The Painted Penny Stamp: A Cozy Historical Mystery

by Fran Smith

Overview

A quiet lodger, a secret vice, and a fortune-seeker who will stop at nothing.

When a neighbour’s lodger is found dead, Vita Carew, a sharp-witted science student, is the first on the scene. The police pronounce it an accident, a fatal fall, but Vita remains unconvinced. Her access to the post-mortem reveals the truth: Albert Flett was murdered.

As Vita investigates, she uncovers a trail of evidence that suggests Albert’s quiet, unassuming ways were hiding a complex and dangerous secret life. When a prominent, eccentric old lady is also found dead under suspicious circumstances, Vita finds herself entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a ruthless killer.

Can she convince the police to see the connection before the killer strikes again?  

The Painted Penny Stamp is the fourth book in Fran Smith's captivating series of historical mysteries featuring clever female sleuth, Vita Carew.
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Praise for the Vita Carew Mysteries series:  

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ A delightful addition to the series.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Unmissable!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ What a talented author and a captivating female heroine.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Fran Smith has created another great mystery.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Vita Carew is wonderful.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Fascinating!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781036706005
Publisher:	Vinci Books Ltd
Publication date:	08/05/2025
Series:	Vita Carew Mysteries , #4
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Fran Smith lives in the quiet countryside near Cambridge. All her stories are based in and around the area.

She writes in three series:

The Vita Carew Mysteries. Vita is a would-be doctor facing all the challenges of studying science in the early 20th century, when women were struggling to do so. As she works to overcome prejudice and her own poor early education, she stumbles into a series of mysteries where her skills in analysis and observation come in very useful.

There are now five Vita Carew mysteries: Poison at Pemberton Hall, A Thin Sharp Blade (shortlisted for a Debut Dagger by the Crime Writer’s Association in 2019), Dr Potter’s Private Practice, The Painted Penny Stamp and The Killing at Crowswood Castle. Number six is due out in the autumn of 2023.

The Moth Agency Romances (under the pen name Lucy Greenhill): in which the enterprising Victorian sisters, Lucia and Christabel Venables, run their hat shop and introductions agency and so become involved in the love stories of 19th century Cambridge. Book 1, An Utterly Unsuitable Lady, was published in April 2023.

The Sister B letters: in which a sister from a remote fenland convent maintains a quirky correspondence with an adventurous Suffolk nun working in remotest Peru.

Fran originally wrote Best Wishes, Sister B, to entertain her husband as he recovered from a stroke. It started as a series of letters written on crowded commuter trains in the early morning and posted home to encourage him to walk as far as the front door mat. The Power of Cake, a sequel, came a little later. A third in the series is planned.