When Harriet Unwin takes the position of governess in the well-to-do Thackerton household, it would seem that fortune has smiled on her at last. That is until William Thackerton is found stabbed, and Harriet accused of murder... In a desperate attempt to prove her innocence, she embarks on a daring scheme to save herself from the gallows. In doing so she uncovers the dark secrets which the family is trying to hide behind a veneer of Victorian respectability.

Miss Unwin, a nanny in Victorian England, must unravel the threads of an unusual domestic affair when murder disrupts the wealthy Partington household

On Friday next, pub owner Jack Steadman would hang for the murder of Alfie Goode, drunkard and ne'er-do-well. The case was open-and-shut to everyone but Miss Harriet Unwin, who had less than a week to prove that Jack, a Crimean war hero, was innocent. Her snooping soon took her to the ballroom of a retired general's stately manor. But there, between the quadrilles and waltzes, Miss Unwin had to step most carefully, for a killer could make her next partner... death! Bright as a new penny, and incredibly clever, Harriet Unwin has a knack for criminal investigation. The most engaging young sleuth ever to snoop upstairs and downstairs, Miss Unwin is also one of the most charming creations of Britain's popular and prolific mystery writer, H.R.F. Keating...