Series: Mrs. Imogene Lynch Series #1
Publication date: December 6th, 2022
Synopsis:
A presumed dead baby who's just turned fifty, a grieving widow on a mission, a female haberdasher hiding a scandalous secret
The Cotswolds, England, December 1895
Fifty-year-old Imogene Lynch has recently moved to the tight-knit community of Dartmond after her husband passed away.
In the decades of her husband's job as chief constable of the neighboring Landdulton, the childless Imogene often assisted him in solving seemingly unsolvable crimes. On his deathbed Thaddeus Lynch has one last request to his wife: solve the secret Christmas baby's mystery.
Overcome by grief, but with the promise as a stamp on her heart, Imogene sets out in her roundabout way to unearth Sir Finley Lowther's mysterious origins. The first trace leads to Miss Eloise Platt, a well-respected Dartmond shopkeeper.
But when a baby's skull is dredged up from the bottom of Tiverstock Lake and Miss Eloise confesses to the murder, Mrs. Imogene Lynch faces a stalemate. While the Dartmonders squabble over Miss Platt's fate, the widow-turned-detective worries she'll never fulfill her promise.
To break through her impasse, she pays a visit to the elderly Lady Lowther in Ridgeview Asylum with far-reaching consequences. For Imogene, the mystery is now solved, but getting Miss Platt to tell the truth is another matter.
With her characteristic quirky style, Mrs. Lynch confides in the most unlikely candidate in her arsenal, her landlord, Mr. Richard Hopewell. If the mute bookkeeper can shed light on what he witnessed on that fateful Christmas Day in 1845, she has the ally she needs to confront Miss Platt.
After fifty-one years, Constable Thaddeus Lynch's brown file on the Secret Christmas Baby can be closed for good. With Finley's adoption mystery solved and Miss Platt redeemed, all Dartmond joins in the merry 1896 Christmas celebrations.
This first book in the Victorian Cozy Mystery Series introduces Mrs. Imogene Lynch, a willy-nilly detective who talks too much and eats too little.
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Excerpt
"Look!" Timothy cries, "Constable Walsh is carrying a fish crate out of the shop."
It's true. The bulky policeman in his black helmet and black uniform holds one of Donald's wooden crates far away from his body. It is covered with a red-checked cloth. From the look on his face, Constable Walsh is disgusted with what he's carrying. He's followed closely by the mayor and Donald Fritter himself. The crowd moves with them like a flock of birds.
"The Fritter boys have probably caught a very rare type of fish," I speculate.
"But why does Officer Walsh look so horrified then?" Timothy remarks observantly.
We watch as their backs disappear inside the police station next to Wilson & Son Butchers. The crowd groups itself in front of the red entrance gilded with the words Dartmoor Police Station. The people are visibly moved and upset. I know this sensation. I have seen it so often at Landdulton Police Station. It reeks of a crime discovered.
"Let's go outside and find out what's going on." I do not know where my sudden lack of restraint comes from, but my curiosity has won. I tell myself it's a fine day and I need fresh air, but really, I need to know, like all the others.
"Unless," I add, glancing at Mrs. Pocock, "you'd rather we didn't?"
The flush on her cheeks tells me she's as interested as I am. Timothy is already jumping up and down like a milk punch in a shaker.
"Ever since I could hold a pen, I've written stories and poems, and I'll write till my dying day."
Historical fiction author HANNAH BYRON's crib stood near the Seine in Paris, but she was raised in the south of Holland by Anglo-Dutch parents. In her bestselling WW2 historical fiction series, The Resistance Girl Series, Hannah's heroines also traipse from one European country to the next, very much like their creator.
Now a retired university lecturer and translator, the European traveler and avid researcher is about to cross a new border and settle down south of Dublin.
What started as curiosity about her family's connection to D-Day, evolved into an out-of-controlish study into WW2 history. To blame, or thank, must be Uncle Tom Naylor. If he'd not landed on the beaches of Normandy and help liberate Holland, her British mother would never have met her Dutch Dad after the war.
Strong women are at the core of her clean and wholesome romance novels. Every book is a tribute to the generations who started the women's lib movement, got dirty in overalls, flew planes, and did intelligence work. Today's girl bosses can but stand on the shoulders of these amazons.
Side-by-side with their male counterparts, Byron's heroines fight for freedom, equality and... love.
In December 2022, Byron will launch her first Historical Mysteries. The Mrs. Imogene Lynch Series stars the kind but opinionated Victorian widow of Constable Thaddeus Lynch.
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Only an actress of the caliber of Cate Blanchett could tackle this lead role! Richly drawn scenarios with characters you take to heart immediately.
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