Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of the grand and mysterious house, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. Many years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. After her beloved grandmother, Nora, suffers a fall, Jess discovers a book at Nora’s house that chronicles the police investigation into a long-buried crime: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous event.

In the depths of a 19th-century winter, a little girl is abandoned on the streets of Victorian London. She grows up to become in turn a thief, an artist’s muse and a lover. In the summer of 1862, shortly after her 18th birthday, she travels with a group of artists to a beautiful house on a bend of the Upper Thames. Tensions simmer, and one hot afternoon a gunshot rings out. A woman is killed, another disappears, and the truth of what happened slips through the cracks of time. It is not until over a century later, when another young woman is drawn to Birchwood Manor, that its secrets are finally revealed.

One midsummer’s eve, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, 11-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. Decades later, Alice Edevane is living in London, having enjoyed a successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, stumbles upon the Edevanes’ old estate. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more present than ever.

One midsummer’s eve, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, 11-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. Decades later, Alice Edevane is living in London, having enjoyed a successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, stumbles upon the Edevanes’ old estate. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more present than ever.

Sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson witnessed a shocking crime that challenged everything she knew about her family, especially her mother, Dorothy. Now, 50 years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress. A family gathering for Dorothy’s 90th birthday leads Laurel to search for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day --- answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.

There is a castle in THE DISTANT HOURS, and a moat, not to mention a deep forest; there is a trio of slightly batty, secretive sisters; there is a likable protagonist --- an editor, passionate about reading --- who goes sleuthing where she shouldn’t; and there is one particularly crucial dark and stormy night. There is romance, too, but most of the love affairs lie in the past and are forbidden and/or thwarted.

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity.