Superintendent Ditteridge
3 total works
When Holly Dunthorne returns home to the village of Roydon Saint Agnes she finds that a friend, Marcus Meriden, has been accused of beating up an old man. There are witnesses who say they saw it happen, and the only one who might possibly clear him stays stubbornly silent.
But when murder happens and a newcomer to the village seems to attract everyone's attention, Holly finds everything has changed, not least her old friends, the Meridens, among whom she feels herself a stranger - and afraid.
It is at a party that Richard Hedon first hears about the mysterious Paul Clyro and his sudden disappearance. Clyro had been a scientist, doing secret work on viruses with a colleague named Wolsingham. But when Wolsingham committed suicide, Clyro found the body and promptly vanished without a trace.
Richard's curiosity is piqued, and he follows Clyro's trail - all the way to Madeira, where a man known as Gavin Chilmark is living a comfortable life free from any breath of suspicion . . .
Martha Crayle trusted everyone, so when the frightened girl arrived at the National Guild for the Welfare of Unmarried Mothers on that drizzly, cold autumn afternoon, Martha gladly took her to the spacious Victorian house where in harder times she had taken in lodgers. But her one remaining boarder, grumpy Mr Syme, was sure the girl was lying.
And the very next day, when Martha brought home a saucy girl with lilac lipstick, Mr Syme was positive she was lying too. Martha still wasn't convinced - until one of the unfortunate girls involved them all in a sinister murder.