Description

Julia Stuart returns in her follow-as much as the best-selling The Structure, the Zoo and the Turtle with this intelligent murder mystery occur Victorian England, brimming with her trademark appeal and fantastic characters.When Indian Princess Alexandrina is left penniless by the sudden death of her father, the Maharaja of Brindor, Double Victoria awards her a grace-and-benefit house in Hampton Court Palace. Although rumored to be haunted, Alexandrina and her lady's maid, Pooki, don't have any option but to consider the King on her offer.     Besides the cat sightings, Hampton Court does not look so poor. The queen is quickly befriended by three odd widows who ask her to a picnic with the structure's occupants, that a pigeon pie is baked by Pooki. Nevertheless when Common-Main Bagshot dies after eating said pie, and the coroner detects traces of arsenic in his body, Pooki becomes the number 1 suspect in a homicide investigation.