A Meditation On Murder

A Meditation On Murder
Robert Thorogood

An all new Death in Paradise mystery featuring DI Richard Poole.Enhance your enjoyment of the series as, for the first time, Robert Thorogood brings the characters to life on the page in an all-new locked-room mystery.  One murder victim, five suspects and a room no person entered or left; the classic murder in a locked room conundrum.Aslan Kennedy has an idyllic life: leader of a spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers on one of the Caribbean's most unspoilt islands, Saint Marie. Until he's murdered, that is. The case seems open and shut: when Aslan was killed he was inside a locked room with only five other people, one of whom has already confessed to the murder.Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered, and fed up with talking to witnesses who'd rather discuss his 'aura' than their whereabouts at the time of the murder. But he also knows that the facts of the case don't quite stack up. In fact, he's convinced that the person who's just confessed to the murder is the one person who couldn't have done it. Determined to track down the real killer, DI Poole is soon on the trail, and no stone will be left unturned.A must read for fans of the TV series and Agatha Christie crime classics featuring Marple and Poirot.Praise for Robert Thorogood:‘Very funny and dark with great pace. I love Robert Thorogood’s writing’Peter James‘This second DEATH IN PARADISE NOVEL is a gem’DAILY EXPRESS‘Deftly entertaining … satisfyingly pushes all the requisite Agatha Christie-style buttons’Barry Forshaw, THE INDEPENDENT‘For fans of Agatha Christie’MAIL ON SUNDAY‘A treat.’RADIO TIMES‘This brilliantly crafted, hugely enjoyable and suitably goosebump-inducing novel is an utter delight from start to finish’HEAT‘Plenty of red herrings and twists to keep readers guessing’ DAILY EXPRESS'Fans will enjoy returning to DI Richard Poole… just switch off and relax'LOVE READING

A Meditation on Murder

Aslan Kennedy has an idyllic life: leader of a spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers on one of the Caribbean’s most unspoilt islands, Saint-Marie.

Until he’s murdered, that is. The case seems open and shut: when Aslan was killed he was inside a locked room with only five other people, one of whom has already confessed to the murder.

Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered and fed up with talking to witnesses who’d rather discuss his ‘aura’ than their whereabouts at the time of the murder. But he also knows that the facts of the case don’t quite stack up. In fact, he’s convinced that the person who’s just confessed to the murder is the one person who couldn’t have done it.

Determined to track down the real killer, DI Poole is soon on the trail and no stone will be left unturned.

ISBN: 978-1-474-00658-3

A MEDITATION ON MURDER

© 2015 Robert Thorogood

Published in Great Britain 2015

by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, 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 publisher.

Version: 2018-07-23

ROBERT THOROGOOD is the creator of the hit BBC ONE TV series Death in Paradise.

He was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1972. When he was ten years old, he read his first proper novel—Agatha Christie’s Peril at End House—and he’s been in love with the murder mystery genre ever since.

Since university, he spent many years supporting his writing career in a variety of temping jobs, from being a magician in Hamley’s to being part of the team at Transport for London who introduced the congestion charge; and from working in Men’s Accessories in Harrods to being the person who changed the TV remote control batteries for the Saudi Royal Family. And all the time he had a battered Agatha Christie novel in his back pocket.

He now lives in Marlow in Buckinghamshire with his wife, children and a Bengal cat called Daniel.

Follow Robert on Twitter @robthor (http://www.twitter.com/robthor)

For Katie B

Table of Contents

Cover (#u3e83297c-45f7-554c-859f-96a985c02566)

Title Page (#u10fb9231-1a44-5036-abe3-934baaeddc80)

Copyright (#u81c22063-afdf-52c7-8a70-c811d7f1c38b)

About the Author (#u3a7f4a97-466d-5f8f-b94c-31449d80551f)

Dedication (#u7b3b005a-7ac1-5630-9e01-8f8124f794bd)

Prologue (#ulink_bcc4f98d-b8bc-5955-9604-250b6988f685)

Chapter One (#ulink_5971a351-4f39-5ba4-8e1b-dd86b0fa04da)

Chapter Two (#ulink_6d9ffc4c-ab8a-561f-a0d8-50d318a3f288)

Chapter Three (#ulink_ccc0a115-b15d-5b1e-9081-4b815553fc6a)

Chapter Four (#ulink_0ab07e1a-471d-5ed9-8ee4-34a310f91b45)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue (#ulink_703ca67b-e249-5fac-a622-519d0ef2b799)

Aslan Kennedy had no need of an alarm clock. Instead, he found he woke every morning quite naturally as the sun began to peek over the horizon.

In fact, he’d been waking with the sun ever since he’d decided a few years back that he no longer believed in alarm clocks. Any more than he believed in money, the internet, or any kind of ‘one cup’ tea bag. For Aslan—hotel-owner, yoga instructor and self-styled Spiritual Guru—the wristwatch, with its arbitrary division of seconds, minutes and hours, was a potent symbol of enslavement. A manacle mankind wore while they worshipped at the false idol they called progress.