About This Book
Motherless, Adella Hester Cumberbatch's father dragged her to his carpentry jobs. Teenage Adella can hammer, nail, and saw wood, yet no one will hire a woman carpenter in the early Elizabethan Age. When her father passes away, and the money runs out, Adella has no choice but to sell her father's woodworking tools. All the local carpenters are adding a new wing onto distant Marleigh Manor. Although dangerous, Adella begins her journey, lugging her father's heavy toolbox all the way. Chased by a ruffian, Adella defends herself, and arrives at Marleigh Manor afraid to show her face. At sunset, Adella sneaks into the new, half-built wing, and finds a small dead space. Adella uses her carpentry skills to expand the dead space into a secret room. No one knows she's there, but the rich inhabitants notices when food and clothes go missing. The Marleigh family starts to believe the newest wing is haunted, and refer to Adella as the Ghost of Marleigh Manor. Then, when a prominent member of the family is found murdered in a locked room, everyone starts blaming the ghost. But Adella is the ghost! If she tries to flee, her footprints in the snow will be found before she reaches the next town. To save herself, Adella must discover who the real murderer is, without being seen, and expose them. However, if she's discovered before she reveals the murderer, the family will blame the crime on her. Can Adella escape a hangman's noose?
