Cracking Open a Coffin

Cracking Open a Coffin
Gwendoline Butler

Two women are brutally murdered within a year of each other. John Coffin, Commander of the Police, investigates. From one of the most highly praised English crime writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.Student Amy Dean has disappeared with her boyfriend Martin - a year after Martin's former girlfriend Virginia was found beaten to death. Then Amy’s body is found, encased in a crude wooden box. The connection between the two incidents seems clear – but John Coffin, Commander of the Police, discovers that both girls worked at Star Court House, a home for battered women and children. Coffin is under pressure – personal and professional – to untangle a tragic web of murder and lies.

GWENDOLINE BUTLER

Cracking Open a Coffin

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_54a844cc-9bf5-5cd5-ab50-60926a71e719)

HarperCollinsPublishers 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1992

Copyright © Gwendoline Butler 1992

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2014

Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780006472919

Ebook Edition © JULY 2014 ISBN: 9780007545490

Version: 2014–07–07

CONTENTS

Cover (#u5d7dfcaf-4d8a-52c8-824f-6c05d4837aed)

Title Page (#uba6e052f-0713-5082-89d0-2edba0d5776e)

Copyright (#ulink_3e4470b7-5a83-5d67-9bb2-508a26189449)

Prologue (#u0b65c7c1-1311-5084-baa7-f13db338caeb)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_f46cd0da-3bfa-543e-8ce5-9256376c0e67)

Chapter 2 (#ulink_1e5d037d-9ea4-5afa-ac6a-7a3d9ccfbadd)

Chapter 3 (#ulink_6b81744b-b4f8-5de8-88d6-b7024408e84e)

Chapter 4 (#ulink_f59d7a1e-512a-530f-8061-dec926e56d10)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#u0b65c7c1-1311-5084-baa7-f13db338caeb)

Letter to John Coffin from Professor Lessingham, The Institute of Mental Health, Bury Hill.

‘I am coming to the opinion that there are certain types of killers who might be called periodic serial killers in as much as they will only kill when the victim offers exactly what is required. So there may be long gaps in the cycle.