THE EMPTY CARRIAGE

di Clara Whitmore (Autore)

Clara Whitmore, 2026

One restored dining carriage. One dead hospitality director. And one sabotage theory that may be dangerously wrong. Mara Vance knows every moving part of Copperline Station, from platform schedules to charter service and event operations. But when Copperline's beautifully restored dining carriage, the Marigold, becomes the scene of a deadly carbon-monoxide poisoning during a winter fundraiser, Mara is forced to confront a frightening possibility. Someone turned routine railway preparation into murder. The victim is Nina Bell, Copperline's charter and hospitality director. Before her death, Nina had been asking uncomfortable questions about restoration invoices, vendor contracts, expensive gifts, and parts that Copperline may have paid for but never received. There are plenty of people who wanted her quiet. A union steward furious about outsourced restoration work had both the skills and the access to sabotage the carriage. A caterer was hiding inflated invoices. A wealthy donor had pressured Nina over private-charter privileges. Suppliers had showered her with undisclosed gifts. And restoration contractor Miles Renn insists that every system on the Marigold was tested, certified, and safe before the event. Then investigators uncover something that makes Nina far harder to understand. She had accepted valuable vendor gifts herself. As Copperline's dining operations are suspended, its insurance comes under threat, and chief mechanical officer Dev Shah faces professional scrutiny, Mara must determine whether Nina was part of the corruption or trying to expose it. The deeper Mara digs, the more troubling the evidence becomes. Restoration parts have duplicate serial numbers. Expensive safety components appear on invoices but not inside the carriage. And the strongest suspect admits to sabotage, seemingly bringing the case to a clean and convincing end. Except the sabotage he admits to could not have killed Nina. Now Mara and Detective Elias Hart must reconstruct the Marigold's final service sequence and discover who had control of the carriage before the fatal heater was ever switched on. Because sometimes the most convincing alibi is built long before the victim enters the room. And while following Nina's financial records, Mara uncovers another disturbing piece of Copperline's history: the money that supposedly saved the railway fifteen years ago may have come from a public fund intended for displaced families. Perfect for readers who enjoy intelligent amateur sleuths, historic railway settings, fair-play clues, low-gore mysteries, financial secrets, restoration intrigue, and slow-burning series mysteries.

• Autore: Clara Whitmore
• Anno edizione: 2026
• Editore: Clara Whitmore
• Formato: EPUB2 con DRMFREE
• Lingua: Inglese
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9798235488151