A House on the Hill
Eleanor Birney
Type: Beta project
Genre: Historical fiction, mystery
Word count: 99,900
Marie Chevalier, a poor but ambitious actress, thinks her luck has changed when, after a whirlwind romance, she marries Magnus Able, a wealthy shipping magnate. When he’s murdered on their wedding night, she becomes the prime suspect, forcing her to delve into the colorful past of the husband she never got the chance to know. Please note: this book is part of a series, and a series synopsis will be provided.
1904, San Francisco. Mary Ashley is a poor but ambitious young actress who thinks her luck has changed when, after a whirlwind romance, she marries Magnus Able, a wealthy older man with a magnetic personality and a mysterious past. When he is murdered on their wedding night, Mary becomes the prime suspect. Convinced that the killer’s motive lies in Magnus’s murky past, she and her suffragette sister, Eliza, set out to discover the secret life of the husband Mary never got the chance to know. Together, they journey from the glamorous heights of Nob Hill to the seedy depths of the Barbary Coast on their quest to clear Mary’s name and find a killer.
Eleanor Birney writes historical mysteries about class, moral ambiguity, and people who aren’t satisfied with life on their side of the green baize door. She received a BA in History from UC Berkeley, and works as a legal research attorney, a day job that feeds her love of precision, research, and puzzles. Growing up in foster care gave her a lifelong fascination with the way society steers people into assigned places—and how some of those people refuse to stay in them. She lives in Northern California with her family.
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