Description
At the farewell dinner for Hawthorne House, Eleanor Hawthorne promises her guests that she is about to correct an old wrong. Before she can explain what she has uncovered, she is found dead in her study.
For Claire Bennett, a former investigative journalist now running her late aunt’s bookshop, the most troubling detail is not the money left untouched or the open desk drawer. It is the empty silver frame where an old photograph should be.
The Hawthorne name has shaped Briar Glen for generations, and everyone at the dinner seems to have something to conceal: a desperate heir, a family lawyer with a secret, a developer with too much at stake, and friends whose loyalties may be more complicated than they appear.
As Claire traces the photograph’s history to a group of cottages and the people who once lived there, an elegant tale of inheritance begins to unravel into one of misplaced trust, hidden records and dangerous affection. But discovering why Eleanor wanted to put things right is not the same as proving who stopped her.
In a town built on carefully tended reputations, the truth may be the one thing nobody can afford to inherit.
