Hired to protect a beautiful but neurotic actress, Cordelia Gray soon becomes embroiled in a case as dangerous to her own life as it is mysterious.
Clarissa Lisle hopes to make a spectacular comeback in a production of The Duchess of Malfi, to be played in Ambrose Gorringe’s sinister castle at Courcy Island. Cordelia is there to ensure her safety following the appearance of a number of poison-pen letters. But it soon becomes clear that all are in danger. Trapped within the walls of the Gothic Castle, the treacherous past of the island re-emerges, and everyone seems to have a motive for sending Clarissa ‘down, down the hell’.
Marking the return of Cordelia Gray, THE SKULL BENEATH THE SKIN is a complex mystery that more than lives up to its predecessor, AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR A WOMAN.
"A masterly version of the clue-and-alibi game... five-star" - The Guardian
"James pulls out all the stops... combining the enclosed setting of the country-house murder with elements of the horror story; an overlay of lust; a collection of relics of Victorian murderers... midnight apparitions; hairbreath escapes" - New York Magazine