The Ashes of Blackthorn House (The Fairrowe Inquiries, #1)

Some houses preserve families. Others preserve silence. When Eliza Fairrowe is summoned back to Blackthorn House, she expects strain, not danger. But a young servant is found dead under circumstances the household is eager to close, and Eliza quickly learns that truth at Blackthorn is managed before it is spoken. Testimony is coached. Doubt is labeled instability. Sympathy is granted only to those who remain useful. As she investigates, Eliza is drawn into a structure of coercion that extends beyond one death: women relocated without explanation, evidence erased behind locked doors, and legal authority used to protect the very men it should restrain. Allies appear in uncertain places, including those whose help comes with limits they cannot admit. The closer Eliza comes to naming what happened, the more she is pressured to choose safety over accuracy and harmony over fact. The Ashes of Blackthorn House opens The Fairrowe Inquiries with a Regency mystery grounded in documentary clues, social power, and moral consequence. It is a story about what silence costs, what speech can destroy, and why incomplete justice still matters when complete justice is denied.