manor at the only room still lit. His father would be in his study, no doubt poring over accounts with a glass of port in his hand.

He sighed. Why couldn’t his family be more accepting of his choice of future wife? The Fristons had plenty of money to spare, so would taking one working class girl into the fold really cripple them? He hoped that one day in the not-so-distant future it wouldn’t matter who you married - just as long as you loved them.

Where’s your bag? Eve asked, and he swung around the duffel on his back to show her. Her eyebrows shot up. That’s all you’re taking?

He made a show of leaning around to look at her own similarly sized bag and she blushed, knowing she’d made a classist judgement. He tried not to laugh. You did say to pack light! Honestly, I was torn over whether I should bring the grand piano, but I thought it might be a little too much, he said with a wink.

Eve relaxed and her cheeks grew less pink when she realised she’d been forgiven.

Richard knew that soon they would be true equals - at last! They were going to be married tomorrow, and from then on, they would live their lives under the names of Mr and Mrs Adelaide – a name they had picked from the book that Richard had used to help Eve learn to read. They were going to be at the bottom of society, and Richard was certain that they were going to be happier there than they’d ever been before.

Let’s go, he whispered to Eve, who nodded and grew a little paler in the January chill. Goodbye you old pile. I hope I never set eyes on you again as long as I live, he muttered in the direction of the house when they reached the wrought iron gates of Friston Manor.

He wasn’t entirely sure whether he was talking to the manor or his father.

The morning after Eve and Richard had walked through the gates and on towards their new lives, a scream erupted from the bowels of the manor.

Gwendolyn Friston’s eyes opened, a frown already fixed on her face. She glanced to her right and was unsurprised to see that the bed was empty. Her husband had been staying up to obsess over their accounts for years. He often rested in his study instead of coming back to her. She shook her head, trying to remember what it was that had woken her up.

The door of her bedroom burst open. A reprimand instantly formed on Gwendolyn’s lips, but it died when she saw the look on her lady’s maid’s face.

Whatever is the matter? she enquired, hoping that the maid