The Historic Homes Mysteries

Young architect Wren Fontaine lands her dream job: restoring Greenleaf House, New York’s finest Gilded-Age mansion, to its glory days. But old homes have old secrets: Stephen Greenleaf—heir to what’s left of his family’s legacy—refuses to reveal what his plans are once the renovation is completed. And still living in a corner of the home is Stephen’s ninety-year-old Aunt Agnes who’s lost in the past, brooding over a long-forgotten scandal while watching Wren with mistrust.

Movie star Nicky Tallon selects architect Wren Fontaine to renovate Turnbull House, where he’ll be filming his next movie. Even to Wren, used to old homes, this one is special: a two-hundred-year-old federal-style home on a private island in New York harbor, designed by the most celebrated architect of the day. But Turnbull House hides many secrets, such as the disappearance of the sea captain who built it. That’s just a historical curiosity, until a studio executive no one likes is killed.

In the 1950s, the alluring Rebecca Blaine ruled Long Island’s Gold Coast from Cadieux House, a gift of love from the brilliant architect Marius Cadieux. Today, as architect Wren Fontaine restores the house, she becomes immersed in a seventy-five-year-old murder, as well as fresh killings that echo it. To make it even more complicated, Cadieux was an important mentor to Wren’s father, who isn’t happy about Wren “fixing” the home. Wren must think back to her childhood, when the elderly Cadieux gave her a riddle. She knows she must solve it to understand the house—and stop the killings.