Hasty Death
Chapters (18)
Author biography
M.C. Beaton worked as a Fleet Street journalist. She is the author of the Agatha Raisin novels, the Hamish Macbeth series and the Edwardian Murder Mystery series – all published by Constable & Robinson. She divides her time between Paris and the Cotswolds.
Praise for M.C. Beaton’s Edwardian Murder Mystery series:
‘If you missed the first novel in the series, get it right away. Snobbery with Violence introduced the Edwardian heroine Lady Rose Summer. Her second appearance [Hasty Death] is, if anything, even wittier and more amusing than the debut.’
The Globe & Mail
‘Fans of the author’s Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series should welcome this tale of aristocrats, house parties, servants, and murder.’
Publishers Weekly
‘A light-hearted romantic romp through Edwardian snobbery, with hints of the cataclysmic changes in store for high society.’
Kirkus Review
‘An amusing brew of mystery and romance that will keep fans turning the pages.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Fans of the author’s Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin mysteries . . . will welcome this new series of historical whodunits.’
Booklist
‘Combines history, romance and intrigue, resulting in a delightful romantic mystery.’
Midwest Book Review
Also by M.C. Beaton
Edwardian Murder Mystery series
Snobbery with Violence
Hasty Death
Sick of Shadows
Our Lady of Pain
Hamish MacBeth series
Death of a Valentine
Death of a Witch
Death of a Gentle Lady
Death of a Maid
Death of a Dreamer
Death of a Bore
Death of a Poison Pen
Death of a Village
Death of a Celebrity
Death of a Dustman
Death of an Addict
Death of a Scriptwriter
Death of a Dentist
Title page
Copyright page
Published in the US by St Martin’s Press, 2004
This paperback edition published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2010
Copyright © Marion Chesney, 2004, 2010
The right of Marion Chesney to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-184901-290-4
Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon
Printed and bound in the EU
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Dedication page
To George and Isabel Agrest of Paris,
with affection
Epigraph page
Shorthand he wrote, his flower in prime did fade,
And hasty death shorthand of him hath made.
– EPITAPH OF WILLIAM LAURENCE,
DIED 1661, WESTMINSTER ABBEY