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Cynthia E. Hurst Mysteries
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Lilax Books
Type: Fiction
Pages: 212
Copyright: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN-13: 9798340258410
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Can a rascal become respectable?
No one expected good behavior from Marcus Alden, an artist who had always enjoyed shocking the residents of his home town. But to become involved in a murder almost as soon as he returned from a four-year absence was too much to tolerate, even for those who found him amusing rather than outrageous. Can a rascal ever become respectable? That's the question, as clock repairer Jacob Silver and his wife Sarah help the police discover who wants the artist permanently out of the picture.
Excerpt
Jacob turned quickly and saw Marcus Alden coming up behind them. He had obviously overheard Sarah’s remark, which made Jacob wonder if the artist had been silently following them through the Ashmolean. He didn’t think so; Alden was hard to miss.
“I hoped I would find you here, Mr Silver,” he was saying. “The owner of the Carman Gallery said you had called in and heard you mention that you were going to the Ashmolean, so I thought I’d take a chance. I didn’t want to interrupt your appreciation of fine art, but now that you are about to leave that establishment …”
“We are actually on our way to the rail station to take the train back to Witney,” Jacob said, wondering why the artist was so eager to find them. “Good afternoon, Mr Alden. It’s been quite a while since we last met, hasn’t it?”
He was amused to note that whatever Alden had been doing in the four years since they had last seen him, his attitude toward correct dress hadn’t changed. He was garbed in a collection of clothing that might have come from various sources, none of them elegant. His coat was an ancient tweed, with a multi-colored scarf wound around his neck, the ends flapping in the spring breeze. A yellow shirt could just be glimpsed below it, and his trousers, which had once been black, were now faded to gray. A pair of scuffed boots and a rakish black hat perched on a wild crop of tousled hair completed the ensemble.
“It has indeed,” Alden said. “More than four years, I believe it is, since I shook the dust of Oxfordshire off my boots.”
“And now you have returned?”
“I have indeed. Whether I shall stop in England permanently is open to question.”
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