The Duchess and the Deadly Brim — A Thornwick Hat Shop Mystery, Book 10

The finest hat at the Duchess's fête was made to kill. And all three parishes are certain the poison came from Agnes's shop.

Some hats are made to be admired. One was made to murder.

When the Dowager Duchess of Wexcombe invites Agnes Ambrose to exhibit at a grand millinery fête at Marlcombe Hall, it is the honour of a lifetime for a humble village milliner. But on the night of the private view, a celebrated London milliner collapses beneath one of her own magnificent picture hats, and by morning the doctors are calling it murder.

The poison was aconite. There was no wound, no tainted glass, no obvious hand. Only a hat, meddled with by someone who knew exactly what they were doing. And the county paper is only too glad to hint that the one rival milliner in three parishes had every reason to want the dead woman gone. Her name blackening by the day and her shop emptying, Agnes must do what she does best: notice what everyone else overlooks.

With Inspector Halliday's wary trust, the Duchess's fierce backing, and Sophie at her side, she follows a trail stitched through old rivalries, buried debts, and thirty years of carefully guarded secrets.

Because the deadly brim hides far more than a poison. It hides a wrong that has waited a lifetime to be answered, and a truth someone will do anything to keep beneath it.

Perfect for readers who love:

• A heroine wrongly suspected who must clear her own name
• Duchesses, grand fêtes, and rival milliners
• A poison puzzle with no obvious hand
• Clean mysteries with no graphic violence or bad language

Book 10 of A Thornwick Hat Shop Mystery. Read the series in order, or jump in here.