Murder on the Moor - C. S. Challinor [0]
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First e-book edition © 2011
E-book ISBN: 9780738729398
Book design by Donna Burch
Cover design by Kevin R. Brown
Cover photo illustration © Kevin R.Brown; Cottage © iStockphoto.com/Lee Rogers; Scottish Highlands © iStockphoto.com/Matthew Dixon
Editing by Connie Hill
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Cast of Main Characters
Rex Graves—Scottish barrister and amateur sleuth, new and proud owner of Gleneagle Lodge
Chief Inspector Dalgerry—of Central Scotland Police, who heads up the Moor Murders investigation
Detective Inspector Strickler—Dalgerry’s skeptical subordinate
Detective Sergeant Dawes—Strickler’s younger partner
HouseGuests
Helen d’Arcy—Rex Graves’ current love interest
Cuthbert Farquharson—trigger-happy laird
Estelle Farquharson—Cuthbert’s snobby, gossipy wife
Alistair Frazer—Rex Graves’ dashing and enigmatic colleague
Hamish Allerdice—local hotelier with wandering hands
Shona Allerdice—Hamish’s furtive wife
Donnie Allerdice—son with learning disabilities
Flora Allerdice—Donnie’s devoted and tragic sister
Rob Roy Beardsley—zealous freelance journalist
Moira Wilcox—Rex Graves’ previous love interest
“It’s a pig in a poke,” the first McCallum decreed, shaking his head dubiously at the cast-iron radiator in the guest bedroom of Rex’s converted hunting lodge.
“Aye,” agreed McCallum’s equally stout younger brother. “Ye should hae switched to contemporary models,” he told Rex, “like we said when ye first purchased this place. These old radiators retain more heat, but if this’un continues to leak, you’ll end up wi’ a rotten floorboard. The radiator is so corroded it could come off the wall and fall onto somebody’s heed.”
“I like these radiators,” Rex protested. “They have character.”
“Ye canna let emotion get in the way of good sense,” the first McCallum chided, looking at Rex as though he were a clueless twit and not a preeminent Scottish barrister. “Now, it can be fixed—if yer heart is set on it, but it will cost ye.”
“Aye,” seconded the brother. “Parts are dear. Not many of these radiators left around the country.”
“Why can’t you just solder the damn thing?”
With exaggerated patience, the elder McCallum launched into an ABC of plumbing basics.
“How long to fix it?” Rex finally asked. “I have guests arriving this afternoon.”
“Och, it canna be done afore then,” the elder McCallum exclaimed. “Ye’ll have to keep the pan there to collect the water until we can get back sometime next week.”
This