The Magic Chair Murder — Diane Janes

Introducing amateur sleuths Frances Black and Tom Dod in the first of an intriguing new historical mystery series set in the north of England.

1929.
The night before she's due to make a speech to the Robert Barnaby Society on the subject of the famous writer's ‘magic chair', committee member Linda Dexter disappears. When her body is discovered two days later, fellow members Frances Black and Tom Dod determine to find out the truth about her death.

Could Linda have discovered something about Robert Barnaby that got her killed? Or does the answer lie in the dead woman's past? As they pursue their investigations, Fran and Tom find the Barnaby Society to be a hotbed of clashing egos, seething resentments and ill-advised love affairs -- but does a killer lurk among them?