New Years Day 1900 and a brilliant violinist is found dead, leaving his friends and family devastated and confused. Vanessa Weatherburn must uncover the mystery of his death and the long-kept secrets of his family. It is New Year's day, 1900, when the brilliant violinist Sebastian Cavendish is found dead. The last few days of his life are a mystery, but in the final hours of 1899 he wrote a cryptic suicide note mentioning a "cursed inheritance", took poison, and died in agony. Vanessa Weatherburn, an established detective and ex-tutor to one of Sebastian's friends, is engaged to investigate the dead man's final movements. It is a journey which will reveal to her the science of genetics, the history of Sebastian's equally brilliant grandfather and the long-kept secrets of the Cavendish family. The author was shortlisted for a prestigious Dagger Crime writing Award for the first in the series The Three-Body Problem. Readers will enjoy this impeccably researched historical evocation of late 19th-century Cambridge and London.

REVIEWS "The story goes down smoothly, seasoned with wit and intelligence and made out of unusual and interesting ingredients. a clever concoction."Literary Review"I enjoyed this. The research is historically impeccable and never resorts to 'info dumps'. Concerns of the period, e.g., the dubious 'science' of eugenics, and the proper sphere for women, come in quite naturally and, indeed, prove to be essential to unravelling the mystery. The twists and turns of the plot kept me engrossed until the very end.

Recommended."Historical Novels Review.