Cirrus@Austlit

'Young women are being murdered, the only clue to the identity of their killer, a Tarot card left with their bodies. That is, according to Professor Rupert Roxeth, the recognised authority on the Tarot called in by the Gidding police to assist them in their enquiries into the murders.

'The clairvoyant, Edwina Charles, when approached privately by ex-Detective Chief Superintendent David Sayer, acting on behalf of friends of his, who have a vested interest in knowing the identity of the Tarot murderer, has other ideas. Her reading of the cards left by the Tarot murderer tells an entirely different story.

'Playing a lone hand, Mrs Charles pits her wits against the Tarot murderer, using both her knowledge of the Tarot and her undisputed natural psychic skills, before he claims yet another victim. It proves to be no easy task. She finds herself up against Professor Roxeth, who is far more interested in protecting his reputation than in finding the Tarot murderer. Added to the mix is Amery Walters, a prominent racehorse trainer with a guilty conscience, and young nursing students with petty jealousies.

'It becomes a game between the Tarot murderer and Mrs Charles, a deadly game that only one of them can win.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'It was a picture-postcard English village, but like all such villages, it had its share of secrets, scandals and tragedies. The Player murder, however, was seldom discussed: in fact, the whole unpleasant affair was as good as forgotten – or would have been if a visitor to the village hadn’t fed the local rumour mill with the startling information that the rather mysterious woman known as Mrs Edwina Charles had, ten years before, been the notorious clairvoyant, Madame Adele Herrmann, implicated in a sensational, unsolved murder case.

'And then the gossip really began. What had happened to the fabulous diamond necklace that Edwina Charles was reputed to have made away with after that earlier crime? What was her exact relationship to the eccentric Cyril Forbes, who was known as ‘the Punch and Judy man’?

'Finding it necessary to solve not one but two murders out of the past, ex-Detective Chief Superintendent David Sayer hopes to silence the wagging tongues and restore peace to the village. There were too many coincidences, but he needs proof that Henrietta Player was the enigmatic medium’s second homicidal success.

'And that’s where Edwina Charles surprises him – in more ways than one. And without her crystal ball!'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Without doubt Judy was the worst of the seven, probably because she was the cleverest.'

'Her father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious, cheeky daughter impossible – but seven children were really too much for him and most of the time they ran wild at their rambling riverside home, Misrule.

'Step inside and meet them all – dreamy Meg, and Pip, daring Judy, naughty Bunty, Nell, Baby and the youngest, 'the General'. Come and share in their lives, their laughter and their tears.' (From the publisher's website.)