Lady Percy ~
My plan was simple—spend a few seasons dodging offers of marriage and then convince my parents to let me use my dowry to travel the world. I was not supposed to fall in love, and certainly not with the heir to a dukedom. Such a high-placed lord should never have paid me a moment of attention.
Yet, here I sit in a sumptuous carriage, with the ducal seal emblazoned on the door, and a handsome man at my side. Not just any man—my husband, Lord Roland Percy, Earl Percy, and heir to the Duke of Northumberland. Though I still think of myself as Lady Grace, the band around my ring finger reminds me that I am now Countess Percy, future duchess. My dear husband indulged my wish to travel throughout the autumn months, but with winter and the Christmas season setting a chill in the air, he declared it was time for us to venture to Northumberland, to his family seat.
Already, the quaint homes and lively shops of Alnwick Village are coming into view. I long to call for the carriage to stop, to let me join the friendly people smiling at us from the street. But before I can so much as raise my hand, the thick walls of Alnwick Castle come into view. Though built in the 1100s to keep trouble out, the grounds are now home to a monstrous man. The Breaker of Northumberland might be near ancient, but he still rules the area with an iron fist. Since he also happens to be my husband’s grandfather, I have no hope of avoiding his heated glares or terse words.
Sensing my worry, my husband pulls me closer against my side. He whispers promises into my ear that we will make our escape soon after the new year.
I do not have the heart to tell him my secret. Our stay is going to be much longer than he could ever imagine.
##
Lord Percy ~
Alnwick Castle, sitting on the edge of the village and near the river, looms as imposing as it had been when I last stood here in the spring. Still, I can’t help but think it looks… smaller somehow. My world has changed so very much this year, and I am a completely different man from the one who arrived here before.
Oh, how much of that is because of my love—my wife, who looks so ill at ease beside me. She worries about taking up the reins of the castle as countess and passing the winter with my notorious grandfather. That much I know. But she has faced threats far more dire than one elderly man. She is capable. She only needs to have faith in herself and in what we can do together.
She takes my hand as the carriage pulls into the drive, leaning slightly to peer over me through the window at the long line of people waiting to greet us. Most of these faces are at least vaguely familiar to me, but some are not. And two… well, they are more than familiar. The two young children bouncing up and down are my wards, and I smile to see them there. To see them happy.
But… I scan the line once, then again. The Sprouts are being managed by a woman I don’t recognise. Where is my brother? And where is my grandfather? Surely they know we are coming—I sent word ahead to expect our arrival today.
A goose walks over my grave, and I stifle the urge to shiver, lest Grace notice. I don’t want her to worry, even though the sense grips me now: something is very wrong here at Castle Alnwick. Whatever could be wrong so close to Christmas?
The Emerald Threads, A Crown Jewels Regency Mystery Book 4
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: December 2024
Format: Digital (Print and Audio to follow)
Purchase Link
Alnwick, Northumberland, 1813: As the chill of winter sets in, the joy of Christmas is shadowed by a series of mysteries that will test Lord and Lady Percy like never before.
Lady Percy’s worries about spending her first holiday season as a new countess grow worse upon their arrival at Alnwick Castle. When the old duke calls her by the wrong name, she is left with unsettling questions: Who was this mysterious woman in the duke’s past, and why does his fading mind cling to her memory so fiercely?
Meanwhile, Lord Percy confronts a crisis outside the castle walls. Children are disappearing from neighboring villages, vanishing without a trace into the Northumberland wilds. Determined to put an end to the parents’ suffering, he heads a search party, risking all to find the missing before winter’s grip turns deadly.
As they each delve deeper into their separate mysteries, Lord and Lady Percy are drawn into a web of secrets that stretch back through the ducal line. But with shadows closing in on Alnwick, time is running out. Can they uncover the truth before another child goes missing in the night?
Perfect for fans of Wrexford & Sloane and Lady Darby, The Emerald Threads weaves holiday tradition with dark intrigue in a Regency mystery that will keep you turning pages late into the winter night
About the author
Lynn Morrison and Anne Radcliffe met through the shared frustration of parenting and the need to vent about it online in a blog. They went from bloggers to contributing writers to editors and finally to full-time authors, all the while having a ton of fun supporting one another. In 2024, Anne and Lynn paired their love of regency romances like Bridgerton together with their bad habit of killing people in their books to create the chart-topping Crown Jewels Regency Mystery Series.