From the attic of Lyntons, a dilapidated English country mansion, Frances Jellico sees them--Cara first: dark and beautiful, then Peter: striking and serious. The couple is spending the summer of 1969 in the rooms below hers while Frances is researching the architecture in the surrounding gardens. But she's distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, she finds a peephole that gives her access to her neighbors' private lives.

Having decided she will never marry, Kate Worthington plans to escape her meddlesome family by travelling to India. Her mother agrees on the condition that she gets--and rejects--three marriage proposals. To fulfill her end of the bargain Kate travels tothe manor of Blackmoore in northern England, where her plans go awry.

Alice James has been a drifter her whole life, working her way through several foster homes before ending up in Wychwood-on-Lea, feeling anchorless and invisible. When a chance encounter leads to Alice accepting a position as a caretaker and companion to Lady Stokeley, she starts to feel as if she might finally be able to put down some roots and live the way other people do. Then, Lady Stokeley's nephew, city banker Henry Trent, storms into Willoughby...

Something sinister is afoot at Totleigh Hall, the showcase of the sleepy English village of Nether Monkslip. Lord and Lady Baaden-Boomethistle have been in residence for some weeks now, and the villagers are hoping for a return to the days when the lord of the manor sprinkled benefits across the village like fairy dust. But a sudden grisly death intervenes, and Max Tudor's talent for sorting through clues is once again called into play.

Entering a contest to redesign late author Emrys Myrddin's estate, aspiring architect Effy Sayre arrives at Hiraeth Manor where she meets a stodgy young literature scholar who draws her into a battle against dark forces - both mortal and magical - that threatens to consume them both.

Although Perry, the earl of the house, and his sister, Poppy, are surprisingly accommodating to their jetlagged guests, Lucy feels uneasy after a fallen portrait sparks talk of a deadly family omen. The bad vibes come in quickly: snobby Aunt Millicent and her handmaiden Harrison unexpectedly drop by for the exhibition, and meals with the family are consistently tense. But real trouble begins when a body, bludgeoned by the chapel's gold-plated reliquary,...

"1980: Beth Soames is fourteen years old when a kind couple finds her playing the violin at her orphanage's yearly fund-raiser. The Averills take her home with them to Raven Hall, a rambling manor on the Norfolk coast. There she runs wild with their daughter, Nina, and they become fast friends. At times, Beth even dreams she's truly part of the family...until she's asked to take part in what seems like a harmless game--and nothing is ever the same....