Although this book is considered one of the Colonel Primrose series, he doesn't appear in it. This is Grace Latham's solo adventure. As Grace explains in chapter 8, Colonel Primrose and Sergeant Buck are on their way to Alaska to do something about Bering Sea fishing rights for the government.

Grace is no relation by blood to the Winthrops, but the late Mr. Winthrop was the son of one of Dick Latham's two Back Bay aunts in Boston, so Grace's sons are second cousins to the young people at Romney, a fact that will become important later. Right now one of those second cousins, Dan Winthrop, has come to take Grace to Romney, the Maryland plantation his father bought. Dan and his siblings were born there. On the way, Grace finds herself thinking about how often she used to visit Romney, and wondering why she's been there for only one weekend in the three years Dan has been working in Paris. I had to chuckle, because this comes afterr Dan has told Grace that stirring up a hell's broth for someone to stew in is what makes his mother really happy, and Dan is the only one of the Winthrops to get along with Irene. Dan's older brother, Rick, is a drunkard. Mara, his younger sister, has never been treated fairly by her mother because Mara isn't the frilly, pink, candy box- pretty type of daughter Irene wanted. Irene is terrible mother. Her children probably would have turned out even worse than they have if good old Mrs. Jellyby hadn't been around to mother them.

Rick Winthrop is as big a bully as his mother, but doesn't bother to put his iron claw in a velvet glove. He's abominable to his wife, the dece

It's possible that at this point Ms. Ford had yet to decide that Grace lives in the same Georgetown house where she was born because of this bit near the end of chapter one:

'And because Lilac has dictated my goings out and comings in since I came to the house in Georgetown to live, long before I was left a widow with the two small boys she's practically raised, I got up obediently.'

Grace has been a widow for eight years. At the end of chapter 8 we learn that she first came to Romney the year she was married, 18 years ago. In chapter 10 we get a description of Grace: light hair, dark brown eyes, 5' 7" (170 cm) tall, 135 pounds (61 kilograms), 38 years old.

Cheryl is one of Ms. Ford's blue-eyed blondes (hair a sunlit ripe wheat color, eyes like faded hyacinths). Natalie is another auburn-haired lady. Her eyes are hazel green. Mara has dark hair and dark eyes. Will it be the blonde or the redhead who is our heroine? Will Mara turn out to be the Midge to the heroine's Barbie or the Bad Girl? ( )