Early December brings heavy snow to Val-Serein, an elegant resort in the French Alps. At the historic Grand Hôtel Montfleury, preparations are under way for a glittering winter charity fashion gala centred on one extraordinary object: the famous white Maison Valois gown once worn by legendary British actress Evelyn Harcourt.
According to fashion history, Evelyn wore the gown at her final public appearance in 1964, when photographers captured her descending the Montfleury's marble staircase.
But Eleanor Finch notices something wrong almost immediately.
The train is too short.
The crystal pattern does not quite match.
Even the shoulder line differs from the famous photograph.
Before she can discover why, the gown is found covered in vivid blood-red paint on the morning of the gala. At the same time, Malcolm Rook, the event's principal sponsor, disappears as a worsening snowstorm cuts the hotel off from the outside world.
While Naomi Price keeps the guests, hotel staff and rescue operation under control, Eleanor begins tracing the gown's history.
Old photographs, forgotten auction catalogues, couture workshop records, a dresser's handwritten notes and one missing word gradually reveal a far more intriguing story.
Because there wasn't one white gown in 1964.
There were two.
And as Eleanor separates the histories of White I and White II, another question becomes unavoidable:
Who in the present was desperate enough to stop the truth from being revealed before the gala?
The White Evening Gown is an elegant Alpine cosy mystery filled with couture, provenance research, winter glamour, old photographs, gentle humour and a mystery in which the identity of an object matters more than a body count.