Inspector Alleyn 3-Book Collection 8: Death at the Dolphin, Hand in Glove, Dead Water
The eighth volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.HAND IN GLOVEThe April Fool's Day was a roaring success for all, it seemed - except for poor Mr Cartell who ended up in the ditch - for ever. Then there was the case of Mr Percival Pyke Period's letter of condolence, sent before the body was found - not to mention the family squabbles. It's all a puzzling crime for Superintendent Alleyn…DEAD WATERTimes are good in the Cornish village of Portcarrow, as hundreds flock to taste the healing waters of Pixie Falls. When Miss Emily Pride inherits this celebrated land, she wants to put an end to the villagers' exploitation of miracle cures, especially Miss Elspeth Costs's gift shop. But someone puts an end to Miss Cost, and Roderick Alleyn finds himself literally on the spot…DEATH AT THE DOLPHINThe bombed-out Dolphin Theatre is given to Peregrine Jay by a mysterious oil millionaire, who also gives him a glove that belonged to Shakespeare to display in the dockside theatre. But then a murder takes place, a boy is attacked, and the glove is stolen. Inspector Roderick Alleyn doesn't think oil and water are a good mix…
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NGAIO MARSH
INSPECTOR ALLEYN 3-BOOK COLLECTION 8:
Death at the Dolphin, Hand in Glove, Dead Water
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
Hand in Glove first published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1962 Dead Water first published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1973 Death at the Dolphin first published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1967 The Cupid Mirror first published in Death on the Air and Other Stories in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1995
Copyright © Ngaio Marsh Ltd 1962, 1963, 1966
The Cupid Mirror copyright © Ngaio Marsh (Jersey) Limited 1989
Ngaio Marsh asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of these works
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library
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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007531424
Version: 2016–10–07
CONTENTS
Copyright
Hand in Glove
Dead Water
Death at the Dolphin
BONUS STORY: The Cupid Mirror
About the Author
Also by the Author
About the Publisher
for Jonathan Elsom
CONTENTS
Dedication
Cast of Characters
1. Mr Pyke Period
2. Luncheon
3. Aftermath to a Party
4. Alleyn
5. Postscript to a Party
6. Interlude
7. Pixie
8. Period Piece
| Alfred Belt | Manservant to Mr Period |
| Mrs Mitchell | Cook to Mr Period |
| Mr Percival Pyke Period | |
| Nicola Maitland-Mayne | |
| Desirée, Lady Bantling | Now Mrs Bimbo Dodds, formerly Mrs Harold Cartell. Née Desirée Ormsbury |
| Andrew Bantling | Her son by her first marriage |
| Bimbo Dodds | Her third and present husband |
| Mr Harold Cartell | Her second husband |
| Constance Cartell | His sister |
| Trudi | Her maid |
| Mary Ralston (Moppett) | Her adopted niece |
| Leonard Leiss | |
| George Copper | Garage proprietor |
| Mrs Nicholls | Wife of Vicar of Ribblethorpe |
| Superintendent Williams | Little Codling constabulary |
| Sergeant Raikes | Little Codling constabulary |
| A Foreman drainlayer | |
| Superintendent Roderick Alleyn | CID New Scotland Yard |
| Inspector Fox | CID New Scotland Yard |
| Detective-Sergeant Thompson | CID New Scotland Yard |
| Detective-Sergeant Bailey | CID New Scotland Yard |
| Sir James Curtiss | Pathologist |
| Dr Elekton, MD |
While he waited for the water to boil, Alfred Belt stared absently at the kitchen calendar: ‘With the compliments of The Little Codling Garage. Service with a smile. Geo. Copper’. Below this legend was a coloured photograph of a kitten in a boot and below that the month of March. Alfred removed them and exposed a coloured photograph of a little girl smirking through apple blossom.
He warmed a silver teapot engraved on its belly with Mr Pyke Period’s crest: a fish. He refolded the Daily Press and placed it on the breakfast tray. The toaster sprang open, the electric kettle shrieked. Alfred made tea, put the toast in a silver rack, transferred bacon and eggs from pan to crested entrée dish and carried the whole upstairs.
He tapped at his employer’s door and entered. Mr Pyke Period, a silver-haired bachelor with a fresh complexion, stirred in his bed, gave a little snort, opened his large brown eyes, mumbled his lips, and blushed.
Alfred said: ‘Good morning, sir.’ He placed the tray and turned away in order that Mr Period could assume his teeth in privacy. He drew back the curtains. The village green looked fresh in the early light. Decorous groups of trees, already burgeoning, showed fragile against distant hills. Wood-smoke rose delicately from several chimneys and in Miss Cartell’s house across the green, her Austrian maid shook a duster out of an upstairs window. In the field beyond, Miss Cartell’s mare grazed peacefully.
