Ashworth Hall

Ashworth Hall by Anne Perry With every book she writes
Anne Perry the supreme enchanter among historical
novelists contributes a mesmerizing new chapter to her
magical re-creation of Victorian England. Here she
abandons Londons cobblestone streets and exclusive drawing
rooms for a great country house Ashworth Hall where a
fateful secret conference is about to begin. The gathering
has the appearance of a smart autumn house party —
stunning womena and powerful men enjoying a few days of
leisurely pleasure in a setting of exquisite beauty. In
fact the guests are Irish Protestants and Catholics
gathered in a reluctant parley over home rule for Ireland
a problem that has plagued the British Isles since the
reign of Elizabeth I. When the meetings moderator
government bigwig Ainsley Greville is found murdered in
his bath the negotations seemed doomed. Superintendent
Thomas Pitt of Scotland Yard almost despairs as divorce
proceedings involving the great Irish Nationalist leader
Charles Stewart Parnell and his mistress Kitty OShea
become an open scandal. To make matters worse it seems the
late Greville himself may have had a less than savory
personal life. The surviving guests — six men and five
women — unleash their true feelings or perhaps only
pretend to do so. Their servants follow suit. Unless Pitt
and his clever wife Charlotte can root out the truth
simmering passions above and below stairs may again
explode in murder the hopeful home rule movement may
collapse and civil war may destroy Ireland. Never before
has Pitt borne such terrible responsibilities and never
has Charlotte been less able to share them.