Stowmarket Mystery, or, a Legacy of Hate

David Hume-Frazer was never convicted of his cousin Alan's murder, but suspicion has followed him like a ghost for years. Now, with his wedding to Helen Layton approaching, he desperately needs to clear his name before he can build a new life. The case seems impossible: Alan was killed with a Japanese knife on his own grounds, struck down in full view of the library windows, in exactly the same spot where four of his ancestors met violent ends. The locals whisper of a family curse, a legacy of hate that claims a victim in every generation. But curses are stories lazy people tell themselves. When Reginald Brett, barrister and incorrigible hobby detective, takes up the challenge, he finds not supernatural malice but something far more human: secrets buried so deep that killing seemed the only way to keep them. The question isn't whether David did it the night the knife fell. The question is who else had everything to lose.