A Fatal Waltz

A Fatal Waltz is a mystery novel by the American writer Tasha Alexander, published in 2008. It is the third book about Lady Emily Ashton, a widow in late Victorian England who investigates murders.

The party is at the estate of Lord Fortescue, a man Emily finds as objectionable as he is powerful, and she only goes because her friend Ivy asks her to. Among the other guests is Kristiana von Lange, an Austrian countess who was once connected with Colin Hargreaves, the man Emily intends to marry.

What she expects to be a tedious evening becomes a murder investigation when Fortescue is found dead, and it becomes a personal matter when Robert Brandon, the husband of her friend Ivy, is arrested for it. Emily sets out to clear his name, which means finding out who else had a reason to want the man dead. Her investigation has to be carried on among people who would rather she did not ask, and it takes her away from the country house and out of the world of London society she usually moves in.