Best known for her procedural series featuring English village police detective Gil Mayo (A Sunset Touch, etc.), Eccles delivers a satisfyingly complex stand-alone, spanning the years from 1894 to 1909. This acute psychological study slowly untangles the web binding the fortunes of an Armenian patriot, an amnesiac accident victim and various members of the aristocratic Chetwynd family and the wool-selling Armitages of Yorkshire. Dexterously shifting from London to Shropshire to the British South African outpost of Mafeking, Eccles explores women's fight for suffrage and traditionally male careers, the breakdown of distinctions between the old nobility and the rich merchant class, and political upheavals in South Africa. Eccles's narrative skills and the myriad contextual details make it easy to forget the mysterious murder victim found on a Shropshire estate until pulled back by the episodic efforts of the police to solve the crime. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

London, 1910. Hannah Smith is recovering from an accident that has deprived her of her memory of the recent past. Her doctor encourages her to write down what she does recall, believing it may trigger memories of more current events. Meanwhile, the body of a woman is found on the country estate of Sir Henry Chetwynd. The picture of respectability, Sir Henry is shocked and dismayed when he learns that the woman was murdered. As Hannah struggles to recall her recent past, she finds a tenuous connection to the murdered woman and becomes convinced that the motive for the woman's death holds a clue to her own past. What she cannot know is that her life will eventually become inextricably intertwined with the Chetwynd family's, and she will find great happiness, but not before another tragedy occurs. Switching back and forth between the terrible time of the Boer War in South Africa and a Victorian London undergoing massive social changes, the always reliable Eccles weaves a spellbinding tale of deception, violence, tragedy, love, and loss.--Melton, Emily Copyright 2007 Booklist

Shifting in time and place between 1890s South Africa and 1909 England, Eccles's second historical standalone (after The Shape of Sand) juggles the story of Hannah, an amnesiac living in London, and the murder of another woman on the grounds of Belmonde, the ancestral estate of the Chetwynd family. Heir to the estate, Sebastian Chetwynd is as much a prisoner of the British social system as his friend Louisa, a medical student and suffragette. While he wishes to have his own career and marry Louisa, Sebastian must also deal with family expectations. At the same time, Hannah seeks to piece together her missing years, which may be connected to the murder in Shropshire. Carefully placed clues and an unexpected ending add to the richness of the Edwardian setting. For readers who enjoy Beverly Cleverly and Agatha Christie. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A murder on an English country estate provokes an investigation that must travel back in time for answers. In 1909, Sebastian Chetwynd journeys to his Shropshire home with his neighbor Louisa Fox, suffragette and medical student. Soon after his arrival, the murdered body of an unidentified woman is found. Seb has a feeling his family is somehow involved. When a local detective and a man from Scotland Yard set out to solve the mystery, their path leads back to London. Eccles also reveals the thoughts of a woman who is slowly recovering her memory after a deadly bus accident nearly took her life. In a twist of fate, amnesiac Hannah Jackson Smith's path had crossed Louisa Fox's when they both were trapped in the siege of Mafeking during the Boer War. The murdered woman was an Armenian refugee working as Hannah's maid. Is the unidentified child found on the bus Hannah's son? Was she the mistress of Sebastian's older brother Harry, who was killed in the accident? Does Harry's twin sister Sylvia know more than she's telling? As the detectives keep digging, a captivating tale of love, sacrifice, greed and ambition emerges. Once more, as so often in Eccles (The Shape of Sand, 2006, etc.), the past shapes a present packed with both admirable and despicable characters and interesting bits of historical lore. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.