A Bucket of Ashes

—CA Reviews

Summers at the Hewitts family's palatial Cape Cod "cottage" are always bittersweet for governess Nell Sweeney, for it was on the Cape that she lost all but one of her siblings to disease. Then she married Duncan, a ne'er-do-well charmer who abused her and coaxed her into petty crime before being condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison. Her dark past has been a deeply buried secret for years—but soon she'll learn that it wasn't buried quite deeply enough.

Nell has proven herself an exemplary governess, and she is deeply devoted to little Gracie. But now the possibility that she might be carrying Will Hewitt's child threatens to destroy everything she's worked so hard for. Even if she were free to marry, she doubts that Will, a rootless cardsharp and recovering addict, could ever truly settle down. Not that marriage is even an option, since Duncan adamantly refuses to grant her a divorce. When the pregnancy is discovered, she'll be ruined.

Nell is dealt another blow when she finds out that her beloved brother Jamie has been discovered dead in a burned-out farm shed—and that he was wanted for murder. With help from an injured Will and her former mentor, Dr. Greaves, Nell attempts to clear Jamie's name, a mission that takes her from the criminal underworld to the top ranks of Cape Cod society.

Originally published by Berkley Prime Crime