
Death at the Wedding Feast
By Deryn Lake
John Rawlings is back… and this time he’s battling against a prophecy of his own death.
Apothecary John Rawlings has travelled to Devon to be by the side of his mistress, Elizabeth di Lorenzi, who is due to give birth to their child. Leaving his shop – and his new carbonated water business – in good hands, John is presented with a surprise on his arrival at Sidmouth House.
While Elizabeth is recuperating, he learns that Lady Sidmouth’s daughter, Miranda, is to marry the Earl of St Austell, who is fifty-two years her senior. The Earl has a cruel reputation and John feels that no good will come of this unlikely match.
As the wedding day approaches, John feels increasingly uneasy, and he is especially mindful of a vision his daughter, Rose, had about an evil old woman who may do him harm. Before too long John’s fears are confirmed, and he soon finds himself at the centre of a murderous plot that must be unravelled…
Deryn Lake started to write stories at the age of five, then graduated to novels but destroyed all her early work because, she says, it was hopeless. A chance meeting with one of the Getty family took her to Sutton Place and her first serious novel was born. Deryn was married to a journalist and writer, the late L. F. Lampitt, has two grown-up children, four beautiful and talented grandchildren, and one rather large cat. Deryn has lived near the famous battlefield of 1066 for the past 16 years where she enjoys her life as a woman about town. She is also the author of Fortune’s Soldier, Sutton Place, To Sleep No More, The King’s Women and Pour The Dark Wine.