Frances' father William Doughty, a chemist, has been accused of
accidentally poisoning one of his customers with a mixture which had
been prescribed to him. The victim had used this particular
prescription in the past. Had his own illness caused William to make a
mistake in preparing the tincture? Frances decides to become a
detective and figure out the true cause of death.
She has only six days to gather evidence before the coroner's inquest.
She decides to dress in her late brother's clothing and using
subterfuge, question the victim's brother. She does gain some, which
she shares with Constable Brown. When questioned by their solicitor,
William remembers having had a phial of pure strychnine. Could this
have been used to poison the victim? Frances does some digging on her
own and enlists the help of two new friends.
Unfortunately the inquest jury returns a verdict of death by
misadventure owing to the poor health of William Doughty. Frances is
sure that one of the witnesses lied on the stand, but how can she prove
it? Before she can, the husband of the witness is arrested for fraud.
Thinking this proves her father innocent, Frances is shocked to find
that her father has died in the meantime. She is further shocked when
her uncle Cornelius informs her that the business is badly in debt. She
begs his help to get out of the situation and he grants her a month.
As Frances gathers information, she seems to run into more conundrums.
Will she be able to clear her father's name and expose the real killer?
And what of the new mystery presented to her?
Author Linda Stratmann has tied so many strands together into an
immensely enjoyable read. The reader has to keep on top of every one. A
book, which I found hard to put down. I'm looking forward to reading
the sequels.
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