SUSPEK · MURDER MYSTERIES
One murder. One victim. 47,000 suspects.
A series of puzzle books where the killer hides among thousands of first names.
CHRISTMAS EDITION
London
ADVANCEDLondon, the last Saturday before Christmas, five o'clock. The blind goes up on the day's Advent window at Cradock's in Covent Garden, and behind the glass, on the miniature street, lies Julian Fenn, forty-nine, the store's Head of Christmas. Inspector Hartmann pushes the Nice List across the grotto's stand: every child who has sat with Father Christmas in sixty years, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
Aberdeen
ADVANCEDAberdeen, a night in Advent, an easterly gale shutting the harbour. Morag Leask, fifty-eight, keeper of the old coast station's Greetings Log, is found before midnight on the granite below the gallery of the watch house at the harbour mouth. Inspector Hartmann lays the Log on the table: forty-five Christmases of greetings between ships and homes, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
Glasgow
ADVANCEDGlasgow, the small hours of Boxing Day. The church hall in the East End has served its free Christmas dinner in two sittings, paper hats and crackers and the urn on the boil, and the lights are still burning. On the kitchen floor lies Iain Shearer, seventy-four, who ran the dinner for thirty-one years. Inspector Hartmann opens the press behind the kitchen door: thirty-eight Christmases of place cards, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
THE FIRST CASE
Mayfair
BEGINNERMayfair, the morning after the dinner. Lady Constance Cavendish, seventy-three, the last of her line, lies slumped over the writing desk in the library at Cavendish House. Inspector Hartmann hands you her household guest book: forty-six years of names, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
THE SECOND CASE
Edinburgh
BEGINNEREdinburgh, the morning the Festival opens. Harriet MacKenzie, sixty-eight, the last of two generations of booksellers on the Royal Mile, lies slumped over the back-room desk between the Walter Scott collection and the cabinet of first editions. Inspector Hartmann opens her order book: ninety-eight years of customer names, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
THE THIRD CASE
Oxford
BEGINNEROxford, the morning after high table. Sir Edmund Hartwell, seventy-eight, President of Magdalen College since 2004, lies slumped in the wing chair beneath the portrait of Cardinal Wolsey in the President's Lodgings. Inspector Hartmann hands you the Lodgings Day Book: twenty-two years of Magdalen guests, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
THE FOURTH CASE
Bath
ADVANCEDBath, the Saturday of the Jane Austen Festival, 5:38 PM. Lady Imogen Pendarvis, seventy-one, retired Keeper of Costume and Honorary Archivist of the benefactor roll at the Holburne Museum, lies at her writing desk on the first floor of No. 11 The Circus. Inspector Hartmann opens the Holburne benefactor roll: 130 years of givers and lenders, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.
THE FIFTH CASE
York
ADVANCEDYork, the Saturday of Illuminating-York, 6:14 PM. Miss Edith Rowntree-Pearce, sixty-nine, retired Senior Archivist of the Borthwick Industrial Records and honorary editor of the Standing Committee, lies in the hallway of her terrace at 42 Bishophill Senior. Inspector Hartmann opens the Borthwick Industrial Records cross-reference: a century and a half of York chocolate-firm minute-books, 47,000 first names, seventeen clues, one killer.