The Show House Murder (The Pattern House Cozy Mysteries #2)

A glamorous show house. A ruthless critic. And a perfect room designed for murder.

Romy Vane finally has something worth protecting.

After surviving the scandal at Marchmont House, the historic-interiors conservator is rebuilding Pattern House Conservation in the picturesque English village of Merewick.

Her newest commission is her biggest yet: Asterleigh Rectory, transformed by celebrated designers for the town’s glittering annual Show House.

Then feared interiors critic Sebastian Pryce is found dead inside the Blue Study.

The cause is carbon monoxide.

And Romy signed the room off as safe.

Suddenly her insurance is under threat, clients are backing away, and the reputation she fought to rebuild is collapsing all over again.

But Romy knows what she saw.

The Blue Study was safe when she finished her inspection.

Someone changed it afterward.

As DI Ellis Harwood investigates a house full of ambitious designers, nervous sponsors and people Sebastian had threatened to expose, Romy discovers that his final story was not really about decorating scandals at all.

He had been tracing the history of one valuable object.

A history that does not make sense.

To save Pattern House, Romy must prove how Sebastian was murdered and why someone needed him silenced before the Show House opened to the public.

Then she finds a mark hidden on the disputed piece.

One connected to the twenty-five-year-old scandal that destroyed her mother.

And this time, Romy knows the connection cannot be coincidence.