Murder in Hyde Park: a 1920s cozy historical mystery (A Ginger Gold Mystery Book 14) by Lee Strauss

Author:Lee Strauss [Strauss, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781774091272
Publisher: La Plume Press
Published: 2020-12-21T16:00:00+00:00

15

Ginger returned to Hartigan House—with only a few bruised kerbs and honking horns to guide her through the streets of London—in time for dinner. After parking in the garage, she strolled through the back floral-scented garden and the open French doors.

“The table is already set, madam,” her maid Lizzie said. “Would you like me to take Boss and give him a bite to eat?”

Ginger handed the leash to Lizzie. “I’m sure he’d be delighted.” Since moving to London from Boston, Boss had become a favourite of many people, Scout and Lizzie premium among them.

Thinking of Scout, she asked, “Would you happen to know where Scout is?”

“Last I saw him, madam, he was upstairs in the library working on his studies.”

“Very good. Please let Mrs. Beasley know we’ll be in the dining room in ten minutes. Is Mr. Reed here?”

Lizzie shook her head. “No, madam. I haven’t seen him.”

Since Basil’s Austin wasn’t in the garage, Ginger had surmised as much, but occasionally, he parked on the street in front of the house.

Upstairs, Ginger did, indeed, find Scout in the library, and to her surprise and great pleasure, found him with his little nose in a book.

“Hello, Scout.”

“Oh, hello, Mum.”

“I see you’re enjoying an afternoon delving in literary pursuits?”

Scout crinkled his nose, then, when understanding dawned, smiled his crooked-tooth smile. “You mean reading!”

Ginger chuckled as she stepped into the room. After moving back to Hartigan House, she’d made it a point to refurbish the library and fill the shelves with volumes of both classic and modern fiction and non-fiction. When Scout moved in, she’d made sure there were plenty of titles to entice his curious mind, though this was the first she’d seen of him reading for himself rather than being read to. Though recently turning twelve, Scout had been late to begin his education and had only just mastered the alphabet. She flushed with pride.

“Billy Whiskers.” His laughter bubbled as he held up the blue-bound book. “Such a funny goat!”

“Well, finish the page you’re on, and then wash for dinner.”

Scout slumped. “Yes, Mum.”

Ginger slipped off her shoes in her room and dropped into one of the creamy-white pincushion armchairs that flanked both sides of the tall windows. The aqua-green wallpaper and white Persian carpets were a perfect backdrop to the ornate wooden furniture—a decorative four-poster bed she shared with Basil, a matching dressing table, and a chest of drawers. Inhaling deeply, she let the calm of the room fill her.

Removing her hat and gloves and placing them on the table beside her, Ginger resisted the urge to lie down, having missed her chance at that luxury for the day. Instead, she crossed the room to her dressing table and stared in the mirror. Her eyebrows constantly needed plucking, a painful exercise every fashionable lady carried out in the name of beauty, and she used her tweezers to catch a few strays from the thin, deeply arched brows. After that, she brushed her bob, then applied a jewelled hair comb to the left side of her head to hold the waves off her face.

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