Jess Armstrong – författare

1922. Since the Great War, Ruby Vaughn has made a life for herself running a rare bookshop alongside octogenarian Mr Owen. She thought that she had consigned painful memories of Penryth Hall, deep in the Cornish countryside, to the distant past. Returning to the hall, home to a once dear friend, Tamsyn, leads Ruby to cross paths with Tamsyn's sinister husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. Desperate to leave, Ruby's plans are thwarted when Penryth's bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward has been brutally killed in the orchard prompting fears that a dormant curse has been awoken. The Pellar, Ruan Kivell, is summoned. The locals believe that this unsettling man can break the curse. Sceptical Ruby doesn't believe in curses or Pellars but to protect her friend, she must work alongside him to find out what really happened that night.

1922. Ruby Vaughn has made a life for herself running a bookshop alongside octogenarian Mr Owen. When she finds herself at Penryth Hall, deep in the Cornish countryside, painful memories emerge of her lost friendship with Tamsyn, now married to the rather sinister Sir Edward Chenowyth. Although desperate to leave, Ruby's plans are thwarted when Penryth's bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward has been brutally killed in the orchard and fears are rife that a dormant curse has been awoken. Sceptical Ruby doesn't believe in such things, nor in the power the locals swear Ruan Kivell, the Pellar, possesses to break the curse. But, to protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside this unsettling man to find out what really happened that night.

October, 1922. Ruby Vaughn's octogenarian employer and housemate Mr Owen said the trip to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders was to appraise some illuminated manuscripts for their bookshop. However, the truth soon unravels along with the decades-old secrets he has been carefully hiding. For Mr Owen, whose son Ben was killed in the Great War, is desperate to speak to him again and a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates are the answer to this keen wish. However, as the candle smoke from the séance clears, Ruby finds a body and discovers that she and Mr Owen are the prime suspects. In a desperate bid to clear their names, they must uncover the truth about the killing even as they realise someone is determined to prevent them at all costs.

October, 1922. Ruby Vaughn accompanies her elderly employer, Mr Owen, to Manhurst Castle in the wild Scottish Borders on the pretext of appraising rare manuscripts, but the truth is darker. Haunted by the loss of his son in the Great War, Mr Owen has come seeking contact through a séance led by a mysterious trio known as The Three Fates. However, as the candle smoke from the séance clears, Ruby finds a body and discovers that she and Mr Owen are the prime suspects for the murder. To clear their names, they must unravel buried secrets and confront a killer willing to silence them - forever.

December, 1922. Ruby Vaughn is looking forward to a quiet, relaxing trip to Oxford in the week before Christmas with her octogenarian housemate and colleague Mr Owen. Far away from the arcane, unusual - and occasionally illegal - books that seem to always get her into trouble. The most she expects to do is attend a handful of his antiquarian society meetings. But when the body of disgraced scholar Julius Harker is amongst his exhibition of Egyptian antiquities looted by Napoleon, panic spreads throughout the cobbled streets of Oxford. The last thing Ruby wants is another investigation, but then an old friend comes begging for her help. If that wasn't enough, her past insists on haunting her when Ruan Kivell, the intriguing folk healer that she met in Cornwall, suddenly reappears. It seems there is much more going on in Oxford that meets the eye.

December, 1922. Ruby Vaughn expects nothing exciting from a quiet pre-Christmas visit to Oxford with her elderly employer, Mr Owen. Far from the strange and sometimes dangerous books that pass through their shop and with Mr Owen due to attend meetings of the antiquarian society, Ruby hopes for a peaceful week. But when the body of disgraced scholar Julius Harker is discovered among his exhibition of Egyptian antiquities, panic spreads throughout the city's cobbled streets. Drawn reluctantly into the mystery by an old friend, Ruby soon realises Oxford is hiding dangerous secrets - especially when Ruan Kivell, the enigmatic folk healer she met in Cornwall, unexpectedly reappears.

After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn’t believe in curses - or Pellars - but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.