THE SECRET KEEPERS: JACK'S JOURNAL #1 (PAPERBACK)

Hello…

I’m not quite sure where to begin (I’ve never done this before, kept a journal, that is) but I suppose an introduction is in order. My name is Jack Reid. I live in the town of Dunhaven, Scotland. I’m the estate manager at Dunhaven Castle.

I’ve started this journal because I’ve discovered something incredible. Not just me alone. I’ve got a partner in crime, but I’ll explain all that. I’m still reeling from the discovery, actually. I know I shouldn’t be writing this all down, but this is the only way I can make any sense of it.

You see, I’ve just learned that time travel exists. Yeah, time travel. I couldn’t believe it either. I still can’t most of the time. I’ve done it. I’ve time traveled. And I still can’t believe it.

I should back up and tell the story from the beginning. I’ll start with a little more information about me.

As I mentioned, I’m the estate manager for Dunhaven Castle and one of the caretakers. I only started my position there a few months ago when Lady Gertrude MacKenzie was the proprietor. My father was the estate manager before me and my grandfather before him and so on down the line all the way back to the building of the castle. There’s always been a Reid on the estate. I considered it some old-fashioned tradition and nothing more, but that wasn’t the case. In addition to groundskeeping, I also schedule all maintenance and inspect the castle to keep everything in tiptop shape.

Six months ago, my father passed away unexpectedly. I wasn’t even here. I regret that, but I can’t change it. I was off traveling the world, making my own mark. Or so I thought.

I returned home after that. Too late for my father, but not for my grandfather. I took my father’s position on the estate. “Doing my duty as a Reid,” my grandfather told me. Little did I know how much that duty entailed!

About three months into my work at Dunhaven, Lady MacKenzie passed away. Old Gertrude didn’t have any known relatives. Lady MacKenzie, that is. She’s probably spinning in her grave after I called her “Old Gertrude.”

Anyway, she found out she had terminal cancer and passed away shortly after. There wasn’t much time to discuss who the castle would be passed to. The other two staff members, Charlie and Emily Fraser, and I wondered what might become of the place. But Mr. Smythe, the estate’s attorney, assured us Lady MacKenzie’s will contained a provision to find the next proprietor.

The process took months. Lady MacKenzie, an only child, never married and had no children. They had to search through the entire family tree to find her next of kin. And when I say entire family tree, I mean it. They had to go to a distant cousin of a cousin of a cousin. Well, you get the idea.

After months, Mr. Smythe informed us he had found Lady MacKenzie’s next of kin, an American! Whew, you should have heard Mrs. Fraser’s reaction to that one! The arrival of Lady Catherine Kensie as the castle’s new proprietor and the county’s newest Countess is really where this story begins.

1. The Secret Keepers
2. Murder in the Tower