Meet heroic maid Pattern in The Last Duchess, the first Silver Service Mystery from Laura Powell, illustrated by Sarah Gibb.
Pattern is only thirteen, but is already rising through the ranks at Mrs Minchin's Academy of Domestic Servitude and seems destined for a life below stairs. But fate intervenes when she is packed off to the small and secretive Duchy of Elffinberg, to serve as lady's maid to the recently orphaned Grand Duchess.
Pattern's young new mistress is excitable and paranoid, yet despite their differences the two girls forge an unlikely friendship that quickly turns into a battle for survival. For picture-perfect Elffinberg hides an extremely dark and deadly secret . . .
Armed only with her trusty sewing basket, a bottle of smelling salts and J. Bulcock's inestimable guide, The Duties of a Lady's Maid, Pattern will need all her wits and resourcefulness when dealing with above-stairs conspiracies and below-stairs intrigue. Darning stockings has never been so dangerous.
This is Book 1 in the A Silver Service Mystery Series. See all A Silver Service Mystery books here.
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Laura Powell grew up in the Brecon Beacons and spent most of her childhood with her nose in a book. She went on to study classics at Bristol and Oxford, then spent five years working in the editorial departments of both adult and children's publishers. Burn Mark is her third novel. She now lives in West London.
www.laurapowellauthor.com
Sarah Gibb studied at Central St Martin's College of Art and the University of Brighton. Her illustrations have appeared in publications all over the world, including Vogue, Elle and Time Magazine. Sarah has illustrated many books for children, including the highly acclaimed The Princess Who Had No Kingdom, written by Ursula Jones. She lives in London with h
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