It was a small battle won against the evil that had trodden the world over the last few years and Fen felt Rose would have been pleased with the outcome. When she was packing up her bedroom, Magda had softly knocked on her door and limped in. She’d packaged up a few pieces and had made Fen promise not to open the parcel until she got back to the hotel, and even then, to promise not to return any of it to the Bernheims.
‘Don’t worry, Tipper isn’t in there,’ Magda had joked as the little dog had scampered in and jumped onto the bed, too. Fen smiled, thinking about him and how much Magda doted on her new pet.
Fen looked over to where she had laid out the contents of the parcel on the bed. Her first impulse had been to ignore Magda’s stern instructions and package it all back up and return it to her, as she didn’t feel she deserved such beautiful things. But Magda had said, as they’d kissed goodbye outside the apartment, ‘Rose would want you to have those things. And those bits you chose for your parents, too. We want you to have them. It’s the least we can do to say thank you.’
The Delance was the bulk of the package. Its backing paper still slit open where the Alberti cipher had been kept. Magda had slipped a note inside it though… Since I have my own copy, this one can be yours.
Fen smiled to herself, remembering Magda and Rose laughing about how many times the teacher had made her student copy it. A thought suddenly occurred to Fen – hadn’t Rose called this “my little Impressionist”? She smiled. I bet it’s a forgery – or, as Rose would say, “an homage”. The thought didn’t make her love the painting any less, in fact, if it was a copy by Rose, Fen would love it even more, as it would be her version of the painting, her soul put into it.
Wrapped up in a silken handkerchief was one of Rose’s bejewelled hatpins, so often used to secure those bizarre turbans in place. It was made of a peacock feather studded with what must be fake emeralds and sapphires, and when Fen pressed it to her nose, she could just about smell the familiar scent of ylang-ylang and tobacco.
The last piece that Magda had saved for her was the long string of pearls that Fen had found down the side of the armchair. They had been carefully slipped into a black velvet pouch and Fen had poured the threaded beads into her hand in wonder as she’d opened it. The pearls were exquisite and, unlike most things in Rose’s apartment, quite genuine. And, what’s more, they would look fabulous paired with Rose’s old bright yellow tea dress when James treated her to tea at The Ritz tomorrow afternoon.
Were you absolutely swept away by Fen Churche in this fast-paced historical mystery? If so, don’t miss A Dangerous Goodbye – your lost love never came home after the Second World War. Would you risk everything to find out what happened to him?
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A Dangerous Goodbye
Fen bit her bottom lip. She was onto something all right. Arthur had sent her a message from beyond the grave. There was more to his death than they were telling her. Would she ever find him?
England, 1944. On a clear autumn morning in late September, time stops for Fen Churche. Waiting on the scrubbed farmhouse table for her is a letter from her cherished Arthur Melville-Hare, a brave, blue-eyed captain who was shipped off to war. Through her tears, she knows what it means – she will never see her fiancé again.
As she reads his last letter, she realises something the War Office didn’t: Fen and Arthur shared a love of crosswords, and he’s left her clever clues to his disappearance.
Desperate to find out what happened to the love of her life, she sets off for France, travelling to his last posting: a quaint village, surrounded by vineyards. But darkness lies beneath the charming surface of this countryside town, and when the beloved priest and the son of a local wine maker are found dead, it’s clear that someone wants to keep wartime secrets buried.
Can Fen stay alive long enough to find out the truth?
A totally gripping story of war, mystery, espionage and murder. Fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Charles Todd and Rhys Bowen will absolutely adore this unputdownable World War Two murder mystery.
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I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Night Train to Paris. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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I’ve always loved art, and although I never studied anywhere as grand as the École des Beaux-Arts, I have been lucky enough to go to Paris on several occasions. Art inspires such passions in people, and so I could easily imagine how it could lead to enviously coveting what isn’t yours… and then murder!
I hope you loved reading Night Train to Paris and if you did, I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
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