There's a lot of upstairs-downstairs at Easton Deadall, home of the turbulent Easton family, and even a certain amount of subterranean activity as well. Given that the action takes place in 1924, this self-absorbed family are remarkably benign towards their staff  much more so than towards each other. They are even concerned for a maid who scampers off and leaves a small child to be terrified by fairground ne'er-do-wells. This panic stirs up painful memories of little Kitty, heir to the estate, who vanished from her bed when she was five. Enter Laurence Bartram, widower and scarred veteran of the first world war, whose architect friend William Bolitho is putting in a memorial window in the church. By the time an unidentified woman is found murdered, Laurence is already caught up in the family's secret dramas. As one brother says, he is "the stranger who reveals our hopes and fears". This leisurely and absorbing novel is the second to be based around this sympathetic and unusual character; a series to be savoured.