The Poisonous Seed

A Frances Doughty Mystery

In 1880, 19 year old Frances Doughty is assisting her ailing father in his Bayswater chemist’s shop. When a wealthy customer dies after drinking medicine dispensed at the shop, her father is blamed, and the business collapses. Frances is convinced that the customer was murdered and the only way to prove it is for her to become a detective.

Soon it is a race against time to save her family from ruin, and Frances finds herself in situations normally unthinkable for a well-brought up girl. Shocks and further tragedy follow, and Frances needs every ounce of her strength and determination before she can resolve the mysteries and scandals that lie behind the mask of Victorian respectability.

The Poisonous Seed is the first book in the Frances Doughty Mystery series