The peer and the woman (E. Phillips Oppenheim)

If you have a fondness for mystery you should find this novel to be an entertaining read. Lord Alceston, the Earl of Harrowdean, statesman, philanthropist, nobleman, is murdered in his own study on the night of a great ball given at his home. On the same night a mysterious woman is murdered in the slums of East London. The valet disappears. Thus begins a moody and dramatic tale of love, jealousy, and revenge. This is the second published novel żeby E. Phillips Oppenheim and deals with a rigid Victorian moral code which is hard to comprehend today. Oppenheim dictated many of his later novels, but the careful writing, lengthy descriptions, and close observation of characters are beautifully expressed in this early work.