Essex Poison

Essex Poison
Ian Sansom

‘Beautifully crafted by Sansom, Professor Morley promises to become a little gem of English crime writing; sample him now’ Daily MailOctober 1937. Swanton Morley, the People’s Professor, sets off to Essex to continue his history of England, The County Guides. Morley’s daughter Miriam continues to cause chaos and his assistant Stephen Sefton continues to slide deeper into depression and despair.Morley is an honorary guest at the Colchester Oyster Festival. But when the mayor dies suddenly at the civic reception suspicion falls on his fellow councillors. Is it a case of food poisoning? Or could it be … murder?Join Morley, Miriam and Sefton on another journey into the dark heart of England.

Copyright (#ulink_093673ff-a3a6-5fe0-acf3-251482ef8616)

4th Estate

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This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017

Copyright © Ian Sansom 2017

Cover image © Science & Society Picture Library / Getty Images

Ian Sansom asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008146740

Ebook Edition © January 2017 ISBN: 9780008147068

Version: 2017-11-14

Dedication (#ulink_29050fdd-c541-501c-bb98-cff3bd4090ab)

To Trinity

Epigraph (#ulink_3b2735d8-3790-534c-9a94-41adf4075f45)

I come not from Heaven but from Essex.

WILLIAM MORRIS, A Dream of John Ball (1888)

Contents

Cover (#u071b1718-439e-5812-9cc9-fdd2b0c5a8e4)

Title Page (#ue1311ccd-4dc1-54e0-b354-f9afcc02c08c)

Copyright (#uda3d4843-a38e-505b-a1b9-0987f8f686eb)

Dedication (#uef834992-3150-5001-9926-fe82ab4684a1)

Epigraph (#u7e7a50fd-ac53-5f66-8b6d-236b94e81253)

Chapter 1: London, Underground (#u8048d6dd-de33-5a55-8b14-43b62188b0f9)

Chapter 2: In the Oven (#u897fca4e-ed90-5384-8e5f-1e8b0647d422)

Chapter 3: The Rendezvous (#u290f5049-ee12-58ab-a347-3eddbc346969)

Chapter 4: The Music Writers’ Mutual Publishing Co. (#ua2e1a118-f808-5fbc-ab4b-882e70e29082)

Chapter 5: A Topographical Cremeschnitte (#udd96c44d-5e2f-546c-a525-b793a9186dbb)

Chapter 6: The Boulevards of Becontree (#ua638babb-d7bc-56eb-8a4e-4442463f14f1)

Chapter 7: This is England (#ua3091986-16df-5a28-a0cd-596f3d7afbac)

Chapter 8: The Dagenham Girl Pipers (#uaaa2be5c-342d-50ba-a1c6-28ffcd241fc3)

Chapter 9: The Role of Pageantry (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10: The Oyster’s Lonely Subterraqueous Sigh (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11: The Aviatrix (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12: Bluebeard’s Castle (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13: A Kind of Knocking (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14: A Mechanical Aphrodisiac (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15: What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us? (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16: Flitration & Purtefication (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17: An Average Essex Affray (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18: A Few Discreet Enquiries (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19: Loose Screw (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20: The ‘Cottaging’ Existence (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21: Proof! Proof! (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22: Kursaal (#litres_trial_promo)