The Lawyer's Secret — M.E. Braddon / Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Orphan Ellinor Arden is called from her secluded Paris home to London for the hearing of her estranged uncle s will. To her surprise, she is named as the inheritor of his fortune, on condition that she marry his adopted son. Encouraged by her lawyer and guardian, the dashing Horace Margrave, she attaches herself irreversibly to this perfect stranger, but it soon becomes clear that her trust in a dead man s wishes has been misplaced. Suspense-ridden sensation fiction from a master of the art, "The Lawyer s Secret "and the counterpart piece presented here, "Mystery at Fernwood," are particularly valuable for affording a rare female take on an art form still dominated by the male viewpoint."