Secret Mischief
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The discovery of a body in a pigsty, shot to death, leads Coroner Titus Cragg and Dr Luke Fidelis into a complex and baffling murder investigation.
April, 1746. When County Coroner Titus Cragg is called to examine a body found shot to death at a local farm, he finds himself drawn into a bizarre and complex case where nothing is as it first appears. As he questions those who knew the victim, it becomes clear that not everyone is telling him the whole truth.
Could the motive for the murder lie in a dangerous contract the dead man had signed more than twenty years before, a so-called tontine agreement? Just what does the victim's enigmatic lawyer, Ambrose Parr, know that he's not revealing? As he and Dr Luke Fidelis attempt to track down the six other signatories to the contract, Titus realizes that if they do not find answers – and fast – more violent deaths will surely follow.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1746 Lancashire, Blake's gripping seventh mystery featuring coroner Titus Cragg and physician Luke Fidelis (after 2020's Death and the Chevalier) finds Cragg answering farmer Richard Giggleswick's plea for an inquest into "the death of a member of the family." But the deceased turns out to be a pig, and Cragg leaves the farm feeling both irritated and amused. Three days later, someone fatally shoots Giggleswick near his piggery. When Cragg investigates, he discovers a document that links the farmer to a group of people who made a wager with dangerous consequences more than 20 years before. Aided by the impulsive, passionate Fidelis, Cragg shows intelligence, fairness, and an ability to strategize as he tries to determine whether subsequent deaths are natural or otherwise. The well-paced unfolding of the group's hidden secrets more than compensates for the relatively weak resolution, which involves the fates of an arrogant lawyer and a former prostitute. Historical fans will be well satisfied.
