Ruby Vaughn

1922. Since the Great War, Ruby Vaughn has made a life for herself running a rare bookshop alongside her octogenarian employer and housemate in Exeter. She's always avoided dwelling on the past, but it has a way of finding her. When Ruby must deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she'd never return: Penryth Hall.

After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible.

Ruby Vaughn's octogenarian employer and housemate Mr Owen said the trip to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders was to appraise some purchases for the bookshop. However, the truth as well as secrets he has been carefully hiding soon unravels. For Mr Owen, who lost a son in the Great War, a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates are the answer to his desperate wish to speak to him again. But the night of the séance brings with it a murder and Ruby and Mr Owen must uncover the truth about the killing in order to clear their names.

The Great War left grieving families willing to sacrifice anything for the chance to say goodbye to a lost loved one. Mr. Owen is no exception. He is desperate to speak to his son, but he doesn’t want to face the spirits alone. When the séance—hosted by a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates—goes awry, Mr. Owen’s secrets begin to unravel, threatening to reveal a history that he has been running from for half his life. Something Ruby knows all too well how to do.

December, 1923. Ruby Vaughn is looking forward to a quiet, relaxing trip to Oxford in the week before Christmas with her octogenarian housemate and colleague Mr Owen. Far away from the arcane, unusual—and occasionally illegal—books that seem to always get her into trouble. The most she expects to do is attend a handful of his antiquarian society meetings. But when the body of disgraced scholar Julius Harker is amongst his exhibition of Egyptian antiquities looted by Napoleon, panic spreads throughout the cobbled streets of Oxford.

If someone were to ask American heiress Ruby Vaughn how exactly the occult came to play such a large role in her life, she would immediately point to her octogenarian housemate and employer, Mr. Owen. Together, the pair run a rare book shop in Exeter. Mr. Owen’s penchant for arcane, unusual—and occasionally illegal—books has been known to get Ruby into her fair share of trouble. And after the last year, she is looking forward to spending a quiet holiday in picturesque Oxford while Mr. Owen attends the annual meeting of his antiquarian society.