Lady Helena Investigates

When Lady Helena's husband Justin dies, she is thrust into managing his estate. In Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen, Lady Helena is being pressured by her brother to let him manage her estate. She knows most women virtually have no power, but widows have some power until they remarry. That stiffens her desire to manage the estate.

Justin's sudden death appears at first to be an unfortunate accident. He was thought to have slipped into the river while trying to save a ram. When a young French physician named Armand Fortier, Justin's private physician, comes to call on Lady Helena he dispenses a theory that shakes Helena to her core.

He tells her he is not sure Sir Justin's death was an accident. Dr. Fortier had examined the body and found bruising around his face, neck and upper torso, not consistent with a slip and fall into the river. Dr. Fortier believes Sir Justin might have struggled with someone and had been held down in the water and purposely

drowned.

Lady Helena is shocked and unsure what to do next as she is still in mourning. To take her mind off her loss, she tries to revive her interest in her mother's herbalism.  Reading through her mother's journal leads her to some disturbing secrets about her family and the truth about her husband's death.

An excellent first novel in the Scott-DeQuincy family series.

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