Surfeit of Lampreys

SURFEIT
OF LAMPREYS

Ngaio Marsh

FELONY & MAYHEM PRESS • NEW YORK

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Roberta Grey

Lord Charles Lamprey

Lady Charles Lamprey

Henry Lamprey, their eldest son

Friede Lamprey (Frid), their elder daughter

Colin And Stephen Lamprey, twins, their second and third sons

Patricia Lamprey (Patch), their second daughter

Michael Lamprey (Mike), their youngest son

Mrs. Burnaby (Nanny), their nurse

Baskett, their butler

Cora Blackburn, their parlour-maid

Stamford, a commissionaire

Grimball, a “bum”

The Lady Katherine Lobe, aunt to Lord Charles

Gabriel, Marquis Of Wutherwood And Rune (Uncle G.), elder brother to Lord Charles

Violet, Marchioness Of Wutherwood And Rune (Aunt V.), his wife

Giggle, their chauffeur

Tinkerton, Lady Wutherwood’s maid

Dr. Kantripp, the Lampreys’ doctor

Sir Matthew Cairnstock, a brain specialist

Dr. Curtis, police surgeon

Detective-Inspector Fox of the Central Branch, Criminal Investigation Department

Chief Detective-Inspector Alleyn of the Central Branch, Criminal Investigation Department

Detective-Sergeant Bailey, a finger-print expert

Detective-Sergeant Thompson, a photographic expert

Police-Constable Martin

Police-Constable Gibson, a police-constable who has read “Macbeth”

Detective-Sergeant Campbell, on duty at 24 Brummell Street

Nigel Bathgate, Watson to Mr. Alleyn

Mrs. Moffatt, housekeeper at 24 Brummell Street

Moffatt, her husband

Mr. Rattisbon, solicitor

CHAPTER ONE

Prelude in New Zealand

ROBERTA GREY first met the Lampreys in New Zealand. She was at school with Frid Lamprey. All the other Lampreys went to school in England: Henry, the twins and Michael to Eton; Patch to an expensive girls’ school near Tonbridge. In the New Zealand days, Patch and Mike were too little for school. They had Nanny and, later on, a governess. But when the time came for Frid to be bundled off to England there was a major financial crisis and she became a boarder at Te Moana Collegiate School for Girls. Long after they had returned to England the family still said that Frid spoke with a New Zealand accent, which was nonsense.

In after years Roberta was to find a pleasant irony in the thought that she owed her friendship with the family to one of those financial crises. It must have been a really bad one because it was at about that time that Lady Charles Lamprey suddenly got rid of all her English servants and bought the washing machine that afterwards, on the afternoon it broke loose from its mooring, so nearly-killed Nanny and Patch. Not long after Frid went to board at Te Moana an old aunt of Lord Charles’s died, and the Lampreys were rich again, and all the servants came back, so that on Roberta’s first visit Deepacres seemed very grand indeed. In New Zealand the Lampreys were a remarkable family. Titles are rare in New Zealand and the younger sons of marquises are practically nonexistent.

In two years’ time Roberta was to remember with nostalgic vividness that first visit. It took place during the half-term week-end, when the boarders at Te Moana were allowed to go home. Two days beforehand, Frid asked Roberta if she would spend the half-term at Deepacres. There were long-distance telephone calls between Deepacres and Roberta’s parents.