Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House by M. C Beaton

Author:M. C Beaton [Beaton, M. C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Traditional British, Fiction, Women Sleuths, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9780312994822
Google: SqPLrvqQHx8C
Amazon: 0312994826
Barnesnoble: 0312994826
Goodreads: 278557
Publisher: Chivers Press
Published: 2003-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Murder was forgotten as the excited pair set out for Worcester in the morning. The sun shone down on the Vale of Evesham, stretching all the way to the Malvern Hills. Agatha was driving. She was in control. She had a handsome man beside her who had kissed her last night and she was off on a treasure hunt.

The first cloud appeared on the horizon of her mind when she parked outside the records’ office and Paul said cautiously, “Worcester’s a very big place. Must have been relatively small by comparison in the seventeenth century.”

“Don’t be a downer,” said Agatha. “Timmin’s Field, here we come.”

Inside the records’ office, they asked for maps of Worcester for the period covering the mid-seventeenth century.

“Rats!” said Agatha as they both bent over it. “Worcester is small.”

“Let’s see. North,” said Paul. “Look north.”

His long finger moved to the north of the city. “There it is!” he cried. “Timmin’s Field. Timmin must have been a tenant farmer. It’s part of the Burnhaddomm estate.”

“Let’s go,” said Agatha, beside herself with excitement. “We should buy a metal detector first. We—”

“Agatha,” said Paul, “I think we should look at a present-day map of Worcester. That field might be covered over by now.”

“Oh, I’ve brought the map with me.” Agatha fished it out of her capacious handbag.

They opened it up and compared it with the seventeenth-century one.

“It’s been built over. It’s a shopping mall. And houses for miles around as well.”

“We’ll go and look anyway,” said Agatha, determined. “Timmin’s Field might be a car-park now or something that could be dug up.”

“But Worcester continued to spread out since 1651,” said Paul. “I think we should look at eighteenth-and nineteenth-century maps first.”

“Why?”

“Think, Agatha. Any building on that field means the ground would be dug up. Deep digging to make cellars for houses. The treasure would be found, and believe me, whoever found it would keep quiet about it.”

They got the eighteenth-and nineteenth-century maps and pored over them. “Look here,” said Paul. “The nineteenth-century one. Rows and rows of houses right over where Timmin’s Field was, and even a church.”

“That can’t be right. They wouldn’t bulldoze a church!”

Paul got to his feet and returned with a map of Worcester dated 1945. “There’s your answer,” he said. “That area was bombed during the war. Let’s return all these maps.”

Outside, Agatha said stubbornly, “I still want to see it.”

“As you wish, but it’s hopeless. You drive, I’ll direct you.”

Agatha finally pulled up outside a giant shopping mall. “How big would you say Timmin’s Field was?” she asked.

“Six acres, I guess.”

“Well, that monstrosity is over six acres. You’re right. With all that building and digging, the treasure’s long gone.”

“And we’re left with a valuable record of the Civil War and we can’t tell anyone how we got it,” said Paul. “Let’s have something to eat and decide what to do next.”

“I want comfort food, junk food,” said Agatha.

“Then turn around and go back a bit. I saw one of those all-day breakfast places.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.