Sins of Commission (Digital Original) (The Martha Beale Mysteries #5)

By: Cordelia Frances Biddle

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Synopsis: A society woman struggles to solve cases of arson and abduction in Victorian-era Philadelphia, in the series praised as &“a fine mix of history and mystery&” (Booklist). In nineteenth-century Philadelphia, a case of arson turns lethal—but who was the perpetrator and what was the motive? While Thomas Kelman, Martha Beale&’s beau, investigates the blaze, her adoptive daughter, Ella, is abducted. Then another fire destroys the home of industrialist Darius Rause, killing his adulterous wife. Is there a connection between the crimes? Martha and Kelman work to find an answer as they fight to rescue Ella before she also perishes, in this fast-paced historical crime novel in which duplicity reigns and the destinies of rich and poor collide. Praise for the Martha Beale Mysteries &“Exceptional attention to period detail helps transport the reader to a past very unlike our own and yet so similar.&” —Publishers Weekly &“First-rate.&” —Julia Spencer-Fleming, New York Times–bestselling author of Hid from Our Eyes &“Biddle successfully uses 19th-century Philadelphia, mining the landscape for the kinds of jewels that illuminate a good mystery, and shaping characters that ring true to the elements of their creation.&” —The Philadelphia Inquirer