Cover Reveal for Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity!

Dear Friends,

I am so excited to share the incredible cover to the latest Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery: Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity, coming October 24!  You saw it first this morning on Instagram, but let’s take a moment to walk through some of the fabulous details in Brett Helquist’s latest painting!

As always, the cover art is chock full of plot points and references, so I can’t share everything without spoilers, but just LOOK at all the amazing details, from the spooky castle in the misty distance to the figure on horseback to the pack of exuberant foxhounds! You can even find Peony slinking along there…

Miss Judson takes front and center (or, erm, left) here, because she is at the heart of this volume’s mystery.

When her governess inherits an estate on a Scottish island, amateur detective Myrtle Hardcastle couldn’t be more excited. Unfortunately, the ancestral castle is both run-down and haunted. Ghostly moans echo in the walls, and there are rumors of a cursed treasure lost on the island—an ancient silver brooch that may have cost the former lord his life. But who had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill him? And could this Scottish trip mean the end of Myrtle’s plans to get her father and governess together?

Then Myrtle’s investigation stirs a villain out of hiding. The estate’s boat is stolen, and there’s no escape from the island. Myrtle is forced to play a deadly game, hunting for the brooch with a thief breathing down her neck—someone who will stop at nothing to get the treasure, even if it means murder.

Myrtle’s costume is inspired by traditional Highland dress, as sported by this young lad, and they wear the MacEwen clan tartan.

And yes, there are plans afoot… (Would you believe I already have a doll-sized sporran? Don’t answer that.)

Of course, the most striking part of the cover is those magnificent foxhounds! They are inspired by my own real life with a pack of hounds, and my dogs Flint, Ladygirl, and Rusty all make key appearances. People have been urging me to write about our late pack for years, but it took just the right book to come along.

See the resemblance?

I can’t wait to share even more about Myrtle’s latest misadventure in Victorian criminology–it’s Scooby Doo meets And Then There Were None. With foxhounds. And it’s all coming your way October 24!