Crimes of Cymru: Classic Mystery Tales of Wales by Martin Edwards (ed)

Crimes of Cymru: Classic Mystery Tales of Wales by Martin Edwards (ed)

Author:Martin Edwards (ed) [Edwards, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: traditional British mysteries, Welsh literature, Golden age crime, crime fiction anthology, classic detective stories, regional mysteries, Welsh holiday reading
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Published: 2023-05-16T14:00:00+00:00


Dr. Kinsey, Prendergast and Superintendent Wilson had drawn their chairs up to the study fire after an excellent dinner. It had been a lovely day; but the evening had turned chilly, and the warmth was pleasant.

“Well, Harry, this has been another of your one-day non-stop records,” Michael observed. “But I still don’t see what motive this nephew of the squire’s had for killing the parson. If Sir Mortimer had killed him, that would have been intelligible—a clear case of odium theologicum moving a madman to the point of murder. But this chap who did it, from all I can hear, wasn’t a madman, but merely a very nasty piece of goods. He had nothing to gain by the murder that I can see.”

“That’s because you weren’t with me when I helped the local police search the Rectory this afternoon. We found a letter there, addressed to the Rector, alleging that Caradog Jenkyn had been embezzling Sir Mortimer’s property. You know he had the management of the estate in his hands. Then we learnt from the Rector’s housekeeper that Caradog had been at the Rectory the day before yesterday, and there had been a stormy interview. It looks as if the Rector had sent for him and threatened to expose him unless he repented and made restitution. That is indicated by a prayer for some unnamed sinner we found written out in the Rector’s hand in his study. Caradog had no intention of repenting, and couldn’t have made restitution even if he had been prepared to. His first idea was to prevent the exposure by shutting the Rector’s mouth. And then, I imagine, he got the notion that he might be able to kill two birds with one stone—kill the Rector and, if it didn’t get turned off as an accident, get Sir Mortimer charged with the murder. Of course, he expected to inherit the estate when the old man died.

“So he must have got into the church, and filed away the hook that held the canopy of the pulpit until it was only just strong enough to hold. I blame myself for not having made certain that the hook hadn’t been tampered with when I noticed its weakness yesterday, while the Rector was showing me over the church. But Jenkyn had darkened the place over, so that it couldn’t be seen that it had been filed away until it was examined carefully from close to.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that, Harry. There was absolutely no reason to suspect foul play until it had actually happened.”

Wilson made a wry face. He said, “There so seldom is. That’s the trouble of it. That is why the police are so much better at detecting murder than at preventing it.”

“At all events, no one can hold you to blame, Harry.”

“Perhaps not. But I ought to have gone to more trouble when I had noticed that the thing was dangerous. I do blame myself.”

“That’s nonsense, Harry.”

Wilson shrugged his shoulders. “In any case, the mischief’s done.



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