Slaughter in the Cotswolds (24 page)
Read Slaughter in the Cotswolds Online
Authors: Rebecca Tope
In need of comfort before her mother arrived, she fetched the sheepskin that Henry Galton had given her, and laid it on the sofa. Inviting Hepzie to join her, she curled up on the warm wool, and thought about Emily and Bruce and Sam Webster and how Emily’s lies had made no real difference to anything. And would she see Phil again sometime soon? Probably, she concluded. He too would need a degree of debriefing, after
a misguided murder investigation that had turned out to be so close to him personally. Precisely where it would leave their relationship remained to be seen.
‘Lock the doors, Daddy!’ shouted Ignatius. ‘Lock the doors.’
As in previous titles, this story is set in a real village. However, the farms, houses and characters are all the products of my imagination. The Manor Hotel is an amalgam of a number of establishments in the area.
The lines on page 13 are from a hymn by John of Damascus.
R
EBECCA
T
OPE
lives on a smallholding in Herefordshire, with a full complement of livestock, but manages to travel the world and enjoy civilisation from time to time as well. Most of her varied experiences and activities find their way into her books, sooner or later. Her own cocker spaniel, Beulah, is the model for Hepzibah, but is unfortunately ageing much more rapidly.
www.rebeccatope.com
By Rebecca Tope
I
N THE
C
OTSWOLD SERIES
A Cotswold Killing
A Cotswold Ordeal
Death in the Cotswolds
A Cotswold Mystery
Blood in the Cotswolds
Slaughter in the Cotswolds
Fear in the Cotswolds
A Grave in the Cotswolds
Deception in the Cotswolds
O
THER TITLES
The Sting of Death
A Market for Murder
Grave Concerns
Allison & Busby Limited
13 Charlotte Mews
London W1T 4EJ
www.allisonandbusby.com
Copyright © 2009 by R
EBECCA
T
OPE
First published in hardback by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2009.
Published in paperback by Allison & Busby Ltd in 2010.
This ebook edition first published in 2010.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–0883–3