Murder Before the First Dance (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798177977515)

Lydia Harcourt is trying to earn a living again. In 1927 London, the camera is hers; control of her reputation is another matter.

A commission to photograph Lady March's ball should help keep Lydia's reopened studio afloat. Instead, her hostess demands that a young woman's portrait-and its negative-be destroyed. Lydia's work has suddenly become something somebody wants erased.

Before the dancing starts, Lady March is dead. Nora, Lydia's sister-in-law, was heard quarrelling with her, and the household is quick to decide what that means. Lydia must ask questions among people whose respectability depends on not answering them.

The newspaper reporter offering assistance is tied to the account of Lydia's marriage she has never forgiven. Trusting him may be difficult; finding the truth without him may be harder still.

The first Lydia Harcourt Mystery offers a complete historical murder case, a resourceful working heroine and a romance that begins with complicated history. Step into a London ball where a portrait can be as dangerous as a secret.