Death of a Poison Pen by M. C Beaton

Author:M. C Beaton [Beaton, M. C]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery, Traditional British, Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General, Hamish (Fictitious Character), Highlands, Police, Scotland, MacBeth, Mystery Fiction, Police - Scotland - Highlands, Highlands (Scotland), Anonymous Letters
ISBN: 9780892967889
Google: C0TleGEL_FkC
Amazon: 0446614890
Barnesnoble: 0446614890
Goodreads: 821178
Publisher: Warner Books
Published: 2004-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Hamish returned to the police station to find a grey-haired woman waiting outside. “Constable Macbeth?” she asked doubtfully, looking up at Hamish and then down to the peculiar-looking dog at his heels.

“The same. And you are?”

“Mrs. Dinwiddie. Miss Beattie’s sister.”

“Come into the station,” said Hamish.

In the kitchen, she sat down primly on the edge of a chair and crossed her ankles. She wore her grey hair in an old-fashioned bun. Her face looked tight and her mouth was a thin line. Hamish wondered briefly if it had got that way after years of clamping down on emotions. Then he reminded himself that her sister had recently been murdered and she may have just been holding grief at bay.

He made two mugs of tea and then said gently, “How can I help you?”

“I heard about you,” she said, “from Amy, my sister. She always said you were so clever. I’ve had enough of that Detective Blair. I want to know if you are any further forward in finding out who killed Amy.”

“At the moment, no,” said Hamish. “But I will,” he added, with a confidence he did not feel. “Depend on that. Tell me about your sister. Why did she leave home?”

“It happened when I was away at the university in Edinburgh,” said Mrs. Dinwiddie. “She wrote to me and said she couldn’t stand living at home any longer. Our parents were very religious, very strict. It was easier for me because they were proud of me getting to university. Anyway, I wasn’t a rebel like Amy. Amy wanted to wear make-up and go out with the boys, and they kept locking her in her room. Then they would get members of the congregation round to read the Bible to her and lecture her. One day, she just took off. Father said her name was never to be mentioned again.”

“What did she work at before she came up to Braikie?”

“She worked in a supermarket as a checkout girl. Actually, she was pretty bright at school, but fell to pieces just before the final exams. I think Father was harder on her than he ever was on me. I used to worry that she might have a breakdown. I wrote to her about their deaths, but she didn’t bother to come to the funerals.”

“What about boyfriends?”

“She would be allowed those but only if it was some fellow from the church. She was seen out with a bunch of bikers and locked in her room for two weeks after that. I never knew if there was anyone special. She didn’t tell me.”

Perth, thought Hamish. Perhaps the secret lies somewhere in her past.

“Did the police give you her papers? Old photographs? Things like that?” he asked.

“Not yet. They are going to release them to me soon.”

“I would like to see them. You see, Mrs. Dinwiddie, sometimes if I can form a picture of a person and their background, I can get an idea of why they might have been killed.”

“I’ll send them to you.”

“When’s the funeral?”

“Tomorrow, in Perth.

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