In glittering Newport, Rhode Island, status is everything. But despite being a poorer relation to the venerable Vanderbilts, Emma Cross has shaped her own identityβas a reporter and a sleuth.
As the nineteenth century draws to a close,Fancies and Fashion reporter Emma Cross is sent by the Newport Observer to cover an elite house party at Rough Point, a βcottageβ owned by her distant cousin Frederick Vanderbilt that has been rented as an artist retreat. To her surprise, the illustrious guests include her estranged Bohemian parentsβrecently returned from Europeβas well as a variety of notable artists, including author Edith Wharton.
But when one of the artists is discovered dead at the bottom of a cliff, Rough Point becomes anything but a house of mirth. After a second murder, no one is above suspicionβincluding Emmaβs parents. As Newport police detective Jesse Whyte searches for a killer, Emma tries to draw her own conclusionsβwith the help of Mrs. Wharton. But with so many sketchy suspects, sheβll need to canvas the crime scenes carefully, before the cunning culprit takes her out of the picture next . . .
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