'The Nanny' explores deadly mystery in English upper class

Fans of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca,” along with devotees of the “Downton Abbey” series, likely will enjoy English author Gilly Macmillan’s newest novel, “The Nanny.”

Inside a rambling mansion outside of London, Lady Virginia Holt, her daughter, Jo, and Jo’s young daughter, Ruby, share an uneasy existence.

Thirty years ago, Jo’s beloved nanny, Hannah, disappeared in the middle of the night. Jo, angry at the loss, later left home and settled in California. Her husband’s death, and her precarious financial situation, brings her back to her widowed mother and the family home.

Soon after the discovery of a skull in the property’s lake, Hannah — or is it? — reappears.

Matriarch Virginia Holt, long having assumed Hannah dead, and with good reason, is terrified.

Jo, who can’t remember the circumstances behind Hannah leaving, sees her as the solution to her child care needs and hires her on the spot.

Through flashbacks, readers learn more about Hannah’s younger years, and may soon suspect whose skull is in the lake.

Jo’s anger at her mother and refusal to doubt her nanny may put her entire family in danger.

There is a bit of a white-knuckle ride to get there, but the story ends with a satisfying twist.