A hitchhiker is caught in a murderous web.
His whole life, William Banks has been trying to escape his mother, who wants desperately for him to become a lawyer. Banks wants to paint, and when he gets the opportunity to attend art school in the next county, he jumps at the chance. It’s only forty miles, but it’s a start.
Getting to class, however, will be a deadly proposition. On his way there, Banks is picked up by Alf, a down-on-his-luck crook who has dreamed up a plan involving a fire, a burned body, and a dead hitchhiker. By all rights, Banks shouldn’t live to see morning, but a stroke of luck—and a very helpful village girl—help him escape death without his ever knowing he was in danger. Caught up in a bizarre case of missing identity, Banks must think quickly to save his own life—once he finally realizes someone is trying to kill him.
First Published January 1, 1976
This novelette is more of an adventure with a bit of comedy. It has a little mystery and lots of dead [bad] characters. The women in this short story are more prominent specially the wife of the bank robber. She is formidable both physically and mentally. The setting is 1970s but she wears a 60s bouffant hairstyle, think Amy Winehouse. The wig (hair extensions) adds 4 inches to her height and when she removes it for the night, it sits on the dresser looking like a Pekinese. LOL
The Assize of the Dying
In The Assize of The Dying, a defendant in an English courtroom is sentenced to death for a terrible slaying he insists he did not commit. Rising to his feet, Louis Stevenson places a medieval curse on the prosecutor, the judge, the jury foreman, and the actual killer—the four men responsible for his fate. Profoundly shaken by the condemned prisoner’s words, a young couple looking on believes Stevenson’s declaration of innocence. And their determination to uncover the truth only intensifies when two more deaths follow in quick succession.
In Aunt Helen, the seemingly civilized residents of a stately English country house keep secrets about love, marriage, adulthood, and desire hidden behind closed doors—until the “perfect murder” threatens to expose them.
First published in 1971
In The Assize of the Dying, there is a supernatural element, sort of, when the falsely accused hexed the judge, prosecutor, jury foreman, and the killer during the assize that if he dies in jail, all four will also die. He killed himself and all four people he cursed died one by one. There is a contrived romance in the novelette.
In Aunt Helen, I guessed who the villain is right away.
Most Loving Mere Folly
A pair of artists is undone by jealousy and despair on the outskirts of London
In a forgotten suburb of London recently leveled by German bombs, an artists’ colony has taken root. Theo Freeland spent the war painting, studiously avoiding danger, while his wife, Suspiria, made pottery during the day and drove ambulances at night. But now the war is over, and Theo spends his time drinking himself into a stupor while Suspiria tolerates him as best she can. She has her work, and that’s enough. After all, she and Theo are promised to each other—till death do they part. Death, as it happens, is right around the corner.
Suspiria’s life changes forever the night her husband is helped home by Dennis Forbes, a strapping young mechanic who can’t take his eyes off the drunkard’s wife. When Theo is later found poisoned, and Suspiria claims Dennis as her own, the village turns on them. But the real tragedy is yet to come.
Suspiria at 36 is 14 years older than Dennis and she is already married. Still, they fall in love a la Vronsky and Anna.. Expect tragic outcome. Poor Karenin, I mean Theo.
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Ellis Peters, the author of the Brother Cadfael mystery novels set during the medieval period, is the penname of Edith Pargeter. She is my favoritest author and her The Heaven Tree Trilogy sits at Number One on my favorites fiction books list.
