A Declaration of Murder
Mary Ann Paul
Type: Beta project
Genre: Historical fiction, mystery
Word count: 70,000
March 1920, the Berkshires. Petra Wood’s women’s resort is weeks from opening, and days from financial ruin, when her closest friend is charged with murder. As more bodies surface among the summer colony’s guarded estates, scandal threatens to poison the venture. Petra must choose: secure the future she vowed to build, or risk it all to prove her friend’s innocence. Please note: this book is part of a series, and a series synopsis will be provided.
March 1920, the Berkshires. Petra Wood’s elite women’s retreat is weeks from opening and days from financial ruin. Her partner, cosmetics magnate Poppy Van Cleef, the famed Queen of Beauty Queens, is locked in a lawsuit that could bankrupt them both, leaving an inexperienced Petra to manage unfinished renovations and a staff that knows she is in over her head.
When Tallulah Bankhead and Zelda Sayre arrive before the resort is ready, Petra is forced to play hostess, as well. Then her closest friend, Clara, is arrested for murder after a prominent union breaker, long tied to her husband’s death, is found with a cryptic message scrawled in his own blood.
As more bodies surface among the summer colony’s guarded estates, scandal threatens to destroy the resort before it opens its doors. If Petra pursues the truth, she risks the collapse of the resort and her own future. If she protects the business, Clara will hang.
She cannot save both.
Mary Ann Paul is an Amazon bestselling author and the creative alter ego of Paula De Santiago, a Fulbright scholar drawn to the uses of power and the lies that sustain it. Raised in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, she received her earliest education at her grandfather’s kitchen table. A veteran police detective with no patience for discretion, he spoke of fragile alibis, respectable people undone by greed, and the damage wrought by those who believed themselves untouchable. She now writes historical mysteries set in rarefied circles, where women pursue the truth long after it becomes dangerous.
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