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The Vanishing at Loxby Manor by Abigail Wilson      

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Kent 1811, a fall from a horse, a missed duel, who could have guessed the impact these two separate occurrences would have not only for Piers Cavanagh and Charity Halliwell but their companions. The deep friendship along with that of their siblings and other neighbors goes back years. However time moved forward, Charity to Ceylon with her family, Piers to a marriage planned for him from birth.
Forward to Kent 1816. After five long years away from those she'd grown up with, Charity has decided to return to Loxby Manor and her old companions for a year rather than going to Boston with her family, before turning her life towards other horizons.
She arrives at Loxby Manor in the evening. No sooner has she been shown to her bedroom, when her friend and daughter of the house Seline greets her, borrows her cloak and sneaks out of the manor after a mysterious light that has become visible amongst the darkened nearby ruins.
What happens then is both disturbing and puzzling. Seline disappears, thought to have eloped with a groomsman. Something is off with that diagnosis as far as Charity's concerned. Charity finds the rest of her former companions troubled. She receives a disturbing letter from her brother. Piers, who is out of favor it appears, leaves his London home and takes up residence in the Manor. And Charity it seems is not the only one carrying a heavy secret. Mrs Cavanaugh is definitely an odd fish, bent on squashing scandal, with requests made to Charity puzzling and often countering each other. Dangerous secrets abound. I did not foresee what was happening 'til the very end. As Charity works through her own fate, shrugs off the fear she's felt, and allows  the old 'Capitan Halliwell' as her friends termed her, to make a hard fought reappearance, things start to change and happenstances begin to pile up on each other in a seemingly frenzied rush.
A nicely entwined romance and deadly Intrigue!

A Thomas Nelson ARC via NetGalley 

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