Murder in the Devil's Half Acre by Rose Pascoe

Author:Rose Pascoe [Pascoe, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Victorian mystery novels, historical murder mysteries, historical mystery crime romance, historical mystery woman sleuth doctor, historical mystery womens rights workers rights, Victorian detective mysteries
Publisher: Flax Bay Books
Published: 2022-05-31T22:00:00+00:00

TWO HOURS LATER, BACK at the Macmillan home, Charlie could still feel the burn of Will Finlay’s plea. Whichever way he churned the evidence over in his brain, his gut told him that Will was innocent. The question was, how could he prove it, when the case was not his to investigate? Much as he hated to admit it, he might well have to rely on Grace Penrose’s unerring ability to extract information out of the people he was unable to interview himself. Ironic that he might end up as her shadow, rather than the other way around.

He glanced at the mantelpiece clock. Where was she? The stab of worry he felt at her late return to the house was the downside to having an extra pair of eyes and ears. Trouble seemed to find her, or vice versa, with a regularity that did his blood pressure no good at all.

The front door banged open and rapid steps pattered down the hall, stopping only to thump a heavy object on the hall table. Her medical bag, no doubt. The door to the drawing room swung open with a liveliness that threatened the hinges.

Anne looked up from the card table, where she and Lily had been chattering away like long lost friends, despite their thirty-year age difference. “Grace, home at last. You look like something the cat dragged in.”

“It’s been a long day, Auntie. One of the Potts boys managed to fall out of a tree as I was walking home. Fortunately, he escaped with a sprained ankle and a few scratches, but I had to pull him out of a blackberry patch.”

“Looking after this neighbourhood is a Sissyfussian task ... I mean a Sisyphean task,” Anne agreed.

Grace picked up the half-empty bottle of sherry, which was sitting amidst a debris of plates, glasses and scattered cribbage pegs, boards and cards. “Sounds like you two ladies are having a fine old time. I could hear your cackles from the far end of the hall. I hope you are not leading Lily astray?”

Lily giggled, a tiny tinkle compared to Anne’s raucous laugh.

Grace rolled her eyes, although she was secretly delighted to see her great-aunt so merry. “I’m ravenous. What’s that heavenly smell?”

“Lily made some delicious little savoury dumplings to serve with drinks before dinner. At least, that is what they were supposed to be for, but I fear I may have eaten more than my share.”

“I set some aside for you, Grace, in the kitchen.” Lily put down her cards. “I’ll get them.”

Charlie jumped to his feet. “No need. I can show Grace where they are.”

He led the way down the hall to the kitchen, seating Grace at the scarred wooden table and setting the plate of dumplings, still warm from the range, in front of her.

Grace studied his face. “What’s happened, Charlie? I’ve seen happier expressions on the terminally ill.” She got up to get an extra fork and pushed the plate of dumplings into the middle of the table.

“On the whole, it was one of the best days of my life.

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.