The Sunken Sailor — Anne Perry

Fouteen masters of suspense: Simon Brett, Jan Burke, Dorothy Cannell, Margaret Coel, Deborah Crombie, Eileen Dreyer, Carolyn Hart, Edward Marston, Francine Mathews, Sharan Newman, Alexandra Ripley, Walter Satterthwaite, Sarah Smith, Carolyn Wheat. One chapter per person.
Edited by Elizabeth Foxwell, with an introduction by Anne Perry.

Between the two World Wars, just outide a proper English village, the Dowager Duchess of Faustrayne is hosting a house party. Her once-magnificent estate, Castle Crawsbey, may be in disrepair, but the chorus-girl-turned-aristocrat can still impress her guests; A London charlady who has a secret past (Or does she?), a Russian emigre, now impoverished (Or is she?); and a wounded veteran who can solve crimes (Or can he?).
Just one rule: Don't mention the hostess's dead husband (Five years, and mum is still the word) or her missing son (Rumoured to be in a Patagonian prison), least you meet with a violet-eyed look that could kill.
But what offense did American visitor Admiral Cornelius Brandon commit? A dreadful one, apparently - his body has been discovered at the bottom of the koi pond, tied to a submerged statue of Neptune.And the weekend has only just begun...