Destroying Angel (19 page)
Authors: Alanna Knight
A
LANNA
K
NIGHT
has written more than fifty novels, three non-fiction titles on R.L. Stevenson, two true crime books, numerous short stories and several plays since the publication of her first book in 1969. Born and educated in Tyneside, she now lives in Edinburgh. She is a member of the Scottish chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association, a founding member of the Scottish Association of Writers, and Honorary President of the Edinburgh Writers’ Club.
www.alannaknight.com
T
HE
I
NSPECTOR
F
ARO
SERIES
Murder in Paradise
The Seal King Murders
T
HE
R
OSE
McQ
UINN
SERIES
The Inspector’s Daughter
Dangerous Pursuits
An Orkney Murder
Ghost Walk
Destroying Angel
Quest for a Killer
Deadly Legacy
T
HE
T
AM
E
ILDOR SERIES
The Gowrie Conspiracy
The Stuart Sapphire
Allison & Busby Limited
13 Charlotte Mews
London W1T 4EJ
www.allisonandbusby.com
First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2007.
This ebook edition first published in 2012.
Copyright © 2007 by A
LANNA
K
NIGHT
The moral right of author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1375–2
Other titles available from
A
LLISON
AND
B
USBY
by Alanna Knight
In the Rose McQuinn series
The Inspector’s Daughter
1894. In a desperate attempt to recover from the loss of her husband and her baby son, Rose McQuinn returns home to Edinburgh from the American Wild West. Before long she unwittingly steps into the shoes of her father, the legendary Detective Inspector Faro, by agreeing to investigate the strange behaviour of Matthew Bolton, husband to Rose’s childhood friend Alice. Alice is convinced Matthew is having an affair but Rose suspects he may have been involved in something much more sinister – the brutal and still unsolved murder of a servant girl. From her isolated home at the foot of Arthur’s Seat and aided by a wild deerhound who has befriended her, Rose starts to piece things together, until she gets too near the truth and puts her own life in danger.
Dangerous Pursuits
During a peaceful walk out on Arthur’s Seat, high above the city of Edinburgh, Rose McQuinn stumbles across the body of a woman in the ruins of St Anthony’s Chapel. Reporting her discovery to a nearby police constable, she assumes that the case is in safe hands. So she is shocked when she returns to the scene to find that both the body and the policeman have disappeared. Further complications ensue when a local woman is reported missing. Unshakeable in her belief that the two cases are linked, Rose determines to pursue a discreet investigation into the double mystery. But she soon finds herself in a terrifying situation, cast in the role of the murderer’s second victim…
An Orkney Murder
On a long-anticipated family visit to Orkney to see her sister Emily, Rose is unprepared for the sinister and unexpected events that occur following the discovery of a body by an archaeological team excavating a nearby peat bog. But the find is not that of the legendary thirteenth-century Maid of Norway, as they had expected, but that of a local woman, long presumed to have drowned. In this the most personal of all her investigations, Rose realises that revealing the killer’s identity can destroy for ever the happiness of those closest to her.
Ghost Walk
Since the disappearance and presumed death of her husband, Danny, three years ago, Rose McQuinn has managed to overcome her grief and begin her life afresh. She has fulfilled her ambition of becoming a ‘Lady Investigator, Discretion Guaranteed’ and is on the threshold of marrying her lover, Detective Inspector Jack Macmerry of the Edinburgh Police. But pre-wedding jitters become the least of her worries when a nun from the local convent claims to have received a letter from Danny. Is the elderly nun simply confused, or could Danny really still be alive? Unnerved and determined to find out the truth before her wedding, Rose begins to investigate. However, after two suspicious deaths, all the signs suggest that a ghost is about to walk back into her life…
In the Tam Eildor series
The Gowrie Conspiracy
July 1600. After rescuing King James from a runaway horse, the enigmatic Tam Eildor finds himself in the monarch’s favour, and the royal benevolence is furthered when Tam agrees to investigate the murder of Margaret Agnew, the Queen’s midwife. As Tam and his good friend Tansy Scott set about discovering who could have attacked her and why, they come across rumours of a buried secret from the King’s past – a secret that could put the King and members of the court in danger. With treacherous forces at work, the King is led away from the palace to Gowrie House in Perth, and into the heart of a mystery that still puzzles historians today…
The Stuart Sapphire
August 1811. George, Prince of Wales, has his own reasons for welcoming Tam Eildor to the Royal Pavilion. His latest mistress, Sarah, Marchioness of Creeve, has been murdered in the royal bed; strangled with her own string of pearls. Newly created Prince Regent, George realises that a sordid scandal must be avoided at all costs, and enlists Tam’s services to quickly and – more importantly – quietly find the killer. But murder isn’t the only crime Tam has to solve: on the same night as the Marchioness’s death a priceless gemstone, the Stuart Sapphire, was stolen. With a double investigation on his hands and his own life in constant danger, Tam struggles to outwit the sinister forces that seem determined to prevent him from discovering the truth.
