There's something about Ivy.

As promised, today you can meet the first suspect in the death of Lady Isolda Skefflington Welford. Proceed with caution.

Suspect: Ivy Dimmock, Scullery Maid

Age: Unknown

Ivy is a workhouse girl, taken in by Lady Isolda to work as scullery maid at Welford Hall. Nobody knows much about orphaned Ivy. Nor do they care. As the servant on the lowest rung of the ladder, she is teased, shouted at and bullied by certain other members of staff. Expected to keep below stairs, she has no interaction with "The Family" and is never even supposed to be seen by them -- in fact they are probably quite unaware of her existence.

Lady Isolda has hired many girls from the workhouse in the past but they seldom meet her high standards, or those of her punctilious butler. Ivy, however, is resilient, uncomplaining and keener to learn than most. She is also, it turns out, smarter than she looks. At least, she knows when to trust somebody -- even if her criteria is based on whether a person smells of cake and chocolate.

First to rise each day and last to curl up at night (on her bundle beside the kitchen range), she is the hardest worker in the house and the least able to speak up for herself. She is slight of build, quiet, a nervous creature with wide-eyes and large ears. But is she truly as innocent and harmless as she looks? To keep up with the workload she must be physically stronger than she appears, and to withstand the pinches and blows, she must be determined, thick-skinned. A survivor.

As a constable remarks, "Yorkshire lasses can look after themselves, especially them from the workhouse... Young 'uns like that have got a wily instinct."

 There's definitely something about Ivy...

 Such a small person, unnoticed by most, unappreciated by everybody, often sees and hears things they shouldn't. Although intimidated into silence for a while, resentment must surely build inside and with it the likelihood that they might do something desperate one day. Constantly pulled and pushed about, treated like another dispensable workhouse girl— plenty more where she came from— Ivy could find herself stretched too far and then strike out against her tormentors.

The life of a scullery maid is grim and thankless, but for Ivy it's an improvement on her previous place. The last thing she wants is to lose her opportunity in the outside world and be returned whence she came. So how far would she go to stay free of the workhouse?

"BESPOKE" coming to an online bookstore near you on February 20th, 2019.

(Image used here: The Little Potato Peeler by Albert Anker 1886)