While at a concert, also attended by Sir John Fielding, his wife and
their wards, Annie Oakum and Jeremy Proctor, a lord suddenly collapses.
The lord had been swigging from a wine bottle during the concert, but
when Jeremy looks for it, the bottle seems to have disappeared. Has the
lord been poisoned?
The following day, Jeremy loses a prisoner he is escorting to the Lord
Chief Justice. Upon arrival at the place where he was taken, he finds
out that the man was a bit of a scoundrel, having possibly stolen a
valuable vase while working there. Sir John is sure that there is more
to the man's escape than it appears. It isn't long afterwards that
Jeremy discovers that the escapee has a daughter and she is living in
constrained circumstances. Sir John's wife takes an interest in her and
provides a cape for the girl. Knowing that the girl likes to read,
Jeremy gives her a book from his own collection.
Meanwhile, Jeremy is dealing with another issue. A head without a body
had been pulled from a sewer. Jeremy's friend, Bunkins is sure he knows
who it is. When the pair of them go to the pawnshop of supposed
victim, a young woman is working there; someone that Bunkins doesn't
recognise.
Eight days after the death of the first victim, his wife dies in similar
circumstances. Was she also poisoned? Dr. Donnelly is asked to
perform an autopsy before an inquest is held. The coroner directs a
conclusion of death by natural causes.
The Fielding household is put into a bit of turmoil when Lady Fielding
and Jeremy return to the lodging of the girl to whom they had given the
cape. She is suffering from pneumonia, so Lady Fielding orders that she
be taken to their home to recover.
The ensuing pages are filled with treachery and murder as Sir John
Fielding and Jeremy work to determining who the killers were. Once
again, author Bruce Alexander has written an engaging murder mystery,
which has left me wanting to pick up the sequel.
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