A Ladder of Death

by Edward J. Laurie


Formats

Softcover
£10.75
Softcover
£10.75

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 28/06/2001

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 220
ISBN : 9780759637207

About the Book

Pity the valiant but luckless Maryann Morley. Three times she marries men of wealth. Three times her husbands, shortly after, fall from the very same trail on a Big Sur cliff to the rocks below. All the falls are fatal. Three times Maryann’s wealth increases astronomically. Suspicious? Of course. Villainy at work? Probably. Anything provable? Unfortunately not.

With a fourth wedding in the offing, can the timely arrival on the scene of Professor Simon Fraser, his young assistant, Tom McElrath and that mighty seer and medium, Millicent Zacharias prevent another fatal descent on the part of the fourth husband-to-be, or will John Woodward prove luckless too?

Will the arrival of Contessa Maria Dellarova and her new young aide, Carrie Dubois, ultimately reveal a dark secret and tragedy from Simon’s past? Perhaps.

And why has the mercurial Lucian Angelos appeared on the scene again after so long an absence? Who is he? Or deeper yet, what is he? Possibly Millicent Zacharias can provide an answer with her Tarot cards and crystal ball. But then, maybe not.


About the Author

I rather think the publishing of five mysteries in one year is quite sufficient. It’s the sort of thing that happens when you find yourself retired and turn your attention to that book you were always going to write if the exigencies of the college classroom and teaching for over half a century hadn’t been the most important work at hand.

Once having created an imaginary world of fictional people, one is loath to give them up and bid them permanent farewell. The old standbys were created in The Borgia Blade and, quite naturally, have insisted on reappearing in A Little Pinch of Death, The Seven Keys of Sara Seldon, The Detective Club, and now, A Ladder of Death.

That really ought to do it, but the aging Professor Simon Fraser, his impertinent young assistant Tom McElrath, and the good Lieutenant Campbell of the Ben Nevis Homicide Department have their work cut out for them. Or rather, they seem to have my work cut out for me. There will be another tale of mayhem and murder yet to come.

In any event, everyone eventually has to surrender to the redoubtable Millicent Zacharias with her Tarot cards and crystal ball. As she would say: "Let’s get on with it!"

Ed Laurie