An Extravagant Duplicity

<p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Why yes the former Beatrice Hyde-Clare </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>is</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> distracted. Having settled comfortably into marriage to the Duke of Kesgrave she is nevertheless surprised to find herself in an interesting condition. And it has to be that-the unsettling prospect of motherhood-that causes her to overlook the obvious clue that Roger Dugmore had indeed been killed in his sleep. Summoned to the scene of the supposed crime by his grandson a preening viscount from the country desperate to establish himself in society she assumes he is trying to draw the attention of Mr. Twaddle-Thum London's most rapacious gossip.</span></p><p><br></p><p>Disgusted she dismisses the absurd lordship and his concerns.</p><p><br></p><p>But the duke does not.</p><p><br></p><p>Oh no he notices something is slightly off-the angle of the table the position of the bed-and a horrified Bea begins to fear that the birth of her child will mean the end of her brilliant career as an investigator.</p><p><br></p><p>It is not the most pressing concern of course not with a murderer on the loose and she struggles to put it out of her mind as she grapples with an even more daunting possibility: that this peacocking nodcock might be her most diabolical opponent yet.</p>