Synopsis
Nell Hollis built her life on solving literary mysteries. As host of the podcast Cold Pages, she dissected a forgotten 1885 Gothic novel about a death at Ashford Hall, treating fiction like a cold case. Then she wakes inside that very house, in the body of Lady Victoria Ashford, three days before the murder she has studied for months. She knows the ending. She knows the poison. What she does not know is whether she can change any of it, or whether she has simply become the next victim. Every face in the manor wears a careful mask: the watchful investigator who never asks the right question, the doting housekeeper whose tenderness feels like a leash, the silent girl who sees everything. As the bitter almond traces grow stronger and the days run out, Nell must decide who to trust in a world where one wrong move means death. A slow-burning Gothic puzzle of suspicion, desire, and survival, perfect for readers who like their romance dangerous and their secrets darker.
