Spinsters in Jeopardy

Spinsters in Jeopardy
Ngaio Marsh

A classic Ngaio Marsh mystery thriller combining drugs and sacrifice.High in mountains stands the magnificent Saracen fortress, home of the mysterious Mr Oberon, leader of a coven of witches. It is not the historic castle, however, that intrigues Roderick Alleyn, on holiday with his family, but the suspicion that a huge drugs ring operates from within its ancient portals.But before the holiday is over, someone else has stumbled upon the secret. And Mr Oberon decides his strange and terrible rituals require a human sacrifice…

NGAIO MARSH

Spinsters in Jeopardy

DEDICATION (#ulink_5b64769c-5ac4-5b91-bfcd-8b2b962a3b34)

For Anita and Val Muling with my thanks

CONTENTS

Cover (#u425863fc-9e39-5aa7-9aeb-ea8e05bf91b1)

Title Page (#u4eb62566-1517-56f4-bfd9-cb0b36c4469f)

Dedication (#u2f5f7b1d-32a6-5135-a08e-46308520a49e)

Cast of Characters (#uc8ef38f1-3fb5-53e7-83e4-857de653492c)

Prologue (#u18923464-6e36-5c69-bc16-d9ed5c8dbed9)

1. Journey to the South (#u6fffe6f0-c57e-58ea-ae09-fa46fdd8af05)

2. Operation Truebody (#u8a67ba7a-35fe-50c3-b179-ee4e681906d7)

3. Morning with Mr Oberon (#uf043b631-839d-5192-b264-179df3887065)

4. The Elusiveness of Mr Garbel (#litres_trial_promo)

5. Ricky in Roqueville (#litres_trial_promo)

6. Consultation (#litres_trial_promo)

7. Sound of Ricky (#litres_trial_promo)

8. Ricky Regained (#litres_trial_promo)

9. Dinner in Roqueville (#litres_trial_promo)

10. Thunder in the Air (#litres_trial_promo)

11. P.E. Garbel (#litres_trial_promo)

12. Eclipse of the Sun (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

CAST OF CHARACTERS (#ulink_e9863ca5-b27c-5a16-b63a-1a09bc5f959e)

Prologue (#ulink_d82d457a-f718-5f69-9cb7-4b5e8c6e01bb)

Without moving his head, Ricky slewed his eyes round until he was able to look slantways at the back of his mother’s easel.

‘I’m getting pretty bored, however,’ he announced.

‘Stick it a bit longer, darling, I implore you, and look at Daddy.’

‘Well, because it’s just about as boring a thing as a person can have to do. Isn’t it Daddy?’

‘When I did it,’ said his father, ‘I was allowed to look at your mama, so I wasn’t bored. But as there are degrees of boredom,’ he continued, ‘so there are different kinds of bores. You might almost say there are recognizable schools.’

‘To which school,’ said his wife, stepping back from her easel, ‘would you say Mr Garbel belonged? Ricky, look at Daddy for five minutes more and then I promise we’ll stop.’

Ricky sighed ostentatiously and contemplated his father.

‘Well, as far as we know him,’ Alleyn said, ‘to the epistolatory school. There, he’s a classic. In person he’s undoubtedly the sort of bore that shows you things you don’t want to see. Snapshots in envelopes. Barren conservatories. Newspaper cuttings. He’s relentless in this. I think he carries things on his person and puts them in front of you without giving you the smallest clue about what you’re meant to say. You’re moving, Ricky.’

‘Isn’t it five minutes yet?’

‘No, and it never will be if you fidget. How long is it, Troy, since you first heard from Mr Garbel?’

‘About eighteen months. He wrote for Christmas. All told I’ve had six letters and five postcards from Mr Garbel. This last arrived this morning. That’s what put him into my head.’

‘Daddy, who is Mr Garbel?’

‘One of Mummy’s admirers. He lives in the Maritime Alps and writes love letters to her.’

‘Why?’

‘He says it’s because he’s her third cousin once removed, but I know better.’

‘What do you know better?’

With a spare paint-brush clenched between her teeth, Troy said indistinctly:‘Keep like that, Ricky darling, I implore you.’

‘OK. Tell me properly, Daddy, about Mr Garbel.’

‘Well, he suddenly wrote to Mummy and said Mummy’s great-aunt’s daughter was his second cousin, and that he thought Mummy would like to know that he lived at a place called Roqueville in the Maritime Alps. He sent a map of Roqueville, marking the place where the road he lived in ought to be shown, but wasn’t, and he told Mummy how he didn’t go out much or meet many people.’