A Grave Man
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
A murder mystery featuring Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne.
Verity Browne and Lord Edward Corinth are attending a memorial in Westminster when the service is interrupted by a young woman's desperate cry for help. Too late, they find Maude Pitt-Messanger's father slumped in his seat, stabbed to death with an ancient Assyrian dagger.
Verity travels to Swifts Hill, Sir Simon Castlewood's Kent estate, to investigate the murder, where she begins to discover more about Maud's father: the old man was selfish and cruel, and had prevented Maude from marrying the man she loved, making his daughter's life miserable.
When Maud herself is stabbed to death with a dagger from Sir Castlewood archaeological collection, Edward and Verity join forces to unmask the killer. However, Verity's growing attraction to young German aristocrat Adam von Trott drives a wedge between the two friends - bringing them both unhappiness and endangering the outcome of their investigation...
Praise for David Roberts:
'A classic murder mystery [...] and a most engaging pair of amateur sleuths' Charles Osborne, author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie
'A really well-crafted and charming mystery story' Daily Mail
'A perfect example of golden-age mystery traditions with the cobwebs swept away' Guardian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Roberts's convoluted 1930s historical lacks the amusing spark of earlier entries in the series (The More Deceived, etc.). Lord Edward Corinth, unofficial troubleshooter for the British Foreign Office, and Verity Browne, foreign correspondent for the New Gazette, are attending a memorial service at Westminster Abbey, when an eminent archeologist is stabbed to death. After the police fail to make a speedy arrest, the pair agree to investigate quietly on their own. Unfortunately, this is about the last thing they agree on. Mr. Churchill, "a fat, over-the-hill politician," according to Verity, asks Edward to look into a foundation funded by Sir Simon Castlewood, who may be a Nazi sympathizer underwriting projects related to "racial hygiene." Lady Castlewood is a school chum of Verity's, so Verity goes to their home at Swifts Hill, where even a second murder can't make the protagonists see eye-to-eye. As usual, Roberts does a fine job of elucidating the politics of the period, but the cooling of relations between Lord Edward and Verity puts a definite damper on the crime solving.
