The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton

Set in 1924, Speller’s intriguing second mystery to feature WWI veteran Laurence Bartram (after 2011’s The Return of Captain John Emmett) takes Bartram to Wiltshire, where disabled architect William Bolitho has invited him to view a church with unusual artistic and historical features on the grounds of Easton Hall. As Bolitho designs a maze and a stained-glass window to honor the men of the village who died in the war, Bartram becomes aware of tensions among members of the Easton family that stem from the 1911 disappearance of five-year-old Kitty Easton. While Kitty’s delicate mother is convinced the girl is still alive, others speculate that she was murdered. After the family’s maid vanishes and Bartram stumbles across a body in the church, the question of what really happened to Kitty re-emerges. The intelligent depiction of the many wounds of war, suffered not only in the trenches but also on the home front, resonates. Agent: Georgina Capel, Capel & Land. (June)