Constable crime
1 primary work • 3 total works
Book 2
When out walking on Arthur's Seat, high above the city of Edinburgh, Rose McQuinn discovers the body of a woman in the ruins of St Anthony's Chapel. She is even more astonished when on her return to the scene there is no evidence of either the victim or the local constable who had taken down Rose's story at the scene of the crime. Turning to her would-be lover, Rose finds the normally sympathetic Detective Sergeant Jack Macmerry doubtful over the validity of her story, especially as the Edinburgh City Police have received no record of the dead woman or P C Smith, the policeman who had originally come to Rose's aid. Although it would appear that both corpse and constable have disappeared into thin air, Rose is convinced that she had come across a murder that afternoon, yet her ensuing discreet investigation into the mystery of the vanishing corpse soon turns into a more dangerous pursuit. Is there a link between Rose's bogus constable and the disappearance of a policeman's uniform belonging to the local amateur opera group, currently performing The Pirates of Penzance?
Further complications arise when one of the cast members reports a missing wife; could she be Rose's disappearing corpse? Rose is unshakeable in her belief that there is a link between the two cases, and her determination to find a solution to this mystery leads her to a terrifying situation where she finds herself well rehearsed for the role as the murderer's second victim.
Further complications arise when one of the cast members reports a missing wife; could she be Rose's disappearing corpse? Rose is unshakeable in her belief that there is a link between the two cases, and her determination to find a solution to this mystery leads her to a terrifying situation where she finds herself well rehearsed for the role as the murderer's second victim.
In a desperate attempt to recover from the loss of her husband and her baby son, Rose McQuinn has returned home to Edinburgh from the American Wild West. It seems that everything has moved on in her absence, including her beloved stepbrother who has found favour at court and moved to London. But Rose has little time to ponder - her loneliness before she unwittingly steps into the shoes of her father, the legendary Detective Inspector Faro; by agreeing to investigate the strange behaviour of Matthew Bolton, husband to Rose's childhood friend Alice. Alice is convinced Matthew is having an affair but Rose suspects he may have been involved in something much more sinister - the brutal and still unsolved murder of a servant girl. If Rose continues her investigations surely she will break Alice's heart. But she is her father's daughter, and she cannot resist the urge to discover the truth. From her isolated home at the foot of Arthur's Seat and aided by a wild deerhound who has befriended her, Rose starts to piece things together, until she gets too near the truth and puts her own life in danger.
A long awaited holiday for Rose McQuinn, visiting her sister Emily in Orkney, takes on an unexpected and sinister twist when an archaeological dig for the grave of a 13th century princess, the Maid of Norway, unearths a corpse of a more recent date. And Rose, always the investigator, finds that the closer she comes to finding the killer, the more she risks destroying her family's happiness.