The Five Bells and Bladebone
Published in 1987What else could you think of but getting your throat slit.
Jury is packing for a vacation to be spent with his friend Melrose Plant, the ex Earl, Count, etc. in Long Piddleton.
He held up a Shetland sweater, inspecting it for mothy bites. He frowned.
Jury looked over the top of the sweater where he had found a moth hole big enough to put three fingers through. "Do I hear bells?"
We are introduced in this story to more Long Pid characters - "Joanna the Mad", Theo Wrenn Browne (the bookseller), Diane Demorney (maneuvering to the Countess of Caverness), and Jurvis the Butcher.........as well as "the regulars" Vivien, Marshall Trueblood and Aunt Agatha up to her usual tricks.
But when Marshall Trueboood shows off his latest acquisition, a "secretaire a abattant", a fall front desk, and a body falls out, well.......
and when another body is found in a boat in Limehouse.......things start to fall into place and everything centres around Watermeadows, a neighbouring estate to Plant's Ardry End.
One of my favourite lines....
The pergola dripped roses like rain.
Happy Reading
Well, I would be frowning too if I found any moth bites in my fair isle sweaters....especially if I knit them myself!
ReplyDeleteYou inspired me Anne... I just finished Five Bells and Bladebone too, and am working my way through the rest of her books. It's a miracle... our library which has almost nothing, has her entire collection.
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