When her young husband dies in a car crash Caroline Kent’s financial difficulties may force her to sell the family's Newport, Rhode Island, estate. Instead she makes the decision to turn Kenwood into the Inn at Kenwood Court, catering to wealthy visitors to the famous city.
With her mother-in-law Louise and their elderly cook Mattie, Caroline begins the task of learning to manage her new enterprise, a job for which her former stage acting career has not prepared her. While Louise is eager to help, Mattie is more concerned with pointing out the shortcomings of both Caroline and the new guests coming to stay.
Ocean Drive and the rocky Atlantic Ocean coastline. The Kents' estate overlooks just such a dramatic view of sea and sky.
Lt. Hank Nightingale of the Newport Police Department takes charge of the case, and Caroline is determined to help the handsome police detective solve the mystery before the killer can strike again. While Hank, disciplined in police work, looks for hard evidence, Caroline follows her intuition by using her intelligence and training as an actress. Together they make a formidable detecting team. Caroline even has her Dr. Watson, her mother-in-law Louise, with whom she tests her theories.
Murder Stalks A Mansion: A Newport Mystery, quickly transports you to Bellevue Avenue, the Cliff Walk, Thames Street and the harbor, and of course to stately Kenwood, the fictional Newport mansion which is home to the Kent Family. The story is a classic country house murder mystery, complete with red herrings, baffling clues and a house full of suspects.