FERRARS, Elizabeth - Skeleton in Search of a Cupboard - (Hardcover in Wrapper)

Book and wrapper still very good - Vintage Collins Crime Club - 1968 - 192 pg.    >>>      Helena Sebright viewed it as a sunlit holiday - a visit to Africa as temporary governess to a small girl. But from the moment she arrived, the shadows of danger deepened. Within a plantation, mysterious and deadly intrigue clouded days and chilled nights with terror, while outside native unrest threatens every stranger. And when the one man whom Helena felt she could trust, and even love, turned violently against her, the lovely young girl knew she stood alone between monstrous evil and the child she was sworn to protect.      >>>   Professor Cosgrove married three times. His three children by his first wife--star actor Martin, indolent Luke, and widowed Grace--and his two children by his second wife--novelist Peter and librarian Beryl--are all devoted to their stepmother, who is celebrating her 80th birthday. When a fire breaks out in Henrietta's house after her party, she is saved from certain death by Beryl's boss at the archaeological museum. There's something about the incident that disturbs Freda, Peter's wife and the narrator, especially when the police start looking for an arsonist in connection with the fire. Yet the only person with a motive is Beryl, who lives on affectionate terms with Henrietta.