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Table of Contents
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About The Unaccompanied Widow
Praise for the Adelaide Becket series
Title Page
The Story So Far…
The Unaccompanied Widow
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About the Author
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
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About The Unaccompanied Widow
Lady Adelaide is on her own…
In Edwardian Britain, Lady Adelaide Azalea Margaret de Morville, Mrs. Hugh Becket, continues her work for William Melville, spymaster. Adele accompanies King Edward and Queen Alexandra to Dublin where the King will attend the Irish International Exhibition. Events go awry even before they depart England, for the Irish Crown Jewels are stolen and King Edward takes the theft as a personal insult to the Crown.
Then the renown Irish MP, Eilish Slane, who is a personal friend of the King’s, is found murdered in a Dublin hotel. Adel attempts to investigate while navigating the shoals of the King’s temper, the actions of Irish Nationalists, the provocations of the British and Irish press, and the prejudices of men everywhere. And she must work alone, for Melville and his cohorts remain in England…
This novelette is the third in the Adelaide Becket Edwardian espionage series.
1: The Requisite Courage
2: The Rosewater Debutante
3: The Unaccompanied Widow
…and more to come.
A historical suspense espionage novelette.
Praise for the Adelaide Becket series
Tracy takes you again back in time to an era you could only imagine about but brings it in vivid color through her story
A delightful game of cat and mouse
I thoroughly enjoyed this magnificent first in series book!!
The writing style is easy to read and the plot COMPLETELY unpredictable!!
It was a marvelous escape from reality
Breathtaking start to a fantastic new series by Tracy Cooper-Posey.
Succinct and yet rich in the details that create historical immersion and scenes I found easy to imagine being a part.
I loooove good quality writing and I love a new series like a junkie. Just give it a try, you won't be disappointed!
The Story So Far…
If you have not yet read the first two stories in this series, The Requisite Courage and The Rosewater Debutante, this summary will reveal spoilers!
Lady Adelaide Azalea Margaret de Morville, Mrs. Hugh Becket, lived in the Cape Colony with her commoner husband for eight years and during that time learned to speak fluent German. Adele was widowed in a tragic accident and returned to London in early 1906.
William Melville, a former Scotland Yard senior official and now a shadowy figure in the British government, recruits Adele to help him uncover German agents in Britain, who seek to weaken the Empire. Adele also meets Daniel Hargrave Bannister II, Baron Leighton, whom Melville also employs.
While Adele learns how to operate in Melville’s shadowy world, she foils a German conspiracy surrounding King Edward at Balmoral and uncovers an agent among Britain’s peerage. Her confidence in herself and her abilities grows with each achievement, yet she struggles to further her relationship with Daniel, for both are busy defending Britain.
Now read on…
The Unaccompanied Widow
Calafort Átha Cliath (Dublin Port), Dublin, Ireland. Midday, July 9th, 1907.
It had been not quite a year since Adele had accompanied King Edward on an official visit to Germany. She had dreaded that journey, which had been utterly uneventful. Even the King himself had failed to achieve his hoped-for agreement from the Kaiser.
Now Adele was part of the King’s entourage again and this royal visit could not be more unlike that one, for it had become an unmitigated disaster even before the royal yacht had departed—and they were still to set foot upon Irish soil.
Adele clutched the rail of the top promenade deck and watched the grey, choppy waters of Dublin Port pass beneath the bow of the ship. On either side of the royal yacht, dozens of smaller craft tooted their steam whistles and their passengers waved and cheered. Two tugs guided the ship to its berth, their smokestacks chuffing.
It was an overcast day, the clouds grey and low enough that one might reach up and prod their rain-filled bellies. A stiff, chill breeze blew across the open water, stinging Adele’s cheeks and bringing with it the scent of salt and seaweed accompanied by a hint of thick, over-heated diesel oil and the stench of sun-dried fish.
The bleak outlook matched Adele’s mood. She would much rather be sitting before the fire in her little house in London, the teapot beside her, than here on the royal yacht. In this respect, the outing to Ireland was no different from the royal visit to Germany last year. She had no wish to be among the King’s entourage this time, either.
Adele’s reluctance stemmed from different reasons today…or perhaps not, in the end, were her reasons all that much different, for on both occasions she had not wished to linger near King Edward.
By rights, Edward and Queen Alexandria should be upon this deck, waving to their Irish subjects as the ship was tugged along the narrow port. But Edward was in a fine temper over the loss of the Irish Crown Jewels, which had been reported only two days before the court was due to leave for Ireland. Edward interpreted the theft as a direct
