Truth is rarely pure and never simple Selchester Castle in 1953 sits quiet and near-empty, its corridors echoing with glories of the past.Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and w reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester.The Castle s faded grandeur hides a web of secrets and scandals the Earl has been missing for seven years, lost without a trace since the night he left his guests and walked out into a blizzard.When a skeleton is uncovered beneath the flagstones of the Old Chapel, the police produce a suspect and declare the case closed.Hugo is t convinced. With the help of the spirited Freya Wryton, the Earl s niece, he is drawn back into active service, and the ancient town of Selchester is dragged into the intrigues and conspiracies of the Cold War era.With a touch of Downton Abbey, a whisper of Agatha Christie and a d to Le Carre, A Man of Some Repute is the first book in this delightfully classic and witty murder mystery series.