The Dragonfly Brooch (A Charlie Gilchrist Mystery Book 2) by Estella McQueen

Author:Estella McQueen [McQueen, Estella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-04-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Celia was idly wheeling her chair up and down the issues desk, swinging it back and forth as he approached.

‘Oh there you are,’ she said. ‘I’ve found a copy of Baxter’s memoirs. It was published in the 1930s, round about the same time as Minnie’s biography; it appears there was a brief swell of interest in him, chiefly down to his close relationships with some of the actors and actresses he professed to comment on. He fancied himself as a bit of a George Bernard Shaw figure or something of that stature. Faded reputation these days. Clever man, though. Your Minnie Etherege Devine gets a mention, and an actress called Agnes Partington. He was close to both of them. Minnie was jealous of Agnes. Quelle surprise.’

‘Brilliant. Thank you very much.’

The book was a cold, heavy, slab of literature, its pages thin as a bible’s, crinkly like poppy petals. The mustiness was off-putting, the yellow-edged paper faintly repulsive. The book had been reissued a number of times, but then fallen out of print and lost to the public eye. There must be millions of books like this, he considered, rich with lives now forgotten, waiting for someone to stumble across their ghostly protagonists, and be amazed and inspired all over again. Sometimes it was a burden, this gift, this ability to rediscover long-lost characters and their former essence and vitality, but if everyone could do it, there’d be no need for painstaking historical research: sifting through documents, tomes and tracts; analysing artefacts; excavating earthworks; unearthing pots and utensils, jewellery and coins. Nothing would ever be lost or forgotten, buried or hidden if everyone had the facility to see into the past. How was it fair that some lives were recalled and pored over and reinterpreted time and time again, whilst others fell into obscurity? Who made the decision that one life deserved more attention than another? Why was the celebrity lifestyle more venerated than the obscure yet arguably more accomplished one?

Baxter had been a “celebrity”, of sorts. He’d been well known in certain theatrical circles. And so had Minnie for a time. And Charlie was about to find out how closely entwined the two individuals had become.

Neither chronological nor biographical, the book was complicated in structure with sections divided into letters, diary extracts and published articles. It wasn’t just the flavour of the era that Baxter’s writings revealed. His behaviour was manipulative, craven and obsessive, but he was also witty, clever and powerful; once in his orbit, it would be difficult for anyone to break free. After a few minutes flicking back and forth Charlie at last came across something useful: excerpts from Baxter’s diary making reference to Minnie.

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