The Wild Wood Enquiry

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Authors: Ann Purser

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Praise for

The Measby Murder Enquiry

“A pleasant read, evoking Saint Mary Mead and Miss Marple with its atmosphere of surface calm and hidden demons. It’s a solid book, cleverly plotted and tightly structured, with all the makings of a perennial favorite.”


Curled Up with a Good Book

The Hangman’s Row Enquiry

“A delightful spin-off.”


Genre Go Round Reviews

“Full of wit, venom and bonding between new friends.”


The Romance Readers Connection

“Purser’s Ivy Beasley is a truly unique character, a kind of cross between Jessica Fletcher, Miss Marple and Mrs. Slocum from
Are You Being Served?
—just a delightful, eccentric old darling that readers are sure to embrace. Pair this with Purser’s charming storytelling technique, and you have a fast-paced tale that will keep readers guessing to the very end.”


Fresh Fiction

Praise for the

Lois Meade Mysteries

“First-class work in the English-village genre: cleverly plotted, with thoroughly believable characters, rising tension and a smashing climax.”


Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“Well paced, cleverly plotted and chock-full of cozy glimpses of life in a small English village.”


Booklist

“Purser’s expertise at portraying village life and Lois’s role as a working-class Miss Marple combine to make this novel—and the entire series—a treat.”


Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Fans of British ‘cozies’ will enjoy this delightful mystery, with its quaint setting and fascinating players.”


Library Journal

“A strong plot and believable characters, especially the honest, down-to-earth Lois, are certain to appeal to a wide range of readers.”


Publishers Weekly

“The characters are fun. The setting is wonderful… Anyone who delights in an English village mystery will have a good time with this book.”


Gumshoe Review

“[Lois Meade is] an engaging amateur sleuth.”


Genre Go Round Reviews

Titles by Ann Purser

Lois Meade Mysteries

MURDER ON MONDAY

TERROR ON TUESDAY

WEEPING ON WEDNESDAY

THEFT ON THURSDAY

FEAR ON FRIDAY

SECRETS ON SATURDAY

SORROW ON SUNDAY

WARNING AT ONE

TRAGEDY AT TWO

THREATS AT THREE

FOUL PLAY AT FOUR

Ivy Beasley Mysteries

THE HANGMAN’S ROW ENQUIRY

THE MEASBY MURDER ENQUIRY

THE WILD WOOD ENQUIRY

The
Wild Wood
Enquiry

ANN PURSER

BERKLEY PRIME CRIME, NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

THE WILD WOOD ENQUIRY

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / May 2012

Copyright © 2012 by Ann Purser.

Cover illustration by Griesbach/Martucci.

Cover design by George Long.

Interior text design by Laura K. Corless.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

ISBN: 978-1-101-58079-0

BERKLEY
®
PRIME CRIME

Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

BERKLEY
®
PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

For Philippa and her little boys.

Table of Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-­one

Twenty-­two

Twenty-­three

Twenty-­four

Twenty-­five

Twenty-­six

Twenty-­seven

Twenty-­eight

Twenty-­nine

Thirty

Thirty-­one

Thirty-­two

Thirty-­three

Thirty-­four

Thirty-­five

Thirty-­six

Thirty-­seven

Thirty-­eight

Thirty-­nine

Forty

Forty-­one

Forty-­two

Forty-­three

Forty-­four

Forty-­five

Forty-­six

Forty-­seven

Forty-­eight

Forty-­nine

Fifty

Fifty-­one

Fifty-­two

Fifty-­three

Fifty-­four

One

“FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE, scram!”

Ivy Beasley pulled the duvet over her head and vowed that she would not rise from her bed until the cleaners had finished the corridors of her residential home. They had been outside her door for hours, filling the morning with loud vibrations, which she could feel all the way down to her toes. “They do it on purpose,” she muttered. “We’ve got the cleanest carpets in Barrington!”

Katya, the Polish care assistant, would be knocking at her door any time now with morning tea and plain digestive biscuits. Only then would she sit up, take deep draughts of hot tea, and dial her fiancé on an extension number to wish him a fond good morning.

Ivy Beasley was in her seventies or early eighties—she varied the number according to who was listening—and her fiancé, Roy Goodman, was roughly the same age. Both lived in Springfields Luxury Retirement Home, in the
Suffolk village of Barrington, where they had met, fallen in love, and become engaged. Grumblings from the home’s manager, Mrs. Spurling, about having enough trouble without romance rearing its ugly head, were countered by her assistant, Miss Pinkney. She considered Ivy’s love affair with Roy the most lovely thing she had experienced in half a lifetime of caring for old people.

The engagement was not the only Beasley thorn in Mrs. Spurling’s flesh. Ivy had arrived at the home from Round Ringford, a village in the Midlands, full of complaints and requests for special privileges, and then to everyone’s astonishment, she had set up a private enquiry agency with a mysterious and, thought some, decidedly suspect character, Augustus Halfhide.

The third and fourth members of Enquire Within were Roy and Ivy’s cousin, Deirdre Bloxham, much younger, rich and flighty, who lived in a large house not far from Springfields. It had been Deirdre who persuaded Ivy to move, and at first she was quite sure she had made a grave mistake. Ivy was a pain and a pest. But then, as she grew to appreciate the old lady’s courage and persistence, she realised that her own life since she was widowed some years ago, which had been filled with good works and hairdressers’ appointments, was now much improved.

“GOOD MORNING, MY love! How are you? Well, I trust?” Roy had been awake for some time, thinking about how his life had changed since Ivy arrived at Springfields. He had been coasting to a dismal end, and now he greeted each day with enthusiasm.

“Fighting fit, thanks,” said Ivy. “Ready for breakfast?” She had already had two cups of Katya’s tea and cleared
the plate of biscuits but was looking forward to a smoked kipper with lots of white bread and butter, real butter. Mrs. Spurling had advised wholemeal bread and Bertolli healthy spread, but Ivy had replied tartly that at her great age it wouldn’t matter much, would it?

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