Murder On Mustique

A storm. A disappearance. A race against time . . .

Mustique is in a state of breathless calm as tropical storm Cristobal edges towards it across the Atlantic. Most villa owners have escaped the island but a few young socialites remain, unwilling to let summer's partying end. American heiress Amanda Fortini is one such thrill-seeker - until she heads out for a morning swim and doesn't return.

Detective Sergeant Samuel Wilton is just 28 years old and the island's only fully trained police officer. He quickly realises he needs to contact Lord and Lady Blake, who bought the island decades ago and have invested time, money and love creating a paradise. Jasper is in St Lucia designing a new village of luxury villas but Lady Veronica (Vee to her friends) catches a plane immediately. Her beloved god-daughter, Lily, is on the island and this disappearance has alarming echoes of what happened to Lily's mother many years ago. Lady Vee would never desert a friend in need, and she can keep a cool head in a crisis.

When Amanda's body is found, a murder investigation begins. Wilton knows the killer must be an islander because flights and ferry crossings have stopped due to the storm warning, but the local community isn't co-operating. And then the storm hits, and someone else disappears . . .

“Dazzling . . . full of glamour , intrigue and gossip - Telegraph MagazineWhat makes this vicarious Caribbean holiday worth taking is the pleasure of our hostess's company - the book is suffused not just with mere charm , but with the author's genuine , and genuinely attractive, personality - Sunday Telegraph Like slipping into a bath after a long, cold day - i paper, Best books for Christmas 2020 Packed with glamorous detail , the novel gives a sense of behind-the-scenes familiarity with the playground of the rich and famous . . . along with fascinating hints of the more troubled side of paradise - Daily MailAnne Glenconner's memoir Lady In Waiting , which recalled her long friendship with Princess Margaret, was a runaway bestseller last year . This polished thriller evokes the same gilded world . . . A well-plotted thriller that unfolds at a clip . . . it's sure to find readers among fans of Lady In Waiting - Daily Expresscaptures the outrageous lifestyle of its wealthy and privileged denizens . . . huge fun from start to finish - Irish IndependentA tropical whodunnit and a race against time - Woman”

Dazzling . . . full of glamour, intrigue and gossip Telegraph Magazine
Packed with glamorous detail, the novel gives a sense of behind-the-scenes familiarity with the playground of the rich and famous . . . along with fascinating hints of the more troubled side of paradise Daily Mail
Anne Glenconner's memoir Lady In Waiting, which recalled her long friendship with Princess Margaret, was a runaway bestseller last year. This polished thriller evokes the same gilded world . . . A well-plotted thriller that unfolds at a clip . . . it's sure to find readers among fans of Lady In Waiting Daily Express
What makes this vicarious Caribbean holiday worth taking is the pleasure of our hostess's company - the book is suffused not just with mere charm, but with the author's genuine, and genuinely attractive, personality Sunday Telegraph
Like slipping into a bath after a long, cold day i paper, Best books for Christmas 2020
captures the outrageous lifestyle of its wealthy and privileged denizens . . . huge fun from start to finish Irish Independent
A tropical whodunnit and a race against time Woman
A tantalising fact-and-fiction mix Daily Express
Lady Vee combines high-octane charm with redoubtable forensic skills. Daily Mail

Lady Glenconner is now 87. She was born Lady Anne Coke in 1932, the eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, and growing up in their ancestral estate at Holkham Hall in Norfolk. A Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation, she married Lord Glenconner in 1956. They had 5 children together of whom 3 survive. In 1958 she and her husband began to transform the island of Mustique into a paradise for the rich and famous. They granted a plot of land to Princess Margaret who built her favourite home there. She was appointed Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1971 and kept this role - accompanying her on many state occasions and foreign tours - until her death in 2002. Lord Glenconner died in 2010, leaving everything in his will to his former employee. She now lives in a farmhouse near Kings Lynn in Norfolk. This is her first novel.

A storm. A disappearance. A race against time . . . Mustique is in a state of breathless calm as tropical storm Cristobal edges towards it across the Atlantic. Most villa owners have escaped the island but a few young socialites remain, unwilling to let summer's partying end. American heiress Amanda Fortini is one such thrill-seeker - until she heads out for a morning swim and doesn't return. Detective Sergeant Samuel Wilton is just 28 years old and the island's only fully trained police officer. He quickly realises he needs to contact Lord and Lady Blake, who bought the island decades ago and have invested time, money and love creating a paradise. Jasper is in St Lucia designing a new village of luxury villas but Lady Veronica (Vee to her friends) catches a plane immediately. Her beloved god-daughter, Lily, is on the island and this disappearance has alarming echoes of what happened to Lily's mother many years ago. Lady Vee would never desert a friend in need, and she can keep a cool head in a crisis. When Amanda's body is found, a murder investigation begins. Wilton knows the killer must be an islander because flights and ferry crossings have stopped due to the storm warning, but the local community isn't co-operating. And then the storm hits, and someone else disappears . . .

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