Clues lead Emma from posh Bellevue Avenue across the bustling seaport to the modest Point neighbourhood where she grew up, and to suspects who hail from America's most powerful families. While being the granddaughter several generations removed from Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt gives her the connections she needs to investigate high society, it's her Newport roots that will provide her with the stubbornness and fortitude to confront a murderer.

"For Newport, Rhode Island s high society, the summer of 1896 brings lawn parties, sailboat races and murder. "Having turned down the proposal of Derrick Andrews, Emma Cross has no imminent plans for matrimony let alone motherhood. But when she discovers an infant left on her doorstep, she naturally takes the child into her care. Using her influence as a cousin to the Vanderbilts and a society page reporter for the ""Newport Observer"," Emma launches a discreet search for the baby s mother." "One of her first stops is a lawn party at Mrs. Caroline Astor s Beechwood estate. But an idyllic summer s day is soon clouded by tragedy. During a sailboat race, textile magnate Virgil Monroe falls overboard. There are prompt accusations of foul play and even Derrick Andrews falls under suspicion. Deepening the intrigue, a telltale slip of lace may link the abandoned child to the drowned man. But as Emma navigates dark undercurrents of scandalous indiscretions and violent passions, she ll need to watch her step to ensure that no one lowers the boom on her "

With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder and a disappearance. . . Responding to a frantic call on her newfangled telephone from her eighteen-year-old cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Emma Cross arrives at the Marble House mansion and learns the cause of her distress--Consuelo's mother, Alva, is forcing her into marriage with the Duke of Marlborough. Her mother has even called in a fortune teller to assure Consuelo of a happy future. But the future is short-lived for the fortune teller, who is found dead by her crystal ball, strangled with a silk scarf. Standing above her is one of the Vanderbilts' maids, who is promptly taken into police custody. After the frenzy has died down, Consuelo is nowhere to be found. At Alva's request, Emma must employ her sleuthing skills to determine if the vanishing Vanderbilt has eloped with the beau of her choice--or if her disappearance may be directly connected to the murder. . .