M.A. Lee writes romantic suspense and historical
murder mysteries. Her Hearts in
Hazard series is set in the Regency era of Great Britain. Today her protagonist, Constable Hector
Evans, shares with us a letter he wrote to the London Magistrate regarding a
case he’s working on. Learn more about M.A. and her books at her website.
To Magistrate William Sampson, Bow Street, London
From Constable Hector Evans, Chalmsley Court
I write to report a series of three murders, with the
same modus operandi and a curious
lack of evidence and witnesses.
My current theory of the murder is that debutantes
should snare fiancés, not murder them.
That wasn’t my first theory of the crime when Lord
Chalmsley reported the murder of one of his guests. I expected a shooting disguised as a hunting accident. But William Kennington, a young man in
good health, died in his bed. Nor
was that my first thought when we found another guest with his blood staining
the sheets and soaking into the mattress.
Barrington Pierpont died in the same manner as had Kennington. Now we have found Edmund Tretheway
killed in the same manner. And the
little bit of evidence that I do have points to one of the women, either a
guest or a member of the family.
The three men have in common that all were recently betrothed, two of
them to young ladies associated with Chalmsley Court. And one of those ladies is Bee Seddars, the woman I love.
As you know, sir, Chalmsley Court is the typical
English manor of a typical English peer.
Lord Chalmsley keeps as tight a finger on the estate as he does on his
family. While the Court does not
often host parties, people are eager to visit, and the house has several
families as guests in celebration of recent engagements. The expansive gardens and well-run
stables are known throughout the district. Servants rush to perform the family’s bidding. The house even has a mad woman in the
attic, Mad Aunt Beth as she is known, an aunt of Lady Chalmsley who has lived
on the fringes of the family for years.
I know all this because I spent my formative years at
the great house. I can still walk
the garden paths with my eyes shut.
I know without thinking the number of minutes needed to walk to the
stables and kennels far beyond the kitchen garden. The house rises above a meandering river. Every time I see it I remember the hours
that I dallied with Beatrice Seddars—until his lordship sent me to London to
work with you and your Bow Street Runners, chasing criminals on London’s sooty
streets.
When I arrived here at the Court to investigate the
murder, I thought I knew all the secrets of the house. I have discovered that I do not know
any of the recent secrets. Mad Aunt
Beth with her riddling snippets of ballads hints at recent troubles. And Lord Chalmsley doesn’t accept that
I can find no murder weapon or no evidence and that I have too many suspects to
solve this case quickly.
Sir, I must admit that one of my chief problems with
the suspects is that one of them is Bee.
I still love her, and I doubt my objectivity around her. The third man dead was Bee’s fiancé,
and she is a little too cool about his death. I remind myself that she admitted she did not love him. I worry that her coolness is because
she murdered him.
Who had a reason to kill all three men? To find that answer I will need a key
to the secrets of Chalmsley Court.
I admit that I want to trust what Bee tells me. Yet she could be diverting my attention
from her guilt. What do Mad Aunt
Beth’s clues mean? Is she helping
me, or is she just insane? Who had
a reason to kill three men?
The evidence is here, sir. I must find it.
When I do so, you may trust that I will see the culprit gaoled. Nor matter who she is.
Sincerely,
Hector Evans, Constable
The Key to
Secrets
Hearts in
Hazard series, Book 7
Debutantes should snare fiancés, not murder them.
When Constable Hector Evans returns to Chalmsley
Court, he doesn’t expect the violent crime to be the murder of one of Lord
Chalmsley’s guests. His lordship wants a quick resolution, before gossip about
the crime’s salacious nature and trap-like killing becomes widespread. With no
murder weapon, no identifiable clues, and no eyewitnesses, Hector has little to
build a case, but he has plenty of suspects, even when he realizes the murderer
must be a woman.
Watch the trailer.
Thank you for this opportunity.
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