A grand master of crime fiction, Dorothy Salisbury Davis introduces the redoubtable crime-solving Scottish housekeeper Mrs. Norris in this thrilling tale of family secrets and murder. General Ransom Jarvis is writing his memoirs about a distinguished career that spanned five continents and three wars. Along the way, he stumbles upon a scandal about a philandering ancestor - America's ambassador to England who went on to become president of the United States. But a very clear and present danger embroils the irascible retired general in a deepening quagmire of deceit, fraud, and murder. Enter Mrs. Norris, the housekeeper who has been almost a mother to Ransom's son since he was a boy. Jimmie is currently running for governor of New York and enjoying his budding relationship with sculptor Helene Joyce. A sudden death changes everything, plunging Jimmie and Mrs. Norris into a bizarre case headed up by Jasper Tully, chief investigator for the Manhattan district attorney's office. With more lives at stake, the trio follows lead after lead into a web of crime that only the canny housekeeper can clean up in the nick of time. Death of an Old Sinner is the first novel in Dorothy Salisbury Davis' Mrs. Norris Mysteries, which also include A Gentleman Called, a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award; Old Sinners Never Die; and "Mrs. Norris Observes", a short story in the collection Tales for a Stormy Night.

Three of Davis' most endearing and enduring characters return to delight and thrill mystery and suspense fans. This time, Jimmie Jarvis finds himself involved in a threatened paternity suit against a dapper little man named Teddy Adkins, whose wealthy family are old clients of Jarvis' law firm. At the same time, Jasper Tally is embroiled in the investigation into the strangulation of a woman—crime which appears tied to several other unsolved mysteries. At the center of the two storm fronts, Mrs. Norris, the redoubtable housekeeper, must fend off the attentions of the dapper client and an unseen, sinister threat to her life.

Grand Master of crime fiction Dorothy Salisbury Davis brings back the beguiling character Major General Ransom Jarvis in this third Mrs. Norris Mystery, a prequel, which immerses the redoubtable crime-solving Scottish housekeeper in a murder investigation in the nation’s capital With a new president in the White House, Major General Ransom Jarvis suspects that his retirement from the US Army is imminent. But at Washington’s annual invitation-only Beaux Arts Ball, the decorated soldier becomes an unwitting pawn in a far-reaching conspiracy. It begins when Ransom meets Virginia Allan, a beautiful blonde with secrets. And there is something decidedly shady about Frenchman Leo Montaigne. As Ransom starts to uncover damning intel about DC’s most powerful movers and shakers, the town is suddenly rocked by murder. Now Ransom’s son, Jimmie, a freshman congressman, and his housekeeper, Mrs. Norris, are risking their necks as they conduct their own fact-finding mission in a city rife with patriots, spies, and deadly political wannabes. Old Sinners Never Die is the third novel in Dorothy Salisbury Davis’s Mrs. Norris Mysteries, which also include Death of an Old Sinner; A Gentleman Called, a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award; and “Mrs. Norris Observes,” a short story in the collection Tales for a Stormy Night.