Force and Fraud. Ellen Davitt

Outback Australia in the mid-1800s.<br /> <br />When rich, domineering squatter Angus McAlpin is murdered, the obvious suspect is the penniless artist, Herbert Lindsey – who wants to marry his daughter, Flora.<br /> <br />McAlpin may have proclaimed that Flora would marry Herbert 'only over his dead body' – and Herbert's bloodstained knife and handkerchief were found near the murder scene – but the artist denies any wrongdoing.<br /> <br />So begins a compelling murder mystery and trial, as the heiress seeks to prove her lover's innocence, and a country town takes sides.<br /> <br />Force may have killed Angus McAlpin, but fraud follows murder in a cunning plan to see Herbert Lindsey hanged – by any means necessary.<br /> <br />For someone else is determined to marry Flora, to obtain her property and her person; and he will stop at nothing.<br /> <br /> <br />Praise for Force and Fraud: <i>'Stunning historical mystery. Court scene worthy of Perry Mason'</i> – <b>Kerry Greenwood</b>