Trace of Deceit

From the author ofA Dangerous Duet comes the next book in her Victorian mystery series, this time following a daring female painter and the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating her brothers suspicious death.A young painter digs beneath the veneer of Victorian Londons art world to learn the truth behind her brothers murder... Edwin is dead. Thats what Inspector Matthew Hallam of Scotland Yard tells Annabel Rowe when she discovers him searching her brothers flat for clues. While the news is shocking, Annabel cant say its wholly unexpected, given Edwins past as a dissolute risk-taker and art forger, although he swore hed reformed. After years spent blaming his reckless behavior for their parents deaths, Annabel is now faced with the question of who murdered himbecause Edwins death was both violent and deliberate. A valuable French painting hed been restoring for an auction house is missing from his studio: find the painting, find the murderer. But the owner of the artwork claims it was destroyed in a warehouse fire years ago.As a painter at the prestigious Slade School of Art and as Edwins closest relative, Annabel makes the case that she is crucial to Matthews investigation. But in their search for the painting, Matthew and Annabel trace a path of deceit and viciousness that reaches far beyond the elegant rooms of the auction house, into an underworld of politics, corruption, and secrets someone will kill to keep.