Part of Series
A reluctant lady sleuth finds she’s investigating her own family. Step into Lady Helena Whitcombe’s world with the first novel in a series that will blend family saga and mystery-driven action with a slow-burn romance in seven unputdownable investigations. 1881, Sussex. Lady Helena Scott-De Quincy’s marriage to Sir Justin Whitcombe, three years before, gave new purpose to a life almost destroyed by the death of Lady Helena’s first love. After all, shouldn’t the preoccupations of a wife and hostess be sufficient to fulfill any aristocratic female’s dreams? Such a shame their union wasn’t blessed by children . . . but Lady Helena is content with her quiet country life until Sir Justin is found dead in the river overlooked by their grand baroque mansion. The intrusion of attractive, mysterious French physician Armand Fortier, with his meddling theory of murder, into Lady Helena’s first weeks of mourning is bad enough. But with her initial ineffective efforts at investigation and her attempts to revive her long-abandoned interest in herbalism comes the realization that she may have been mistaken about her own family’s past. Every family has its secrets—but as this absorbing series will reveal, the Scott-De Quincy family has more than most. Can Lady Helena survive bereavement the second time around? Can she stand up to her six siblings’ assumption of the right to control her new life as a widow? And what role will Fortier—who, as a physician, is a most unsuitable companion for an earl’s daughter—play in her investigations? A new series by Jane Steen, author of the House of Closed Doors series that has delighted thousands of fans (over 300 5-star reviews on Amazon and over 700 5-star ratings on Goodreads.) If you’re looking for an unputdownable Victorian mystery saga, here’s where you start!
Author
Dear Reader, Welcome to my page. Now, I could talk to you about myself in the third person, as if my author-self were someone else, but instead let me give you the Most Important Fact: I was named after Jane Eyre. I swear that this decision of my mother's influenced my entire life. I've always felt that I lead only half my existence here (here being wherever I happen to be) while the much more interesting stuff goes on in my head. It also doomed me to spend most of that head-time in the nineteenth century, hence my books. My aim is to write entertaining fiction that hovers somewhere in the PG range (no graphic sex or nasty stuff unless the plot totally demands it) and is neither dumbed-down nor pretentiously intellectual. In short, it's the type of fiction I like to read when I just need to RELAX. You can get to know me a lot better by subscribing to my newsletter. The short biography is that I've lived in England, Belgium, the United States and England. The problem with moving around is that you end up torn between different countries and cultures; the advantage is that you get to speak more languages (my second language is French). I've had an interestingly varied employment history (editor in a law firm, translating a Belgian aerospace magazine into English and real estate marketing spring to mind, but there were others), and have absorbed more education than is good for me. I'm married to a nice American, and have two adult daughters.
