SHADOWS IN SCARLET, by Lillian Stewart Carl
Wildside Press - June 2001
ISBN: 1-58715-375-0 - Hardcover
Mystery, Suspense, Romance - for mature content

Reviewed by Jo Rogers, MyShelf.Com
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Amanda Witham is happy with her job, playing the role of Sally Armstrong at Melrose Hall in Colonial Williamsburg. She is also a caretaker and lives in the old mansion alone, with only Lafayette, the cat, for company. Melrose is a work in progress, with a team of archaeologists excavating the site of the old summerhouse in preparation to restore the property to its former 1781 condition.

One evening, after the last of the tourists had gone, Amanda was making her rounds, taking inventory and replacing items moved by the visitors, she went out to check the progress of the archaeologists. They had uncovered a skeleton, possibly that of James Grant, a captain of the Highlander regiment that was billeted at Melrose Hall at the time. Rumor had it he and the owner's daughter, Sally, had been lovers.

Amanda knew in her heart it was Grant's skeleton, especially after she had a visit from his ghost. He asked if she had seen his sword, and was still wearing the empty scabbard. No ghosts had haunted Melrose before, so no one would believe her if she told it. She kept quiet, though the ghost came back. Amanda had no idea how her promise to locate the sword would forever change her life.