When Penny Brannigan inherits a charming, old-fashioned
cottage in the North Wales town of Llanelen, she soon
realizes she has come into more than what real estate
agents like to describe as a desirable period property:
She’s also acquired memories, mystery, and an unsolved,
decades-old crime.
As Penny sorts through the belongings of her benefactor, a
deceased teacher, she comes upon a packet of letters from
a promising young Liverpool artist, A. Jones, who was
killed in an accident in 1970. An artist herself, Penny
sets out to discover who killed this painter, and is
helped by a small group of townsfolk, including her
business partner, Victoria Hopkirk. While at a
retrospective art exhibition in Liverpool, Penny
recognizes what she believes to be a watercolor painted by
Jones. But it is attributed to another artist, leading her
to suspect that art theft was at the heart of the case,
and that Jones’s death was no accident.
In her eagerly awaited sequel Duncan wonderfully revisits
the bustling Welsh town and vibrant characters introduced
in The Cold Light of Mourning. With its lyrical prose and
tantalizing puzzle, this new mystery is a treat on many
levels.
Penny Brannigan
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