The Corn Maiden: A Romantic Historical Mystery, Paperback

Nell Somersham's life is complicated by the curious terms of her late father's will. She cannot inherit his Suffolk or Scottish estates until she turns twenty-five-unless she secures permission to marry from one of her two guardians.

One guardian-her stepmother-is determined to marry the strong-willed beauty to her own lover, the fortune-hunting Sir James Fanshawe. The other guardian is a second cousin who oversees the management of her Scottish estates. Nell has never met him.

Desperate to escape her stepmother's plans, Nell secures a marriage proposal from a dull-witted soldier, then flees to Scotland to secure her unknown guardian's consent.

In Scotland, Nell is greeted by his steward, the ill-tempered, irresistible Rorie Moidart, who makes no secret of the fact that he believes his master was cheated out of the Scottish estates.

As Nell finds her passion for Moidart increasing, she is horrified by how brutally English landowners treat the Scots. At the same time, she finds herself in a web of deceit as complex and calculating as any of her stepmother's plots. Rorie Moidart may break her heart-if she can't secure his first.

About the Author:

Barbara Cleverly was born in the north of England. After graduating from the University of Durham, she moved to Suffolk and Cambridge, where she has spent her working life.

Cleverly's first novel, "The Last Kashmiri Rose," was published to great acclaim in 2001. Chosen as a Book of the Year by the "New York Times," the novel introduced Scotland Yard detective and war hero Joe Sandilands and was set in the dying days of the British Raj. Cleverly's third novel, "The Damascened Blade," won the prestigious CWA Historical Dagger Awards.

Nine more novels followed, including three historical crime novels featuring young archaeologist Laetitia Talbot.