The House of Women — Alison G. Taylor

CAN A MURDERED SCHOLAR EXPOSE HIS KILLER FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?

As a freak heat wave hits the north Wales town of Bangor, the body of scholar-poet Ned Jones is found in his stifling study--dead, it seems, of an allergy attack. But when cryptic letters are found scratched across his chest, the routine inquest becomes a murder investigation. Detectives Michael McKenna, Dewi Prys, and Janet Evans glean little from the women whose home Ned shared--with the exception of Phoebe. At thirteen, Phoebe is imaginative, and dark, and wise beyond her years. And Phoebe insists Ned was murdered....

Others are less certain of foul play: among them Phoebe's spiteful sister and her reckless boyfriend; Ned's handsome academic protege; and a local professor as bigoted as he is prestigious. But as the police sift through Ned's dusty papers, they discover a family past rooted in the darkest corners of Welsh history. A monstrous pattern soon rears its ugly head--proving that there's a fine line separating genius from madness....