Meet heroic maid Pattern in The Last Duchess, the first Silver Service Mystery from Laura Powell, illustrated by Sarah Gibb.

Pattern is only thirteen, but is already rising through the ranks at Mrs Minchin's Academy of Domestic Servitude and seems destined for a life below stairs. But fate intervenes when she is packed off to the small and secretive Duchy of Elffinberg, to serve as lady's maid to the recently orphaned Grand Duchess.

Pattern's young new mistress is excitable and paranoid, yet despite their differences the two girls forge an unlikely friendship that quickly turns into a battle for survival. For picture-perfect Elffinberg hides an extremely dark and deadly secret . . .

Armed only with her trusty sewing basket, a bottle of smelling salts and J. Bulcock's inestimable guide, The Duties of a Lady's Maid, Pattern will need all her wits and resourcefulness when dealing with above-stairs conspiracies and below-stairs intrigue. Darning stockings has never been so dangerous.

This book is part of a book series called Silver Service Mysteries .

There are 304 pages in this book. This book was published 2017 by Pan Macmillan .

Sarah Gibb is the talent behind The Bridesmaid's Diary, that has become an international success story. She lives in London. Laura Powell grew up in Wales, studied Classics at Bristol and Oxford, and worked as an editor before turning her hand to writing. She lives in London.