The Mystery of Four

'A vivid cast of characters, endless intrigue and all the fun of a Golden Age mystery await you at Kilfenora House' Catherine Ryan Howard



'Witty, twisty and featuring my favourite antiheroine in a long time' Alex Marwood



Murder is easy ... when it doesn't look like murder





Tess Morgan has finally made her dream of restoring beautiful Kilfenora House and Gardens into a reality.





But during rehearsals for the play that forms the opening weekend's flagship event, her dream turns into a nightmare when a devastating accident looks set to ruin her carefully laid plans.





There are rumours that Kilfenora House is cursed, but this feels personal, and becomes increasingly terrifying when more than one body is discovered. Could someone be closing in on Tess herself?





Clarissa Westmacott, ex star of stage and screen, certainly believes so, particularly when she learns that purple-flowered aconite has been picked from the Poison Garden. And Clarissa will stop at nothing to protect the friend she has come to see as a daughter...



Sam Blake has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.





Sam has had a string of No. 1 bestsellers with her runaway bestselling debut, Little Bones, the first in the Cat Connolly trilogy, shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year. Switching to psychological thrillers, Keep Your Eyes on Me was a No. 1 bestseller, and her next book, The Dark Room was shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year. Her last thriller, Remember My Name, went straight to No. 1 in January 2022 and was shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year.





Sam is one of the best-connected people in crime writing, the founder of Europe's biggest online writer's magazine, Writing.ie, she relaunched National Crime Reading Month for the CWA in 2022.





Originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire, Sam now lives at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains, near Dublin in Ireland.





Follow her on social @samblakebooks. Visit www.samblakebooks.com for news and events and get a bonus free thriller when you subscribe to her newsletter.



A country house thriller packed with twists



Witty, twisty and featuring my favourite antiheroine in a long time



The Mystery of Four is that perfect blend - a gorgeous setting hiding dark secrets, lovable characters who may not be all the seem, and a twisting, winding story that keeps the reader turning pages. I loved it!



Has all the hallmarks of a 'modern' golden age murder mystery: a fabulous country house setting, an eccentric cast, and a regular drip feed of dead bodies. Add in an old curse, a determined amateur sleuth, and an ill-omened play and you have an offering that will delight fans of the genre



A vivid cast of characters, endless intrigue and all the fun of a Golden Age mystery await you at Kilfenora House



Blake's take on the country house mystery is full of incident... The cat steals every scene it's in



If a modern take on the old-fashioned "big house murder mystery" is your thing then you'll inhale this novel in one sitting... Blake has thrown everything into this pot (or plot!) and keeps tight reins on it right to the shocking end



Well plotted ... pacing is expert, twists, turns and cliffhangers handed out in timely fashion ... an effective and satisfying whodunit with a wicked resolution



A brilliantly twisty thriller featuring three of my favourite things - a country house, a curse, and a cat!



An utterly compelling murder mystery. Perfectly plotted, with echoes of the Golden Age, this is a fabulously clever book. Masterful!



Perfectly plotted