Original Sin
Get inside the glamour with the Sunday Times bestselling author, Tasmina Perry…Stunning Brooke Asgill is about to marry into one of the richest and most powerful families in the Unites States, and matriarch Meredith Asgill is determined that her daughter will walk down the aisle at whatever cost.But the Asgill’s are not all they seem and their past is riddled with secrets, lies and tragedy. Enter Tess Garret, a renowned publicist hired to keep the Asgill family ghosts well and truly locked away, at least until the big day is over.From the couture ateliers of Paris to the colonial mansions of the Florida Keys, Original Sin is a sexy provocative tale of lies, secrets and the lengths some people will go to keep them…
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TASMINA PERRY
Original Sin
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2009
Copyright © Tasmina Perry 2009
Tasmina Perry asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
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.
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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
Source ISBN: 9780007265541
Ebook Edition © MAY 2009 ISBN: 9780007292967
Version: 2017-09-11
In memory of W.E.P
Contents
Confidential magazine
September 18, 1964
Pill-popping starlet feared dead after wedding vanishing act
Friends of the Hollywood actress, Olivia Martin, who mysteriously disappeared after the Louisiana wedding of cosmetics mogul Howard Asgill at the family’s Riverview Estate, now fear she might have taken her own life by means of a fatal late-night walk into the Mississippi River after consuming a cocktail of barbiturates. Martin was last seen leaving the $50,000 nuptials of Asgill and New Orleans socialite Meredith Carter just before midnight last Saturday. When Mr Asgill noticed her absence at the lavish brunch the next day, the newlyweds assumed that Olivia, known for her colourful love life, had left the celebrations with another guest.
But when she had not appeared forty-eight hours later, Martin’s sister Valerie filed a missing persons report, and Louisiana police began their inquiries.
River of death
Friends of the After the Sunset actress began assuming the worst when Louisiana State Police found prescription drugs in the guest cottage where Miss Martin was staying on the Carter family estate. So far police have not trawled the Mississippi, which runs just one hundred feet past the guest cottage and is almost one mile wide at this point. If the theory of a death plunge is true, investigators fear the body of the actress might never be found.
Haunted by Hollywood rejection
Insiders say the twenty-seven-year-old redhead had been sliding into depression after her contract with MGM Studios was cancelled in 1961 and a highly anticipated television career flopped. However, last year Martin signed a five-figure contract to be the face of Asgill Long-last Lipstick. She had proved so successful for the brand that the company had her lips insured for $1 million. But her modelling success was no substitute for her acting career, and a slide into drink and prescription-drug addiction was well known to those around her.
Dark cloud over wedding
Although the search for Miss Martin continues, her disappearance has cast a dark cloud over one of the most stellar society events of the season. Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck and Anita Ekberg were just some of the guests at the Asgill wedding. The CEO of Asgill Cosmetics was the butcher’s son from Brooklyn who turned a homebrewed face cream into a multimillion-dollar cosmetics company. Meredith and Howard Asgill, currently on honeymoon in Capri, Italy, issued a statement yesterday expressing their concern. ‘Olivia is a dear friend and wonderful ambassador for Asgill Cosmetics. We pray for her swift and safe return home.’
Present day, London
‘Wake up. I’ve got something for you.’
Tess Garrett forced her eyes open and peered over the top of her duvet to see her flatmate Jemma Davies sitting on the bed.
