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The Hawthorne Affair

A priceless diamond vanishes from a locked case — and the thief is still inside Hawthorne Manor.

About this adventure

The Celeste Diamond is gone, the manor is sealed, and Inspector Voss of Scotland Yard is watching every face for cracks. Beneath the wilting flowers and strained pleasantries of last night's Winter Masquerade, a theft has been staged, a family secret is in danger of surfacing, and the wrong person may hang for it before morning is out. Play as Constance Vail, a razor-sharp society journalist who knew about the cipher before the theft began, or Dr. Phineas Croft, a forensic physician who saw something near the conservatory that no one has thought to ask him about.

Prologue

London, December. The fog has not lifted since the night of the Duchess of Hawthorne's Winter Masquerade Ball — as though the city itself has drawn close to listen. Sometime between the third waltz and the midnight supper, the Celeste Diamond vanished from its locked display case in the manor's east gallery. By dawn, Inspector Aldric Voss of Scotland Yard had sealed the doors. No one has left. No glass was broken. No lock was forced. And yet the pendant — a teardrop sapphire ringed with flawless diamonds, and the most celebrated jewel of the London season — is simply gone. The guests wear their composure like costumes. The servants have gone quiet in the particular way of people who know more than they intend to say. And somewhere inside Hawthorne Manor, beneath the smell of extinguished candles and cold champagne, a secret older than the theft is beginning to surface — one that could undo a family entirely, if it reaches the wrong hands. Voss is methodical, thorough, and running out of patience. An arrest is coming. Whether it finds the right person depends on what the next few hours reveal — and who is paying close enough attention to see it.