Family Affair

A lonely woman finds herself in danger after her wealthy family agrees to cover up a murder in this classic novel by “one of America’s favorite writers” (Mary Higgins Clark).

“Mignon Eberhart is one of the great ladies of twentieth-century mystery fiction.” —John Jakes

Sarah Favor’s dreams of wedding bells are swiftly postponed when Fitz, her diplomat fiancé, is called away for top-secret business overseas. One of his colleagues was mysteriously shot, but that’s not the only shooting to disrupt Sarah’s tranquil life . . .

Violence isn’t something one would normally associate with the privileged Favor family. Sarah’s surrogate mother, the matriarch Corinna, is a successful novelist. She welded together their extended family into a cohesive unit. There’s Rosart, the prize-winning poet; Fanny, the spectacular opera singer; and Norman, a promising Foreign Service Officer like Fitz. Together they share a gracious existence in an affluent New York neighborhood. Life is so good that they even manage to put up with Corinna’s annoying stepson, a mean and petty drunk named Forte.

However, after Sarah returns home from dropping off Fitz at the airport, she hears a gunshot and discovers Forte dead in the living room. When everyone but Sarah agrees to conceal the killing, the once carefree young woman begins to see her beloved family in a different light.

Now she feels alone . . . and in grave danger. The brakes on her car mysteriously give out. An unknown assailant almost strangles her to death. And that’s only the beginning. With nowhere to turn, her only hope for survival means piecing together the truth behind Forte’s death to uncover the rotten apple on her family tree . . .

“Mignon Eberhart’s name on mysteries is like sterling on silver.” —The Miami News

Originally published in 1981.