EBOOK
About
A strange beast is killing both livestock and humans in the Dordogne...
Business is booming for orchidologist Julian and interior designer Mara, but things take a horrifying turn when, in the wall of the sixteenth-century manor house she has been commissioned to restore, Mara's workmen find a mummified baby. Forensic analysis reveals that the baby had been smothered more than a hundred years before.
Julian discovers that the infant's shawl is embroidered with an exact likeness of a rare orchid he has been researching. Meanwhile Mara falls under suspicion in another more recent murder, linked not only to the mummified child but, seemingly, to the spectre of a werewolf . . .
As sinister revelations abound, so too do the legends and superstitions of the Dordogne. The breathtaking world of wild orchids and delectable Dordognais cookery provide atmosphere in equal part to the unraveling mystery. A superb and accomplished follow-up to Deadly Slipper. "All the subtle tension and foreboding of Hannibal Lecter meeting Jodie Foster's character in Silence of the Lambs. . . . Wan shows a mastery of mystery and an unmatched flair for the genre."
-Edmonton Journal Michelle Wan was born in Kunming, China, in the middle of an air raid. She has lived in India, the U.S., England, and Brazil, and has worked in Paris and Harare. She and her husband, a tropical horticulturalist, reside in Guelph, Ontario, and travel regularly to the Dordogne to photograph and chart wild orchids. She is the author of Deadly Slipper. 1
WEDNESDAY, 28 APRIL 2004
The first shattering blow echoed down the line of empty rooms. The big man stepped back, raised the iron mallet again. It struck home with another sickening thud.
Christophe de Bonfond recoiled at the first hit, turned away at the second. His normally cheerful face was pale.
"Je ne peux pas . . ." he murmured to his companion. "I can't. It really is too much."
"Then don't," Mara Dunn responded in French, drawing him away by the arm. She was a small, slim woman, forty-something, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that read in English: Outside of a dog a man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog it is very dark. This was attributed to Groucho Marx. Her head was topped with short-cropped hair. She had dark eyes, straight brows, and a decisive chin. Her expression, normally vivid, was at the moment tightly composed. Why had he insisted on being there? She said in an even tone that belied her exasperation, "We'll leave them to it, shall we?"
The little man nodded, shuddering as the steady, awful cadence of blows continued. In his haste to be gone, he pulled free of her and scuttled through a doorway leading into a small antechamber that gave access to the stairs.
"Smokey," Mara called over her shoulder, "I'll be down on the terrace with Monsieur de Bonfond if you and Theo need anything."
Aristophanes Serafim, otherwise known as Smokey the Greek because he was from Thessalonika and a chain smoker, paused in the middle of his swing. A limp Gitane clung like a tubular growth to his lower lip. His sweat-stained T-shirt was stretched over a barrel chest and a large belly.
"What would we need?" He spoke French with an accent as thick as feta cheese. The blunt head of the mallet completed its arc. A large sheet of plaster crashed down around him in a cloud of dust, exposing roughly dressed stone that had not seen the light of day for more than a hundred years. Smokey's younger brother, Theo, equally big, sledgehammer in hand, stepped up to inspect the damage.
"Well, just in case." Mara's eyes lingered anxiously on the pair. She had not worked with the brothers before and was not reassured by what she had seen so far. Their setup had been casual at best; the necessary precision of the task they were undertaking seemed beyond their comprehension. "Please try to take things down as carefully as possible." She glanced up. "You're sure of the bracing?" Her greatest fear was the
Business is booming for orchidologist Julian and interior designer Mara, but things take a horrifying turn when, in the wall of the sixteenth-century manor house she has been commissioned to restore, Mara's workmen find a mummified baby. Forensic analysis reveals that the baby had been smothered more than a hundred years before.
Julian discovers that the infant's shawl is embroidered with an exact likeness of a rare orchid he has been researching. Meanwhile Mara falls under suspicion in another more recent murder, linked not only to the mummified child but, seemingly, to the spectre of a werewolf . . .
As sinister revelations abound, so too do the legends and superstitions of the Dordogne. The breathtaking world of wild orchids and delectable Dordognais cookery provide atmosphere in equal part to the unraveling mystery. A superb and accomplished follow-up to Deadly Slipper. "All the subtle tension and foreboding of Hannibal Lecter meeting Jodie Foster's character in Silence of the Lambs. . . . Wan shows a mastery of mystery and an unmatched flair for the genre."
-Edmonton Journal Michelle Wan was born in Kunming, China, in the middle of an air raid. She has lived in India, the U.S., England, and Brazil, and has worked in Paris and Harare. She and her husband, a tropical horticulturalist, reside in Guelph, Ontario, and travel regularly to the Dordogne to photograph and chart wild orchids. She is the author of Deadly Slipper. 1
WEDNESDAY, 28 APRIL 2004
The first shattering blow echoed down the line of empty rooms. The big man stepped back, raised the iron mallet again. It struck home with another sickening thud.
Christophe de Bonfond recoiled at the first hit, turned away at the second. His normally cheerful face was pale.
"Je ne peux pas . . ." he murmured to his companion. "I can't. It really is too much."
"Then don't," Mara Dunn responded in French, drawing him away by the arm. She was a small, slim woman, forty-something, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that read in English: Outside of a dog a man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog it is very dark. This was attributed to Groucho Marx. Her head was topped with short-cropped hair. She had dark eyes, straight brows, and a decisive chin. Her expression, normally vivid, was at the moment tightly composed. Why had he insisted on being there? She said in an even tone that belied her exasperation, "We'll leave them to it, shall we?"
The little man nodded, shuddering as the steady, awful cadence of blows continued. In his haste to be gone, he pulled free of her and scuttled through a doorway leading into a small antechamber that gave access to the stairs.
"Smokey," Mara called over her shoulder, "I'll be down on the terrace with Monsieur de Bonfond if you and Theo need anything."
Aristophanes Serafim, otherwise known as Smokey the Greek because he was from Thessalonika and a chain smoker, paused in the middle of his swing. A limp Gitane clung like a tubular growth to his lower lip. His sweat-stained T-shirt was stretched over a barrel chest and a large belly.
"What would we need?" He spoke French with an accent as thick as feta cheese. The blunt head of the mallet completed its arc. A large sheet of plaster crashed down around him in a cloud of dust, exposing roughly dressed stone that had not seen the light of day for more than a hundred years. Smokey's younger brother, Theo, equally big, sledgehammer in hand, stepped up to inspect the damage.
"Well, just in case." Mara's eyes lingered anxiously on the pair. She had not worked with the brothers before and was not reassured by what she had seen so far. Their setup had been casual at best; the necessary precision of the task they were undertaking seemed beyond their comprehension. "Please try to take things down as carefully as possible." She glanced up. "You're sure of the bracing?" Her greatest fear was the
Related Subjects
Extended Details
- SeriesDeath in the Dordogne #2