Set against the glittering backdrop of Biarritz in its heyday, Sister Beneath the Sheet contains the classical elements of a whodunnit, a host of original characters and some highly amusing set-pieces. The result is a heady cocktail of crime with a dash of comedy that will enthral and surprise the most avid crime addict. It is 1874, and fashionable London is flocking to pay its last respects to the late Dr Livingstone. Africa, with many of its riches and mysteries still unexplored, holds a potent magic and feelings run high. Two women, strong-minded Maud Stretton and beautiful Cecilia Bright, meet and quarrel over Livingstone's coffin as their husbands prepare to lead rival expeditions back to Africa.
Reputations are at stake, in a world where reputation means more than life itself.
But when death strikes it takes an unexpected form, not in Africa but on a rainy night in a Westminster mission hall. The victim, a notorious coward and disgraced explorer, claims to know something that would convict one of the rival expedition leaders of behaviour unbecoming an English gentleman. He dies on a public platform, seconds away from uttering his secret. The inquest jury's verdict is murder - and the poison that killed him came from Africa. Gossip, then worse than gossip, threatens Maud, Cecilia and all around them.