It's a cold November afternoon on the beach at Marazion, overlooking St. Michael's Mount, and the Cornish wind is whipping up the sea. When a distress flare goes up from a yacht in the bay, artist Rose Trevelyan immediately alerts the coastguard and soon a small crowd has gathered to watch the rescue in progress. With the rain coming down in sheets, Rose is concerned to see a little girl wandering alone on the shore but her fears are soon allayed as she is picked up and taken towards the safety of the car park. Her relief is short-lived, however - a young mother cannot find her daughter and she fits the description of the child Rose saw. Little Beth Jones is only four years old and her mother is adamant that the man Rose saw taking the child away must be a stranger. Beth's father hasn't seen her since she was a small baby and there's no one else her mother can think of who could be responsible. Rose is very troubled - when the man on the beach approached Beth, she held up her arms and asked to be carried. Far from being frightened, the little girl seemed to know and trust her abductor. As an artist she is trained to observe and she is sure of what she saw but now fears she made the wrong decision. Racked with guilt for not intervening, Rose cannot concentrate until she has tried to help in any way she can think of. But as the days pass by, the prospects of getting Beth back unharmed begin to look very bleak indeed. Set against the backdrop of the stunning Cornish coastline, Deceived in Cornwall is another engrossing mystery featuring the much-loved amateur sleuth, Rose Trevelyan
