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After a disappointing year spent working for the Herald in New York City, reporter Emma Cross is back home in Newport to cover the biggest social event of the year. The last thing the widowed Mary Goelet, owner of the magnificent Ochre Court, promised her dying best friend was that she would find a brilliant match for her daughter, Cleo CooperSmith. Cleo is known a young woman above reproach, but her father's failing fortune and business tribulations have limited her marriage prospects. Mrs. Goelet has a plan to showcase Cleo that will entice every young buck in Newport. At a lavish ball, Cleo will take center stage in an elaborate tableau vivant picturing Cleopatra, queen of the Nile. Ochre Court is fully electrified, and lighting will be of the utmost importance. As Cleo ascends to her golden throne, a short in the wiring plunges the ballroom into darkness, and when the lights come back on, Cleo is found slumped on her throne, dead of electrocution. For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America's 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries... In the summer of 1898, reporter Emma Cross investigates a shocking death among the bright lights of Newport's high society . . . After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald, Emma has returned to the salty air, glittering ocean vistas, and grand stately mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, more determined than ever to report on hard news. But for now she's covering the social event of the season at Ochre Court, a coming-out ball designed to showcase Cleo Cooper-Smith, who will be on display as Cleopatra in an elaborate tableau vivant. But as the deb ascends to her place of honor, the ballroom is plunged into darkness. When the lights come back on, Cleo sits still on her throne, electrocuted to death. Quickly establishing that the wiring was tampered with, Emma now has a murder to investigate. As Emma begins to discover this crime has unseen connections to a nefarious network, she puts her own life at risk to shine a light on the dark motives behind a merciless murder . . . ""Plenty of red herrings and an intimate look at the world of the wealthy and famous make for a rich broth of a mystery."" -Kirkus Reviews

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9781496703347

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Alyssa Maxwellbegan a love affair with the city of Newport years ago. Time and again the colonial neighborhoods and grand mansions drew her to return, and on one of those later visits she met the man who would become her husband. Always a lover of history, Maxwell found that marrying into a large, generations‑-old Newport family opened up an exciting new world of historical discovery. Today, she and her husband reside in Florida, but part of her heart remains firmly in that small New England city of great historical significance. For more info please visitwww.alyssamaxwell.com.

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