Sweet Poison

When death comes to dine with the Duke of Mersham it is more than usually unwelcome. It is August 1935 and the duke is hosting one of a series of dinner parties bringing together influential public figures interested in improving Anglo-German relations.

First on the guest list is a pacifist bishop with his idea for a 'peace pledge', followed by the womanising politician who hopes to be appointed to Baldwin's new cabinet, the Canadian press lord with his troublesome stepdaughter and the German diplomat, who is said to have the ear of the new German chancellor, Adolf Hitler.

But death comes first to General Sir Alistair Craig VC, one of the duke's oldest friends who is determined to fight any accommodation with the erstwhile enemy. The duke's younger brother, Lord Edward Corinth, has also been invited to the fateful dinner - but he crashes his Lagonda and arrives late at Mersham Castle, just before the general dies. That he arrives at all is due to the resourceful Verity Browne, a journalist who is due to interview the duchess for Country Life.

This unlikely couple - a wealthy sprig of the aristocracy and a girl committed to social justice - find common ground in their determination to discover just who did kill the general. As they dig deeper it appears that each guest at the duke's dinner that evening - including the duke himself - had a motive for wanting the old man out of the way.